Vinyl on Aluminium

Nice.

http://ianmonroe.net/

Corner

A nice shot of my good friend Paulo, who manages to be quite fast- despite being vegan. Luckily for him, his compact crank is hidden from view and he looks quite the professional. I'm a few wheels back, behind the guy in leg warmers- an essential accessory in 30 degree swealtering humidity. Race report up on:

http://www.colossi.cc/reports-2012

Wheel

We're 99 years on from Marcel Duchamp peddling bike wheels as Art, but that doesn't seem to stop 'em. I've had one or two wheels that looked like this after a crash, but sadly I never managed to sell them at any Art fairs.

Worst ways to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Thai Time

One blog post this past month can only be explained by one thing- Thai time. Actually, it's a bit more complex than that, in that I've been pretty busy with various things like moving flats, going on holiday (and racing) in Thailand, no internet, no motivation, shelves to put up etc. But it all comes back to one thing- it's ready when it's ready, i.e. it's late- Thai style.

Some things are worth their wait, like this fantastic latte art at the rather excellent Hotel De La Paix in Cha Am, a couple of hours south of Bangkok. I can't aspire to such profound beauty with this post, but I can assure you that after staying in Thai bike race hotels for 5 nights, I felt like a methadone addled smack head when this sweet brown stuff hit my veins!

Of course, a fantastic pool, some quirky angled (sometimes gabion) walls and a luxurious landscape made this a place to relax, recharge, and forget about life for a while. But, in trying not to think too much, I couldn't help but appreciate how much thought had gone into this place by Thai Architect Duangrit Bunnag. Unsung hero might be pushing it a bit far, but it is interesting how guys like this get completely ignored by the Western press, but they're actually building a lot of stuff that is often aspired to, but rarely executed. Somehow, this was humble luxury, if that makes sense? Affordable, friendly, quite raw, but equally comfortable when it matters, and with service just the right side of 'attentive'

So, enough of my holiday pics masqueraded as building review, and a note to say I will be a bit more back on the tinternet rader. Just as soon as I've tried out my new cordless screwdriver!

Dillenburger

The future is weird.

http://benjamin-dillenburger.com/

Innes

Not long left to see one of my favourite artists on show in Hong Kong- Callum Innes. He's inspired by stuff like escalators, so he's allowed on here...

http://www.timeout.com.hk/art/features/49721/callum-innes.html

NYC Wannabe

Steve '30 bikes' Coward takes HK MTB to NYC. Surely this trail beats anything in Central Park? Great shot of what it's all about...

http://nymag.com/travel/2012/spring/hong-kong-outdoors-2012-4/

Whitehead

Another good session at the velodrome this weekend with a few new peeps. L>R Ivis, Nora, Paulo, Hillary, Yours Truly, Ellen, Brian.

The good news from my end was I finally felt like I got the flying 200m nailed from a technique perspective- nice and high going into the final banking with a good drop to hit the white line at max speed. I felt like I faded a bit in the last 50m but still good enough for a 12.68 / 57kph. It would be nice to try on an indoors to see if an elevens is possible for me?

http://alleycat.hk/2012/04/14/whitehead-track-day/

HK Farm

Greening the rooftops of deepest Kowloon in action via flwrider. It ain't like the farms in Gloucestershire... Chapeau.

http://www.hkfarm.org/

SupaShed

I think this is a bit too nice to be a real 'Man Cave', but it is still a very nice shed.

http://remodelista.com/posts/garden-sheds-from-kekkila

CX Commuting

So tonight I christened the new Max Cross machine off road on a trail that is dull as ditch water on a fully suspended mtb, but pretty lively on a CX bike with road tires! Still, with a view like this on my way home, I really can't complain either way.

CWB

A photo of 'the view' from the 28th floor of another dull Hong Kong hotel that happens to have some pretty cool cityscapes.

