Category: Random Crap

Live fast, die old

Andy linked up to the kids at Cycle Jerks today, and because I’m always impressed by a cheesy punk rock reference I felt the need to spread it further (given how our readership is so massive and all, ha!). They’re a bunch of nuts from Denver, Colorado and their blog has a bunch of videos and other suitably random and good shit on it. “Full of racing, blood and beer. What the fuck else is there?”. Sounds good. They also have a radical logo, suitably ripped off.

So yeah, don’t get off the internet quite yet, go look at their website. If you’re from Hobart, don’t buy a t-shirt or I’ll be forced to wrassle the shit outa ya.

I thought hipsters were a type of jeans?

bnc-meanies-style.jpg

A wise man once said “Get off the internet and ride your bikes.” Actually, it’s probably been said a bunch of times. Smart words regardless of who uttered them first and how many times they’ve been repeated. That said, the internet can be handy for plenty of things, even if most of them are better and more enjoyable when actually done out in the real world. Looking at beautiful bikes and old-school bike magazines seems to lack a little texture when they’re being blasted at your eyes through a computer screen. Music’s a little richer when it’s coming through an amplifier rather than your tinny PC speakers. That new component looks great in the online store, but the photo’s got nothing on the first test ride. And the best YouTube footage pales in comparison to the feeling you get when you’re out on your bike with your mates.

It’s all too easy to get caught up in the shit-talk and bullshit that mindlessly repeats itself every hour of every day on the internet. Naturally, when it stems from this website I wholeheartedly approve of it and suggest you quit all other activities so that you may dedicate your life to BnC, the refresh button and the ol’ comment posting link. But most of the time you need to step back and ask yourself if this shit really concerns you, or if you might be spending a little too much time worrying about words and websites and fashion trends that can be ignored simply by closing your browser, or visiting another website. The internet is a forum for the world and just like any public space, it’s got its full share of morons and idiots. Do yourself a favour and avoid getting caught up in the shit-creek, ’cause who wants to paddle through that when there’s perfectly good singletrack up the bank and over the hill?

Ignore the trends, forget the hipsters, get off the internet and ride your bikes.

No grave but the sea

The Sea Shepherd crew are at it again, with two of their crew being held on a Japanese whaling ship in Antarctic waters. They’re a great organisation whose direct-action protests actually target the guilty parties, which is all too rare these days (although there’s nothing quite like a bit of black bloc molotov cocktail action). Go read!

In bicycle news, clouds have been gathering and the forecast seems to be for another alleycat some time soon. We’ll let you know when we find out more.

There’s also been some chatter regarding the 2008 Single Speed Nationals in Tasmania, so hopefully we’ll see more info surfacing on that!

The photos from the now-infamous Christmas Alleycat have been provided to us in an unmarked manilla envelope, obviously shot by an unknown contributor with a high powered telephoto lens. We’re all being watched! While the race report has yet to materialise (I take full responsibility, but if you want to know what happens at these things you should just show up! Haha), the photos and results will finally be online…shortly.

We’ve also got some plans for official BnC jerseys (and skin suits?) in the pipeline, so we’re going to be needing your feedback! For starters, if anyone can recommend a jersey manufacturer who make good quality gear with low minimum unit requirements, let us know!

Stay tuned, this party’s only just getting started!

Roll on!

If anyone happens to know the where-abouts of a roller-racing setup in Tasmania, please let us know! Roller-racing used to be huge back in the day and given Tasmanias rich track racing history, there’s got to be something lying around somewhere. Alternatively, if you’ve got a bit of know-how on building a DIY setup get in contact. Running something through a laptop hooked up to a video projector would seem to be the easiest (and most portable) way.

A monthly carnival of roller-racing, beer drinking and live music would be a damn fine way to wile away a Tasmanian winter.

Old school?

What the fuck is up with muppets rocking pre-faded shirts for old school bands? Minding my own business at the pub tonight and I get smacked in the face with some guy wearing a brand new Run DMC shirt, only the logo’s pre-distressed and fucked up. I mean, what’s the bloody point? Either you actually like a band and you wear a new t-shirt with pride, or you’ve genuinely owned the shirt for a long time and now it’s too faded to read. Hell, even a new shirt is going to fade fast as shit if you truly love the band and wear it 5 times a week. How about you just leave it out in the sun for a couple of days?

