On the weekend I travelled down to Thredbo, NSW to watch my partner race at the Red Ass 4X and Dual Slalom State Series. After watching a u-tube video of a dual slalom race in the States, I borrowed some pads and a full face helmet and decided to join in the race. I chickened out at the 4X, but by the time the dual slalom came around I had found enough psyche and lost enough insecurities to enter. I had such a blast. Anyways, here is a little rhyme about my experience…
Donning a suit of borrowed armour
I try to breathe, but don’t get any calmer
Remember folks, I’m not exactly Shaun Palmer
He’s as fast a cheater – I’m more like a llama.
But who said Dual Slalom was just about winning
Collecting trophies until your pool room is blinging
Lapping up applause until it leaves your ears ringing
Nah, fuck that, there’s another tune I’d rather be singing:
“Girls just want to have fun
Oh, girls just want to have fun”
I am doing well for the first two heats,
Even though I’m not racing the other elites.
“What’s that? I’m first over the line? Sweeet”
Pity it’s not something I’m able to repeat.
Still, it’s cause for me to rise to my feet,
And sing,
“Girls just want to have fun
Oh, girls just want to have fun”
Next up on the gate is a young wipper-snapper
The fact that he’s 13 years old doesn’t matter
He races out of that gate like some sort of mad-hatter
I slip off the pedals, which doesn’t make matters better
Loosing to a young punk is hardly a source of pleasure,
But when the chips get you down, you’ve just got to remember
“Girls just want to have fun
Oh, girls just want to have fun”
Sharing the gate with Vanessa, I’ll admit I was scared
There’s no point sizing us up – I don’t even compare
There is one hell of a rider under that mane of blond hair
Any victory she scores, is hers fair and square.
I was kind of close behind her for the first bit of the track,
But for the rest of the way I just admired her back,
You’ve got to get good at defence, when you fail at attack.
Although, I did lay down some corners, and avert some stacks
And I don’t come off too bad when you play the race back.
It’s just a bit of speed and coordination I lack.
But to anyone who says dual slalom has no room for the hacks,
I’ve been lazy and just finished sorting out my great memories of bike trip to Australia. I miss the weather back thereee, it is snowing here in Nagoya today, awwwww! so I would like to share some pics of my holidays to keep warm here like the sumer time…
Riding in Melbourne is great. It’s really flat and everything is close together so it is easy to ride around.
I went to see my friends there. I met these lovely messengers at CMWC Tokyo.
The funniest guys in Melbourne! Gotta see Brian & Lane if you are ever around there. They know how to throw a party. It is really great to have cool friends all over the world.
Melbourne was over 37℃, I was just about sit down in the shade of a tree… then 2 guys on bikes came up and said “Are you Brian’s friend?” I was like “Yeees…” Mmmm, I recognized him by his dread locks hair from CMWC tokyo. We didn’t know each other, he is from Dublin and Im from Nagoya but we start getting some drinks and became friends. It was just an accident that we met in Melbourne but it happens when you ride a bicycle!
For New Years Party…
Swimming in the living room!?
OMG these guys were so hilarious! They have a swimming pool in the living room, RAD!!!
Ausie BBQ
Exploring the city...
Lots of good coffee shops in Fitzroy
NUTS! tee & Love Wheels Nagoya Calendar. *Thank you*
Thanks a lot to everyone who made my trip so much fun, to all the great people I met who helped me out, put me up and showed me an awesome time. All the things made me want to move into Australia more. Im definitely coming back soon. See ya!
Cycling in the midnight is a great chance to see the quiet side of the city.
So, don’t worry about the time. There’s plenty of time!
All we need is bike & camera like this.
Hello mate! I went to travel around Sydney & Melbourne with my best friend Nikon & NISHIKI for my holidays. It is summer time there, Gotta Go now!
My biggest reason to come out to Sydney was…
Meg and Tarn
“MEET THE MEG!”
