Farlee on the mend

So after a few days Farlee is on the mend. His eye has gone, he is still as crazy as ever. It looks nasty, but credit to him, he doesn't complain. After a bit of a distressing first 24hrs, and a few tears from us we are all doing well. It was a bit graphic the first night and took a bit of getting use to seeing this Frankenstein scar across his head where his eye once was. The swelling has come down and the fur is slowly starting to grow back. I even took him for a quick pedal around the park, which he loved.
He has taught many many a lesson about unconditional love and now the biggest lesson of all, no matter what just get on with it with out complaint!

sundaze

Sunday saw Gav, Brendan and myself hook up for a 3 hr loop out at Smiths. Greeted with perfect weather and great company we head out on a bit of a lung buster. Brendan and Gav had ants in their pants and were hammering the trails as I was playing second fiddle chasing them on the single speed. Brendan was on his new Giant Anthem which is a nice looking machine and pronounced his love for it repeatedly.
I would post photo's but the camera was left at home!
The boys took me up the water bar climb, most of which I had to walk cause I could get no grip on the steep incline out of the seat. It must be the high point of the area as you can spy all of Melbourne from the top. We rode some fresh single track that has been built of recent times that is nice and flowing.
Apart from some minor issues with the single speed (using a quick release that was a bit old and it was slipping at times) it was a cracking loop that had minimal black top, plenty of climbing and was finished off by Brendan's long lunch at his house. Boy Brendan and the family can turn on a decent feed..... will have to return the favor with a loop and lunch out here one day!
Two days in a row with decent efforts sees me a bit spent this morning.... so enjoying a coffee, reading the paper and spending time with the dogs chillin out!
Get out there!

enough said

Cam Meyer takes the World Point Race and becomes World Champ!. Another Aussie showing the world how its done!

lake mtn photos

I have been sick since Thursday so off the bike trying to get rid of this burst of illness. It is a nasty head cold/ flu with a nocturnal cough that shakes you to your bones. I have been surfing the web and catching up on news from around the traps. I found some photos from lake mountain
It seems lake mountain has escaped with some buildings intact, whilst others were burnt the main day lodge has survived. That is great news, but the toilet block and ski patrol buildings were lost. The management at lake had posted some photos of the trail network which were a bit jaw dropping, but it is good news that they will be open for winter with new snow groomers and snow making ability.
Echo flat in the picture below has Alpine Heath up to your waist at least during summer! Shame to see the damage but I guess it is all part of a natural process.

gellie roadster

So after much delay I have finally finished messing with the bike and am almost happy with it. Still deciding on a new saddle (maybe a rolls) and maybe leather bar tape to match.
The end result in the current format was 9.4 kgs bare weight when built, which for a 60cm traditional frame (I know it looks like a farm gate) is not to bad.
The frame is a mix of beefy True Temper tubes all fillet braised together with a few extras thrown in such as chain peg, diamond shaped water bottle bosses etc.
I aimed for a classic finish with a white panel and metallic blue paint, which has come up nicely.




reynolds ouzo pro fork, dura ace 7800 and chris king!






Llewllyn STI bosses





The build:
Gellie Custom fillet braised steel frame with Llewellyn STI bosses, chain peg, breezer drop outs
Deda Newton OS bars
Control Tech stem
Dura ace 7800 complete group set
Dura ace 32 hole hubs laced with DT DB spokes to Mavic Open Pro rims
Chris King Headset
Deda Magic Stick seat post
Salsa clamp
Reynolds Ouzo Pro forks
King Ti cages
Vredestein Fortezza tyres

little man

A little note about this guy.
Farlee has been my biggest fan for 10 years. He has a no fuss, always up for it attitude. You offer him a quick belt down the local single track he will take it with a doggie smile and run his heart out. Farlee is always happy to see me come home from a ride in one piece, and greets me like he ain't seen me in months.
We returned for Canada a few weeks ago and all was good with him. We noted about 2 weeks ago a colour change in his left eye. I noted he was having trouble with his vision on his left side, but it was not slowing him down. Going with the age related dog problems of a cataract we took him to the vet. The vet informed us that he had blood in his eye. So we took him to the animal eye specialist. Farlee was diagnosed with urevitis (spontaneous bleeding, which has many causes) which should clear in a few weeks we were told and he was put on high dose steroids to help with the bleeding. We took him back yesterday for another check up only to be told that the bleeding has continued and as such the eye needs to be removed as it is likely he has a tumour in the eye. Now I guess I have a problem with this cause how do you explain to a animal, one that has unrelenting love for you that you have to pull his eye out. I know he will look strange (have to get him a parrot and a eye patch) and in time all will be good.
I am a bit of a hard arse when it comes to humans I guess cause most of the time I deal with people that don't give a fuck about the consequences of their actions, but when it is harmless animals that try to please you with there every action it upsets me greatly.
He has already adapted to loss of vision in his eye and still smashes around a oval getting every ball and Frisbee that is thrown until you give up. Right now he is looking at me with a dose of "hurry the fuck up" and a ball in his mouth wanting a trip to the local oval for a session of fetch.
Here's to dog's and their mate ship!

