New Fixie!

My new fixie!

A 2009 Giant Bowery. I love you fixie!

Bikes Mechanics ...

My bedroom is the new local bike workshop ... 2 bikes were dismounted there yesterday, I was trying to fix a couple of buckled wheels just a second ago but got frustrated and moved to project "remove and clean cassettes off all sets of wheels I own" ... however that also became a pain in the bum when I was not strong enough to undo the bloody cassette off the Roval Fusee ...

Tomorrow, project 'Let's build that new fixie ... again' should also take place in the workshop ... I am lucky enough to have a large room ( that's actually the biggest room in the house) ... also equipped with an ensuite bathroom I just repainted today after work as well ... ( right now I have both white paint and grease all over me ... )



Yesterday I set up the iPod that Al gave me. All my newer CDs are in my car at the garage, so i was only able to upload the few albums I had on my PC not updated from a couple of years. I was amazed to find some of my favourites tracks ... I know it's not very Rock & Roll, but Sting's Mercury Falling has to be one of the greatest albums that I had in there, just because it reminded me so many things. It was released in 1996, I was 17 years old ... this album is a true 'Winter' CD', a truly deep album , with aerial sounds and beautiful lyrics ... it's about the winter turning to spring, the rebirth of love, life, nature. I am not a music critic, the only I can say is that I listen to the album twice in a row today in work ...

I can't wait for the weekend and the cycling .. as usual, hoping to cycling a few hundred Ks :)

And the Girly paragraph of the day: OH MY GOD Trinny and Suzannah are in Dublin ... I wonder if they know about Blanchardstown Shopping centre ... I think they'd give up and hang themselves ...

... I hate waiting

Maybe I should have updated the blog earlier about this, but I was a 3rd party in this car/bikes incident, we got money for 3 new bikes, and my car is also being fixed as we speak. Al already got himself a 2008 Specialized Langster and is now has the nickname of 'Last year's Tom' or ' TKTOMM ... ( hehe sorry mate ), Tom ordered himself a new Cannondale Capo CAAD5 2008 which he should get this friday ( fingers crossed ) and I have order the new Giant Bowery 2009 that's just out tomorrow!!!! So we are all pretty pleased... My little car is at the garage for now and I am being given a rental, a Opel Corsa, brand new and it feels great to drive!! the only thing is that I have nowherer to drive the car to ... hehehe
Now ... I want my new bike!!!!!

Sunday Spin

Sunday spin! Al, Tom and moi, 142km, SallyGap, Kippure, Rounwood ... lots of talking, lots of remembering our fixies ... even thought my fixie's life was a short one ... the James Dean of bikes ... Good spin! These guys helped us along the way :

We got Spotted on 3 different occasions along the spin thanks to our boards jerseys.

F*** Off Galway Sept 08

Once upon a time in Dublin, Tom, Al and Caroline decided to take a Fixie trip to Galway:

They packed up the bikes and the bags in the Caromobile and headest West ... Braving 12 km of floods and roundabouts, M50, and Red lights ... until ...

Depressed and sad ... we headed back home, with dead bikes and a broken car ...

Ice cream and shoe shopping afternoon was the only way to make us feel better ...

Tea and ... no Rock and Roll

September has kicked in ... and I need to get mudguards. I had to drive into work this morning to avoid getting wet for a work photo we are supposed to have taken today. Rain doesn't really scare me though on any other day I would have cycled in. I'm afraid I'm becoming old ... My 29th is fast approaching, ending all my dreams of becoming a rock star and touring the world with my bass guitar .... I miss those days when anything was possible ...no ESB bill, no car down payments... all I am looking forward to when I get home nowadays is a nice cup of tea ( remind me I am out of milk ).

Here is the recipe of a nice cup of tea.

1/ Use Barry's as Lyon's doesn't make good tea ( yes bog standard tea bag tea )
2/ Boil you kettle and pour you water in your mug, on the tea bag ( do not Re-boil water!! Use new water each time)
3/ Use a spoon to stir the tea bag up and down the mug in a dipping motion
4/ Repeat 13 or 14 times
5/ DO NOT SQUEEZE THE BAG
6/ Add a bit of milk and sugar according to your tastes
7/ You can serve your tea accompanied with Fig rolls or biscuits of your choice.

This tea recipe is a family tradition that has been passed on to me from an older generation ... not my own family though ... someone else's family...

Sorry I had to do a tea post ... as my blog is also about tea. I will be sampling different bikkies over the winter as well, and maybe some different tea shop in Ireland. I will start the 1st ever Tea Shop Star rating ( not sure if I'll write a book about it just yet :P )

Oh dear ... I am still suffering from Post ToI depression ...

* Here is a photo of my 1st ever fixie ( above )

Withdrawal ...

I am in serious Tour of Ireland withdrawal at the moment. I pedal in my sleep, dream of running to the finish to get the results from the tour referees ... and, I can’t get that HQ STAFF pass off my neck. I was still very happy yesterday and this morning, but tonight it has started to hit me hard. Went for a short spin with a couple of my cycling buddies ...which felt great, but right now I am just depressed and I just want to get out on my bike again... I don’t even know what to type... I need a weekend away with my bike... somewhere else than Dublin, to breathe some new air and cycle different hills...

On my flight back to Dublin, I was sitting beside Magnus Backstedt from team Garmin Chipolte, whom I had been tracking all week to check how massive he was... ( on that picture I was on my tippy toes ). We talked about everything and anything and I can tell you, he reads Cycling Weekly too! He mentioned that the ToI roads weren’t great and that even if for us, the views looked amazing, the only things these guys were looking at were the arrows pointing which direction to take on the road. “Ah yes Magnus, these shitty roads are ours and these are the conditions we have to cycle in over here ... and we never complain” ... or do we.

On the topic of food “ Magnus, what do you eat after a cycle?” ... “High Protein Drinks and eat more proteins after”. Which is probably better than a pizza or some Chinese curry chips... ( yes lads, this is directed to you ). Made me think that my weekly training egg white sandwiches that I stopped eating when I ran out ketchup were not bad after all... I think I will get more ketchup tomorrow.

On a complete different topic ... my winter training has started today... and that means: lights, reflective vests, Low calorie weekdays food to get rid of the stubborn 10 lbs I have left to lose ... and I will (as soon as I come back from Alpe Dhuez) go for morning swims and cycles before work + gym after work! ... I am determined, I think ...