Category Archives: Travel

The snow in Spain has fallen mainly on the plains…brrhhhh!!!

Dear Rouleurs,

Team MMT has journied to San Sebastián via Salamanca and Burgos, since MMT’s last blog.  Up until 72 hours ago the gods of weather had smiled fortuitously. Then a wicked cold front came whistling in off the Atlantic Ocean to bring rain, wind and send the mercury plummeting.  So much so that it snowed down to the 600m level across Spain.  This included Burgos and Avila, places MMT had passed through only days before.  So that has meant zero beach weather in San Sebastián, although the skies and seas around the city have been spectacular to watch.  MMT digresses.

MMT has a number of holiday happy snaps of some pretty interesting bikes he has seen parked on the street in various Spainish cities so far.

Madrid

This old track bike was seen in the back streets of La Latina. Zeus seems like such a grand name for a model of fixie.

Another interesting urban bike, parked near Tirso de Molina metro station. This one is manufactured by Felt Racing.

Salamanca

This is one of the more interesting ‘bikes’ MMT has ever seen. Spotted in the Plaza Mayor, Salamanca, this gentleman was out riding with a bunch of mates on a Sunday morning.

Burgos

This wonderful custom three wheeler was presumably being used by for deliverys for the local tavern it was advertising. Spotted in Burgos.

MMT has taken a few photos of Brompton bikes over the years, but has never seen a kiddie passenger seat added to the frame. Spotted just up the road from Team MMT’s Airbnb apartment, Burgos, Spain.

San Sebastián

This wonderful old hybrid Orbea took pride of place on in the San Telmo Museum, San Sebastián.

This Mate bike was parked outside of Team MMT’s favourite Patisserie in central San Sebastián. Has there ever been more attachments added to folding hybrid e-bike?? It should come as no surprise that this bike is manufacturer in Copenhagen.

So there you have it. Could there be a more different set of bicycles published in a single blog anywhere in the world?? MMT thinks not 😉

Until next time ride safe

MMT

Where has the time gone? MMT is hanging out in Madrid

Dear Rouleurs,

It’s been nearly 3 months since MMT has been able to write up a blog.  The main reason being his new boss, so is desperate to make their mark in the world of agile methods as applied to banking information technology.  Sounds like a bunch of buzzwords?  You are not wrong.  Either way its meant no blogs.  So much has happened in the period of time.  Simon Yates of Australian team Michelton-Scott won the GC at the la Vuelta. Rohan Dennis won the UCI world championship time trial.  Amazing stuff.  At some point MMT will have to write something up on both events in celebration of two outstanding achievements.

So MMT what is MMT up to??  We’ll today he’s sitting in a very nice Airbnb apartment in Madrid listening to his wonderful 2 1/2 year half pint snore in blissful sleep.  Yup, Team MMT is on holidays in Spain.  This morning Team MMT shook off jet lag accumulated over a 24 hour flight from Melbourne, visited EL Rastro, the wonderful Sunday morning flea market that occupies an entire central suburb in old Madrid.  On the way.  MMT noticed a very interesting bike, that he had some vague memory of seeing in Urban Cycling.  So here it is.

MMT did a quick google on the manufacturer, ‘Yerka’ and found a very professional website and what appears to be a very interesting piece of bicycle engineering. Much to MMT’s surprise the manufacturer has a shop/office Biciobikes located in Madrid, only a few blocks away. So Tuesday, he’s going to drop by the shop and indulge in some very poor Spainish to find out a bit about the bike.

Adiós por ahora y monta con seguridad en tu bicicleta.

MMT in Madrid

 

Marv’s January Bike Log

Dear Rouleurs,

Well here’s my first bike log for 2017.  As per my last log, my holiday cycling plans didn’t go as planned,resulting no riding between 18 December 2016 to 6 January 2017…bugger.  Notwithstanding, I still managed 650 Km for the month.  My log and stats can be found here. This puts me over 100 km ahead of my monthly goal – 542km.

New pretty monthly graph for January.

The big numbers are longer training rides and the Cadel Evans People’s Ride, which you have read MMT’s report on here.  As MMT has signed up for Strava this year, he can produce a matching suffer score graph for the above graph.  It looks a bit like this.

January’s suffer score graph care of MMT’s Strava account. The 136 was the Cadel Evans People’s Ride, which was long and hilly.

For MMT, the Suffer Score roughly aligns with the distance of the ride but increases when MMT starts climbing or falls when I’m dawdling along.  I’m looking forward to fiddling more with these stats over the forthcoming months.

Until next blog, ride safe.

Marv

Ruining my visit to Clovelly Beach

Dear Rouleurs,

As almost none of my readership will know, I lived in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney for about 8 years.  One of the places I loved to hang out was Clovelly Beach, a secluded man made beach tucked away in between Bronte and Gordon’s Bay.  Last Sunday I visited the beach with the better half of Team MMT.  Sunday mornings at Clovelly are particularly special as the local surf club run their junior lifesavers program, aka nippers.  The beach and inlet are overrun by kiddies 7 years and older swimming, paddle boarding and beach running.  Its a pretty amazing sight and one that I’ve greatly enjoyed over the years.

God lives here according to Reg Mombassa.

God lives here according to Reg Mombassa.

However, MMT was greatly annoyed by overhearing two older English couples complaining about cyclists riding on the Pacific Highway in Northern Sydney.  The complaints included: slowing traffic down, being overly aggressive whilst ridding in a pack (its called a peloton dearie…sigh) and apparently causing them fright when they nearly ran one over.  WTF…..

Stupidity of this kind really should be rewarded with a Darwin Award.  First, as you visitors to our country, do us a favour, leave your money and GO HOME.  Second, the road is there for everyone to share and unlike you, those cyclists who pay taxes and have every right to use the road.  Finally, if you were frightened by nearly running over a cyclist, how to you think that person felt.  Possibly its time turn in your drivers license and pick up a mobility scooter.  These people really did live up to the often described stereotype…whinging poms.  Fortunately, they didn’t stick around for long, perhaps they were confused by sunny, warm conditions and the absence of rocks on the beach.

Until next time, ride safe.

Marv