Doh!

Do you think that someone in the Woolworths PR department missed the point with this? Or is it just an attempt to start a viral marketing campaign that didn't quite work?

 

What's better than a craft beer?

Craft beer that you don't have to pay for of course :)
Thank you Archive for a $25 'beer-th day bar tab'. You rock!

They grow up so quickly....

Remember this little fella?

 Well four months later he's done a lot of growing up, and he's had an outfit change as well

 He's still got his curiosity though - shame about the dignity :)

 

Unboxing goodness

It's always a happy & exciting time when you receive a "care package" from a bike shop or company. It's a bit like Christmas even though you know exactly what's in there and exactly how much it cost.

So what's in the box this time? A variety of Velo-Orange goodness

These will go on the Roadrat, which is slowly being converted from an urban runabout to a touring bike.

On the front we have some Chris's Rando bars - a little different to regular road bars with an upward sweep from the stem, a longer section before the hoods and a slight flare on the drops (which I can use without my belly bouncing gently on my knees). These are very comfortable - so far they feel the best drop-bars that I've used, although it gets uncomfortable with your hands either side of the stem. This is mounted on a shiny VO stem and holds a 'baguette 'handlebar bag.

The seat is a leather 'Model 3' saddle, modelled on a Brooks B17 but made from Tasmanian cows. Leather saddles are traditionally used by long-distance riders (not racers) as over time they apparently shape themselves to the individual shape of your backside. This is known as an 'arse hammock'. The break-in time is supposed to be painful but I'm not finding it too bad, possibly because I'm only riding 20km at a time. It's mounted on a shiny VO seatpost, and suspends a 'Croissant' saddle bag. This is large enough to be useful but small enough to theoretically not be noticeable when you ride. Unfortunately the buckles on the fine-looking leather straps keep knocking into the seatpost with a distinct and incredibly irritating 'tick' every time I hit a bump - I need to do some masking with tape.

Finally there are Sabot pedals. I'm a big fan of flat pedals and most of the ones I ride are BMX pedals. These look a little more understated but still have a massive and very comfortable platform. Although the combination of flat pedals, no straps and narrow handlebars means wrestling the bike up hills is hard work.

As it's a Friday I was able to pack a complete change of clothes in the bags today - a carefully rolled and surprisingly wrinkle-free t-shirt and some undies in the front bag and a pair of trousers in the saddlebag. Flat pedals meant I was able to wear the shoes I rode in in around the office without walking like a constipated gazelle, and all I needed was a hip-pouch for essential tools and a camera.

Sadly at some point I'm going to need to bite the bullet and  put those new-fangled gear things on though.

Lover of the light

Something a little different to my usual indie fare today, got sent this by a mate for both the song and the location

It's filmed at Rhossili Bay in Wales, just south of Swansea and a regular surfing, biking & kiting haunt when I was back in the UK. It's one of the most stunning beaches I've been to in my life, but at low tide the walk down to the sea is a long one when you're carrying a 7'6 mini-mal in a rainy cross-wind. The heather-covered hillside was the scene of the infamous 'topple off the bike sideways, roll through a nest of nettles, fall down a 3' drop and land in a bramble patch' incident. Ah happy days.

Can't stop - don't wanna

We watched Premium Rush last night, a 'fixie' film that is wonderfully crap in all the best ways

Things are getting a little hectic personally for us at the minute, with some big changes being imposed upon us.  Sometimes I'm struggling to keep my head with everything that's going on, so Premium Rush inspired to go for a ride on my fixie this afternoon. I wasn't running red lights, jumping junctions or riding brakeless (there are big hills in Brisbane) but it was a very satisfying ride around a very beautiful city that I'm lucky to live in.

Just like riding a fixie, life can get away from you at times. The trick I'm struggling with is to roll with it instead of fighting it, let it take me to new places and enjoy the ride on the way.

How deep is your love...for carpet?

In a bizarre way I have a slight link to the Bee-Gees as my parents lived in the Isle of Man for a while (where the Bee-Gees were born), I lived in Chorlton in Manchester for a while (as did they) and then I moved out to Brisbane  (as did they). The difference is of course that they went on to have stellar careers whilst I....well, let's not get into that.

The Bee-Gees actually lived in Redcliffe, just to the north of Brisbane, and the town has recently opened an imaginatively named memorial street

 complete with statue

and a presentation wall.

 As you can tell by the crowds, not much happens in Redcliffe

The funniest bit is seeing how the local shops have cashed in on the Bee Gees legend. The music is playing in all the shops (I have had a medley of their 'classic' tunes on constant repeat in my head), there are commemorative t-shirts and postcards for sale and all of the op-shops and clothing shops have a distinctly retro style. But my favourite was the local carpet shop, which had 'How deep is your love - for carpet' painted in big letters across the front window. The owner of that place is a thinker. 

Birthday views

On my birthday we went up to Point Danger for breakfast, cake & present opening. It's a beautiful spot with Durranbah and NSW on one side

 and Snapper Rocks and Queensland on the other

The water looked beautiful

But after 5 surf sessions in 3 days we were sunbattered and exhausted so hid in the shade instead

 As most of my UK mates will be saying - toughen up cupcake!

