Cycle Tour 2013.

Its all confirmed.

 It looks like this year I will be cycling across Canada. I haven't got time to talk about it now but yesterday Adi and I booked our tickets with Di (our friend and travel agent) and today I cleared it with work. I suppose you could call it a work sabbatical.

I've also been out and about doing the odd bit of training for it.

Anyone interested in cycling across Canada might like to follow my blog. We'll be going right across from Vancouver to the coast on the other side. Nova Scotia is it? We'll head Eastwards anyway until we hit salt water.

Andy has been a good sort and has gone out on the odd mini tour with me. I wont be using a BOB trailer for the Canada trip.

Anyway must dash but will fill in the details in the next few days.

I’m sitting here on my favourite couch. The chicken’s been fed and the neighbour’s cat has had his three spoonfuls of tender roo meat (the neighbours are away in Aussie, possibly picking up some more roo meat for Chase). Adi’s at work earning money so that I can live the life I have become accustomed to. What I am not doing and had planned to do yesterday is riding my bike over the Tadmor Saddle, after which I was supposed to test my old primus cooker that I have made alterations to. Once again as the reluctant cyclist, I have had trouble getting out of the door. The weather is superb and I have decided that the Tadmor Saddle will have to wait until tomorrow. The weather will of course be just as nice. As a reluctant cyclist I soon learnt when we shifted to Nelson 20years ago that I couldn’t often use the weather as an excuse for not cycling. 

Adi assures me that tomorrow she will hold my hand as I mount my bike and point me in the right direction even accompanying me down the driveway. She will head to work again and I will pedal south to test my kerosene primus.  Adi will employ this technique later in the year when she will no doubt get me out of bed in time to catch the plane to Vancouver. This is a necessary starting point I understand for a cycle ride across Canada. But before then I must sort out a few things regarding my camping kit. My Dads 70 year old cooker is my first priority after I lost my 30 year old Optimus cooker last year in Vietnam.  Last week I made a wind break for it out of an old cheese grater. This was a feat that quite honestly I think would be way beyond the abilities of today’s generation but came to me in a flash. I pride myself also in making an unused cheese grater fit when I could have more easily used Adi’s favourite grater. Once I’d got the whole thing together and had performed a test burn I realised that the old cheese grater I had used was also once owned by Dad. (My father scratched the date into everything he ever bought. Yes, apparently even a cheese grater). I also pride myself on searching the eBay site and finding all the spare parts I will need for the old primus, something the current generation could do if they only knew what to use the parts procured for.

'Ken' Ready for a Test Burn in the Wilds.

While cycling over the Takaka Hill the other day with a couple of friends on roadie bikes my kerosene cooker was never far from my thoughts. While my mates were concerned with their gear ratios and last fastest time I was thinking more about how the smell of kerosene from my cooker would permeate everything I own while touring unless I had a dedicated cooker and cooking stuff pannier / bag. While my mates discussed the demise of Lance and compared our individual weights I couldn’t help thinking that my parents probably poisoned me as a kid by running the kerosene heater constantly inside, and encouraged me to stand over it, breathing in the warm gases during periods of cold weather.

My parents weren’t the only ones responsible for trying to lower my IQ during my developing years. The motor traders association (MTA) were busy promoting the virtues of driving cars everywhere while polluting the roadsides with automotive lead additives. Unlike today’s kids I was expected to not only do well at school but also to get myself there and back under my own steam. This necessitated riding my bike while trying to avoid not only child molesters but also the older generation who seemed intent on running me down with their Morris Minors or Triumph Heralds. That’s if they couldn’t poison me with their exhaust fumes first.  My parents can rest in peace but I think cyclists of the 70’s should take a class action against the MTA.

When the Chips are Down  Some Bikes Just Don't Pass Muster.

