Author Archives: Marv

About Marv

A avid but amateur cyclist who regularly commutes to work, rides for exercise and completes the occasional long distance event. I also write a very poor blog marvmadethis.com about the joys of work/life/cycling balance with his long suffering wife and 2 little angels under the age of 5.

Sometimes there are things that you can’t unsee….

Dear Rouleurs,

I was out having a really enjoyable round trip ride to Mordialloc. Clear skies, almost no wind and crisp conditions, made ideal weather for riding. MMT has finally recovering from a 3 week bout of bronchitis that ruined his Easter riding plans and resulted a couple of visits to his GP. This morning’s ride was sans RCC MEL, mainly due to MMT’s lack of conditioning. Riding solo has its advantages, you listen to music, set your own pace and just enjoy the landscape you are journeying through.

So with that in mind, MMT was feeling fairly zen like until encountering heavy traffic through Brighton and Elwood. It is always tricky threading your way through slow moving or immobile traffic. Motorists tend to become a bit edgy and less observant. The reason the congestion became apparent near the Elwood Canal. There were numerous blue flashing lights. MMT’s initial thoughts were “That’s odd place to put an RBT station. No wonder traffic is banked up”. Crawling along through the traffic, it becomes apparent that it’s not just Police it’s also Paramedics. A small bunch of cyclists is on the footpath. The Police has blocked off half of a lane. I carefully move out of the cycle lane and eyeball the driver behind me.

As I pass the Police car, I see a horrific sight. A cyclist has had a tragic accident. I think the man is covered in blood. The paramedics are administering CPR. I can’t shake the feeling I’ve just witnessed a fatality. I feel the blood drain from my face and I am nauseous. One word appears in my mind…”how?”. How did that happened? It’s a flat piece of road with good visibility. Riding conditions were perfect. I’m shocked and saddened. This man’s loved ones are going to have a terrible morning. I think of my family, my wife, my 10 month old daughter. I’m very jittery and move onto the bike path at the first opportunity. I’m glad to arrive home safe.

I ride to work very carefully. I meet one of daughter’s carer’s on the way. She’s riding a fixie. We have a short chat. I let her and the lady behind her go through first. I’m in no hurry today. I arrive at work, have a long hot shower and try to clear my head. Eventually I walk to my desk and I log on to my PC. I check my email and then decide to Google the accident. Oh no… its exactly as I feared. The Sun Herald reports that the cyclist has crashed into a parked car. He was part of a small group riding along Marine Parade. He was only a few years older than me. I feel sad for the man’s family. I hope that he didn’t suffer.

Please, please, please ride safe.

Marv

Marv’s March Bike Log

Dear Rouleurs,

March an awesome month for cycling.  MMT clocked up 753.29 Km and beat his old record by some way.   The weather has been excellent, with light winds and mainly sunny conditions.   MTT’s  log and stats can be found here. This puts me over 200 km ahead of my monthly goal of 542km.

The big numbers are longer solo and RCC training rides.  March 26 was the date MMT did the MS Cycle 50 km event.  Here’s the matching suffer score graph for the above graph.

Apparently I suffered more this month than the previous two, despite having no big events in March.

Until next blog, ride safe.

Marv

Can a bike really be worth $AUD 51,000….WTF?

Dear Rouleurs,

A friend of MMT’s wife sent through an MMS with a link to what could be the most outrageously expensive flatbar, carbon fibre, single speed bike of all time.  Apparently, its for the man  who has everything.  Supercar giant Bugatti has created what is possibly the world’s lightest, most expensive bicycle.  MMT will ignore the inherent sexism of the original article, although its quite possible that only someone loaded with cash and testosterone would buy this.  However it is quite striking in design.

MMT was particularly taken with the black and yellow colour scheme.  As its early in the 2017 AFL season, MMT still clings to the delusion shared by 70,000 members of the Richmond Football Club, that this year is the year.  MMT wrote about the symptoms of Richmonditis, way back in 2015.

Carrying the rather bland name of “PG Bugatti Bike”, the bicycle is estimated to cost a staggering $51,000 and weighs a feather-light 5kg.  Dear God that’s more combined cost of of the last two cars MMT has purchased…..  Both the cost – and the weight – of the bike comes down to its frame, which Bugatti claims is made from 95 percent carbon fibre.  Producing the bike in partnership with German bike manufacturer Pimp Garage, Bugatti says that every component on the bicycle has been engineered to be as light and wind-resistant as possible.

