Great tastes that go together

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Lured by lurid promises of gold lurex, I embarked on the opening night event for Brizzy Bike Fest, the Night Rider + Poker Cat.

We (Elle, myself, ‘BQ’ Emma (not that Emma)) rocked up just a tiny bit late, to find Winn Lane in the Valley choked by a gaggle of single-speeders, people with funny hair and ‘80s costumes, dude with spokey dokes on their mountain bikes, and one brave girl riding a CityCycle. About 30 riders, with an encouraging number of women amongst them.

The idea: visit each of five check points and pick up a playing card. Best poker hand at the end of the ride wins. So also does first person home of each gender. And best dressed.

The ride began social, cruising out of the Valley and down to the City Botanical Gardens, for a spot of treasure-hunting. Knog lights to be specific. And then it all went ballistic. A race along Alice and Albert Streets to get to Brew for a shot of espresso. I lost Emma at some point there (probably cos I was chasing hard after Eleanor).

And then over the Kurilpa Bridge to West End. The very best thing to have in the middle of a bike ride, straight after a shot of espresso, is a hot dog. Josh had lined up a hot dog vendor, and to get your next card you had to eat the whole damn thing. Bleurgh.

Quite frankly, I made up time on Eleanor on the hot dog leg. And we all set off for the West End ferry terminal together, with Michelle and Beth too.

Straight out from the hot dog stop, Elle put in a massive sprint along Riverside Drive. She has quite a turn of speed. So of course, I had to chase again. By the way, this was my first longer ride on the revamped Shogun. Love everything about it, this bike rocks.

Blasted past Elle as soon as her sprint wore off, and then chased down a bloke on a road bike who was also part of the ride. By this stage we were at least halfway along Riverside Drive, and BQ Emma was nowhere in sight, so I came to my senses and slowed down. We got around to the ferry terminal and then back to The End, a bar in West End to finish the ride.

Super fun on a steamy night. Drinks and laughs for an hour or so afterwards, and I met an awesome new cyclocross bike, that I hope to feature soon on this blog.

Thanks Josh. Hope the rest of the Fest is as good as this!

The Trickle-down Theory of Bicycle Economics, or How To Get Around N+1

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So I didn’t race the Great Escape Gravity Enduro, and I am bummed about that. Several lovely friends said encouraging things to me during the week, but you don’t have to be ‘deficit-focused’ to realise when you have massively stuffed up. Maybe I’ve learned something out of this, who knows.

But life goes on. And my happy news is that my oldest bike has had a make-over, and is once again a star member of the briztreadley stable.

I bought the Shogun Alpine GT sometime in the mid-late 90s. It was a touring bike in its original spec: drop bars, triple crank, Shimano STX components, cantilever brakes (that were never any good), TIG-welded steel frame made in Taiwan.

Touring bikes were hard to find at the time … the legendary Gemini World Randonneur had just stopped production a year before, and this is well before the release of the Surly Long Haul Trucker that is so popular these days. Cannondale and Trek both made tourers that were well beyond my budget at the time, but weren’t much better specced. St Kilda Cycles was the only place to buy the Shogun Alpine GT, so I ordered one over the phone/fax, and it was sent up to Flashing Pedals to be built up.

This was my main bike for about seven years, until I got the Frezoni (for my 40th).  And it covered all duties. Mostly commuting, some touring, three Sydney-to-Surfers rides and eventually some bunch rides (Bruce got me into that).

But when faster road bikes such as the Frezoni and later the Enigma came along, the Shogun was pushed to the back of the queue. For a while it was kept in repair so that Adrian could ride it on the weekly Wednesday morning kids ride that finished at McDonalds. Adrian stopped going on that ride when he was in year 10, I think, and he’s just about to turn 22.

So to save it from sitting in the shed, I had it turned into a flat-bar single speed, and it lived at the BQ office, for rides around the city.

But the turning point for the remake of the Shogun came early this year, when I picked up a set of Shimano XTR v-brakes from a bloke on the MTB Dirt forum. And put them on the Shogun.

All of a sudden I liked riding the Shogun. But I have never got hold of the single-speed thing. So I wondered how I could resurrect the Shogun without spending much money.

Inspiration came a couple of months ago, courtesy of Handsome Bicycles’ release of the XOXO.

And the resulting rebuild finally came together yesterday.

Thanks Dean for helping me with the build.

The new spec includes:

  • 1 x 9 gearing, with Campag Veloce bits, left over after the Frezoni went to 10-speed recently. Downtube shifter scavenged from The Bicycle Revolution, operating in friction mode (that’s right, no indexed gears!!)
  • Soma Moustache handlebar (thanks Epic Cycles), Tektro brake levers that pull the right amount of cable for v-brakes (thanks Mark Grulke)
  • 700 x 32 Specialized ‘cross’ tyres. I like the feel of them so far, but I haven’t been for a long ride yet. The wheels were once on my Frezoni, they are Velocity Deep V rims (legendary tough), teamed with Campag Veloce hubs.
  • Those marvellous Shimano XTR v-brakes. I know I go on about them, but they are the best brakes I’ve ever had on a road machine.

So that’s a urban-warrior, dirt-road-demon, go-anywhere-anytime, sort of bike. It’s the opposite of ‘specialised’. I am going to have fun on this machine, wherever it goes.

