again the roadie was the focus. and i saw this. i was almost shaking.

scott CR1 - team 08 model weighing in at around 8.3kg … nuts!

it is bloody beautiful. it’s pretty much carbo but in a roadie form.
now where’s that list again?:
carbon seat stays [check + full carbon ah.. bonus], mavic aksium wheels [check], 105 full running gear [check], looks like sex [CHECK!].

so this is the one, + it has a white seat, i love bikes with white seats. i spoke to a different sales guy, phil was busy, so we discussed a fair bit of stuff, i questioned him on the best price so he then went and spoke to phil. phil’s asked me was there anything else, i said just shoes, he laughed and asked if i wanted pedals with them. we both giggled then he told me the price… my jaw dropped. with pedals and a good pair of shoes [as phil says a good pair] 2.5k. that is just unbelievable value for what this bike is.

now i have a target and a mission. i know this bike has been in the store for a little while & without getting my hopes up to high if i can raise the funds from my freelance jobs this week, it will be in my bike room very shortly.

but again being realistic i also had a good suss of the giant TCR alliance 2. a bit cheaper but still a very nice steed indeed. it did feel a fair bit heavier than the scott but the components were almost as good. if the scott doesn’t happen it is down to the wire with the masi and the giant.

please pay the bills freelance clients… please?

side on from the website

GRAN CORSA: more designed for comfort and a little bit cheaper than their others but has all the gear. carbon seatstays, carbon forks. 105 shifters and ultegra rear.
GRAN CRITERIUM: vintage decals with carbon seatstays and chainstays, carbon forks but with sram rival 10 running gear. the frame style is a little more race and the wheels are a little more “look at me kimmy” but i am still fine with that.
then the piece de resistance…

the 3VC 105:
full carbon frame, 105 shifting, derailleurs, and a truvativ 2.2 compact cranks set.

when i saw the 3VC 105 it really started to come together quiet nicely. this is a carbon roadie that wreaks of style and i love the burgundy/dark feel. the rear stays curves are a bloody nice touch, and the spec is outstanding value for money now it is just a mater of finding the mulla!

yeah, i know the giant is a great buy [i hear you paul] but it is still a commodore. it will do the job, [i will probably end up with one] but i am not that keen on a generic styled bike. i like to be a little left of field and the 3VC is seriously one of the best looking bikes i can find, much like all the masi range.

i enquired today about one. mccyclery [mr foxes friend’s and clients] are a masi dealer and grant who i spoke to was unreal. not pushie [no pun intended] but he seemed geniune and interested in helping me. i will find out on tuesday what the price of one is. i am a little concerned it could be out of my range… but as i said before, tarini is a smallish back-up fund… maybe????

the roadie bizarrely enough will end up being the most ridden bike in the stable. for this reason i am going to focus on a new bike. something with warranty. the minimum spec i would really like it to have is:

• a full 105 group set
• mavic aksium wheels [hopefully]
• carbon rear stays
• carbon seat post
• carbon forks

at purchase time i will also need to have the funds to buy a pair of road shoes as well. i am not going to ride to work once a week without having good ROAD shoes/cleats. not mtb shoes on a roadie bike.

as in the last post i called into blaxland cycles the other day. he is a dealer for the new “oppy” malvern star range and i am really interested in the bol d’or but he explained to me they have all sold out and may not be brought back into AUS. also if they are they would be way over the current price which was $2000 for a full carbon bike, mavic aksium wheels and 105 throughout. unbeatable value… sad news really

sadly i have also been thinking that if i really do want to go hard on the roadie possibly tarini may need to be sold? its a little weird even mentioning it but it just seems as though the level bike i want is just slightly out of my price range… aint that always the way!

so i am now on the hunt. i have a few bikes i am eyeing off…

pinarello FP1 - so far my No.1 pic. sweet… but very racing geometry wise

emc2 - etap pro - quite loud visually

scott CR1 Comp - full carbon frame but lower specs…

scott speedster s20 - the other scott option… all alloy but a good spec’d frame

specialized Allez Elite 2009 - red … very very red

Giant TCR alliance 2 - almost impossible to pass up. value for money, and at least it isn’t red!