Greenmount Beach

It was my birthday last week so we took a three day weekend down in Coolangatta, staying at the Greenmount Beach Resort. The resort location was fantastic, out on a headland between two classic surf beaches

 and we could just about see the waves from our room

 The view was actually better from the corridor outside the room though

We got a good deal on the cost of the room, and once we got there we realised why. It was spotlessly clean but a little run down and in need of a refit - for example the air conditioning was a little past its prime and far too noisy to run overnight.

One of my friends summed it up best of all when he said that he had stayed there when he was a kid and he loved it, he went back 30 years later and nothing seemed to have been changed...

Anyway, on one side we had Greenmount beach

 and on the other side Rainbow Beach and the world famous Snapper Rocks

We went out twice each day to try to get the hand of the Albacore, and we both struggled to get to our feet on such a short and narrow board

 Just one more go......

 OK now I'm done

A week later we're both still sore!

Painters & Dockers

Quick one this week as it's all getting a bit hectic here. Classic mid-80's Australian alt-rock from one of the great 'pub-rock' bands, which could quite possibly aimed at me....

 

It's great when you're straight, yeah?

All the wringing of hands & gnashing of teeth and over the Lance Armstrong 'expose' seems trivial compared to the latest news from Australian Sport, where teams in all of the four major codes have been implicated in the systematic abuse of illegal performance enhancing drugs. Not individual players but whole teams were regularly being shipped off site for the injection of mysterious 'supplements' by medical staff who weren't part of the regular staff and weren't on the books. Clean urine was being hidden in the team facilities to get around drug testing. Add to this accusations of match fixing, links with organised crime and the use of drugs not tested or cleared for human application and the whole Lance thing looks like a storm in a teacup.

If this allegations are proved to be true then it will be interesting to see what action the authorities take. If it was pro-cycling then the riders would be banned and the teams kicked off the Tour circuit for the next 3 or 4 years. Doing the same thing would lead to almost no mainstream televised sport being broadcast over the next four years - well apart from soccer, and no-one really watches that anyway To quote the great Shaun Ryder - 'Take off your Reebok's man, and go play fucking tennis' .

Which brings me on to my Friday tune and the great Black Grape, a band which only gets better with age...

 

The boutique beer ride

There was a welcome break in the humidity yesterday so we thought it was time to check out some new bars in a boutique beer ride.

We started off at the beautifully located Bitter Suite, with a fine glass of Burleigh Heads Figjam IPA and some iced water bought to the table unasked by the (as always) very friendly staff who I think were a bit concerned that we'd dehydrate

 After that we had a short but beautiful ride along the river to Brisbane's latest microbrewery, the Green Beacon Brewing company

This is a little different to the average craft beer nook as it's a working brewery as well as a pub. Unsurprisingly they serve their own beers and the IPA was excellent, a blast of fruity amarillo hops backed up with - something that we couldn't quite spot - and the wheat beer was almost as good. They also serve food, with a strong emphasis on local seafood. The website claims that they will be brewing a series of 'regular' beers as well as seasonal specials so that's something to look forward to. I'm just hoping they don't end up following the path of most small breweries and producing an almost interchangeable range of 'pale, golden, amber, wheat, IPA, lager'.

Tipplers Tap lies only a very short ride away, but is a little harder to find. It's a classic craft beer bar with a small and easy to miss outside area   

and a dark yet welcoming inside - apologies for the bad photo. They have 10 craft beers in rotation, a wall of tasty looking bottles and some great smelling food that I need to revisit and sample.

 After that much craft beer we needed to cleanse our palettes with a refreshing glass of Coopers Pale at Rics, the best bar in Brunswick St mall by far 

By this point we were getting hungry so made our way to The Burrow in West End, a popular breakfast venue which has ridiculously friendly staff, a great range of bottled beers and a couple of beers on tap. Unfortunately the Feral White (one of my favourite beers) had just run out, but they replaced it with 4 Hearts Summer Wheat which was - OK. The pizza was great though.

By this time the night was drawing in so a couple of us retreated to Archive, the grand-daddy of Brisbane craft beer pubs, for a recuperative ale whilst waiting for a lift back. Surprisingly they didn't have an IPA on tap, and my alternative choice of a chilli-chocolate stout overwhelmed my already overworked tastebuds.

The only place we didn't get to visit was The Scratch Bar in Milton, possibly my favourite craft beer bar in Brisbane. I need to find another four or five pubs and put together an alternate route that ends up there. Any ideas?

A tale of two monorails

Two weekends, two monorails, too much nerdy fun......

The Seaworld offering - Australia's first, but a slow and uninspiring track and windows that are greyed out with adverts

But a very scenic station with additional entertainment

and Sydney's ill fated city monorail, sadly soon to be dismantled. A longer route through the heart of the CBD  



 

 

It's a very exciting way to travel.....