Monthly Archives: June 2011

don’t stop (top) rocking, baby

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Are you heading to this?

Apparently there’s a lot hopping and going on this day. If you are into bikes and you like swapping bits of your bike. Or showing bits of your bike.

Seems it’ll run like this:

What?

An extravaganza of bike showing, swapping, selling and haggling, the likes of which Brisbane has never seen before. Pushies Galore is an event for all cyclists to buy, sell, swap and drool over bikes. Yes, this is the event you have been asking for. For a gold coin you will be granted access to cycling wonderland.

When?

Sunday 17 July 2011, 10am to 1pm

Where?

Holland Park Bowls Club, Abbotsleigh St, Holland Park

Why?

Because bikes are good for you, bowls clubs are wonderful places and we don’t get enough chances to come together as a community.

Who?

Trade stallholders include:

Bella Velo
Bicycle Revolution
Bicycle Stu
Bowls Club Craft Group
Brisbane Outdoor Gear
Cooper Bikes
Deadly Treadlys
Epic Cycles
F Fast Cycling Club
Fiik Skateboards
Gear Brisbane
Glenn Evan Massage
Good Concepts
Hicks Sign Co.
Joe Gosgrove
Lancaster Electric bikes
Lewis & Sons Powder Coating
Marc Lee Bamboo Bikes
Midget Campertrailers
Oxley Cycles
Safe Cycling Australia
Troy Thompson

Food, drinks and coffee courtesy of:

Bar Bowls Club (proudly supported by Little Creatures)
Kombi Koffein
Lions BBQ
The Smoothie Cycle

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Now, perhaps them prizes will be noice, maybe some sweet saddle action – JUSTINE THIS IS FOR YOU.

But I was kind of wondering, any ladies feel like a Sunday ride out that way with me? I’ll ask really nice. Might even ride in heels*.

 

*doubtful.

 

 

It just gets better

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See how yesterday was good? (because ANNA MEARES GOT IN TOUCH)

Today is almost better.

Because today, if you are somewhere where I am not, and you are a woman who likes to cross your cycles then you will be able to go to this All Women All Singing All Mud Slinging All Skills Building play session with Kate – podium darling and friend of women’s cycling. You just have to decide to.

(via DDCX, via Janet Hill)

Here’s the deal:

Hi all – I hope you can join us next Sunday for a run through some cross basics in preparation for round 2 of Dirty Deeds Urban Cyclocross.

Cyclocross skills session – Sunday 3rd of July

10.30 – 12.00 at Darebin Parklands – meet at the Ranger Station

Running through dismounts and remounts, barrier jumping, hill running and anything else you would like to focus on.

We will finish up with a short mock race for the giggles.
Nik and Blakey will be on hand to give technical pointers.

Bring any bike – cross ready or not.

Please pass on to anyone I have forgotten or any of your friends may be interested.

Hope to see you there,

Kate.

You know you want to. Dang it. I want to. I know it might be weird, because I think (suspect) that there is cyclocross in Brisbane and yet I seem to be making no effort whatsoever to go in it. See, how it takes me massive amounts of encouragement to get out and ride?

I would literally need someone like Kate to be pumping it up hard and fast to get me out of my fat-koala butt comfort zone and encouraging me with GIGGLES in order to get me riding in this in QLD.

I don’t know quite why this is. Maybe because I don’t have ten friends, or ten friends I think I could make to make me go along. And, in some senses, I have a fear that Brisbane people are going to do cyclocross in quite a sporty way, not in a quite a silly way. But hey, that’s judging from a long way from the outside. And, maybe, it’s because I don’t want to go alone.

Although, the internet tells me that on the 16th of July, there is this action available via the Ipswich Cycling Club. Regrettably, I almost believe that it would take the people at Surly themselves to lend me a bike to try out, because I just can’t see myself getting a. organised, b. a bike and c. race fit in time.

Actually. Bugger. I just saw that they posted a nice story about a female rider. Now all I need is drop bars, fatter tyres and some borrowed pedals and I’ll totally ride it. Rats, and friendly Briztreadley even posted heaps of pics for the last rides.