man. roadie bikes are seriously gaudy hey. i know… lets make the graphics even louder.

aidan called me in the evening to come home, karen was really bad and when we spoke he took it upon himself to tell me at the end of the call that he will call me around 7.30. so as it turns out, that is around about where the train goes through the lapstone/glenbrook tunnel so the phone drops out. when i came out the other side i had a message from him. it seems so trivial but it was a real highlight in my life. one of my boys was really starting to grown up, is able to be relied on, and is really maturing. this is his call. lol. so bloody cute!

aidan my little man

when i dropped off the boys to school. i followed through to precision to pick up the raleigh. i had dropped it off earlier in the week and it was ready to be picked up after a sand blast. here she is ready for precision.

all ready for the blast

my head badge protection taping - do you see the problem? read on

so i picked up the frame. it cost a total of $66 which was a little more than i expected but i was really surprised with the result. i though it would be bare metal but it wasn’t. it had a kind of film? on it. i was a little confused but i knew it was as clean as so i knew i could work with it. i paid up and returned home but on the way i picked up some items to start working on the frame, steel wool, sand paper block etc. as well as a sneeky drop into a bike store at blaxland.

once i was at home i checked with work and there wasn’t anything i could do from home so i started to prep the forks. the idea i had was to patina finish the frame with hand polished [not high buff style, just autosol’d by hand] lugs and fork crown etc. the look was inspired by fast boy

fast boy cycles patina frame. just stunning

using the steel wool, i worked on cleaning/clearing the weirdish finish that was left from the sand blasting then light buffing the fork crown. i had a metal patina style paint i had picked up earlier from bunnings and i started to apply it to the main for stays. it was working exactly as planned but i also know i was going to have my work cut out steeling down the entire frame. i also had to clean off some of the old paint work from under the head badge so i was going to start there. when i started inspecting the badge my face dropped and a really horrible feeling came over me…

more crack than a plumber on a hot summers day

THE FRAME HAD A MASSIVE CRACK IN THE HEAD TUBE!

FFS! … i just walked around the deck a few times swearing. man did i have the shits. all this effort only to have the bitch have a crack… NOOOOOOO!

…

…

…

i went upstairs and made a tea. as the kettle boiled i smiled. man… at least i didn’t find out whilst i was going 60km+ an hour down mitchels pass! now that could have been really seriously nasty.

so…

i spoke to justin and when he went out to pick up the paino he actually spoke to peter about it and peter did mention that he could fix it. thanks mate for asking hey, that did make my day! but all in all the bike cost $200 all up, it isn’t 531 tubing, it’s not a ultra special frame by any means. after a fair bit of thought on the train home tonight i think i will just list it on ebay. someone may buy it. i will also list any parts that came with it as well and hopefully i will recover some money and right it off as a big learning curve.

i knew i should have just brought the carbon bars with the money from scottie!

it has also made me pull my finger out and i am determined to finish all frelance work off. i have permission from management to use one of the payments to buy a new bike, so it is looking like i will be getting a new road after all. just when will be the big thing. hopefully very soon… but i will see.

as organised everyone turned up for the ride at yellomundee today. i was really pumped because it is usually just me and carbo so the thought of a clan of riders was really exciting. at 6.30 when i woke up it was starting to rain and it didn’t look promising at all for the day ahead. i had a text from ross, nick and brad who were running just a little late due to a flat tire on nicks loaner yeti bike and having to change to knobbys on ross’s before even starting the drive out to yellomundee from the soap offices.

i left at around 7.20 am and took it a little bit more reserved on the decent to the track as the road was wet and the rain had only just passed. as i turn out of our driveway i realised it was blue skys up the mountains which always means it will clear up and the day will be fine.

after arriving at the track that did happen and the day was pretty much perfect. the sun was out but the wind was really cold so it meant that you could ride hard without busting out a mega sweat. the guy arrived and we took off pretty much straight away. i basically took them on the usual run i do which is a good start and warm up with a short decent then a climb returning back to the top side of the car park, around the top twists and then fire trail and onto the first short bends with a few drops.

this then climbs out to the top of the second technical decent and by this stage your heart is seriously pumping the red stuff around and you certainly know you are alive. we descended through it and it was at this point i really started to realise how familiar i was with the track. i know this place like the back of my hand now and i descend with confidence and speed. at one point i was reverse sliding the rear wheel as it was locked up. basically turning into a right hand hairpin with a inner slide - rather than the normal pushed outter slide.