While dreaming about all this, things had taken a turn for the worse for my mates who on this stinking hot day were discovering that the tarry loose chips on the road were sticking between the tyres and forks/ seat stays of their tight clearance frames. While their Cervelo’s and Colnago’s made expensive grinding noises my Mercian (complete with mudguards) purred on regardless. Once the reluctant cyclist is on his bike turning back is not an option. Their decision to turn back and high tail it back down the hill was understandable given that their equipment was clearly out of its depth. I advised them to nurse their racing machines carefully down the hill as one chip too many could result in utter carnage and continued on the Mercian to the top. Hopefully the squealing sound being made by their bikes masked my uncontrolled mirth as I disappeared towards the top.

 

2013 & My Birthday.

Adi suggested that as my birthday was coming up and since she had lost my beloved Optimus  camping stove, that I should get a new one as a present from her. I have to say that two thoughts immediately fizzed through my brain at this suggestion. The first was one of excitement at being given the permission to go hunting for cycle camping gizmos (what a dear). The second was a nagging thought that somehow this didn’t add up, the thought that there was something a little bit whiffy about the idea. Maybe I was being short changed here. After all she had lost the stove in Vietnam when her bicycle and all her worldly goods had been nicked, ( my stove I had had for 25yrs. A stove I had been given as a present. This is a stove that had singed my eyebrows on more than one occasion). Surely she should have to replace my stove with her insurance money and then buy me another present. I was being carefully done out of a legitimate birthday present!

My Latest Trademe Purchase. (Just an aside)

It’s that same feeling you used to get when your older brother or sister told you to do things you didn’t want to do, for your own good. Off they go blabbing to your mum or Dad about things, for your own good. Now you realise that they often had a secret agenda but at the time you didn’t know how to put it into words. It just smelt bad and it ended up getting you into trouble or costing you your privileges. Later on I got pretty good at spotting this sort of thing. I had to learn how to out manipulate the manipulators or I would never get a new matchbox toy again or be allowed to go on over-night bike rides with my friends.

Overnight Camping with Friends on my Birthday.

Anyway once again I digress. I got around the stove thing by deciding in my own head that the antique kerosene camping stove that my Dad gave me many years ago, along with a kerosene paint stripper, would work for all my camping needs. After all dad had been using it since 1938 and still had a good head of hair so it must be reasonably safe. In addition to that I had as a teenager witnessed the operation of the kerosene burner when Dad torched my motorbike spark plugs free of all oil residues (I was told to stand back as the thing flamed into life belching sooty smoke, hissing and spitting. Blue fierce flames slowly replacing the random and uncontrollable yellow flares)

Dads no longer around to run me through a reviser on how to start the camping stove so I will assume that the principle is much the same as the kerosene torch  taking the added precaution of asking Adi to do it while I do what Dad told me to do. Stand back.

Help Dad! "She's going to blow and take out the corn field".

"It's Ok, Stand Down. She's Happy Now"

So that brought me back to the gift problem. Adi once again proved her worth by coming up with two other great suggestions. The first option was a bicycle bell. And the second was a world globe.

I know what you are thinking. Go the globe. Heaps better than just a bike bell. But this would not be just any bell. I’ve had your ubiquitous ‘I love My Bike Bells’. In fact I’ve had dozens of them. I’ve had so many I can tell you they’re average life expectancy before;

1.       Fading to a point where you can’t read the trendy ‘I love My Bike’ sticker.

2.       The striker constantly clanging uncontrollably on the shell when riding on rough roads (most places in NZ)

3.       Plastic internal lever ratchet shredding themselves.

 

No my bike bell would come from the Glasgow Bicycle Bell Company. This bell would be quality. Made from the best British steel and hand brazed by artisans.

In the end I got the World Globe. The decision was inevitable. After checking the globe site and viewing so many variations that my vision was becoming blurred I discovered that Nova Rico Globes are made in Italy. Game, set and match. I am a sucker for all things Italian.

My globe was available through the NZ importer and when it arrived had nobly bits on it so I can visualise the big hills I have made Adi cycle up, and a few bigger ones that I have suffered on my own. I have to say now that I have my globe that, I’m a bit disappointed with some countries that I have cycled across. For instance the USA is pretty small when you look at it on the globe. Australia and South America on the other hand I’m happy to report are impressive. We won’t even mention Europe, it’s just tiny. And  all the time I’ve wasted cycling around there! I’ve definitely lost brownie points cycling in Europe and the US.



The Nova Rico Iluminator. (Made in Florence!)



So I’m going to put that right this year by cycling across Canada from Vancouver to the big wet on the other side.

Adi is doing her best to encourage me. She’s a dynamo when it comes to planning and budgeting for overseas cycle adventures.. Not only has she got me this globe but she insists on accompanying me across Canada to be sure that I make it to the other side well nourished. She has even suggested that following this she will get on the cosy plane seat home, but that I should cycle back!

Hmm it doesn’t look that far.

And India doesn’t look all  that big.

Hand Made in Appleby.

I pretty much forgot that Xmas was fast approaching and having only enough time to get myself a present I had to advise Adi that it might be best in the interests of saving time that she rush out and get herself something.

Just in the nick of time we managed to wrap them up and put them on the mantel piece. Talk about stress! I don’t think that Adi would have wrapped hers unless I insisted. After all you’ve got to do things correctly don’t you? As for sending cards to friends and others… sorry couldn’t get that motivated about it. I know that will be me removed from your next year’s Xmas card list but I’ll just have to take that like a man.

I had only enough time to send one card and that was to my mother. A bit silly really because she has forgotten much of the last 92years including me. My sister tells me that she is a favourite among the rest home staff. I fear this is only because she sleeps most of the time and when not in deep slumber she steers into space with a smile on her face. I always used to be a smiley, uncomplaining baby and I expect I will also exhibit the same traits when I’m in a rest home.  I will get a rest home report saying that” Niel is a very well-mannered and conscientious member of the residents”. And they will be happy to keep me on as I pay well and cause no disturbances.

Adi and I cycled to a Xmas Eve movie, The Hobbit of course. Adi just can’t get enough of dwarfs and orcs. I somehow think that the whole thing could be somewhat improved with the addition of a legion or two of warrior elf maidens. I don’t particularly mind whose side their on as long as they fight hard and ruthlessly.

Come Christmas day I felt that I still had time to make myself another present or two so after opening our presents and entertaining Karen and Terry for morning tea in the summer room I set too constructing a couple of carbon neutral bike racks in the back garden. I suppose they’re not quite carbon neutral as I used an electric skil saw to make them and they can’t really I suppose be described as organic as they are treated in enough chromium , arsenic and copper to kill fungus for the next 2000years. But they are jolly good at holding my bike up!

 

And Bits Left Over For a Single!

What did Father Xmas get me for Christmas you all ask??? He got me, besides the pest proof bike rack kit, a Campagnolo brake set!!!! (With cable kit). I have no intention at this stage of putting it on the Mercian as I already have an XTR v brake set which I love and has stopped me from going over the edge in many exotic countries.(Santa what were you thinking??) But when it finally dies I will have a Campag cyclocross brake set to replace it with. And until that time (probably around 2025) it can live in the workshop with all the other spare parts that bear the magic inscription ‘Made in Italy’ and are of no real use at the moment.

And once Adi had got the wrapping off her present… low and behold it was a bag. But not any bag in my book. No it was a Vespa luggage bag which was bought by Santa to obviously encourage Adi and I to set out on another Vespa / Mercian adventure. Adi feels certain that although Santa didn’t tell her specifically where we are expected to Vespa / cycle, it must be across Canada next year and I’m not about to disagree.

So once all that excitement was over the day was almost dusted. Just enough time to whip over to the neighbours orchard to nick some berries for the Pavlova and down another rum and coke.

It was supposed to rain this week but those are promises that refuse to come to fruition at the moment and so once again I will have to tweak the neighbouring orchards irrigation system so that it delivers us a bit of the clear stuff as well.

Cant thank Santa for that one.

Bidding for Good Stuff.

Working p/time in a bike shop and being a bit of a retro man has its disadvantages. The main problem being this, although the new season’s stock excites the rest of the staff and customers it rarely makes my pulse quicken.  Whereas some of my workmates have trouble taking home any of their pay my wages are safely deposited for Adi to spend on mundane things like our weekly groceries.

And things aren’t likely to get any better in the future as the sort of stuff I’m interested in is only likely to come into the shop occasionally as a result of a repair job or when a customer wants to show me his latest heritage project. These bikes are never for sale at a reasonable price or likely to be used for anything other than a quick spin along the cycleway on a sunny afternoon.

Things were looking grim until I discovered TradeMe the second hand internet site. Now my prayers have been answered.  Tinkering about on bikes for close to forty years gives me an advantage when looking at old stuff. I can peruse other people’s bike junk at will and get a bit of excitement when bidding on things. I can now acquire some of the top quality components that eluded me when I was growing up. Back then I foolishly wasted my money on stuffed toys for potential girlfriends instead of investing wisely on handmade race frames and cycling kit. I still managed back then to buy quite a bit of bike stuff (a lot of which I still have) but I could have done so much better if I hadn’t been distracted in other ways.

The final gem in this whole thing is that this once top gear is usually as cheap as chips because today’s punters are focused on the latest offering from China in carbon fibre. I can snatch up a handmade lightweight steel frame or Italian brake set for the price of an evening out. I’ve missed the odd thing due more to my poor bidding technique or lack of attention than any concerted opposition. But I have now mastered this and feel pretty confident generally in winning my prize. I certainly have a better strike rate than I ever had with the high maintenance girls at college and Uni.

With a bit of forward thinking I should be able to continue to stock the workshop to such an extent that when I want to complete a repair or start a new cycle project, I will have all the retro parts on hand. This leads me to my current project of re building Adi a touring GT Zum to replace the one she had nicked in Vietnam recently. Her new bike is now complete and has been road tested. However she lost with her old bike a set of retro touring wheels that I had put on the bike because they were more reliable and tougher than the sport wheels she usually runs day to day. I had a pair of campag record hubs and a pair of Shimano 600 hubs waiting but no 36hole Mtb rims to use.

Low and behold, what should surface on TradeMe?

Only three brand new 1990’s campag mtb rims and a matching pair of new and still wrapped FIR mtb rims!! All for chicken feed!  Mavic rims are still available but are difficult to get here and are expensive. I simply need to buy a couple boxes of DT spokes and hey presto 2 pairs of new /old wheels. You can never have too many wheel sets for your Mercian.

O that’s right, one set is for Adi but I’m sure I can borrow them if the need arises.

"I have a Free Period Sir".

 I was out on my bike today cycling to the garden centre with my trailer on to pick up a bag of compost.T'was a  beautiful day as I zoomed over the newly re-designed cycleway bridge (you can actually cycle over it now! And it only took the engineers two attempts to get it right!!) Not a soul was about either on the cycleway or around the properties that border the track. It is a Tuesday so I presumed that everyone was busy at work. The busy bees working long hours so they can keep their children fed and the car topped up. Not to mention making the payments on the big screen TV and not so portable BBQ.

With Adi Doing the first Leg I Get to Sleep In.

Anyway I digress. I had a funny feeling of being naughty some how. As if I should be at work as well. A feeling you get as a school kid when you take a sicky and then go into town to buy a new bike frame that you just cant stop thinking about.I felt today like the work police might stop me on the track and say "Hey you there, shouldn't you be at work?" I couldn't say that I had a note from my mother to be out, so I thought I'd just tell them either work was closed today or that I had a free period.

Thinking about it later on I thought I could use the excuse kids use in this country, that "it's a teachers only day today sir". ( They of course don't put the 'sir' in. That's for my fathers generation. My generation would simply reply shaking in their bike shoes. Today's generation would simple add ,"what's it to you anyway?!")
  In my case I'd suggest that it's an employers only day at work. Both situations equally as productive and great excuses to get up to no good on your bike.