Tarn, Rie and Meg
As you can expect through the Candy Cranks blog, Meg is one of the greatest and nicest people you ever meet! I met Meg at CMWC Tokyo and became great friends. I didn’t know anyone in Sydney but thanks Meg! Candy Cranks screwed up my courage to make a lot of new friends in Sydney and all over the globe!
Meg and her partner are so kind and took me a lot of cool places. They’ve got their own work space for bikes hidden the back stage of the Sydney Theater Company, looks soo sick! I was riding my bike on the stage as an actress in front of NO audience, hehe… (Rie in Sydney by Meg)
Cross Sydney Harbor Bridge by bike
on Sydney Harbor Bridge
Emily and Rie
★Emily's Candy Cranks★
Sydney Sunday Nite Crew
Group Riding
Emily & J just found this warehouse, so D O P E...
Sydney Sunday Nite Crew
Great to see messengers working in the city!
Ausie burger is HUGE!!
I like riding in the city to explore bikes and coffee. It is the best way to feel the local culture, I think★
Bicycle leads me to meet great people. I like Japanese proverb;
一期一会(Ichigo-Ichie)： Treasure every encounter, for it will never recur.
I was so impressed that people in Australia are so nice and friendly. Also Wine, Beer and Coffee are absolutely my type of taste. I will definitely move in this year!
Thanks to Meg, Tarn, Emily, J, Sydney Sunday Crew and messengers. It was great to meet u all! Awesome time. Cheers Sydney!
The Tour of Britain and The Prostate Cancer Charity Reveal Three New Tour Rides For 2010
Following a successful entry into the world of sportives last year, The Prostate Cancer Charity, in partnership with The Tour of Britain, is pleased to announce they will stage a further three events in 2010.
Cyclists will have the unique opportunity to measure themselves against the pro riders, taking on one or more stages of The 2010 Tour of Britain, going the full distance of 150km, or taking on a challenging 70km.
The Prostate Cancer Charity’s Tour Rides, which will all take place in September, will offer amateur cyclists the chance to ride three full stages of Britain’s national cycle tour in 2010:
• In a brand new event for 2010, cyclists will be able to tackle a tough route which traverses the scenic South West, travelling 150km from Minehead to the South Devon coast or covering part of the route over a distance of 70km, on Sunday 5 September.
• Stoke-on-Trent, which saw 1,300 riders participate in the inaugural Tour Ride last year including British Road Race Champion Kristian House, will again play host to cyclists, offering a grueling 145km route which starts and finishes in Stoke-on-Trent in the City’s centenary year, as well as a 70km challenge event, on Sunday 26 September.
• There will also be an event on the London stage of the event, which will take cyclists on a route past some of the most iconic landmarks in the capital, on Saturday 18 September, prior to the final stage of The Tour of Britain.
In both the South West and Stoke-on-Trent, there will also be 20km family rides, as well as other cycling-related activities at the event sites, so that people of all ages and cycling abilities can take part.
To take part in The Prostate Cancer Charity’s Tour Rides, visit www.tourride.co.uk.
January 12th, 2010 · Nimzi - Honolulu · No Comments
Its amazing what a difference a bike friendly city makes to an adventure! To escape the heat to some chilly weather, I recently traveled to Portland, Oregon, a bike heaven. The streets are designed with bicycles in mind, providing heaps of space in wide and extensive bike lanes. Drivers seem to understand the riskiness of cyclists on the roads and are more often too courteous when passing than not. Throughout the rainy and sunny weather offerings of the Pacific Northwest, 8% of the Portland population consistently commutes via bicycle. The city would like to see an increase to 25% in upcoming years.
If only Honolulu and other cities were as progressive regarding cyclists… what a wonderful, bike-friendly world it would be!
Updates from the bike scene of Honolulu, Aloha Fixed, the Manifest and the Kickstand are sponsoring an island ride on Saturday! Heaps of fun, excitement, and boys in spandex!
Now that I’m back in town, more updates to come! Happy New Year dearest readers of Candy Cranks!!
The Sydney Sunday Session crew are holding Sprint Races on Sunday 10th Jan.