Nic test drives the Yeti from Ross Raeburn on Vimeo.

but not being fooled nick, ross and brad are pretty blood good riders and they kept up really well. considering they had never ridden the track they attacked every part and i was really surprised at the speed we went through the first section in. when we hit the bottom i thought it would be good to go back up the fire trail and do the same section again. on the second run you really can start to enjoy it, you feel so much more familiar with the track. everyone was loving it!

the second time round we took the right at the bottom and went over the bridge, then up the first true technical section. i didn’t get up the first couple of goes but ross was like a goat and didn’t quaver once. straight up np. nick and brad tried but they didn’t really care to much about making it up it so we just pressed on. we made it to the second technical section which i really very rarely have issues with and again ross nailed it first run, as did i and brad and nick tried but again, they don’t really care to much so they walked up.

we kept riding through the track until the traditional “poo” came. this time it was nick so a 5 minute interval was called as he fertilised the track. it sounds gross but every bloody ride i do with 3-4 people there is always a bog stop!

we took off and the track was starting to move more into the flow area. ross was a little behind because he was taking the photo above and then puting his camera away so we rode for a bit and waited for him. as the three off us stood there we heard an all mighty “farrrrk” only to look across and see ross flying through the air without any bike straight towards a barbed wire fence. we asked if he was ok but with no response we kinda started to shit ourselves. thankfully when we got to him he was ok and just a bit surprised i think. FOR ONCE IT WASN’T ME! it made for an amazing view, but man it was funny shit.

we rode through the rest of the first half of the track and made our way back to the clearing/transition area. at this point it was 9.00am so justin and the guys were arriving then so i rode up to the car park to find them just arriving.

in the carpark talkin crap - photo jing

justins mate david forgot water and unfortunately had to drive up and get some from the shopping centre which was a bit of a hike away, so we all waited around until he returned. once he did we took off. all 10 of us BMX bandit style. we followed the same path ross, nick, brad and i had completed earlier. by the time we made it to the bridge everyone was damn happy, but at this point we realised we had lost david. the poor guy hadn’t really been for a MTB ride before and as much as it looked/seemed easy for you first ride it would have been way to technical.

we pressed on though and everyone seemed bloody happy so far. again at the end of the bridge we tackled the first tech climb. ross - up it np again, me, a couple of goes and all good. justin, second attempt and he was up, but most of the other guys had a few difficulties which was pretty normal considering. was great as everyone was keen to encourage each other to get up it.

we continued on to the next technical section where again, i had no problems because i do it every week. ross the same up first go, justin 2nd attempt and he had it totally done. a few of the other guys did make it up this. then back out onto the flowing track. most seemed surprised with how flowing the track was and how pretty the track is. i tend to forget as it is my local so i just focus on the clock, not the surrounds. not time for rubber necking.

as we made it through the whole track we would stop and let all catch up. again, i tend to forget i am XC all the way, not focused on technical, i am a man with a mission, time, speed, skill. by the time we had made it back to the final stretch everyone was pretty knackered. although it was sunny it wasn’t overly warm the wind was cool but still a good 40min ride had pushed everyone pretty hard.

ross, nick, brad and i had chores for the day so i couldn’t really afford another lap - which kinda pissed me off but that’s the rules when you are a dad. i still had to move .5 cubic  metre of mulch and mow our 4 tiered lawn… no to mention climb the hill to home. the 3km 15min ride up.

