Category Archives: Bike
Smackdown #2
Second time I’ve crashed on my own in a month. This slippery miserable shitty weather is not just annoying, now, it’s dangerous! ๐
Of course, it was after the work xmas party and I was tanked but I’d ridden from the city to Ealing without issue. ๐ It was only when I went to suss out the chip shop and hit a very slippery patch of tarmac (I checked it out last night and it was greasy – actually difficult to stand on) that I hit the deck. I was on the Rubble and managed to break off the rear light, shred the rear derailler cable and cut holes in my brand new gloves. WAC.
Again, for some unknown reason, my left shoulder is worse, even though I hit my right hand side. I don’t get it. I’m over this cycling bollocks. I’m off to buy a BMW off a credit crunched banker.
In more positive news, my new commuter is almost ready to roll.. it’s an ’07 Condor Pista + some bits of forum members..
Tour de Ville – Grand Opening
www.tourdeville.co.uk – grand opening
After months of preparation Tour de Ville is almost ready to open it’s doors to the public on December 13th at our new location in London Fields. We will open at 10:00 am at our new address; 50 Lamb Lane, Hackney. You can expect the best in classic road, track, touring and leisure bikes. Next to our range of bikes, parts, frames, clothing and accessories we also have a coffee bar. Coffee served will be the Magnus Maximus brand by Swedish pro cyclist Magnus Backstedt. All of the proceeds from this coffee go towards helping young riders. The coffee foundation directly funds the continental professional Team Cyclesport.se.
Wind Tunnel Testing
Here’s an interesting article about a wind tunnel test at Monash (nicked from Carl’s Blog): fairwheelbikes.com – Monash wind tunnel testing review
Ed: Wanna trade in your funny hat now? ๐
2008 Ghent 6-Day
The lovely gents at Rollapaluza shuttled a bunch of us over to Ghent for a couple of days of track racing action at the Kuipke velodrome during the Ghent 6-day. Fun times.
We left Saturday morning, arrived early afternoon and wandered to Plumes bike shop for some shopping and gawking at their little museum section. Then we ate some steak and chips or moules and frites and headed to the track where we yelled at riders, listened to great eurotrash dance music and got pissed up until 2am. Or 4am Rob?
Sunday morning was a bit rough. Drove into town and then explored the snowy city again looking for random places to eat at. Did some gift shopping and ate more than back to the track for the final day of racing. Erik Zabel was well received but not quite as well as local lad and eventual winner (with partner Robert Bartko) Iljo Keisse! ๐
Snowy trip out of Ghent, calm ferry ride, back at Caspar’s around 12-12.30 and then ride home for 1.30am.
www.cyclingnews.com results here.
Brass Monkey – Winter Rolla League
Wed 19th Nov – 500m – White Hart – E1 4TP
Wed 3rd Dec – 1000m – Horseshoe – EC1R 0AG
More dates will be announced..
Seatless Hour Record
Okay, fan of the Hour I am, but this is just warped!
“News has filtered through to us that a 49 year-old Dutchman will attempt to break the World Hour Record for riding without a saddle (or a seatpost). Maas van Beek, a former tandem pilot of Jan Mulder, will attempt to better the mark of 45.848 km set by none other than Fausto Coppi on the track in Alkmaar, The Netherlands, on Saturday, October 8.
He?s doing it for a good cause: to raise money for the Polar van de Donck foundation, which helps children in Africa who have AIDS.“
The Bike Whisperer
Getting a haircut (and I’ve shaved the beard off.. uh oh) and I’m talking about bikes (is there anything else) when the hairdresser mentions a couple almost on my street who do bike repairs and coaching and stuff. Email them and they even specialise in Powertap work! I’m going to try and take my wheel to them for its battery swap and get some other bits while there. I thought I’d mention them since even before visiting they seem better than Ealing Cycles.