these:


Already had my first clipless-0kmh-how-the-****-do-I-get-out-of-these crash.

I stuck with the spd because of you can walk in those shoes, so if I just need to get out to uni for one lecture I dont need to take alternative footwear.

Also got an Armadillo tyre for the rear.
Even my OCP instincts are cringing at the site of abike that has a black prorace on the front and a red Armadillo on the back. But I reckon it'll work well.
Bar tape as well; S-wrap, Ill read the park tools manual before I do it.

EVCC Crits today. Someone decided that 50min was too easy... 1hr20min +bell fer C grade.
Pace was pretty high, there were a couple of guys at the front that attacked really hard... constantly.
I stayed in the first 5 or so for most of the race, took some turns at the front,
chasing down some of the attacks was absolute murder but I managed to still be in the first bunch into the last lap.

Three corners from the end some plonker ran wide on the exit of a sharp turn... all the way to the edge, and I was on his outside.
I ended up in the dirt trying like hell to keep the shiny bike from getting hurt. (handles quite nicely in the dirt btw )
Got back onto the track (with a fair bit of aggression at the ready) put my head down and went as hard as I could.
I passed a lot of people that had been spat out the back when the bell went and managed 6th with the sprint bunch about 20 metres ahead.


A few others saw what had happened and by the time I got back to race control/the bbq, a couple of
other people had already given this bloke an earful fer nearly running them orf the track too... seems he
has a reputation fer being a bit 'off with the pixies' at times and has a lot of trouble holding his line.

No real harm done, I was a bit disappointed though as I wanted another crack at a C grade sprint with all the regulars there.

1hr18min. 47.5km @ 36.5km/h. Is that distance/time still a crit?
Legs are a bit tired atm.

well at least your bike isnt damaged. I'll take a lesser overall position instead of a damaged bike.

I'll probably say you did well to avoid an accident,which isnt easy.

Mate, I'd throw myself under the bike before I'd let that happen. mmmm... shiny bike

First race of the winter handicap points series yesterday. All the races are 40km on a flat circuit that is bad on windy days. It was a mass start to establish the starting handicaps for the remaining races. I finished 1:30 behind the leaders, although none of the club's elite riders turned up, that would have been a further 5 minutes deficit.

The first downwind stretch bust up the starting bunch hammering at 50kmh+ and then a massive surge out of a corner 20 minutes in spat three of us out the back which let us ride at a steady pace for the remainder of the ride, average speed 39kmh. I won our bunch sprint

I did consider afterwards I could have cruised and picked up a better handicap, but the club handicapper would have been onto that and stuck me in scratch

Good stack avoidance skills. I've had a similar experience, but left the scene in a red and white van after the crash in front of me kept following my escape path.

Gabe, I have a pair of those shoes as my MTB shoes. Not the best for off roading if you have to get off and push in muddy conditions, but my MTB riding is generally fairly casual. Specialised shoes seem to fit my broad kiwi feet pretty well. Quite flexy soles though.

This weekend has been a really good food weekend. I got home from Saturday's race to a plate of baked food (samples of next week's morning and afternoon teas, biscuits, muffins and coconut bread) and a lentil and sausage dish bubbling away in the slow cooker for dinner. We had coconut bread for brekkie this morning. Plus today we had home made leek and spud soup for lunch and a very nice Malaysian beef curry for dinner.

Watching the ABs vs the Paddy 1st XV last night was hard work as we never had the lead till mid way through the 2nd half. The Wallabies vs the Pommie gits will be interesting tonight. Go the Wallabies, they deserve some cuccess before the ABs hammer them in the Bledisloe!

No mtbing here! Ive haven't noticed the flexin' admittedly Ive only ridden 16k's on 'em because of the gale force winds today. Flexing is probably a good thing, more work = I get better. But they are way better than the casual shoes + toe clips. They kinda pass as casual shoes as well which works for me, I just jump off at uni and for shorter lectures I can just wear them.

Hi Guys,

Has anyone heard or used www.cellbikes.com.au? They seem to have some cheap prices, but am a bit weary about quality...

Thanks,

Aaron

apart from being 'good' inthe dirt', how was the new bike?

I haven't heard of them, but if the frames are Asian made, I'd say they'd be as good as all the other generic Asian stuff

Really good! Apart from everything just working much more smoothly than a half flogged out 105 9 speed, one of the biggest differences was that when the attacks came,
1) I could stand and sprint after them where I'd lose on their jump with the Giant cos I chased seated and
2) When I did stand on the OCR, I was knackered after 10-15 secs but on the Trek I could just keep going and going without feeling rooted.
It really is a nice bike to sprint on... it makes me feel like I'm stronger... and fark it's smooth!!

Just noticed this evenin', (one of your pet topics Oz) that it's got 175mm cranks where the OCR had 172.5s. I wonder if that's why cranking hard feels so good on it. I also thought I wasn't spinning up as quick in the race cos of being off the bike fer a while... maybe that's the cranks too?

bewdy!

Yeah, could be the cranks. I reckon there's a reason the lengths go up in such small increments: coz it makes a differnce. I'm also using 172.5 and 175 at the moment, and I think I'm gunna settle with the 175s coz I seem to have more 'good' days with the slightly longer cranks.

I'd pass on that. They're like Giant branded bicyles, without the warranty and quality.

Pretty cold up at Castlemaine this weekend fellas. Hope you all had a chance to get away. I'm nursing a rather sore head....428 bottles of James Squire Hop Theif Ale forced their way down my gullet.

It was the darndest thing.

A quiet weekend on TAT, didnt get up to much, apart from a late MTB this avo which resulted in the best OTB in ages. I was checking out a nice rock rollover with a bit of north shore bolted on to the end but too many people in the audience so decided to leave it for another time. So all chances of a stack averted hey? Wrong, lifted the front off a stepped ledge and the front landed in a hollow and spat me off so fast i didnt know which way was up. Bark off everywhere!

Anyway, dumb question... does anyone have any experience riding with overshoes? are they any good for keeping shoes in good nick? can you ride in them in summer or are they too warm? Am I just being soft and dont want to dirty my new shoes?
Oh yeah, and happy birthday Liz! Cheers for the day off!

ha!! I was like that with my first pair of white Sidis, but now I don't give a stuff.

I try not to wear my booties coz I can't adjust my straps, but they're ok.
You can get lycra ones that are intended for aerodynamics which shouldn't be too hot in summer.

GOAL!!!!!!!! Cahill is the hero!

AWESOME!!

unless you ride in the rain and mud all the time (in Australia - very hard to do) you'll be fine. My MTB shoes are white and still look OK after 2 or 3 years.

To put it mildly, stop being such a soft cock !

GO SOCCEROOS !!!! I taped it, will have to watch it tonight.

His second strike was an absolute cracker.....


Gonna pay for it at the office today.

Saw the Race 2 Replace ad on Dsicovery last ngiht....very good.

https://team.discovery.com/?path=tabs...99-511-ah-0014

and go Wallabies also, great second half after some ****ty fumbling play inthe first half but a good win in the end ! Big Blake standing out in the centers getting in the action was a classic.

bloody oath.....accelerating onto the ball like a Kenworth truck. And about as easy to stop....

I turned they Wallabies off after 25 mins, was too depressing to continue watching. So the second half was better, eh?

great, now all youl have to do is fast forard an hour or so of mind numbing passing to get to 2 X 30 seconds of excitement.

appologies, not a dramatic arts, i mean soccer fan.

well done tho, better than i expected.

also congrats tot he wallabies. 2nd half was very promising. i was quite sad for that 1st half tho!