in all was a great ride by man, i was happy to ride with others, not solo. nicks loaner 575 was good but it really made me realise how i have made a great decision in buying the carbon hardtail. carbo is completely suited to my style of riding. i am fast on it and am really bedding in with him. although the 575 was a great bike, it would be a marathon ride. nick didn’t like climbing on it at all. today i rode it back to CBD and after a little bit of playing with it i found it not tooo bad for climbing. pro-pedal worked but there is no doubt you would have to spend a fair bit of time setting it all up and the set-up would vary dramatically depending on the riding conditions, track and terrain.

here are some of other images from jing. i took my phone but didn’t ride with a bag, so i took no images. my bad! and thanks jing for taking the shots.

zi the power machine and justin almost making it… so close mr fox!

i really should look around a bit more. it is a pretty special place yellomundee

well done david. at least you gave it a go! props. it ain’t an easy track

this week has been another monsterous working week. lots of late nights followed by very busy days. but it will all be worth it tomorrow when mr fox, mr eldridge, mr toss gayburn [dude on the right], the lion, jing, and a few others [hoping more] turn up to the local for a ride.

nick has borrowed the above yeti 575 for the weekend.

mr fox will be sleeping in and running in the second peleton.

i am SO FUCKEN PUMPED about going for a ride with everyone. it has really been a long time coming. there will be lots of pics for sure.

i have now confirmed with management that i will be buying a roadie [i think]

pumped!

i have always wanted to do a run at a velodrome. i know that dunc grey does allow you to hire it out much the same as a mtb hire place, or a go-kart venue. after a bit of enquiry a while back i worked out it wasn’t the cheapest but the main issue, like most of my riding is going solo. i don’t really want a full tilt lesson, just a few quick pointers then a wrap around until the legs gave way.

there is something about traveling as fast as you can on a purpose built banked cornered track that appeals to me and after seeing the above video i think it may because it is very much like go-kart racing. i really miss the kart racing, although it was only a short stint for my racing career, i loved every second of it.

the reason for all this, i had a strange flickr friend request today. swobo clothing. i was pretty excited. i have much respect for their clothes both urban style and riding apparel. after visiting the site and doing a run around links etc i came across the track cam video.

The saturday before last i took the boys to SUPER X at parramatta… a different kind of cycle event. it was bloody awesome. Rob from work had suggested we go and take the boys and it was worth every cent. at first i was a little hesitant at the cost but when i put it up against a ticket to the wiggles it was so worth the money.

these guys are ultra talented and they may not be as endurance fit as at MTB/Roadie they are just as amazingly balanced and so talented, not to mention the complete lack of fear. the air they are getting under race conditions is just nuts

just another day at the office for mr reed

as expected chad reed was just more than a cut above the rest. his speed was crushing to all others not to mention the lines he took. daniel reardon performance was about as close as anyone could get to chad. even with his pure dominance the racing was really exciting and totally enthralling.

with the finals being a new format of survival 20 start - 5 laps then last 5 were dropped. 2 minutes in the “pits” before the next race 15 start - 5 laps, and so on until a final 5 for the last shoot out.

in the second last heat chad didn’t get the first hairpin right so he was delegated to the back of the field, but all this did was make the race even more exciting. within a couple of laps he was back in the front, but it was just the places he passed everyone that was exciting. his attack over the whoppy-de-doos was unsurpassed by any other rider. you could also tell how dialed up his bike was. he would triple jump in places that no other rider would even attempt to. the bikes acceleration was unbelievable. i guess thats why he is the world champion.

phhffttt. last at the first corner … first 2 laps later

funnies thing was aidan was in tears at the end of the final race. he didn’t want chad to win because he had won every race. lol. he’s a lovely kid, thinking of the other guys racing as well.

all the other guys that came with rob, as well as rob, were a bit surprised how good my boys are. i was so proud of them. they ARE great kids, really well behaved and a joy to spend time with. i really enjoy taking them out to things like the SUPER X. they deserve it. at one point i turned around to see lachlan all over rob. rob being a dad didn’t mind but it was funny shit. thats my kids. loving and not scared to show it which i am really proud of. i hope they never lose the urge to hug people, in a few years i know they will.

my boys - best kids ever