Living in a bee graveyard...

Today, after going to Spotlight, I was thinking about lunch while Dan was down in the garage. Our kitchen windows were open, with the flyscreens shut, because our flat gets very stuffy, so we usually leave them open all day. As I was putting away some washing up, I noticed that a bee was on the inside of the screen. I opened the screen to encourage it to leave, and two more flew in. I freaked out a little bit, and lit an incense stick, hoping that the smoke from the incense would stop any more from coming in, while I shooed the others out, then shut the window so that no more bees would slip through the hole in our screen (it's a quality property) But the window wouldn't move. I leaned right over, to try and pull it in, but slipped, and my arm knocked the incense stick, and I got a little burn. So I walked out towards the garage and got Dan to come in. Dan squashed the two bees on the inside, and the one that was between the screen and the window. We were taking some time to breathe after all that, and taking in the massive number of bees outside our window. There were heaps. Heaps. As we're standing around debriefing, Dan has to squash another 4 or 5 that appeared from within the flat somewhere - they possibly got in while the window was open and I didn't notice, or they were finding a way in somehow, which we found not so difficult to believe, given the extremely poorly constructed building we live in.

Dan went back out to the garage, and I continued sorting out the kitchen. In half an hour I had to squash another 6 or so bees, that just kept turning up. I cooked up our lunch - we had a salad with baby spinach, alfalfa sprouts, capsicum, sundried tomato, pine nuts and garlic polenta croutons - and as we were sitting down to eat it, noticed an ENORMOUS swarm outside our window. It would have been about 3pm. Meanwhile, there's a bee graveyard on our windowsill - about 12 of them. What brilliant vegetarians we are (gulp.)

The Fixie Project (part 3)

I've been waiting on wheels for the last few weeks so I haven't made much progress. Since last time I blogged I have added the handlebars and handlebar tape, plus a yellow seat I picked up off ebay.

So the wheels I ordered arrived (or at least the rims and rear hub) on Saturday morning. Jens at Bicycle Revolution (BR) built up the rear wheel on Saturday and I took the frame down there so that we could fit the wheel and get the chain line as straight as possible. I couldn't have done it without the boys at BR since we needed to cut the thread on the bottom bracket (it was full of crap from sitting around for so long) after that we were able to get a new bracket in there and attach the wheel. I took the bike home at that point and put it away until Sunday.


All I had to do today was pop a tyre onto the new wheel, borrow a wheel of Mario for the front (until I get the front wheel built up), and attach the chain. At this stage I still don't have a front brake cable so I'm running brake-less, but I won't be taking it on the road like that!


No dramas getting everything together, the photo above is before I tensioned the chain so it does look like wet spaghetti! Pretty happy with it, and I am looking forward to getting the last bits on it next weekend! Particularly the matching front wheel, talk about bling!

Bike Polo (mallet building)

I recently got in touch with some locals who are interested in starting up some Brisbane-based Bike Polo. I'd previously had a game with the guys in Melbourne and loved it so had been eager to get some going here. In order to play we need mallets though so I spent some time preparing them today.

Here are the ingredients:
5 x Salvos old golf clubs
1m PVC pipe
plumbers cement
5 x hose clamp
1 x angle grinder
1 x drill

I started by lopping the ends off the golf clubs. Then the PVC was cut to length. I drilled some holes in the PVC pipe, slightly angled to allow for better swing. Then rammed the golf club ends through the PVC to create a nice snug fit. The hose clamps are hidden inside the PVC pipe just as a backup should the glue fail. The glue is just to add some extra bonding on top of the interference fit of the PVC and golf club ends.


I painted them as well for effect. Our first game is planned for next Sunday, I promise I'll post up some photos of the carnage!

Busy Weekend

Whoa what a big one! I'm going to have to break this one down into multiple posts otherwise I may break blogger. Kath met me Friday arvo and we rode together into town for Critical Mass. For those who haven't heard of Critical Mass before it is a monthly bike ride held all around the world where cyclists can come together to ride together through their respective cities. We'd gone to Melbourne CMs before but never to one in Brisbane.

We got to Queens Park around 5pm where about 20 people were gathered. More rocked up within the next half and hour and before long we had over 60 riders. We started out with a cyclone (riding around in a circle) before hitting the street and winding our way through the CBD and out to New Farm and the Valley. We all had a great time, at one point I found myself holding a large banner with another rider at the front of the mass.

Saturday morning we got up early to get to the market and also have breakfast out. Ended up getting to the market around 8, which meant we could actually lock our bikes to the lone 6-bike rack at the market! Got our veg and then headed to the Gunshop Cafe for breakie which was great. We also met up with a local that I'd met online to talk about Bike Polo, more on that in another post though.

I'd got word that my bicycle wheels had been delayed so we chilled at home for a little while. I went down later with my frame and picked up one wheel (the other one is missing a hub so will have to wait for another week). More on the bike though in a another post.

I got home just after the start of the Grand Final, Richard was meant to be coming around so that we could all go down to the pub to watch it. I'd delayed things by being stuck at the bike shop so as it turns out we ended up drinking homebrew at our place with Richard rather than miss any of the action in transit. Sarah came around during the fourth quarter (she'd been at a Hens do that morning) and we all watched as Hawthorn destroyed Geelong during the fourth quarter.

