City of Perth Great Bike Ride 2008

That time of year again – the

City of Perth Great Bike Ride.

Once again, wimped out and went for the 53km 1 lap option: there's just no way I can muster the energy to raise my arm to eat my cereal at 5am, yet alone ride 106km! (the distance for the 2 lapper). Maybe one day...

Anyway, roused at 6am, slurped down some muesli then went back to bed 'till 6:45. I only live 15 mins by bike from the start point, and my group ('H' – one of many in the 30-35km estimated average classification) wasn't scheduled to blast off 'till 7:37am, so made it with heaps of time to spare. Rode my trusty Masi 3VC rather than the Ti Dean – the less grammes under me the better!

The weather had looked a little gloomy the previous night; drizzle and showers, but the morning was looking pretty good: fairly cloudy with a smattering of darker ones but nothing scooting in too low, so we looked OK. Also excellent: virtually no wind!

Arriving at Riverside Drive, everything was set to go: lots of riders organising themselves, a jovial announcer (very amusing repartee whilst we waited) and people keyed up and bouncy. There was a little water on the roads but nothing of any concern – hopefully the showers would stay away.

7:30am rolled around and they started letting loose the riders for the 53km ride in their groups at one minute intervals, commencing with 'A'. As they rolled off consecutively, we all shuffled forward – pretty soon group 'G' was up.

At which point, both the start and finish inflatable arches stopped being inflatable! Seems the generator powering the electric fans keeping them inflated died, and both of them flopped ignominiously to the ground. Quick organisation saw them pulled off the road, and the show continued.

As I found out last year the ride is a 'Ride' in name only – it's pretty much a full-on race! As in any race, the initial couple of kms tend to be a bit hectic and the speeds are up (hit 50km/h on one stretch which has gotta be some kind of record for me on the flat! - guess my losing 5 kilos since last year helped) but it pretty soon sorts itself out as those who've over-extended at the start soon hit a wall. Little groups start to form, and when you're riding by yourself, it's your task to try and pick one up which matches your own (fairly pathetic) level!

After around 10kms of flitting here and darting there trying to maneuver around slower riders and find a suitable group, I did indeed hook up with a bunch of 12 or so riders, and enjoyed a good hike with a well drilled bunch. The 'lumpier' sections mid race whittled this bunch down to 5 who stuck together to the end, and it all turned out very well: had an enjoyable and cooperative fang!

Ride was timed again as per last year, but they'll be published later. Going by my Flightdeck, I managed the lap in 1:26:25, which was slightly more than 4 minutes quicker than last year's time, so I was wrapped. Most of the improvement was I'm sure down to the good group I was in, plus a bit more luck with other rider traffic. Maybe my drop from 93 to 88 kgs this year also made a diff!

Overall, a great ride! Highlights included:

• Me managing to see a non-draft assisted 50km/h for a 1km stretch on the flat without blowing a gasket!


• No rain!


• Getting into a bunch who knew what was what – scooting down the freeway at 45km/h in a paceline and having a continuous rotation going was cool (you can tell I don't ride in groups much!)


• Some dude in our group flogging the guts out of his hardtail, front-suspended trail bike! This guy was awesome – whilst the bike was a little low-geared for paceline work, he compensated by just spinning at what looked like a cadence of around 130. If he'd have had a roadie, the rest of us would have been toast!


• No rain!


• The Mosman Park Hill (a nasty little 300 meter leg burner) once again catching bunches of people out: lots of people walking it up. But as per last year, pretty organised – everyone walking kept to the edges


• Best part: didn't see a single prang or close call! Well done all!

Closest thing to a stack was some dickbrain unsure of whether to go to the left or right of a traffic island on a long curving descent, and at the last minute choosing to stay to the left, which necessitated a 35 km/h bunny-hop over the curb of the island. That dickbrain – ME! ***blush***

Roll on next year – maybe if I can drop another 13 kgs, I can keep up to the bunch on uphills!

Ride safe!

"What Mama Said"

Well damn – just damn!

Just picked up a pre-sale ticket for one of the few living guitarists deserving of the sobriquet 'Legend' - the mercurial, eclectic, visionary, masterful, the one, the only Jeff Beck.

I first heard of Jeff when, as a teenager, I came across the album "Truth" when he was then part of the eponymous 'The Jeff Beck Group' featuring none other than Rod Stewart on vocals and Ron Wood on bass. It was released in 1968, but I didn't come across it 'till '75 – still, as soon as I heard it, I understood the pre-eminence of the album: here was pretty much the template for many of the riffs of rock and heavy metal which followed.

Since then, I've been a fan. Across many styles and paths, Jeff's forged a sound that, unlike many of his peers, isn't scared to evolve and grow: no-one could ever claim that he's chased manufactured fame.

So, I finally get the chance to see, hear and experience an idol!