heave ho

Headed out with Jase for a trip back to the Fattie's night ride. This is a ride that has been going on for years and always has a key component which is speed. With the BMC coming up in a month I thought I better get out for some intensity. I got that from the word go. I had swapped out the gearing but it was not enough. I was like a greyhound on speed chasing a rabbit's arse down a race track. Time to do a bit of a re think about the whole gearing thing.
I guess we are lucky about where we live as there is always trail you can link to get to or from where you want to go. Jase pointed me through new trail on the way out to the fatties meeting point. Same with the trip home Jase had discovered some trail linking up at section that in the past had a nasty climb. Now we have a sweet short peice of single track and a romp up a fire road, which we hope is not on private property but.... got to catch us riding it!
So after a little over 3.5 hrs of riding, some 50+ km's and a few Ascend bars I made it home in one peice. The joy of waking this morning for eggs on toast and a coffee feeling like a elephant had had its way with me overnight. Nothing a light spin over to Romeo's for a brew and a pick up of freshly roasted beans wont fix. I had also hoped to burn out my head cold last night but it still is haging on in there!
Later.

A stolen pic from the Epix blog. First 10 mins having second thoughts about what might lay ahead.... them blokes were fast! The sunrise was sweet if only short lived.

re-schooled

Today I joined the Felt boys and there friends for a pedal around Lysterfield for a early (7am start) pedal. I am still getting the bike legs back and have had a couple of decent rides this week including a pedal up the Nongs. Nothing prepared me for the lung exploding lap today.
Now these boys are not slow and from the get go I was so far behind the 8 ball (note to self... bigger gear and more go fast juice) and was chasing wheels from a distance. As kind as the guys were at waiting for my rather slow large carcass I was truly re-schooled it the art of riding a bike fast, up and down the hills. Ben Randall showed off his descending skills near the rock garden making up his own route down over some large rocks. By the end of the extended lap of the Lysterfield area I was delirious and hypoxic and at least once was heard to mutter the word derailleur to myself that was over heard by Jase from Epix who heckled me for it. Common sense will prevail and I will continue my simple single speed lifestyle.
Photos will no doubt appear on the Felt Epix site with a story or two including Jase and Ben's big wet adventure ride home.
I guess the moral to the story is that you get use to riding at your own speed, when you have only yourself to compete against!
Hey it was nice to have company even if I needed a lung transplant post ride!
Happy riding.

back on the road

OK after a 10 week hiatus due to a mechanical issue (needing a new road frame) I see that very little has changed with driver cyclist relations. I headed out for a late arvo ride as I had the joy of domestic duties to perform..... a bit of gardening and the workshop needed a clean out. On that, it is amazing how much shit one collects from cycling. Lets just say the hard rubbish collection will have some bike parts in it!
So whilst out on my Saturday arvo ride, I had a cock of a bloke pull a u-turn in front of me in a rental truck yesterday. I had enough speed to pull in the middle lane and roll past him. A few taps on the side of the truck and a bit of "ya fuk wit" was exchanged. Luckily the lights and my anger meter stayed green. Many a fool was seen yesterday driving on the phone not looking where they were going.
I headed down to the Yarra Blvd for a gentle roll. Man some of the new houses there are something to behold. I see that the trails that were tight lines are now shooting in every direction (any wonder they rangers want to shut down MTB in the part of town).
Once getting home I felt like I had been out all day, feeling muscles I didnt remember having. Heres to more road miles to get that body back in to swing. It is amazing how much form you loose doing something else like XC skiing for a month.
Happy trails!

Go Gerro

Gerro's form is on fire and after a decent time in a breakaway in the GP Lugano he pulled off a 3rd place finish. The next couple of weeks should be interesting to watch as he has some big races and some great form. The Cervelo Test Team are having a cracker start to the year and can only get better from here.
My form however is well below par, so far below it doesn't even register. I headed out on the new road bike today and well, struggled to say the least. The legs were turning squares, every hill was a major Hors category climb. It has shown me what happens when you don't have a road bike to pedal round on. I will head out again tomorrow and hopefully the body will remember what to do.
Happy pedaling!

NAHBS 2009

For those who dont know about this thing called NAHBS , it is the North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show. It is a week end early in the year where some small and big volume producers get together and show off the best they have. I love a hand crafted bike, I am not to keen on the carbon that was presented this year but the steel and ti frames are works of art. After owning a steel lugged road frame from the age of 14 (custom built with everest lugs, and I still ride it now!) and recently having custom steel frames built for me by Gellie Custom, I swear by the beauty and the ride these frames can offer. Some dont date and look as good as they day they were lovingly built. Anyway enough of the shit spin, make up your own mind and check out the links and the photos.



This took overall best lugged bike by Ellis


Got to love lugged frames and perfect paint!


If 29er wheels aint big enough go for a 36er by black sheep out of colorado!

Other happenings are the near completion of my Gellie CUstom road frame which is having the last touches done to it. Photo's will be up soon enough!
Happy pedaling!