All Blog Posts (136)

So while I ride different bikes for different reasons, when it comes to the type of riding I enjoy the most, I'm unashamedly a roadie.

I've had lots of friends over the years who were mad mountain bike riders and while I knew they enjoyed it I never felt compelled to do it. 

Why would I want to drive to a bike ride ? I'd ask.

I've managed to bring a lot of them to the road but it's never been the other way around. 

Until…

I previously blogged about building a trailer for myself, for the bigger shopping trips. Well the trailer I built works reasonably well, but I find with a heavy load it tends to pogo a bit (swing from side to side and up and down). Also the wooden beam I used for the crossmember has compressed under the bolts attaching the axles, resulting in the nuts loosening off. I fixed the problem with locknuts, but I suspect it'll happen again.



One of the things I wanted…

After my casual (honest!) glide to the Gateway Bridge after work last Friday, and also noticing some more talk of it lately (well by Rhubarb anyway) - I again realised that nobody hasn't really discussed an ideal method of access to the behemoth.

Here it is from CBD once you get past Kingsford Smith Dr (a steady ride along the…

I ride a 26" wheel recumbent, from factory it was fitted with Maxxis 26x1 Detonator tyres.  Hugging the outside of Mavic rims with bladed spokes they certainly looked the business.  They seemed to roll OK and never gave me a problem with grip.  Probably not a tough as they could be though, on the March recumbent ride the back tyre took a stone right through the tread, reinforcing plies and tube - naturally.  Fixed on the day with a sleeve but not really confidence…

It's now early 2011....

It’s been some weeks now since I bought a Performer Goal 26X, about time to give some feedback to the forumites regarding the experience.  When ordering I ticked all the option boxes so received a large cardboard box with the bike, plus carry rack, panniers, mudguards, lights, flag, computer and mirror – the theory being that the bike would be usable for the local shopping trips and so on.  All items survived the trip from Taiwan unscathed, so the assembly…

This entry dates from around late 2010...

Today I had a first ride on two Performer recumbent bikes, the Goal 26X, and Toscana 700C calliper.  Having just built myself a trial bike to test the recumbent position and theory before spending serious money buying a commercial bike I was very interested to be able to compare the ride experience.

The Goal 26X is an alloy framed, 26” wheel sized recumbent featuring 27 gears, Avid cable disk brakes, over seat steering and an…

What is about to follow over the next little while is a series of blogs about my journey into the dark side of cycling, onto the machines banned by the UCI but loved by their devotees.  Doc Embry (for one) writes a highly entertaining blog - don't expect that from me.  Others make remarkably perceptive observations of the world - it's a fair bet that won't be me either!  These have all been written some time ago, it’s just taken a while to post…

I hate pulling out of races, it can seem like such a good option during the race some days but the second I roll off the track and on to the grass I regret it.

Yesterday was one of those days, making it two DNFs in a row. It’s better than a DNS I guess but still frustrating.

The excuse was rain. The weather was a little ominous when we started but the rain set in a few laps into the race. I really don’t mind riding in the rain. Don’t really like…

I have started mapping out all the rides I do.  For now I am in the do every ride I can find in the Gap Creek Reserve area.  Because I am new to mountain biking I love the sense of discovery.  For now I am just riding them safely.   Once I have documented them and can preview the ride before revisiting I will go a bit harder and try more of the technical stuff.  

I wish other mountain biker videos put maps of where they rode.  Bit like google maps, so people searching for rides to go…

I know what I'll be doing tomorrow... damn it!

Nice ride though and got thoroughly drenched. Unfortunately there is a lot of residual silt on the track from the floods which isn't obvious until it…

Sunday marked a few firsts. The first running of the Brisbane Blast, a cycling and running festival at Southbank in Brisbane, and also for me, the first open cycling race I've competed in since moving to Brisbane and resuming racing.

For some reason I was a lot more stressed leading up to the race than anything else I've done on the bike. Most likely because I knew I'd be completely outclassed. The stress…

First blog wooohoo, I ride a $500 mtb obviously hard tail, and after going around the tracks find it way too big so started studying the jargon of bike riding, to find out that the place that sold it to me didn't give a flying hoot that it is the wrong size for me.  I need to buy a small frame to feel closer to the ground.  For me it's going to be mostly about riding for about 30 minutes up a mountain, taking a few minutes to catch my breath before flying down the mountain to come down with…

Hi guys. I just joined this group in the early hours of yesterday morning. I am new to Brisbane, so still finding my way around. I work in remote Qld, and only home one week in three, so it's taking me a while to find my way around your beautiful city.

I brought my wife a folding electric bike for christmas. I was so impressed with it, I'm buying another one for me when I get home on Wednesday. My wife and I were wondering if there was an "interest group" for electric bikes, and after…

“For me, the great purposes in life are to have as many adventures as possible, to brighten the lives of as many as possible, and to leave this old world a little bit better place.”

I recently sold my beloved electric tricycle shopping/ute/cargo machine.  This left me with no easy bike-friendly way of doing big shops, getting beer by the carton, dropping off odds and ends around the neighbourhood or similar little jobs.

A quick look online showed that the type of trailer that would share the hitch system already existing on my bikes, would set me back around $350.  Ouch.  So whenever I had a spare half hour over these holidays I tinkered with the idea of building…