Crap. People just keep making it easier and easier to ride. It’s like a gateway drug, right?

But my friend Nat is in town that weekend – and I already want to drag her to the Pushies Galore. I don’t know if she’ll handle two bike events in one weekend.

put your right hand in, put your right hand out

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Now, while I am waiting for a couple more of the cyclocross ladies to come on back to me about how much they were enjoying life… we return elsewhere.

Because GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING FOLKS.

Let’s start in NO PARTICULAR ORDER. (just with the living in CAPS attitude).

1. Anna Meares got back in touch. (popped my cork right there and then) Do you have a question to ask her? No question to large, or too small, just no guarantees that I’ll use them. You may want to know how much she can squat, you may be concerned about farts/bridesmaids/it’s a long story and/or you might have serious questions about the Australian track team in 2012. I promise to listen to your questions and then to kind of warp them and try and re-purpose them in order to ask her. Because she’s a busy lady (uh, training for the Olympics, duh) so maybe I can’t ask all of them. Just the really good/funny ones.

But send them through folks!

 

This is the highlight of my day so freaking far.

More to come in the due course.

seriously, what is wrong with you three?

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(sorry, Curtis Mayfield, not you guys… )

Because there is clearly nothing the hell wrong with these three. These three are on the top of the gaming faces. They are feeling good, super fly, secret stash… They have been pushed (bikes).

Wow. I really am in a silly mood. And I don’t know where this post is going. It’s certainly not going in a pyramid that’s for sure.

Because it is kind of hard to “interview” a friend. And Laura, our next lady crossing, is a friend. So it’s kind of hard to make her into a story. And actually, because Laura is a complex and interesting friend, all the more difficult.

 

So let’s keep it tight.

Laura is waiting for a sweet custom frame to arrive from the states so, this time around, she didn’t have a bike to ride. Last time around she and Jess were absolutely rad friendly training buddies for the DDCX series. This time around, she literally rode Blakey’s hard rubbish build from Blakey’s house straight to the race and then just got up and got bad ass dirty. Once, twice, third time the lady.

Last night she also got some sweet love from her helmet which allowed her to remember that the ground is hard and too much punch will give you a hangover and make you stack your bike. Take care out there lady!

So I called Laura yesterday to find out about her ride and it was super cool super fly here she stands, and I have to say – in the end I forgot I was interviewing her and trying to think of a good angle, and just catching up on news and stuff that I probably would have got riding one Thursday or so back in the days when I used to have good Thursdays.

I reckon Laura maybe took this photo. One other good day some time ago.

Her last words are my last words:

“Sorry, did I hang up on you? Well, I better get going, but all I have to say is CX is the most fun I’ve had since I was a little kid :-) . Good luck with your computer. Nice to briefly talk.”

 

Oops, probably you didn’t need that last bit.

Please go listen to that song again. I have.

 

testing one two three

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Occasionally, not to be morbid or anything, you have to wait for some test results. Hopefully it’s nothing serious, but because I am a leetle bit morbid sometimes, I wonder what I would do if the results were not as good as they could be.

I learned a little while ago that a colleague, following an unfortunately serious health diagnosis, would be taking a year’s leave without pay and doing all the things she needed to do before, you know. Occasionally, there are post cards from her and her caravan which is making its way around Australia. She’s fishing, swimming, surfing, seeing friends in every town she has them, lighting fires, reading books and enjoying every minute.

 

I think if things were, you know, serious, then I’d like to go on this bike ride.

 

I’d invite everyone I knew who might be able to take the time and the (not inconsiderable) money to come along with me, and I’d hope for at least one person to share the ride with, but ultimately, I think I’d be pretty happy for the ride on my own. I’d write as much poetry as I could muster, and take heaps of crappy instagram photos. I don’t meant to be over the top, like “could I die on my bike, please” over the top, but I just think if you’ve only got one lifetime, this looks pretty much once in a lifetime kind of excellent.

 

In the meantime, if I was looking to do something life affirming, I’d probably go on the Melbourne Roobaix.

 

Ride hard little diamonds. I’ll be keenly waiting the photographs!