So I’ve been crapping on for ages about getting a new road bike. I’m still not ready to throw away the Pug yet (with super secret Plan X still progressing) so I went half way and bought a frame. It will probably sit in storage for ages due to the aforementioned Plan X but when it does come out it will likely find itself mated with a Campag groupset. This way, I can jump onto either side of the argument about ‘which is the best groupset’. 🙂

Cervelo Super Prodigy Specs:

http://www.cervelo.com/bikes/SPG.html

Full Size Frame image:

http://www.cervelo.com/images/2004/2004-SPRT-full.jpg

For $1999aud RRP I get the STEEL frame, Columbus Muscle carbon fork and the Cane Creek headset and the Cervelo carbon seatpost.

“A steel bike that performs like no other. New lightweight Ultra Foco custom-designed Thermacrom tubeset steel frame design optimized for stiffness-to-weight. Complete Nickel-plated frame for corrostion & abrasion resistance. Exposed Nickel chainstays & seatstays. Includes Cervelo Wolf full carbon fork & carbon seatpost.”

“In 2004 the SuperProdigy bikes will be available in both black/nickel and in Team CSC colors (red/nickel) as used by the team in the Spring classics. The frameset will only be available in Team CSC colors. But supply is limited.”

Yes, this is the last one my LBS could get. It’s the same as the image above – in team colours. It’s damn light. I’d be worried but the Pug lasted quite well under my fat arse so I figure it should be okay. It looks TRICK and will make a great training bike. Cervelo don’t make steel frames any more so it should end up pretty rare – I might even take care of this one 😉

While I sat in an air-conditioned office..

on a weekend doing stupid overtime, some of the others from Aboc were up in the mountains on Climbing Camp:

http://www.aboc.com.au/images/galleries/20041113_climbing_camp/index.html

It SNOWED! We are nearly in summer in Australia and it frickin’ snowed! I’m not sure if I was lucky to be stuck in the office or not now 😉

I’m not dead. I’m flat out at work. I will post something cool when I have some more time.

Meanwhile, here’s a discussion on the UCI’s 6.8kg weight limit

Some arsehole in the back of a white shitbox (plates noted for later use 😉 ) driving down Burke Rd. thought it’d be fun to scream shit into my ear. Normally traffic is moving quickly by, but this guy was close and not going so fast so I copped the full brunt. I was probably in another world too. Suffice to say shit4brains scared the crap out of me. Adrenalin flowing I chased the car. The pathetic piece of shit wouldn’t wind his window down so I could tear off his fucking head – and I think I could’ve ripped it straight off his shoulders with the mood I was in..

All I could do was unload a bunch of language at his window. I thought about smashing the window, but it was a rear passenger and I had enough sense not to, 1) criminal damage charges and 2) it wasn’t the driver and probable owner of the car who yelled.

On a happier note, or is that a stranger note? someone appeared to take a photo of me as they drove by last night…

Maybe they are going to submit it to the Guinness Book for ‘World’s Biggest Arse’ category?

That’s someone filming and someone photographing cyclists (me) in the same week!? WTF is with that??

Mildura-Coomealla Cycling Club

The L & V Westcott Perpetual Shield – Spring Tour, October 31, 2004

www.cyclingnews.com

About bloody time I won something! 😉

(race report to follow)

Well.. to be honest.. they suck!

Road pedals are even more unco to walk in than I thought (as I discovered when picking up photos on the ride home tonight). They are a prick to clip into, especially under pressure. Unclipped, they seem to float near vertical, and I tend to kick the whole pedal around and stomp my foot onto the bottom of the pedal, so that it just flies off and makes me look stupid (not hard). If I wasn’t adjusting to these for racing I’d piss them off and head straight back to SPD territory. Of course, I’m also babying them in a vain attempt to keep the sexy, shiny carbon fibre sole looking schmick. Summary: Great when pedaling, shit when stopping/stopped/starting. I’m sure I will get used to them..

On another note, the float doesn’t seem near as severe as I mentioned initially. When under load, my feet don’t seem to rotate at all, unlike the SPDs. More testing soon..

A recent a.b post lead me to this bike fit page:

How To Measure Fit

After a late (and LARGE) pancake breakfast at the Chocolate Box in Camberwell with Tee, I visited my “dealer” Mick to get a fix. Today’s fix would consist of an even blend of Ultegra SPD-SL pedals (PD-R600) and SPD-SL shoes (the carbon-sole SH-R151’s to be exact).

After 3 or 4 years of using the SPD mountain bike pedal system for commuting, road racing, mtb racing and even track racing I felt I should move to a proper road system for the road and track bikes.

At this stage I’ve roughly positioned the cleats and taken the Pug for a quick spin around the block. Everything feels strange!

The shoe is 3 strap rather than 2 and a lot stiffer than my old Nike SPDs so my feet will have to get used to the change.

The engagement mechanism operates differently requiring a softer click-in in a slightly different position.

One-sided entry will make my starts interesting for a while and I’m sure to slip onto my backside any time I have to walk in these things! They are much less walk-friendly than the SPDs (well.. duh!).

The actual pedaling action feels more solid when powering down but the amount of float took me by surprise – the shoes seem to ‘skate’ around a little more than my SPDs.

Using the good advice of not trying anything new before a race, I will take them off and fit the SPDs before tomorrow’s crit.

– Addendum –

This might answer a few of your questions:

www.cyclingnews.com review the Dura Ace SPD-SLs

Also bought:

– an Alien multi-tool

– one of the new red sidewall Pro Race tyres

– selection of High-5 and GU bars and gels to test out

Did I miss a full moon?

What a strange night!

It started with me racing a minibike on the Hawthorn velodrome! Yep, the very same “toy” I mentioned on aus.bicycle was becoming popular the other day.

Suffice to say… I kicked its arse! 🙂

Some wanker in a Supra or the dodgy Aussie imitation Celica with XIAN WORLD or something written all over it decides zipping in front of me with no indicator is a good idea, then basically pushes a car out of the way to get back in the other lane (cars beeping now), then zips out again.. this continued up the road until I lost him. If you see a purple Supra/Celica covered in XIAN WORLD, kick his fscking mirrors off.

Then a guy in a convertible Porsche does the same “what indicators?” trick. He did a fantastic impression of the opening scene of Office Space, where the protagonist’s lane is stopped so he changes over and then that lane stops and the one he was in starts moving..

As soon as Nigel Mansell here had moved into the left lane, it stopped and the right lane moved forward! I rode past and congratulated him on his awesome move (what the hell, I’m a prick!). Convertibles are great, not only for driver-penile-enhancement but for chatting to drivers – driver’s take note!

Then there was the smiling thumbs up from.. wait for it.. a holden ute driver?!?

Initially I thought he was being sarcastic and that I’d done something wrong by him, but I ran the last kay through my head and couldn’t think of anything that would prompt such a reaction, except for the tram passing. Belting down the hill, the tram was stopping at one of those stupid kerbside blocks, so I took the bike lane, tail-whipped the roadie off the exit lip and bam, in front of everyone! 😀 I figure he was congratulating me on my speed.. 😀

This is useful info for the roadies who want to try a few dirt crits or enduros. It also works the other way around with MTBA members getting a discounted CA membership.

www.hawthorncycling.org