Clearing the Decks - Part 2

Hello again, my fellow bike fiends. To kick things off, here is a picture of my drawers.

Inside my drawers is a large and specialised tool, which I like to pull out and play with from time to time.

 Now I've run out of stupid and pointless double entendre, here is the finished product parked outside Havana Coffee Works. This machine's somewhat unprepossessing appearance belies it's solid Italian cyclo-cross heritage, and my sponsor Geoff's Bianchi is once more restored to full function after a repaint and extensive mechanical service. I took advantage of dropping it off to partake of the best coffee in all of Wellingtown...

To change it up to the modern era, Brian's Trek Speed Concept needed some new tri-bars and a few other little tweaks.

One weekend recently some cool cats organised a Super-D event on Mt Victoria. I had a small window of spectating between dropping sons off and picking them up again, so I hastened to the locale stat to catch the vibe. It was great to (briefly) catch up with some of my favourite bikey-type folks, although it was not so great to not catch up with others. The event had a good turnout as can't be seen here due to the multiple shuttles carrying the bulk of the riders to the summit.

I got to actually see my man Mike racing his venerable Bianchi Super GL!

And nice to see local legend Rod Bardsley throwing down with his usual inimitable style on the drop that he created and that bears his name..

Here's Jonty Ritchie powering up one of the pinch climbs that pepper this tough course on his way to a win in the Masters 2 field, and a great 8th overall. The rest of the results and photos are here.

Inspired by these feats of derring-do, but not enough to actually drag out my MTB and get dirty, I set out on my road bike to hit the hills. Of course my camera ran out of batteries the first time I tried to take a shot of what was for me an epic hill ride that included scaling Mt Albert, Mt Crawford, Mt Victoria and Te Ahumairangi before grovelling home a jelly-legged mess. Accordingly, I have just one grainy phone-shot to remind me of those fun times - fun times that included coming the closest to death I've been on a bike in many years. Suffice it to say, I survived becoming a hood ornament on a Wellington bus on a tight and rapidly closing corner by a combination of  cool calm, good brakes, the mountainbiking instinct of riding it out instead of binning it, my Beggar's Canyon T-16 skills and sheer dumb luck. One second the bright yellow front of the bus was filling the road from rough gutter to badly-parked car, the next I was past and clear - unable, however, to fully enjoy the great descent that should have followed as my mind replayed the whole incident again and again...

 Thanks again to my Generous Benefactors for more kindness, this time in the form of this great Sean Kelly poster, as well as a Pedro Delgado one I forgot to take a photo of! Cheers, Henry and Vitas!

Simon is building up his dream bike for the 2014 Kiwi Brevet, and he got me to build him up these fine Hope/Arch wheels.

And Paul wanted his old Dura-Ace hubs rebuilt into some nice new Mavic Open Pro rims for training on.

The headtube of Eric's lovely old early-90s Breezer...

...and the down-tube. More on this later.

Yet more generosity lavished upon me by my friends. I may joke about it but it's because I am honestly humbled by the kindness and the presents I am given by my mates. I really don't know what I do to deserve it, but nonetheless I'm truly grateful - I love you guys! Fyxomatosis is my favourite non-forum cycling website, and I have lusted after one of the jerseys for ages - somehow, and without a single hint from me ever, WO Larkin sensed this and sprung into action. Chur, bro!

The decals look super sick on my fork legs.

At the first available opportunity I put the new jersey to a torture test. Well more of an enjoy the crisp autumn day test, actually.

  

I headed up Onslow Road with heavy legs, but heavy legs are just photo opportunities calling my name.

I love Wellington's capricious climate and try not to buy too much into the cliches that abound, but even I have to admit it's rare for the clouds to be reflected on the harbour in the late afternoon when the temperature is warm - it's usually a chilly morning phenomenon.

Ngauranga Gorge seems so peaceful from up here.

Looking back over my shoulder towards the Eastern Hutt Hills.

What a beautiful city I'm blessed to live in.

Hey, it's random riding along foot photo time!

                                     

Ship!

It's not my fault, my Bianchi told me to take the shot...

I got no excuse for this one.

Talking about my friends, as I was earlier, my old compadre from Bicycle Village and Cycle Services days Henry has been keeping his hand in the bike game by knocking up a couple of cool retroesque projects. Here's his sweet Guerciotti/Alan...

...and his latest ride, a lovely DeRosa.

The DeRosa heart is almost as iconic as the Colnago club or the Bianchi eagle in terms of Italian iconography.

I'm honoured that Henry has my decal on his machine, even though I did nothing to help the guy who taught me much of what I know build this stunning steed.

I've been playing with some old wheels lately too. These awesome Ambrosio Crono wheels needed a bit of truing here and there.

I fitted some bad-arse piratical disc rotors to some wheel for a bike that Bill will hopefully get me to build some day.

Karapoti isn't just the lead-up; as well as ensuring your bike is up to scratch prior to this arduous and bike-hurty race, it's also vital to check it over stem to stern after the event. This is John Randal's rear hub, although to be fair he's been thrashing it for a lot longer than just one puny Karapoti.

Sadly Steve's nearly new Tallboy needed a drivetrain replacement after Karapoti and the training that went into it, and this after the not inconsiderable pre-ride spend-up. It's purring once more after throwing lots more money and time at it.

And I'll finish this small drop in the large ocean of my potential bloggage with yet another ride in this most amiable autumn.

