The Wot Da Ride

I got out of bed this morning, smelt the roses along the way to the ride, cruised around the block in perfect conditions, had a fantastic time and enjoyed a wonderful brew at the bakery.

I wish.

This morning was one of those rides where you wished you stayed in bed - there was bad ju ju everywhere. One of the natives in a ute decided to get friendly with the bunch at Stickmakers. That went well.

Sweeny Todd decided to turn right at Yarwun, but his bike thought it was a bucking bull and had convulsions - throwing Sweeny Todd and all of his bling to the bitumen. Good thing all that bling wasn't scratched Sweeny.

SpyCat decided that she would take a Wallaby on at Church Hill - a VERY near miss indeed. The tandem terrors went bush due to oncoming traffic and scored a puncture for their efforts. SpyCat made it another 100m down the road before she too scored a flattie.

Ben 10 was nearly collected for the second time by a local native around at Emmadale estate, but luckily came out of this one unscathed.

It was just as well that Craig's was open for a brew today to finish the ride - And it appears that pies have become the recovery food of choice for riders at the bakery. I don't know how you stomach it!

The "Martin"

I was going to attach this photo to the post about this mornings ride, but when I saw it, I knew exactly what Maree was thinking...... MARTIN!!!!

I decided it deserved a post of its own.

The Helmet Sale

Now normally when I post on the blog about a sale at M1, I usually go along the lines of "Matty's gone mad", "hurry in before Matty comes to his senses". Blah blah.

I just got this tex: Biggest ever MET helmet sale. Normal price $269. M1 Cycles price $140. Never to be repeated.

This time I'm sure he's gone insane.

After this mornings ride, I'm sure at least one rider - Sweeny Todd - will be in to get one!!!

30% Off Shoe Sale

Anyone looking for a new pair of road or MTB shoes should head on in to M1 Cycles. Matty's taken 30% of all shoes in the store (excluding the Bontrager range).

There are some Shimano's and Louis Garneau's available, so get in fast whilst there is plenty of sizes to choose from.

The Two Hundy Club

Whilst most of us had a leisurely roll around town this morning, a few of the boys took on the two hundy trip out to Many Peaks and return. Grainfed, Woody, the Silent Assassin, Bushy and Ray's brother all successfully completed the full trip - and even pulled in for a refreshing dip on the way back.

I bet there are some tired legs and bodies tomorrow!!! Full credit to you boys - hope you can back up on Saturday for the Smash!

The Pig In Mud

Like a pig in mud, like a rat with a gold tooth, like a kid with a new toy, like a Sweeny Todd with new FSA carbon bars and American Classic wheels...... You just can't wipe the smile from his face.



Sweeny Todd's new American Classics worked that well yesterday Sweeny managed to pull turns all the way to Spinniker Park, without having to sit on either of the girls once!

I think your blog name should be BLACK Knight now Sweeny!

The New Boys

The M1 family continues to grow with the bunch welcoming another two new riders to the pack this week - John - or Johnno as Matty calls him - is a rider from WA, Moscow, London, Cape Town and Melbourne. True Story! Derek is ex army, recently moving to town with his wife Kate - great name - and two sons.

Welcome to the bunch boys!

Where's Lance?

Um, when Matty said that the Dom had sent him a picture of Lance, I was expecting a picture of Lance. I wasn't expecting to be playing the kids game "Where's Lance?".. trying to spot Lance in amongst a thousand other roadies!!! I'm still not sure I can actually find him....

At least you got closer than the rest of us Dominator. And yes, it is true. The Dom stacked it in the ride - he's bike even has the damage to prove it!

The Tennis Ride?

A message from Chrissy A (who never missed a turn this morning!):

Rally for Relief is a Flood Appeal launched by the tennis community to help those that have been affected by the recent floods. Those of you watching the tennis last Saturday night on Channel 7 would have seen the matches featuring Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Justin Henin, Lleyton Hewitt, Sam Stosur and other stars which were the centrepiece of Rally for Relief.

Queensland Energy Resources (QER) has committed to match dollar for dollar all funds raised by Rally for Relief, so far the total raised exceeds $1M which QER will match.

If you have not yet made a flood donation or wish to do more I urge you to donate to Rally for Relief – not because this appeal is more or less important than any others, but simply because anything you donate here gets doubled.

The more money raised, the more money QER will donate – so dig deep for the victims of the flood disaster

http://rallyforrelief.tennis.com.au/

Thanks

Chris Anderson
Operations ManagerQueensland Energy Resources Pty Limited

The Australia Day Ride - No 2

If you're not overly keen for the 2 hundy ride on Australia Day, then be at Bunnings at 5:30am for an easy float around town.

