Cycling official’s shock weight gain

-- Mmmmmm, pig hock

He used to be a skinny cyclist; a natural climber whose envious power-to-weight ratio saw him dance on the pedals in a style no other cyclist could match.

But that was last month and countless greasy binges ago.

Now, the only dancing is performed by fat jowls and the wasp nest swinging to its own rhythm under his chin.

And, like the red blood cell count of the Spanish pro cycling team, it looks like the needle on the GBC Chairman’s scales is only going one way – up.

GBC members attending a recent club meeting at German eatery Conditorei Carinthia looked on in horror as their once bird-like Chairman devoured a giant pig’s hock and 23 pints of lager – all before the meeting had even commenced.

Another day, another pig hock - a leaner looking GBC Chairman gets his first taste of pig hock. If only he'd stopped after the first pig.

Nice work Mamachari

What started out in Wellington by Jason and Sarah as an idea to import second hand bikes from Japan looks to now be developing in to a superb bicycle restoration service as well.

Upcycling in it's finest form.

Nice work Mamachari.

Paul Smith. A man of fine taste.

I've always admired Paul Smith for his fine range of gentlemen's attire and general curiosity for all things cycling related.

Lovely to see then that he was not only born in the home of Raleigh but a proud owner of one of it's finest exports.

White Wall BSA

Finished restoring Johns BSA a while back but it taken a bout of the flu to give me time to actually post the results.

I replaced and regreased all the bearings, got the dynamo working for the rear light and put on new grips and tires.

More pics and story here

Glendowie Bicycle Restoration Workshop. Now open.

The Glendowie Bicycle Restoration Workshop is now open for business. Steel bikes only. Will work for alcohol or bicycles parts.

Short run-down on how it came together...

The garage under the house - as it was. Not exactly a professional outfit. This is half-way through ripping the old workbench out.

Bench gone. I have no idea how to put bolts into concrete so framework remains.

19mm marine ply for bench top and backing board. Note petrol guzzling V8 in background. (AYHSMB).

Possibly the most over-specified work-bench of all time. Dressed 4x2. Even where you can't see it. Bit carried away.

Bench top in place.

Tools up. Special features include a blue vice to go with the Park tools. Rotel am/fm tuner (2 years of searching trade me) and Rouler calender (air freighted from the UK). May my wife never read this blog.

Special close up of tools. Mrs Chairman works for Avanti who import Pedro's, hence the mixture of Park and Pedro's. Sad but true side story - I emailed Park tools and they sent me a bunch of stickers to put up.

Very handy ball bearings. Headsets, Bottom brackets, and Hubs.

First restoration project in the new workshop. Sutt's 1972 Raleigh Limited. New bearings throughout plus a spit and polish. Also convinced him to throw on a Brooks Tan B66 (the original vinyl seat was split) and some Panaracers. Mint bike.

The happy 'customer' outside the newly refurbished G.B.R.W.

If you need to get your old steel bike back rolling get in touch. Like I said I'm fully supportive of the barter economy. As long as the barter involves beer, wine or bicycles parts - cheers for the Panaracers Sutts.

Tweed Run 2010. The pictures.

Lovely day for a ride.

Thanks all. Nice turnout.

Full pictures here

Annual Tweed Run confirmed

Jolly good. It's all on.

The now annual GBC tweed Run is officially confirmed for April 24th.

That's a saturday, so a start time of 2.35pm.

Route to be confirmed but likely mission bay to town and back.

With a rin quin quin along the way. Horray.

Tweed essential.

A good excuse to own a polo mallet

We're thinking a game of bicycle polo might be in order. New York couriers seem to have invented the urban genre and defined the rules, but it was the photo above from Knog that really sparked our interested. 

All we need is a suitable venue. A paved court, but with sides of some description to keep the ball in play. Close to Glendowie a bonus.

Ideas anyone?

Putting the terroir back in to cycling

Holding a wine and movie evening in anticipation for the world's greatest cycling race seems to have hit the mark, with the 28 spaces available filling up in little under a day.

We'll be undertaking a gastronomic "Tour De France" up at Maison Vauron in New Market, with wine and food from 6 different regions of France, followed in the goodness of time by a wide-screen showing of perhaps the finest cycling documentary every made "A Sunday in Hell".

Cycling to and from the venue on a French made bicycle is recommended, as are French costumes and generally high levels of panache all round.

Vive Le France indeed!

That feels better