Doppelganger

I had entered to ride The Dual on last Saturday, but full of apathy,I deputised the redoubtable Jimmy to impersonate me.
This was a stroke of genius on my part, as I did not feel the slightest pang of discomfort when Jimmy underwent a veritable calvary of by cramp 10kms from the finish.

Not to be totally indolent, I got out on the fixie both days of the weekend.
Saturday I headed into Auckland, catching Carl Dickinson on his immaculate 80s Pinarello in St Heliers, then tagging along with Bob Tuxford and Calvin Bartley from Herne Bay to Mt Eden.
Sunday morning, I headed South expecting a less sociable ride, but found Murray Grace, looking dangerously fit, a couple of clicks from Kingseat.

Winterised

Front mounting bracket
Originally uploaded by bensondoc

When I got my Breakaway fixie frame, I chickened out on brazing on some mudguard fittings, with the excuse that mudguards on a bike with track dropouts would be a pain in the ass.
After a winter of riding with wet ass, I wish I'd made the effort.
Fortunately the humble ziptie makes a fine substitute for a mudguard eyelet, but the lack of a chainstay bridge called for some ingenuity. Inspired by the nifty seat tube widget that comes with the Berthoud Carbon mudguards,I adapted a Blackburn taillight bracket to secure the front part of the rear guard.

MORE MUDGUARD MOUNTING PHOTOS

Best in Show

mar2009 463
Originally uploaded by sal_bass

Although it didn't win any awards at NAHBS, this unpainted fillet brazed Kirk gets my vote.

NAHBS 2009

As a penance for not blogging for a month, I humbly offer a compendium of photo galleries from the '09 North American Handmade Bicycle Show:

Update- some of the links didn't work as originally published. Fixed now.

http://nahbshow.blogspot.com/
http://picasaweb.google.com/nahbshow/
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=495730
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72276612@N00/sets/72157614447629887/
http://picasaweb.google.com/axiomseven/NAHBS2009Indianapolis#
http://flickr.com/photos/84383377@N00/sets/72157594551219816/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35826940@N02/
Sean Easley's Flickr set
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35824735@N05/
http://s159.photobucket.com/albums/t137/RiverKnife/NAHBS%202009/?albumview=grid
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kurtsj00/sets/72157614498379909

2009- the score so far

With only two months of the year passed, I have already destroyed more than my share of kit:

1/ In an incident of which I cannot tell, one Giro Pneumo helmet.
It is some consolation that my head took all the impact, leaving unscathed a brand new pair of Bicycle Fixation knickers; and that the Ionos that replaced the Pneumo is a much better fit.

2/ Daydreaming while descending Rotorua's Billy T trail , I bent my GT Peace 9r forks against a tree.

3/ One pair Rapha Grand Tour gloves torn in an otherwise unremarkable topple on a gravel road. A replacement pair is not in my budget, so I have ordered a pair of Knog Stranglers.