Jeff's playing in Perth on Friday the 23rd January, 2009 at the Challenge Stadium. Tickets available at Jeff Beck Tickets: Challenge Stadium Perth

There's so much good Jeff out there: personally I think some of his best work features on the Roger Waters album 'Amused to Death'.

Hit up YouTube for other Jeff action. Here's an embed below – "A Day in the Life":



Ride safe!

Clothing Gear - Apres Velo

Tootling around on the web (as is my want) I came across a sweet little online Aussie shopfront dealing in a quirky and cool range of t-shirts designed for after-cycle wear: incredibly the name of the place and the range is "Apres Velo"! (meh – go look it up).

So, coolies thought I, and I wandered in to take a peek. Ended up buying 5 T's. Mainly on the strength of being hit in the eye by this design the moment I poked it in the place:

'Cranky'

How cool is that? "Cranky", a nice little pun which accurately describes me when I'm not riding! Or at work.

Anyway, purchased two of these suckers and then also splurged on the following designs:

'Tour De Alpes'

'Fixation'

'Peoples Republic of Pedallers'

That last reeks of Mao Zedong, and would explain why they have a 'manifesto' page on their site – OK, slightly commie, but I'll forgive them for that.

Anyway, I can heartily recommend them (the T's that is, not the rabid doctrine) – they're well made, fit well (extra large for me), humorous, a nice little touch of retro, have a bunch of other designs as well, and have a cool factor on the low side of the Kelvin scale.

Hit 'em up online at Apres Velo - all the pics are a rip from their site.

Oh, and one final reason for keeping them in mind? Apparently their 2009 'Le Chevre Lunatique' range promises "...to depict goats in a variety of arresting positions."

Well, that does it for me – you can NEVER have too much goat!

Ride safe!

La Máquina – Dean El Diente

After close to 2000kms on my Dean 'El Diente' ('The Tooth' in Spanish - *shrug* I dunno!), I thought it about time for a little write up on the beast.

I'd decided early in 2008 to purchase an S&S coupler equipped bike for my next trip to the US: the hassle involved with carting a full sized bike bag around on my last trip was just too much inconvenience, not too mention that every internal flight within the US attracts a not-inconsiderable surcharge for the non-standard sized bike bag. The idea of being able to store the bike away in a suitcase-sized container was just appealing, plus I'd always wanted a Titanium bike.

So, combining the two seemed meritorious, and after much scrounging around on the 'net, and communications with a number of makers, I decided that:

1. It made most sense to have it made in the US and delivered to my starting point of the tours:
2. Dean Bikes was going to be the maker I went with, as not only were they exceedingly helpful, they were also great value-for-money, and had good write-ups online.

So, with a long order lead-time (luckily because it still only just made it in time), my bike was built and delivered to Universal Cycles in Portland for a final build-up and prep (thanks to Mark (owner) and Mike (builder) and the guys!)

Anyway, two tours of Oregon and Washington, plus 2 months of riding back home, and the 'Tooth' is going superbly (no dental work required!)

OK – piccies! First, some whole-of-bike ones:









'La Máquina' is a custom size 3/2.5Vr Titanium S&S coupler equipped road frame – around a size '57', but with some tweaks (longer chainstays, longer wheelbase, altered trail, custom TT slope etc). Shimano Dura Ace group mostly.



Cockpit: Ritchey WCS 4-Axis alloy stem mated to a Ritchey WCS Carbon Logic II bar. Shimano Flightdeck Wireless. Cinelli Cork bar tape. DA 7800 shifters.



Head: Ritchey WCS 1/1-1/8 non-integrated headset.



Front: Easton EC90 carbon fork, with carbon steerer and dropouts. DT Swiss RR 1.2 rims mated to Dura Ace hub with Sapim CX Rays – 24 front and 28 rear. Vittoria Diamante Pro 23s.



Front triangle showing Dean logo and S&S couplers.



Chainset is a FSA SL-K Light (53/39) with MegaExo ceramic BB. Front and Rear DA mechs. DA chain. Ultegra 'Ice Grey' SPD-SL Pedals. Old skool SS bottle cage. 25/12 DA cassette.



Ritchey WCS alloy seatpost. Fizik Arione saddle.

So – that's her!

How does she ride? - beautifully! Ti is compliant yet lively – transmits road feel, but never to a jarring point. As a custom fit, it is nigh-on perfect. Steers quickly, but a little less razor-like than an all-out racer – an important point for longer tours that I deliberately wanted. Although it looks spindly, the BB area is super stiff – no jellying of response when you stamp on it out-of-saddle. Similarly the rear triangle and head area is also tight – I've never had a 'moment' on the bike, including descending at 80kmh plus, around twisties and across rough, rough roads. The RR1.2s are also laterally stiff and vertically accommodating – as a total package, she is very comfortable in saddle and confidence inspiring.

Build quality is excellent – the welds are a thing of beauty. Compared to Merlins and Moots that were on tour, I'd class the quality of finish and welds as good as these two brands.

Personally, I think she's the 'Duck's Nuts'!

Ride safe!