GB

As I fight man flu on the sofa (disaster) I can at least take some solace from watching Team GB fight the Ozzie / French (delete as applicable to Endurance / Sprint) in the Melbourne track worlds. Here's a great shot of Pendleton flying:

http://www.milanofixed.com/pic-of-the-day-94/

Tokyo @ Night

Japan booked for this coming Christmas- at last!!! Image stolen from here:

http://www.citypictures.org/r-east-asia-147-japan-230-tokyo-229-tokyo-at-night-japan-2880.htm

post XMas visit edit:

Curiously, by some sort of google meta tag spam attack, this post is my 'most read' . If you've arrived here by accident and you're looking for some sort of semi-meaningful content, can I suggest to re-direct you to here:

http://bikesandbuildings.blogspot.hk/2013/01/japan.html

8 Years

http://flwrider.com/flwrider-tv/1-nahbs-2012-with-richard-sachs/

Max Commute

A quick shot of my first commute on the now built Colossi Max. I've got a few tweaks to make before I do some nicer photos, but first impressions are this is very much fitting the bill of a relaxed commuter that I can lever up some tricky climbs and take along some smoother off road trails on my to and from the office.

Welding

Stumbled across this very cool photo of the 'B of the Bang' sculpture being welded up. Sadly a spike fell off and they took it down in '09, but I still love the scale of this thing. Reminds me of trips to Manchester Velodrome...

http://www.vam.ac.uk/users/node/16532

Harpa

The Danes doing the good stuff in Copenhagen. A beautiful facade.

http://www.olafureliasson.net/works/Harpa.html

Double O 4

A really nice photo of team colossi's small fixed gear team, taken by Eric Lee at Saturday night's excellent Double O fixed gear criterium. A real breath of fresh air from the HKCA officialdom- these guys just get out there and race (and take amazing photos / cinematography)! I'm looking forward to the video...

http://alleycat.hk/2012/04/02/double-o-heat-4-photos/

Modena Yellow

I guess this is what a Ferrari sky light looks like...

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/03/15/enzo-ferrari-museum-by-future-systems/

Bamboo Max

I think the pictures say it all. Hello new Max tubed Cyclocross frame... Special features include internal cable routing, fixed / geared adaptability, matching straight blade forks and a stunning paint job. Here's looking forward to the build.

MTB Egypt

Here a photo worthy of an 'Egypt MTB Action' front cover if ever I saw one. Bob Smith shreds the Sinai. You can read Bob's Egyptian adventures here:

http://travelandpoliticsworldview.blogspot.com/

Whitney

Whitney might be dead, but the Whitney Museum in NYC is most certainly not. Concrete Grey and New York Taxi Yellow- nice. Oh yea, ground has broken on the Piano extension, but it's going to be hard to live up to the Breuer original.

http://whitney.org/About/NewBuilding/About

Inter Conti

Nice pre race photo from today's road race of (L-R) Swede, Brit, Brazilian. Shame my legs were pretty cooked from yesterday- 5th place having dodged the Open Cat. not good enough!

http://www.colossi.cc/reports-2012

Scratch

3 laps in, almost half a lap down. This was not how my first track race in 4 1/2 years was meant to start... The event was a scratch race- 60 laps of fast and furious track action, with first over the line the winner, and lapping the field a crucial component to success. Sadly, my naivety to think there would be some steady through and off for the first few laps was rather misconceived.

Another 4 laps later, after my own little flying Kilo effort, I had bridged up to the now break of 6, and had pretty much spent my chips, with less than half the race completed.

By around 30 laps the 6 of us had made a lap, and the winner would clearly come from one of us. Given the rest of the break were either HK National squad, or former Nationals, I think the smart money was going on one of them...

Still, no rest for the wicked. Nor for those who are about to be T-boned by a rider coming back down the track without looking...

Needless to say that come the sprint,  I got boxed in then swamped in the last 100m and came through for 6 out of 6. Still, good not to get lapped and make the selection from the initial start list. Good also to field a small colossi team and get our little track programme up and running.

Come the junior / ladies race, Hillary proved it doesn't matter what bikes she rides she still kicks ass, easily winning the ladies division. Shamefully the HKCA don't split women and juniors, so the next wave of HK Wong Kam Po's still got the nod.

As such, we made our own little podium.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115536926035453826984/ColossiTrackRacingScratchRaceMarch2012?authuser=0&feat=directlink