One of my favourite ascents of Mt Vic is via Roseneath Terrace.

I took this one from Robieson Street, scene of one of my more nefarious youthful indiscretions once upon a time.

The city side of Alexandra Road is a superb power climb and a wicked descent...

But, like this long and winding blog, I was out of time and almost out of road, so opted for a (very) quick fang down the southern side of Alexandra to Newtown and home.

Until next time, thanks for indulging me. Chur, Oli

Clearing the Decks

 At a loss for a theme or any sort of structure to create a clever blog from the huge backlog of photos and stories I've accumulated over the last few months, I'll just keep it relatively straightforward by posting the photos in roughly the order I took them in, accompanied by a few well-chosen words.

All these things we prize dearly. 

Here's my recently rebuilt fillet-brazed steel Hillbrick, equipped with parts courtesy of my friend Leonard, along with a Chorus seatpost from WO Larkin. Thanks!

Put your best foot forward, and make sure you've got a spanner on it.

My friend Angus swung by for a late summer visit, bringing his cool Gios all the way from the UK via the Hutt.

Dave wanted an Alfine 11sp wheel built up for his commuter.

The lovely Kath and her Quintana Roo has been tri-ing hard all summer...

...and I sprung her at it later on during Tri Nationals.

Jonty loves his old bike parts, and I love helping him keep them rolling. Like minds.

Black Thursday. The tenants upstairs suddenly scarpered, cutting off the power as they ran and leaving me to a super-busy day working in near darkness until the power could be reconnected...

My trusty Dolphin was of limited help in illuminating a brake bleed to Megan Dimozantos' Yeti.

But I got there in the end to complete the last service before Megan set off to South Africa to race in the gruelling ABSA Cape Epic MTB stage race with my good buddy John Randal.

I delivered the bike to Megan in person, when her and John shouted me to dinner in town. 

I was pleased to help them a bit on their way, and tried to be as much a part of the Team as possible by investing as much good mojo into their Yetis as I could, knowing that once the bikes left NZ I would be powerless to help. So I was truly honoured and proud when Megan and John kindly presented me with a Team jersey, as modelled here by John himself the following night at Revolution Bicycles on the eve of his departure to SA.

Barry brought his and Ione's Colnagos in for a service - on his one I was able to use my Park Ultra-Torque bearing puller for only the second ever time! The bearings felt rough but just needed removing, flushing and repacking to regain that silky-smooth Campag steez. 

The two Colnagos in post-service repose.

A sturdy wheel for reliable duty.

An old bike trade friend from the 90s has recently moved back to NZ from the UK, and was leaping back into the deep end of triathlon at Nationals in Wellington. Graham stopped by for a catch up and so I could give his venerable Scott Waimea Pro a quick fettle.

He kindly donated these cool and soon to be hung prints to The Archives!

 Some months ago I built my man Tim Wilding a pair of lovely light Stan's Alpha 340 wheels for his beautiful Ibis Silk Road, but a defect in the rear rim necessitated a warranty rebuild. Some amazingly swift (same day!) service from local Stan's distributor Cycletech and a rim swap was effected, as was an always welcome coffee catch up with the man himself.

After coffee comes beer, and a rare (not really rare at all) visit to my favourite bike shop, Revolution Bicycles. As well as the always superlative hospitality offered by owner Jonty (left) and his offsider Alex (right), we were blessed by an all too rare visit from Cliff (in blue), our good friend from the US. In case you're wondering how John teleported back from South Africa, this was actually the same night his jersey portrait was taken. The other looming sifters are Friday night perennials Reece and Andy.

After what had been a long and stressful week (apart from all the coffee and beer, that is...) I was delighted to find my first available ride opportunity was in absolutely perfect conditions. Of course I headed around the Bays.

Proudly wearing my new Mitre 10 Mega/Yeti/Roadworks jersey for the first time, and feeling pretty fly.

Closed roads for Tri Nationals and the tail end of the event meant some clear roads to relish in the pleasant conditions.

A quick shot of The Most Photographed Bianchi In History while I was waiting for the aforementioned Kath to blast by.

Talking of Bianchis, my beloved old veteran 1996/7 era TSX-UL...

...has been crying out for a pair of Shamals since I sold (for free - I never did get that money?) my clincher pair back in '99. I have pathetically bleated about it so often that my friend Jamie must have thought he could shut me up by giving me a pair, so these turned up on my door step all of a sudden. I couldn't be happier about it, so thanks very much Jamie! 

The wheels needed a wee bit of a true and some panelbeating, and the hubs needed a bit of a ream and some new grease but were otherwise perfect.

 

And here she is, at least while I wait for some new tubs to replace the awesome looking but fatally perished Vittorias I used to mock it up. At last. Again, my thanks to Jamie.

While I was frittering away my time socialising in bike shops, meandering around the Bays on my bicycle and fettling old Italian wheels, my friends and Roadworks stalwarts Mark (pictured) and Richard were really working, as they tackled the 144km Rainbow Rage Epic with aplomb - great stuff lads, and thanks for representing!

While on the subject of riding epic rides, I'll finish this blog off with the first photo I got from South Africa of John and Megan acclimatising in Capetown. For the stories of their amazing race check out John's blog, or Megan's take is here.

I'll be back to continue clearing the decks soon. Until then, thanks for reading. Chur, Oli