Busy being reborn, or maybe dying

Oh yeah, just briefly ...

Not much (good) news at the moment. Fell off the mountain bike on Monday, attempting a jump that was beyond my ability. Not my cleverest moment.

Busted shoulder. Participation now very doubtful for the Great Escape Gravity Enduro.

[Insert sad face icon here]

But the Brizzy Bike Fest is going to be fun, and I will be attending as much of it as possible. Eleanor’s doing the inviting over on her blog, how could you resist an offer like that?

Muddy, grey, rude or late

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Maybe Eleanor got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning, but when it gets onto the positive bit, this expresses really well what I was trying to say a couple of weeks ago.

For every time I have been one of you, I apologise. I will try to ride better each day. I will acknowledge your presence on the path. I will give way to pedestrians. I will wear lights. I will not blind you with my unnecessary head lamp lights. I will use hand signals. I will act like traffic so that you can treat me like traffic. I will pass nervous newbies with a cheery “passing” and cede to faster riders with a courteous acknowledgement. I will wait for the lights to change. If I am running late, I will remember that running rude – or worse running injured/dead – is way worse.

I cannot change your behavior, and I’m conscious my own record is muddy and grey, but I am seriously prepared to work on mine.

Preach it, sister.

Oof! Zap! J-Pow!

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I’m really enjoying the Behind The Barriers videos that follow the adventures of cyclocross racer Jeremy Powers, also known as J-Pow. The only way to improve them would be the occasional fight scene …

The whole Behind The Barriers series (we’re up to Season 2, number six at present) can be found here.

Cos it’s this much fun

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Why do I like mountain biking?

Because you’re either smiling or saying ‘holy sh*t!’. In this pic, maybe Emma’s doing both.

At Mt Joyce today, for a reconnaissance before the Great Escape Gravity Enduro (click the link to enter … I have!).

We (Em, JP, me) rode all the downhills that will be used in that event. And scared ourselves silly (well I did on Sargeants, anyway).

Here’s JP, pinning that same corner on Bovine Groove … concentrate John!

Capped for your safety

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The cycling cap is simultaneously the dorkiest piece of sporting equipment ever, and (sometimes) the absolute coolest.

I can’t really pull it off myself. But I know some people who can.

We organised for the 2011 South Bank kit to have a cap, but it turned out to be a bit too large for me. Bummer.

I bought some pants recently, and a cap came along for free. Nice.

A website that I read regularly has caps as merch. Better than getting a jersey, I would say. And now you can get a Richard Sachs, without waiting for years. That’s got to be worth at least $20 of those American dollars. Plus postage. So maybe $40 then.

But here’s the cap that’s top of my wishlist. Susan makes the coolest stuff, including both caps and capes. Of course I want a Brisbane one. A cap. As far capes go, I think we’re back in the “Don’t Think I Could Pull That Off” department.

And Susan does custom stuff too. First five people in the comments to say that they would wear a briztreadley.com cap (or to hit ‘Like’ on Facebook) will get a super-special discount in the unlikely event that I get myself organised into the whole merchandising thing. (I’ve been waiting for months to buy a helmetsarehot.net t-shirt. It’s the only thing I want for Christmas.)

Some folks even wear their cycling caps while cycling. For under-helmet-wear I favour a Buff in winter and a CoolCap in summer.

The cap is apré velo.

UPDATE: Looks like AnnaB, Ernesto & Floody are the recipients of the super-special on some imaginary merchandise. Well done!

Land of the Riding Sons

Oh yeah, just briefly ...


This is good. An artist (Thomas Yang) in Singapore who makes prints (& some t-shirts) on a cycling theme, and does 100 copies of each piece.

If a cycling blog was ever looking for prizes to give away for a competition that they might theoretically run, that they might potentially use 100 copies as a source for such prizes.

AND on the subject of ‘this is good’, Pearson Cycles in the UK have a new range of frames for 2012. You should go to their site and check them out. Not because the designs are outstanding or different, but because the product names are hilarious. The touring frame is called “I May Be Some Time”, the road-race frame is “Mine Goes to Eleven” & so on. Super stuff.

Update: Have now had email contact from Thomas, who seems like a very nice man. Another reason to buy his stuff! (I like the ‘Recycle’ print).

Slow down, you move too fast

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I like to ride fast, sometimes. But more and more, I am enjoying riding my bike slow.

In the road bunch, usually I’m happy to go as hard as the bunch wants to go. But there is a regular exception. And that is whenever the bunch goes onto a bike path.

For me, the maximum speed on a bike path is 25 km/h. Especially one where there is potential for interaction with pedestrians.

I say there is an important principle in play in this situation. When we are on the road, cyclists (rightly) expect motorists to treat them as though we are all in this together, and as though our lives are as important as anybody else’s.

Cyclists therefore should understand the pedestrian’s perspective, when we venture onto shared off-road paths. In both situations, the more vulnerable user of the space deserves special consideration from the more dangerous user of that same space.

Buzzing past pedestrians and joggers at 35-40 km/h shows a lack of respect and empathy.

And the two places where I ride, that I think this is a real issue? The Bicentennial Bikeway (Coro Drive bikeway), and the Ted Smout Bridge (Redcliffe to Brighton).

Here’s a song to help us all chill out.

Whack that into your iPod before you start riding. Might make a difference.