$1000 for anyone with instant common cold cure…

2-frickin-am and I have litres of snot to spare for anyone with a bucket. The tissues aren’t holding up well to the onslaught so I’ve moved on to firing snot rockets into the sink! Poor hatchback (who was keeping me warm by sleeping on the bed) think it’s brekkie time and gets up to see what all the noise is. “Just early morning hippy draining” I tell him.

Burwood In, Doncaster Out & Dalmore Drive DFL

Found a section of Doncaster Rd today where they are redoing the tram lines. No access to cars.. but bikes slip through 🙂

It was at the tail end of 3.5hrs on the roadie (Burwood Hwy, City, Doncaster Rd, Home). I’ve decided to add Doncaster Rd. to my list of “commute routes” just to get some extra kays in. Did it today as part of my program and to see what it looks like in daylight 🙂

I rode past all the construction (barriers are for carse not bikes :P) and noticed they are laying down some serious amounts of concrete in some deep holes – not something I want to hit at night!

Pretty sore today after 5-6hrs on the bike yesterday, including 1hr spent racing a hot C grade crit at Dalmore Drive. DFL thankyou very much, after doing a turn chasing a break and then being caned by the following bunch! Shit! Carl won it from the break – nice one!

Also used Saturday to find that I can’t corner for shit! It was basically a hard day’s riding that left me physically drained and mentally depressed. Not good.. must fix that during the upcoming season. Maybe I should start bike drag racing? Then I wouldn’t have to worry about hills or corners!! 🙂

It's 1 o'clock in the morning..

and I’m watching the Athens Olympics men’s road time trial in-between fitting new tyres and brake pads to the Pug.

A recent spate of flats means fitting more durable training tyres is a wise idea – at least while I’m in base training just clocking up kays. They have to be more durable than Pro Race. They have to be cheaper than Pro Race. They have to be red. I settled on Schwalbe Stelvio front and rear.

Schwalbe Stelvio Specs:

Article num. 11646613 Name STELVIO

Application Racing – Competition Execution Folding Tire

ETRTO 23-622 Performance RaceGuard

Size(inch) 700 x 23C Compound Dual

Tread HS 350 Color R/B-SK

EPI 67 Pressure_psi 85-145

Max_load Weight(gram) 235

$63.95 AUD RRP

Oh, the brake pads are $8/pair Prodanti ones.. in red of course!

Review: "Axiom SprintAir" road bike frame pump

Axiom SprintAir Pump

Axiom SprintAir (~$40AUD)

I think it has “Axiom” on the barrel and “Air Supply” on the head.

Sales blurb:

– High efficiency aluminum barrel

– Ribbed aluminum handle with twist lock

– 160psi maximum

– Instant attach Presta head

– Patch kit and schrader adapter inside handle

– Lifetime guarantee

– 110g

My blah blah:

I’ve used this for two roadside puncture repairs since buying it and it’s my favourite frame pump to date. Prior to this I’ve used a Blackburn and another one that I don’t know the details of right now (good reviewer eh? :P). The Blackburn is still going but the other one is dead. The Axiom is lighter and skinnier than the Blackburn and doesn’t require twisting a lockring once on the valve – just push it on and start pumping. Too easy. It feels reasonably solid for a light frame pump unlike the last one I had. It looks better too. There’s no pressure gauge on this one, but I figure pump it up as hard as possible and get yourself to a track pump asap.

Damn you Pro Race!

Okay.. my fault for leaving a holed tyre on the bike with no repair attempted but still..

(If only I’d patched the tyre.. If only I’d patched the tyre.. If only I’d patched the tyre.. )

I think I’m going to take the Michelin’s off and fit some training tyres with a bit more meat on them. They have to be red. I think I spotted some red Vittoria Rubino’s in my LBS the other day, they’ll do. Cheaper than Pro Race too.

At least the recent bout of punctures means I got to test Gemma’s “leave your bike up the right way when fixing flats” method. It is easy but I still forget to shift into the smallest cog first (The wheel goes in with the chain in the middle of the cassette but it’s easier if the chain is on the smallest cog).

I’ve also used my new frame pump a couple of times now and it works a treat!

Thanks to Carl for the lend of a tyre and his spare HRM so I can send my S710 back to get its battery replaced.