We'll take the exact same route as the Sunday morning rides and of course we'll finish at the Bakery for a Ned Kelly pie, a Lamington or a Peach Blossum - whatever you fancy.

News in from the Lance Armstrong Twitter ride in Brisbane is that the Dom crashed his bike trying to attract Lance's attention, taking out a rider or two with him! True story!

The Twitter Ride

If anyone's looking for The Dom, he's not MIA, he's heading down to Brisbane to do tomorrow's Twitter ride with his mates Lance and Robbie.

Half your luck Dom. Hope you packed your M1 kit - Robbie will be sure to recognise you then as one of the Kings followers!

The Breaking News

In breaking news across M1 Land, The Silent Assassin has claimed victory in the Elite division of the Dirt Clowns mountain bike race that was on this weekend.

More details will follow when available......

The New Trek

Here she is. My new baby. I am biased - I know that, I'm admitting that from the get-go.

When Zulu asked me this morning how the bike was going I responded that it was a great ride. Zulu kindly reminded me that I'd probably never had a "bad" ride as far as bikes go. Having ridden Treks for the past 6 and a half years, I guess he's right.

Kermie was a 2010 5 series Madone. A sweet ride. This one is a 2011 6.2 Project One Madone. A custom job right down to the 38cm carbon blade bars, the white carbon head stem and of course the paint work.

How does she ride? Sweeter than sweet. Every element of this bike in every way is responsive - It wants to go fast, it wants to go up hills and it wants to feel smooth. I'm impressed. This is definately by far my favourite Trek Madone - and I've only had her for a few days! Here's to a very happy year of riding for me!

The Bucket Hat Boys

After yesterday mornings playground tussle, the Zulu and Thunder "rolled" around this morning, holding hands and smelling the roses along the way.

My legs are grateful that you pair kissed and made up.

The Peach Blossum Boys

These pair of secret squirrals are as thick as thieves - the Peach Blossum Boys aka The Croz and Boki.

It turns out that the Peach Blossum Boys have been doing a bit of secret hill training on a Saturday morning instead of floating around the block with the bunters. Yesterday Boki and the Croz tackled One Tree Hill - Boki made it to the top, Croz pulled up and had a camp at the white seat half way up - Radar Hill and Auckland Hill!

Not a bad effort boys. Looks like the Stick Beetle Club may have a few new members... if they can lay off the Peach Blossums!!!

The Lamington Boy

Sitting at the Bakery after this mornings "roll" I finally found the secret to Ben 10's amazing super hero strength and physique.

It has nothing to do with 110k Saturday morning smashfests followed by a 15k run at sub 4min pace. Nothing what-so-ever. According to Ben 10, it has everything to do with EATING WHAT HE FEELS LIKE, WHEN HE FEELS LIKE IT.

That's it. Blast the calorie counting, the protein smoothies and the green tea. I'm following Ben 10's advice, if he can be a stick beetle on lamingtons and coke, than so can I!!!

The Lucky Ducks

Remember Pete and Karen? I'm sure a few of you do. Well this weekend, Pete and Karen have flown to Adelaide to watch the last couple of stages of this years Tour Down Under.

In true Pete and Karen fashion, it simply wasn't enough to watch the racing, they had to pack their bikes and do the mass participation ride that was held over one of the Stages!

You guys rock!

Don't forget the TDU is on live today from 11:15am and from tomorrow around 1pm (I think) on SBS One.

The Rolling Ride

Sometimes our alustrious leader just really doesn't know when to shut his mouth. One such occassion was this morning before the bunch split when he picked up a big piece of wood and started bashing Dark Horse and Zulu with it for going to slow up the hill. Everyone else in the pack knew that them were fighting words from the King, but do you think that shut him up - NO WAY. Everyone else in the pack knew that it was gonna be on as soon as the Zulu had a chance to flex. We didn't have to wait long.

For the hitters we ended up averaging 35.1k/hr from the start of the ride to the Historical Village. I'm pretty sure that is just about a record??? Any confirmations? I claimed the sprint at the HV. I won't mention that none of the boys wanted to play. Total average for the whole ride was just over 33k/hr.

A big thanx has to go to the Dominator and his parents for shovelling the dirt at the other side of the Calliope River crossing.

After River Ranch the Zulu and the King were still at it. Punishing themselves and the rest of us across Shillings lane. And so it was to be, for the rest of the ride. To add insult to injury, when at the Bakery (our new fav hang out) Zulu proclaims that he was just out for a "roll", smelling the flowers and watching the beautiful sunrise ..... yeah rite!

