Monthly Archives: July 2009

Last night’s Sydney city CBD night ride was epic.

I made my way over to MC Cyclery to meet up with Grant (Thursday night closing time is 7PM). Ash is back from his 3 weeks away in Japan and I tried my best to concentrate on a few of his crazy stories, but in reality I was huffing and puffing hard from the small ride to the shop from my place. In the back of my mind I was already thinking of quitting the ride due to my sorry state of fitness, then… it started absolutely pissing down rain.

Grant and I were thinking of bailing out but we knew that all that was needed was a little shove, so I called Felix, who was already at the memorial rendevous point in the city and he said the weather in there was perfect, so to hell with it, off we went.

The rain was so hard that it felt sharp on my face. Not sure what it is about Sydney drivers, but some of them tend to speed up even more in the rain (perhaps because they’re frustrated with the drivers that do slow down). On Anzac Parade we had one fucker in a 4WD horn the fuck out of us. It reminded me of why I don’t like riding on the roads for sure.

I tried my best to keep up with Grant on the ride in. I was riding my Reign and he was on his fixie (brakeless too). Watching him skid around in the wet on Anzac Parade was awesome.

We made it in, late (sorry guys!) and we had a healthy crew of blinking lights at Hyde Park, diverse bikes too. A few fixies as expected, Adam had a DJ bike, Tom brought his BMX and Matt brought his cool commuter Boulder (I like it!).

We decided to head into the Australian down at the rocks. My fault for being on the side path on Elizabeth St but a lady in an Audi came lunging out of a carpark and almost took me out. So glad I was on the Reign and not my fixie. I would definitely have gone down.

Grant did the hugest skid on his fixie near the Opera house. It was almost as if skidding made him go even faster and seeing the cars and busses roll beside him whilst he was sliding down the road just looked so fucking rad. Blew my mind, blew Matt’s mind too who was sure he was a dead man! Can’t believe he was riding so fast, in the wet and running no brakes. Such a great sight which made me wish I could ride my fixie with so much confidence.

The group was split up due to confusion. A few of us headed to the Opera House whilst Tom and Andy headed straight to the Australian. Brandon scored a flat and Grant went over the bars trying to get up some steps on his fixie (?!).

We all met up at the Australian, Jarod left us at this point (too bad Jarod it only got more hecktic afterwards!!!), beers, chicken wings and pizza were consumed and with heavy bellies and cold wet feet/shoes (fuck it was uncomfortable) the havoc began.

We decided to hit the hustle and bustle of George Street which was rad. Seeing Tom getting loose and hopping up 4 consecutive park benches pretty much set the mood (get this man more beer! he was on fire!). Riding the bus lane felt right. If only it was a cycle lane (one day…). We then hit Oxford Street and stopped by the Local pub on South Dowling which was serving up some strange German beers on tap.

I said my goodbyes at this point and did the lonely ride back to Maroubra Beach from here. I just paced it, was cold and boring but I got home at midnight on the dot.

EPIC! The excitement of riding a bicycle was renewed for me, riding in a crew in the city felt safe/r, even for the guys who had never really ridden in traffic before, seeing them on the road was cool.

I knew a fair few fixie guys were going to be there so I thought I’d slap this sticker on my bike.

Grant, Felix and Andy @ Hyde Park.

Opera House.

The Australian.

Shit! Rabbits under the bridge!

Brandon, Matt and Adam on George St.

Locked up bicycle pyramid outside The Local pub on South Downling St.

Tomfoolery.

Check the CaesarStone bench top on the floating bench, it’s so damn massive I can’t reach the other side (the picture fails to do it justice). Splash back behind the stove is also made from CaesarStone. Pimp or what? So awesome to see a design go from a 2D drawing (with pen and lined paper sticky taped together!) into a reality. We did good me thinks!

Last month Ryan Lewis shot a cool little video at the JDMST End Of Month Meet (EOMM) at Fox Studios, it’ll give you a little insight to what our meets are all about!

JDMST EOMM – June ’09 from Ryan Lewis on Vimeo.

Yesterday Grant and I had a meeting at Single Origin cafe on Reservoir St. with the Bicycle Film Festival guys.

Cool guys, great coffee and some good ideas. The street has come a long way since I used to live on it, back then there was nothing at all there but now there are cafe’s, furniture stores, a design book shop. Culture is breeding.

On Saturday we went for a little drive to Palm Beach, always reminds me of Byron. I came close to seriously considering living in and around Palm Beach once.

Din Tai Fung – still one of my fave haunts for dinner.

The dumpling kitchen window.

On Sunday Christina spotted a whale jumping out of the water at Maroubra Beach, we pulled over and it jumped out 3 more times, one breach was so big we almost saw his tail! That sparked us to go to the Zoo!

The bird show (awesome!).

We didn’t even think about how packed it would be due to school holidays, but it wasn’t that bad.

The Giraffes.

Sunset.

Still in limbo. Living at Mums place and trying to now work from her place instead of coming home to work (the construction noise is just too much). Going to Europe for 3 weeks next month too (!).

I’ve been spending a lot of time in Microsoft Word writing a new business plan (something I’ve never done). It’s been crazy, intense, awesome. I’m gunning after a new business, more on this when I’m allowed to talk absout it!