From the “numerous types of leather” to the “handcrafted carbon components”, the bicycle’s spec sheet reads like the wet dream of every mid-level executive who squeezes himself into lycra and joins the peloton.  The ride has been described as “firm and rigid”, which no doubt helps when you’re hurtling down a main arterial road on a bike that could very well send you broke.  MMT thinks that ‘firm and rigid’ is code for ‘bollock bruising’.

A primary feature of the bike is that most customers will be able to customise their bike to have the same fit and finish as their Bugatti – because only someone capable of owning a $1.7 million supercar would consider buying a bicycle that’s worth more than many make in a year. “We had the vision of building the ultimate bicycle to go with the ultimate car,” says Pimp Garage’s CEO Manuel Ostner. “It’s the ultimate in design, in workmanship and in performance.” MMT dares to suggest wankerism…

Of course, if you’re interested in impressing your MAMIL mates (for those not in the loop, that’s the semi-discriminatory term of Middle-Aged-Men-In-Lycra) at the coffee shop, you’ll have to get in quick: Bugatti has limited production to just 667 bikes, no doubt most of which will be heading to the garages of tech billionaires and Saudi princes.  Ah ha… that would be wanker thing again.

Any how, you can see more pictures and and the un-annotated version of this article at:

Bugatti creates a $50,000 bicycle that weighs less than 5kg

Until next time, ride safe

Marv

 

To Rapha Cycling Club or to not Rapha Cycling Club….that is the question

Dear Rouleurs,

MMT mentioned in a blog a few months ago that became a member of the Melbourne chapter of the Rapha Cycling Club. MMT received his shiny new membership for Christmas from Mrs MMT. MMT was actually twice gifted, by receiving the Rapha Welcome Kit for 2016 and the new 2017, later in the post. Nice. MMT has 2 member chapeaus, a matt grey metal membership card, a luggage tag, musette, a bunch of stickers and access to Rapha’s free members only app. In short its an impressive haul of goodies.

Mind you club membership was $225, which is not cheap but is comparable to racing licence purchased via Cycling Australia/SKCC herein Melbourne. Also not cheap and not discounted in any form is the Rapha Club Cycling Kit. There’s a couple of nice features about the kit. First it’s really well made and looks great. Second it is not plastered with sponsors adverts. Compare the following:

   

The St. Kilda is one of the best club jerseys going round in Melbourne at the moment. The above version was offered to members between 2013 and 2016. MMT has bothered with 2017 version, as its just a little too bit Mondrian for his liking. The Rapha Jersey is much cleaner, daresay MMT say, elegant design. Yes MMT is biased and Yes $200 was shelled out for the short sleeve version of the Brevet. The other cool feature of club membership is being able to lay your sweaty hands and cleats on one of these Canyon bikes, if you are visiting a city that has RCC Club House.

Phoaw….its so beautiful. MMT can’t wait until he clips into one of these beauties in Sydney or who knows may be London some time soon. MMT digresses.

Of the main reason why a cycling club exists is for its members to go cycling. RCCMEL offers three regularly scheduled rides.
Tuesday’s Northside ride deporting from Richmond
Thursday’s Southside ride departing from Elwood
Saturday’s Shop ride departing from the Popup Shop in Fitzroy

MMT has been riding on Thursdays. The first couple of rides post-pneumonia were unpleasant and just a little bit humiliating. MMT was dropped on ramp leading out from Sandringham to Black Rock. The hacking cough and reduced lung power were to blame. However, MMT is now on pace and happily not always the lantern rouge.

The Thursday ride has become the stretch ride for MMT’s aspiration to be ‘FASTER’. The bunch averages 30Km/h and in certain section on the return leg touches 50Km/h. Those sections were quite a shock. The outward leg is a straightforward run down Beach Road to Mordialloc. After that the route weaves through the back streets of Parkdale, Mentone, Hampton and Brighton. MMT surmises that being a newbie in the bunch and being dropped on the return leg would mean using Google Maps to get back to Elwood.
So the key question is club membership worth the $225 annual fee worth it?? MMT thinks so the answer is ‘Yes’.

Until next time, ride safe

Marv