Pyney and Jackie took the tandem around the block with the bunch but were off the back before we had gotten to far. More pedal power needed next week guys!

Excellant ride guys. See you all at Bunny's at 5:30am tomorrow. Lay off the coffee today Sweeny Tood - that was the worst excuse I've ever heard!

AUSTRALIA DAY RIDE

Woody has organised a nice easy roll out to Many Peaks and back on Australia Day. This is NOT a hitters ride.

The ride will leave from McDonalds at 6am (not too early, and not too late). Be sure to bring plenty of water and food as the ride will top just over 200km. Hopefully Ubobo shop will be open for pit stop and the Many Peaks pub for lunch.

Go- aheaders so far are; Woody, Bushy, Grainfed, The Dom? Comment up and let us know if your coming.

see you all out there!

Dirtclowns XC race series

the dirtclowns XC race series kicks off this weekend. heres the info..

http://rotorbolts.com/clowns/index.php?PHPSESSID=b70989ab80aecd23bfc750f29c1f0bd2&topic=1648.msg19658#msg19658

The Bling Bling Bling

Well it would appear that Santa has indeed made a late run back through M1 land with a special delivery of not one, not two, but THREE Trek Madones - One 6.7 (I wish that was mine!!) and two 6.2's!!

The boys are busy assembling the bling bling's now... watch out in the pack, it could be a bit blinding with all that Trek bling around!

The Great Sock Debate

I missed the bunch ride yesterday, so nothing to write about there. I'm supposed to be putting something on the blog about paceline ettique (spell check please!) and only having a single line when you stop pulling turns, to help prevent confusion, but that's a bit grumpy for this time in the morning. I've also got to put a post on that the Trek Package Deal is up and running again, but I can't remember all the details (I know its the Skye and the 3500).

So instead, I'll go for something trivial.

My favourite socks at the moment are Rhonde socks (available at M1 of course!). For me, they're long - they cover up a good portion of my little legs. In the mornings when I put them on, I can see Matty seething at me across the table. He hates long socks. So, I just pull them up a little higher....

Long socks, like the pros, or short socks.... what's your preference?

The Bontrager Clydesdale Wheels

When Thunder showed me this picture, the first thing I noticed was Lance's new kit for 2011 - I like it. Apparently though, I was supposed to be looking at the wheelset. They're Bontgragers (of course). A set of "Clydesdales" to be precise.

A few boys in our little M1 pack have been riding these wheels for awhile already as they have a pretty good reputation for being a darn sturdy wheel for big boys. So, it appears that Lance himself has taken a leaf from the M1 boys and decided to give the Clydesdales' a run himself! If they're good enough for Lance, then they're good enough for us!

If you want the techno talk - see LG. I just like the blingy kit.

The Ekky Rider Ride

When I first started riding with Matty - many moons ago - the weekly program was as follows: Monday - no ride. Tuesday - about 30k, paceline was over the marina bridge and straight out to Spinnaker. Wednesday - laps around J Hickey. Thursday - no ride. Friday - no ride. Saturday - 60k out to Targinnie and back. Sunday - 60k roll around the block at bunter pace.

You mite be thinking what the heck does that have to do with the Sunday morning ride? Well, I'll tell you. Matty and I were on the bikes at 4am. Within 5k we had already past SpyCat heading in the opposite direction. The Dominator was the next to be spotted doing one legged pedalling. Boki was spotted getting some ekky miles in over Sumo. Ben 10 and Dark Horse rode in from Tannum at the "leisurely" pace of 35k/hr to meet the bunch at Bunnings. After Maccas LG, Bushy and Woody headed out around the block for another 60ks after the bunch ride.

It appears that the bunch we have now has gone training mad!!! There are ekky riders sneaking in ekky k's all over the place!! I think the saying "you snooze, you lose" is probably going to be pretty applicable to racing this year.

Anyway, another BIG bunch turned up this morning. Its' that big that if you time it right, you only manage one turn at the front. And if you time it really right, that turn is a tail wind, flat section. Not that I would be trying to do that of course!

Congratulations to Maree - Blog name needed here - who completed her first bunch ride on the solo bike (even if she did sneak in a carbo shot at the start of the ride!!!).

Thanx to SpyCat for the lead out coming into the kick. No thanx to Bloomers and the Doctor who came right over the top of us at the end!

Thunder has called another coo about the Sunday morning coffee shop. No more maccas. The King will be heading to Craigs Bakery at Sunvalley on Sunday's as well.

Has anyone seen Bruce yet?

