Tag Archives: dave walker

Normal transmission has resumed…with fury

Dear Rouleurs,

It has been a while. MMT has been decompressing from an awful AFL season, work, 2 weeks of non-COVID respiratory illness and child induced deprivation. Much to his surprise he’s discovered that nearly 2 months has passed since his last blog entry. It really does seem such a long, long time ago. In that time, the La Vuelta, Olympics, UCI World Championships and….finally an actual Paris-Roubaix with rain and mud, have occurred. MMT will spend some mulling that over in a future blog.

However what is really on MMT’s mind is bicycle maintenance, bike shops, Shimano parts and COVID…again. MMT took his beloved Trek Domane SLR 6 in for a service, after an irritating creaking noise started a 3 month old replacement bottom bracket. MMT figured that some crud had flicked up off the road and strategically landed in the bearings. Sadly this turned out to be worn out crankset that simply wasn’t sitting on the bearings correctly. Mine you it took MMT to chase up the said bike shop to find that out.

Whilst chasing up bike shops to do their jobs, isn’t a new experience for MMT, being told that he had no hope in the short term of replacing the Shimano Ultegra 50-34t with similar model. Shimano has no available parts in Australia and there was no indication when they would be come available. Surprise!!! its been seriously impacted by COVID. A quick Google seemed to confirm that no one local seemed to have them either. Instead the said bike offered a silver Durace 53-39t….WTF. The good news is that crank is $400 and could be resold, the bad news is that it doesn’t match the rest of the group set in brand or colour and will be an absolute bitch to pedal up hill….sigh.

So with had recent experience MMT returned to the solace of the wonderful cycling cartoonist Dave Walker. Here’s what Dave drew that exactly capture the ripped off feeling MMT has.

MMT seems to be practising acceptance in lieu of the alternative which means putting the Domane up on a rack in the garage until parts become available. Levels of fury indeed.

Until next time, stay safe, ride well.

MMT.

To Lycra or not to lycra…apologies to Shakespeare

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Dear Roulers,

Way back in 2015, I stumbled across a series of cartoons by a very funny cyclist called Dave Walker here’s the link.  Mr Walker has been very busy and published a book of his work.  As means of avoiding a law suit for plagiarism, this blog entry is a shameless plug for his book. Now depending on how ‘old school’ you are, you can either walk into your nearest bookstore and take pot luck or find it on Amazon.

Now the reason for the plug. I was walking down the stairs to my employer’s locker room, when I passed a fellow MAMIL going out for a run.  No big deal, except for the really suspect choice of tight lycra shorts and top.  Most runners I know tend to go for the light weight short and tank top combination.  The choice of clothing was not helped by the MAMIL’s middle age spread, which MMT can happily report was significantly worse than his own.

Strictly speaking, MMT is throwing stones inside the glass house here and MMT is not wishing this runner into an early grave either.  This MAMIL should be wholeheartedly applauded for his endeavours.  Nevertheless, it wasn’t a great look.  Possibly a Rocky style tracksuit may have been more flattering.  However, it was this chance encounter that made me think of Mr Walker’s take on the inappropriate wearing of lyrca.

MMT says ‘chapeau’ Mr Walker.  MMT adds that lyrca should never worn on public transport, unless its accompanied by a bicycle.  Similarly, any male tendency to ‘spreading’ should be resisted.

Until next time, ride safe,

Marv

20 Reasons to Love the Giro’Italia – Thanks Mr Walker

Dear Roulers,

In lieu of writing a proper blog this week, I thought I would share this infographic that appeared on the Peloton Magazine Twitter stream a few hours ago.  You can find it here: https://twitter.com/pelotonmagazine

20150225-20reasonstolovecycling

However, this seems to be a case of ‘light-fingered-ness’ on someone’s part, as the original can be found here http://www.cyclingcartoons.com/ is originally drawn by Dave Walker.  Credit should be given were credit is due.  This has now become my new favourite cycling website 🙂

Caio for now

Marv