Surveys have shown that a lot of people would consider riding into work if they weren’t so scared of cars and bad Sydney traffic.

The City has allocated $70 million over the next four years to build an effective cycle network across the City. The implementation of the network reflects the commitment of the City to deliver greener, connected neighbourhoods and maximise the benefits of cycling, which include reduced traffic congestion, cleaner air and better community health.

I’m 100% for this, it really excites me. What excites me even more is that Clover Moore is pushing for a completely car free CBD. Imagine George St. minus the cars, an open mall a lot like Pitt St. Mall.

There’s something really nice about the idea of returning the city to the people, especially considering that the city is one of Sydney’s greatest assets. Sure, public transport within the city (trams anyone?!) will have to be amazing, and parking just outside the city for those who drive in from outside the city has to be realised but I think it’s possible and perhaps forcing Sydney drivers to share the road is the only way it’s going to happen.

I’ve created a thread about it on BikesMoveUs.com. Interesting that even cyclists on the forum are being a little negative about the council’s plans. I’m hoping that’s just a typically Australian knee-jerk reaction though, and that everyone will get excited about it once they see the change happening. Click here to view the discussion.

Earlier this year (or was it late last year? I forget!) it was a sunny day on Crown Street and I met up with Daniel Dittmar (who rode in on his killer SE Quadangle BMX) and Ozlem Eskicioglu who were working on launching a new magazine.

Launching my own magazine has always been a dream of mine. At one stage I got very close with ACP Magazines, the guys who publish Rolling Stone Magazine (and a whole lot more) but the money side of things fell through. In restrospect I probably shouldn’t have been so greedy about the money.

Anyways, when I met these guys (Daniel and Ozlem). They had that energy you have when you first work on starting something new, they also had a load of confidence. They interviewed me for an article on bikes and yesterday I got issue #1 of their amazing magazine Happenstance in the mail.

It’s so slick. Opening the first page there’s a stamp to tell me that my edition is one of a limited run of 1000. The design work and writing is amazing. I’m so excited and proud of these guys.

The bike article also made the cut and I love it. I’ve asked permission from Daniel to post up the 7 page article. So here it is, hope you enjoy it:

Click here to read the whole article in PDF format.

They’re already planning iussue #2 and #3 so be quick and grab this first issue of Happenstance from their site, or check out the list of local stockists.

Tweet this twit that WTF is the appeal of it?

I’ve been reading the local newspaper a bit lately (only because I’ve been staying at Mums and it’s always on the table in the morning) and every day I spot the word “tweet” in an article. Whether it’s about the masses tweeting whilst watching Michael Jacksons memorial concert, some gay dancing with the stars judge being told to stop tweeting on advertisement breaks or Lance Armstrong tweeting to avoid real life interviews. The fact that the papers use “tweet” as common vocabulary just further strengthens this crap.

So this morning I get a mail from my good friends Tom and Sue who have just released a lovely line of anti tweeting T’s available from their Tomsuey Store. Me likes :)

I’m not Religious, but this week was super holy.

On Friday night I forgot to bring my camera to Christina’s local Eastwood priest’s Golden Jubilee dinner at Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL (talk about over the top, fake jungles with bird sounds, water fountains with fire features!).

I got a bit excited when we sat down at the RSL’s roulette wheel but just as I was about to slip a fiver into the machine the call came and we had to attend dinner.

Father Kevin’s speech was great, he’s an old guy but he’s sharp and funny. Good to know as he’s most likely going to be the guy who’s going to perform our wedding ceremony.

The back of a man about to get married.

“God thinks sex is great!”

On Saturday we attended a relo’s wedding which was held early at 10am in a lovely church on Oxford St. Paddington.

The highlight of the ceremony was the priest, who gave the most exciting homily I’ve ever heard in a church. He brought up sex, the very word alone, spoken through a microphone in the church seemed a little sharp, a bit out of place. In an excited uplifted manner he spoke “God thinks sex is great!”. I almost gave out a “whoo hoo!” at hearing that, but wait, there was more, he then went on to interpret the joining of man and woman quite literally. Saying that “Sex is the glue which binds man and woman” and he also explained that when a couple’s sex life starts deteriorating, so too does their marriage.

Taking the mirrors off without damaging the plastic clips was a little nerve-wracking but we did it no worries.

Mirrors on.

Nice tight carbon weave.

Front carbon splitter installed.

R32 vs TDI

On Saturday day Suga and I fitted some sexy carbon mirrors and a front diffuser to her R32 Golf.

3 yo!.

Jamie, Keith and the face of Guinness advertisements in Ireland (for real) Luke.

On Saturday night Richie had his 32nd B’day dinner at Kensington Peking, which I think is the best Chinese restaurant in the whole of Sydney (big call I know). We’ve been following this Chef, Peter, since we were little kids. He used to work across the street, then in Coogee beach but he’s been a hit ever since opening this restaurant in Kensington (next door the post office). We also ducked into the Doncaster pub for a few beers after dinner, which was all done up (impressive actually).

On Sunday I was hungover all day, and night. We had another B’day dinner for Richie, this time with the family, at Kelly’s Grill in Bondi Junction, whilst they aren’t always consistent (my steak was a little overcooked) I still think their Ribs kick ass over Hurricanes in Bondi Beach.

I dream of Wood Rotax: