EBO!!!

Newcastle's latest short, floppy-haired road racing sensation is the man (boy) they (we) call 'Ebo', Ebo!



First up a couple of weeks back he popped up in the break in the Cronulla Criterium, taking 4th behind the likes of Graeme Brown and Matt White, no slouches. It was good to catch up with him on New Year's Eve and have a few beers, showing his commitment (or is it insanity) by trudging off to train at 8 on NY morning after 2 hours sleep. Then two days later he pops up in the break in the first race of the Bay Series in Melbourne. Takes 2nd in a sprint. Gets his name spelled wrong, in several different ways. Ebling. Embling. Eblining. FFS, it's E B E L I N G. Next day he was at it again, getting in the break, winning a sprint against Gerrans, then trying to bridge across to the 3 man break alone, a good way to get exposure if ever there was one. Not content with all that, he also got his mug on SBS's Cycling Central programme, even managing to string a few cliches together for the cameras. Of course Tomalaris and those morons proved once again their ineptitude by using the 'Eblining' spelling. Nice one! Here's hoping he can take the momentum and exposure he's gained and have a good crack at it. I reckon he can.

Stumped

Well a new year is upon us once again, and it's shaping up to be a good one. New bike, New Zealand.... the Stumpy is amazing, I've been having too much fun to actually tell all 4 of you readers about it. It's surprisingly light, pedals as well as the Epic, and soaks up the rough stuff like a sponge soaks up something. I was gonna say cat piss, but I didn't think that was appropriate. Anyway, it's good. Dare I say it.... the perfect bike? There, said it.



So it's off to NZ again in January, this time for God-knows-how-long. The K-man is flying the mission in the Starship Laser this time, and there's a little posse of Newcastle lads heading over, by coincidence, in Feb. Freemo, Quaino, Bistro and Bower-o will be hitting the North Island, so we plan to be in the South at that time, by coincidence.



Well Happy New Year to all 4 of you, cue tumbleweed and wind....

Stalled...

Yep, the ol' blog ain't what she used to be. A combination of too much work, too little riding, and not much else happening led to a downturn in production of, well, 100%. But things are picking up, so here's a bit of a rundown of minor events past, present, and Monday.

New bikes, new bikes everywhere!


Tis the season to be buying cool shit! Col picked up a new Epic Carbon frameset and immediately set about to Colinize it by adorning it with pre-dirtened (I think I just made up a word...) parts. But in an incident that shocked the veterans cycling fraternity and heartened the mechanics at work, Col's beloved and mystery-shrouded piece of string was somehow misplaced in the excitement of the union of frame and filth.

Not to be outdone, Christian popped for a new road bike, and has a new mounno on the way. His roady, an Opera, came in a frame size which was a touch too big, and looked like a kid's bike with the seat pole slammed down (apparently, this is what he said...unfortunately I didn't get to laugh at it or him). But now he's got the right size, so opportunity missed.



What happened to my Epic? It's all in bits! There's bits of bikes everywhere at the moment, on the garage floor, in boxes, and on eBay. Why? Coz it's out with the old girl, and in with.....



The New!! Yesiree, that's mah noo girl. Perfect NZ bike. Did someone say NZ? Another tilt coming up soon, a bit longer hopefully, but I might have a new little word-related venture in the pipeline. And that's all I know.... news when it comes to hand...my hand.



You want a spoon with that? Never a contender for beer of the week, this one. Steve brews a pretty good 'homie' usually, but this wasn't one of them. It tasted like it looks...fizzy. And that's what you get for helping a mate out woith a singlespeed conversion!

Ok, that's it for now, I'll add some links and stuff when I get some time, which could be this weekend with it pissing down and no bike!

Watch this space......

Flung

I hate computers. I'd written up a bit of a blurb about the Fling, but then my computer decided that it was hungry. So briefly, a good weekend away, the race was the most painful I've ever done, Deano kicked ass again, Col loaded up and did the same to me and Scotty, Andrea pit-bitched to her usual high level and I've just stopped aching now.

Col finds a spot on his bike that is not covered in dirt, tape, string or zip ties. Or he's stashing some of his 'special tablets' for later in the race.

Deano wonders if he takes another crap in his knicks, will anyone notice?, while me and Col attempt to qualify for the 2007 World Stare-Out Championships.

In a bizarre coincidence, our numbers were exactly the same as our ages in dog years.

There's those wankers again! (Was what I heard someone else say.) The guy in yellow is checking out Deano's arse... worth a look too.

Scotty hits the front at 10 metres, before fading to 237th after the first km. The guy in yellow tries to keep sight of deano's arse. He didn't. Worth a try though.

He may be a sick, twisted human, but Deano can ride a bike fast for a long time. And he has some weird mates.

Scotty realises 100m from the finish that he could've saved an hour or two if he rode with his hands on the bars.

Next year's poster boy? Maybe for this.

580 dog years + 110 kms x 3 = 0.

Port-folio

Lollapalooza it ain't. A small turnout added to the laid back feel of the race and the weekend. And if there's only ten riders in your grade, you're top-tennin' that shit.



It doesn't go as fast as I thought it would. 110? My car can do that.



This guy gave us bogus directions to the race then kept following me around saying he wanted to be in the blog. Not happening. And stop calling me.



Freemo ran one SPD and one flat to aid cornering on the predominantly right hand turn oriented track. It was working until it stopped working, costing him the race, and any semblance of credibility he may have been clinging to.



There were some wankers there who thought they were a team of some sort, but only one of them could ride. The other one finished ahead of me too. I can't ride.



There they are, told ya! *Guess which one can ride. **Now look at the other one. I can't ride.


*Did you guess which one can ride? Yes, it's the guy taking a crap in his knicks!
**I think the other one might be a woman.

Dirty Weekend

Ok, so I haven't had much to talk about of late, yeah there's been a few beers under the belt, a few early morning Saturday rides before work, and a lot less training than is really satisfactory. So with only two weeks to go until the Highland Fling, some drastic measures must be taken to put some sting in the legs and air in the lungs. This is just what the doctor ordered. A road trip. Bikes, beer, beats, more bikes. We are loadin' up K-Man's WRX and pointing it in the general direction of Port Macquarie, where the festivities include a Saturday arvo social ride, a night race, and a 4 hour enduro on Sunday. I'm definately up for the 4 hour, nice and slow and hopefully the form will magically appear. There's a solid crew of Newy lads heading up, including "I don't hop anymore but I can clean up B Grade club XC" Tomkinson, Quaino, Freemo, some other guys whose names end in 'O' and Scotty and Dean(o). I've missed the road trips this year, so a couple in the space of a few weeks should sate me until next season.

Humans?

Why do people do this to themselves? Because they can? I'm still amazed at the efforts of these two guys, and also a little inspired... so much so that I challenged Col to do the Working Week Series 8 hours next year as Solos...I'm sure sense will prevail soon.

near-death experience


Chris Eatough (right) sits in the first aid tent after the 24 Hour Solo World Championship, with an I.V. in his arm, while medics treat Australia's Craig Gordon for severe dehydration following Gordon's win in the epic battle.

Golden Gordon

In only his second ever 24 hour solo race, Aussie Craig Gordon has taken out the 2006 World Championship in the US. No mean feat, as he had to contend with 'Mr. 24' Chris Eatough, who was gunning for his seventh straight title. Apparently Gordo was punching out super fast laps early on, and kept it up all throught the night, eventualy lapping Eatough and taking the win. The guy's an animal. I remember at the Mont 24hour last year, I was on my third lap at about midnight, when I was passed up a hill by Gordo, who was on probably his 12th lap or more. That was his first solo 24, which of course he won. And now this. Well done, Gordo!

The numbers never lie...

Went out for a little road ride with Col before work this morning, and felt pretty good. When I checked my computer, I realised I don't need to train anymore... I'm on FIRE!


2 hours on the bike... Yeah, seems about right.



101 kmh top speed! Geez, I know I was hookin', but...



Did I really only average 59 kmh? Hmmmm....



Yeah, I suppose it's about 122 km to Swansea..... and back.

Maybe something's up with my computer?