The So Many Names Ride

Today there were so many names I put together for this mornings ride that it just didn't seem fair to choose one over the other! "The No Maccas Ride", "The Controlled Paceline Ride", "The MARTIN! Ride", "The Custard Arse Ride", "The, I Didn't Break The Chair Ride"...... and the list could go on all day!

Big numbers rolled out this morning. I counted 22 + stragler Dark Horse, Sumo and Boki. Thunder and I were doing a bit of work on Pyney the Piker before the ride but were unable to convince him to turn right at Yarwun on the grounds that "who will look after the bunters?". Sounded like a cop out to me Pyney!!!

Well done to Adam "Who", who got his butt over Church Hill on the return from Targinnie with the Hitters. For the second week Dr Who went rite and completed the full block ride!

Apparently the roll across the way was to be - and I quote - A controlled paceline. Yeah rite. Thunder did enough talking about the paceline after the historical village... I don't think I need to mention it again here!

With no Maccas, the troops called a coo and headed to the local Craigs Bakery for a brew. There was just NO WAY we were heading home without a coffee after the smash! Um, someone broke something at the bakery, but we won't name names on the blog for fear of damaging his perfect reputation!!

Whilst at the Bakery, it was also decided that the Saturday rides will now finish at Craigs Bakery on Sunvalley Road from here onwards. As for Sundays, the bunch isn't quite decided.

A great ride everyone. And here's a tip. If you laugh while you ride - you don't feel the pain! True story!

The Weeties Ride

If you've been enjoying the festive season a little too much and have made a New Years Resolution to get back on the bike, then you'd better have you're Weeties before you turn up for the Tuesday and Saturday rides.

Yesterday, SpyCat nailed it as we rode down Auckland hill before the paceline - you could FEEL the testosterone in the air! LG reported an average speed of 41.7k/hr for the first paceline. Sweeny Todd even got a bit of wind on his chest in the last 500m before the kick. Oh, I guess we should mention that the King won back his crown in the kick.

If last Saturday's ride was anything to go by then you'd better have two Weeties before a Saturday Hitters Ride!

The Name Dropper

Now just before Christmas we found out that the Kings mate "Bob" aka Robbie McEwen, will be riding for Trek in the 2011 season.

Our resident bunch perfectionist, Brownie was "working hard" at the Gold Coast today and caught up with Bob for a few easy k's around the coffee shop district. Geez, you know life is tough when you're stranded at the Gold Coast with the likes of Robbie McEwen to roll around with!

Tuesday Morning Sprint King

Everybody is talking about the new kid on town (they should write a song with those lyrics, nah it wouldnt sell anyway, or while the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown, nah that wouldnt sell either).

I must say I was very impressed by Brad (grainfed, big boppa) out kicking all of us into spinnaker park on tuesday morning. Believe me, I was sitting in the box seat, never pulling a turn the whole way, I watched how it unfolded. There were excuses going everywhere!

My legs wouldnt work after a big holiday and had to sit on, LG pulled the old "flat tyre" trick... AGAIN! The zulu's rear motor wouldnt fire, bushy said he led out the kick, the old fossil went AWOL before the ride started- thats another story for another day (no lights, no ride boys and girls), and Big Fergie, I think that I was fighting him for last wheel calling in. The blog mistress was seen going the opposite way to the pack, stopping for mick with the flat tyre. Stu had a few to many beers over the festive season, stacking on 7kg. If we have missed anyone, please post your excuses as to why you couldnt beat the big boppa over the line!

On a more positive note, de Bruce was caught doing sneaky squirrel training sessions on the haddock extension. Has anyone seen those calves on de Bruce? Ripped and tanned... or perhaps many hours sunbaking or a lot more bottles of bronze solution.

My tip for 2011- Watch out for de Bruce, and Grainfed. These two are going to give out some beatings!

Another Transformer

Here we go again boys and girls - another M1 Transformer.

We know him us Ray's Brother or Ray's Dad but he's real name is Russ and here's a couple of picture of Russ taken two years apart. The first photo (which should be obvious!) was taken on 18/01/2009 and the second one was taken 04/01/2011!!

An amazing effort - well done Russ!

The New Year

Happy New Year to everyone in M1 land. We hope you had a safe and enjoyable festive season and have spent some time setting your cycling goals for 2011 - whether they be fitness, competitive, weight loss or social!!!

Tomorrow the shop is back to normal trading days and times and will open on time at 8:00am (as all good Trek stores do).

See you on the smashfest tomorrow morning - 5am from Fordy's fish and chip shop. Fingers crossed it should be a dry ride!