Idiots.

Maximum output, activate the pit!

“[Scott] Vogel is widely known in the scene not just for his tireless efforts to keep hardcore punk and metalcore “pure” and “fun,” but for his love of stagedives, and for his tendency for bizarre and often hilarious on-stage banter, known colloquially as “Vogelisms“. Examples include: “We need to elevate the maximum stagedive potential”, “Take this shit to the next level”, “Who cares if you’re Christian?”, and “Maximum output! Activate the pit!””

– Wikipedia

Vogelisms.com
(Hit refresh for a new quote)

Terrorhc.com

GODDAMN CANNUCKS!

You might have read on Fyxomatosis/House Of Pistard a few days ago about some crazy Canadian working as a courier in London. A fuckwit in a Mercedes tried to kill him, and as can happen in situations where morons bring you close to death, he snapped. It ended with a bike through a windscreen, or as some like to call it ‘justice’.

Anyway, it turns out the crazy bastard was none other than the brother of local Hobart-based Canadian courier Dave “American Possum” McCaig. It’s a small world after all!

Ryan McCaig
The Older McCaig

You can read some details about the whole thing here. The kids at House Of Pistard are doing a heap of stuff to cover Ryan’s (or as we like to call him, American Dave Snr’s) damage costs, including some ripper t-shirts. Punk rock fans will notice the blatant rip-off of The Clash’s London Calling CD cover, and we whole-heartedly approve.

McCaig T-shirt

Go buy one so Dave has someone to hang out with when he gets to London!

Bikes and Bridges

Defiance Ohio are a totally neat band from Florida. They make awesome heartfelt folk punk music about good stuff (including bikes). They’re touring here in January. You show go and see them.

Even Columbus looks better on the back seat of a bike and all my fears get washed away in a stream of blinking lights and the concrete strip below seems less like a noose and more like a tie that binds or at least a tourniquet. it’s been such a hard season and the bridges we burned might be all we had to keep us from drowning. but at least we had this time; and i’d like to think we’re better off for it. i’ll remember this. sometimes broken things make the best building supplies. and we’ll keep on building. hearts aren’t made of glass, they’re made of muscle and blood and something else. and they don’t so much as break as bend and tear. we have what it takes to keep it together; and move on.

-Defiance Ohio, Bikes and Bridges (from their record Share What Ya Got)

Def,OH said…
Any relationship that matters – a friendship, a family, a romance, a band – anything – is a perilous and fragile thing because along with all the amazing experiences and creations that can come from something so intimate and exhausting comes the possibility for things to crumble and shatter or whither and die. when that happens, it’s easy to forget what was precious amidst all the disaster. we should always carry our history with us but never let it bury us.

The trials and tribulations of Pevis McEllendale (1882)

An example of the long, rich cycling history that exists throughout Tasmania was sent to the BnC inbox last week. We can only hope that such tales of grandeur and glory are told of us hundreds of years in the future.

Ben said I could be a honourary member of the gang even though I don’t ride one of those fixed chain skinny tyred beasts around in circles.

I think my Great, great, great, great, great grand father Pevis McEllendale (who changed his name to James Clark after a long story) was one of the original Iron Horses of rock who competed in 1882.

Legend has it that Pevis rode a respectable race but failed to finish in the top 3 placings. It is understood that Pevis’s bike was way ahead of it’s time having a hollow steel frame instead of solid cast iron. His bike is rumoured to have weighed only 87kg which was around half of the normal for the time, amazing!

The disadvantage that Pevis faced in 1882 with is that his bike had no seat and Pevis was forced to take it up the ass for the whole 13 hours he raced for. It’s no wonder he missed the podium after that shafting. Apparently the creek crossings were an ordeal!!

So in the memory of old Pevis I have no choice but to enter myself into the Bottles and Chains ‘Disciples of the Iron Horse’ Ride event, with no seat! No scratch that, with seat. My race title will be ‘Pevis McEllendale Jnr’.

Disco.

See you there!