So what has 'Niel the Wheel' been up to in the last month since coming home from Vietnam without Adi's bike?

Well, talking of employment and feeling guilty for being out, 'Niel the Wheel' has quit his job at the bike shop!!!
Yes I have. And it was a difficult decision because the flexibility that that job offered, allowing me to take off to far away places on my bike, I thought would be impossible to find elsewhere. The bike shop while I was away was facing challenges of its own and was having to head in new directions due to the state of the economic climate. And although these changes didn't directly effect me I felt the need to make my own changes. It just wasn't the same when I went back after cycling in  Asia.

Some things were the same. But there was a lot that wasn't.

So with thoughts of maybe buying a rental property and doing it up, I handed in my resignation. I grabbed my M.U.M, pedalled out the door, cycled South along the cycleway and under the QE 2 bridge. (Submerged during high tides when cyclists need to don scuba tanks or hold their breath for approximately 2 minutes.) I shot like a missile along Queen Street Richmond and instead of going home and closing the door on my cycle retail career I instead cycled straight through the doors of the cycling opposition (Avanti Plus Richmond). Finding a hook out the back I hung my bike  on it, threw on a staff shirt, and went about confusing customers who had recently seen me dusting bikes just up  the road in Nelson.

I was no better than a bike shop whore.

My new hours are great. I'm the weekend man. The staff and owners are great. And although dusting bikes is quite therapeutic I'd rather be selling them. My only trepidation is that I think the customers are setting me up for a fall, as on my first weekend I sold 5 bikes! Steady on chaps. I'd rather start out slowly and build up to that.

With Adi Up the Road Cycling I Suppose There's No Hurry.

Having secured weekend work, I took off with Adi on a four day cycle / Vespa assist bike ride down the East Coast of the Sth Island. The weather and scenery were great. Sharing the Vespa riding and cycling we managed over 200km days without problem. Two cycles, two people and a hard working 200cc Vespa. What fun!



O You Poor Thing You Must Be Buggered. Do You Want Me to do Some Cycling Now?

Back at home I'm busy rebuilding a GT Zaskar touring bike for Adi. Sneaking the odd bit of Italian bling in for me when I do the ordering is not easy though.

Got to go now because I have just seen some (new) retro Italian rims on the local online auction site that would look just great on 'Adi's'  the bike. But first I have to work out how to bid on such things.

Next blog I'll try to convince myself and anyone else interested on the merits of a Sunday twilight ride. Well it would be a 100km Sunday afternoon ride in the summer. A 100km twilight ride in Autumn and would morph into a 100km darkish ride in the winter as we would not leave until 3pm in the afternoon. Wouldn't that be something different? I've already started without you. It wasn't too bad. I might need some friends though as we move past the longest day. Some hard men that will not be phased by riding the back country as darkness beckons. Iron men who dont mind leaving Sunday dinner warming over a pot of hot water on the oven.(Or we could stop for greasies?)

There's nothing else to be missed on a Sunday evening. You need a mortgage to afford the once popular Sunday roast. So why not work up an appetite for the bangers and mash?




Did Ya Miss Me?

Sorry I haven't made a post recently.

But I've been out cycling.

A spring day on the east coast of the South Island, NZ. If it wasn't for the stink of seal shit you'd think you were in heaven.

Things have been happening, and I'll continue 'Niel the Wheels' story in a few days. For now I thought I'd just let you know that I haven't hung up my wheels for good and joined the chubby bum brigade, as they go about their daily chores of carting themselves and kids around in the SUV.

For now I have to check out Adi's latest parcel that's just arrived full of bike bits intended to rebuild her  touring bike. I'm pretty sure I managed to sneak  a Campagnolo rear derailleur for myself in that order.

"O' there you are you little beauty"