Category Archives: Humour

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

 

A very cool Christmas present…The Evolution of Bicycles Puzzle

.
Dear Rouleurs,

Warning!!! this blog may be a shameless plug for a cool present.

My Wife has picked up on my obession with cycling. Probably, Its because
it has taken over my vocabulary, daily conversation, caused re-routing of holiday trips and
arguments over what’s on the telly. I digress 🙂 However, she has
embraced this change in my personality with aplomp and for Christmas 2015
gave me a very cool present. I have no idea where she bought this
in Melbourne.

<Shameless-Plug> but it can be purchased direct from the retailer Pop Chart Lab at: https://www.popchartlab.com/products/the-evolution-of-bicycles-puzzle </Shameless-Plug>

Essentially its a 500 piece poster of 75 illustrations of notable and famous bikes
from 1780 to the present day. It was pretty tricky puzzle that tested my
mid-fourties eyesight to its limit. However, it was a wonderful way to spend
some quality time with my partner and marvel at how the form and function of
the humble bicycle has changed over the years.

So here’s a picture of the “beastie”, after 8 hours of eye-straining puzzle
solving. Yes ,the background is brown stripe table cloth…yuk 😉
20160120-BikePuzzleAs an aside, how good is it to see Channel 9 doing a decent job of the
Tour Down Under coverage. Congrats to Caleb Ewen and Mark Renshaw for 1st-2nd
finish in the first stage.  I wonder if we ever see that combination in the same UCI team some day.

Until next time

Marv

Yes I feel the need, the need for speed

 

Dear Rouleurs

I just has to share this cartoon. I’ve swiped it off this very good blog. Hope the author has more readers than I do 😉

https://humancyclist.wordpress.com/2015/11/15/faster-without-training-or-money/

Yes I feel the need, the need for speed :-)

Yup… only a cyclist would understand this.

Hopefully the really crappy weather that’s hovered over Melbourne for the last 48 hours will disappear tomorrow. I’m keen to go riding and test out my new drive train.

Later

Marv

New Shoes, New Cleats….what could go wrong???

.
Godamnit……rookie error.

Last Wednesday, I managed to score the cycling equivalent of a home goal. Recently I’ve purchased a snazzy pair of Giro Rumbles, a light-weight lace up casual MTB shoe. Much to my surprise they didn’t come with cleats, rather fake bits of aluminium that were cleat shaped but were actually junk. I purchased new SPD cleats the other day and fitted them to the shoes on the weekend. So last Wednesday, I finally got around to trying them out on my morning commute to work.

As I cycled to work, I couldn’t remember whether I had closed the garage door. I looped around to check. Being back from holidays and a bit sleep derived, I thought a policy of ‘better safe than sorry’ was wise. So I pull up to a roundabout, give way to traffic, go to click out, when I discover I can’t. I think my exact word was “shiiittttttt!!!!” as I fell over in slow motion. I hate it when that happens. I feel so stupid for what was an easily preventable accident. This is where I committed my rookie error by not testing the click-in and more importantly click out.

To make matters worse, whilst the right foot cleat has released, I couldn’t get the left foot cleat to clear. So I’m stuck to the bike and sprawled out on the road. A 30-something female power walker comes over and asks me if I’m ok. Apart from losing some skin on and jarring my right knee nothing seems too badly damaged. I thank her for her consideration and assure her that I’m ok. Finally the left cleat releases and I’m able to stand up. My ego on the other hand has taken a crushing blow.

So what happened?
In short form, the cleats bolts loosened and this enabled the cleat plate to pivot round to an angle that was greater than amount of ‘twist’ I can manage on the ball of my foot. The cleats were able to move because I hadn’t done the screws up tight enough. Looking at the photos below you can see how much the cleat has pivoted around, out of position.

 20151111-VR70  20151111-Rumble
 My usual Shimano SPD shoes with cleat in correct position  My new GIRO Rumbles with cleat out of position

A simple click in and out test would have detected this problem. Like I said rookie error. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Oh BTW the Herald Sun reckons Chris Froome is coming to Victoria to compete in the Herald Sun Jayco Tour this year.

Until next time

Marv