When the game was wrapped up we walked down to West End for some more beers and some dinner. We grabbed Thai which I thought was really nice, after which we decided on a night cap at Sling which does amazing cocktails. I got their aptly named Zombie, which given the three kinds of Rum in it could turn anyone into a Zombie.

Sunday morning was a little more subdued and I spent most of my day in the garage on various projects: fixie bike, polo mallets, general bike servicing 101 and homebrew bottling. We had a surprise in the arvo when a swarm of bees arrived in the tree outside our window, around 20 or so found their way inside as well. But I'll leave that story for another post.

Mt. Cootha ride

Before starting this post I have to provide some brief background on our extended family. We currently own 4 bicycles, and to avoid confusion we have names for them. OK I admit it sounds tragic, however it makes it a lot easier to distinguish the bikes, plus it kinda helps to give them a personality. I'll post more about our brood in the coming weeks, however let me introduce you to Mario.

Mario was born in Italy about 10 years ago and soon after emigrated to Melbourne, Australia. At that stage Mario was just a frame, however he quickly got built into the bike he is today thanks to the team at SBR (Swim Bike Ride). I adopted Mario last year from a reluctant seller, and without revealing the exact amount, got him for a steal! For the bike nuts out there, Mario is a De Rosa Vision frame, has Campagnolo Daytona running gear, and a Mavic Open Pro wheelset.

I usually go out with Mario 3 times a week, however having been sick recently I've had to leave him in the garage for a good part of the last month. Today I decided to get back into it, and what better way to shock my system then to ride up Mt. Cootha (Brisbane). For my Melbourne mates think the Dandenongs.



I took off from our place at around 8am and quickly joined a peloton of around 50 bikes which was nice to warm up with. However these guys quickly went their own way and I was by myself once more. I took the river route which is really nice and scenic, a great way to warm up for the climb. I hit the climb and boy did I hit the wall! The first section is at a grade of 30% which just killed me (call me soft :-) ), however I managed to get about 2/3 of the way up the mountain before having to make a stop to regain composure. It was really hard to get going again, however I swear I would have thrown up had I have kept going without a break (gross I know).

I got to the top and was pretty happy with my average climb speed of about 12kph. However a combination of me being unfit and Mario being geared for flat terrain (a by-product of having been built in Melbourne no doubt) made it very difficult. I enjoyed a coffee before the descent, of which I won't quote my max speed for fear of my mum reading this. It was a pretty cruisy ride home and from door to door it took about 2 hours (including coffee).

I will be doing the ride again in a couple of weeks and hopefully I'm in better shape by that stage. I've plotted the route on velomaps for those who may be interested. Next time I'll take a camera!

Valley Fiesta

The timing for my return to full health could not have been better. This weekend just gone was the Valley Fiesta and Kath and I along with Richard and Sarah hit the Valley for some live music, beer and food. Given that I've been cooped up for several weeks with the flu I was a bit excited to be getting out of Highgate Hill for the weekend. I'll try to give a rundown of what we got up to...

Friday: I got home from work after Kath, who had gone to the post office to pick up my latest supplies for the bike. We had planned to ride down to the Valley but spied a thunderstorm approaching and decided on Plan B instead. Plan B involved some homebrew and chips down in the garage, Kath with a new Vegan cookbook, me with my bike. We sat and watched the storm pass over, enjoying the rain and lightning. Once the storm passed we decided to head down for Vego Chinese in Sunnybank instead.

Saturday: We headed down to the markets for our weekly fruit and veg, and I took the bike down to the boys at Bicycle Revolution to pick up my new wheels. Long story short, no wheels... will have to wait until next week :( However they will be yellow and sound pretty awesome! We came home and I serviced Kath's bike (she'd broken a spoke in the prior week). After that we got ready for the Fiesta and jumped a bus down there.
We met up with Richard and Sarah and jumped between the different stages (they had three in total), had some beers and enjoyed the nice sunny afternoon. That night we saw some great (and free!) live music including: Numbers Radio, The Boat People and Blue Juice. The teenagers were out in force and we had some fun bouncing around in the middle of the crowd with them.

Sunday: After a nice sleep-in I made Kath and I a massive breakfast of veggie sausages, home made hash-browns and baked beans. I also put on some homebrew, an IPA (using some nice fresh Hallertau and Goldings hops). We then got on the bikes and rode around to Richard and Sarah's place in St. Lucia. From there we all rode around the river to the Valley, back to the Thai restaurant where we'd been the day before, and to exactly the same table! Got some great food and some well earned beers and then wandered around the markets down Brunswick street. We jumped back on the bikes and headed back along the river. We saw the City cat as we met the river near the Storey Bridge and we decided to race it home (like Kath and I used to race the no. 48 tram from the city to Hawthorn). We won! As such Sarah (who usually gets the cat to work) is now going to start riding to work. Kath and I rode the rest of the way home, collapsed into the couch and reflected on a truly tops weekend!