Details:
Meeting at Martin Place from 5pm - roll out about 5.30-6.00.
Races will be held on a strip along Hickson Rd.
Gold coin donation for the prize and there will be guys and girls races.
The track is about 200m.
Ladies you should come on down, it’s always good fun and even if you don’t want to participate, it’s a good chance to meet some other female cyclists and the crew are all super friendly. You don’t need to be riding fixed, any style of bike is welcome so whatever your flavour come and say hi!
“On Wednesday 30th December after the normal weekly ride Carlin is organising a Pumpkin Run – taking the last ferry to Manly and riding back into town.”
December 2nd, 2009 · Nimzi - Honolulu · No Comments
Punani Pedal Club hosted its first Alley Cat for our friend Christopher who is moving to Portland!
The manifest included his favourite spots in Honolulu, including a couple bars, the university’s “free store” and the infamous abandoned Queen Theater! All stops had to be completed within 40 minutes….
Stop 1! Queen Theater where a photo must be taken!
Stop 2! Convenience store by Young Scale Co. where a mini whiskey must be consumed!
Stop 3! The University Free Store where something must be left behind!
these ladies found a castle!
Stop 4! Anna Bananas where a beer must be quickly consumed!
Stop 5! Fresh cafe where a cookie must be eaten! We found Open Mic there!
Stop 6! Smiths Union Bar where Karaoke must be sung! Only 1 team made it there as the rest of us got distracted by the open mic.. winners!
November 28th, 2009 · Amelia - Montreal · No Comments
Here is a great little documentary on the Critical Mass and bike scene in Orlando, Fl. It features 3 Orlando riders with their stories and the important roles bikes play in their lives. Jen Whalen is a fellow Bicycle Film Festival organizer and plays a huge part producing Orlando and Miami festivals. She is always very entertaining in front of the camera!
The film is shot beautifully and has a very cute sound track to go with it.
Bank Tangjaitrong has done an awesome job. RIDE ON!
In my hometown Dresden the Glühweinrennen (Mulled Wine Race) organized by the erste mai brigade has a long tradition.
Unfortunately it`s been a while since I was actually there, but it´s basically about 8 to 10 rounds through the forest. After each lap there´s a glass of hot mulled wine waiting for you. The rounds aren´t too long, so as you can imagine it gets funny pretty quickly.
It´s happening this year on December 6th, starting from Alaunpark. All you need is your bike, a helmet, a mug for the wine and 4Euros entry fee.
Your can RSVP here.
btw…looking at the pics from last year , I think there should definitely be more girls participating.
November 17th, 2009 · Nimzi - Honolulu · No Comments
Round 2 for November rides in Honolulu! We had an amazing turnout for a Sunday evening, total of 16 people, 8 of whom were girls!! Alright Honolulu bike ladies! Many new faces and new friends were made!
As you can see, I’m way excited about this!
Devon and Jamie rollin out down Beretania Ave
Bike booty headin through Waikiki!
Devon’s first ride up Diamond Head deserves a high5!
Z and Sheiks lookin steller
Chicks on Bikes!
Mary and Jason made it out on Bianchis!
And the group! Punani Pedal photographer Mike Keany in the top right corner! 8 lovely ladies and our punani pedal boys on Diamond Head!
And this is where J.Ham starts to remove his girl pants…
November 9th, 2009 · Nimzi - Honolulu · No Comments
Though Hawaii doesn’t have much of an autumn season, our ride to welcome November was very friendly with “fall”…
Rain Battle wounds:
Photo credit: Michael Keany.
Besides the wipe outs, the fall ride was quite fun! We had a sadly skewed sex ratio, favouring males, yet three lovely ladies attended
Photo credit: Aly Ishikuni
The boys sabotaged our ride by changing the route and speed racing up Diamond Head, so the girls broke off, chatted and took awesome photos!
Photo credit: Aly Ishikuni
Eurgh, boys.
Photo: Nimz
Photo: Nimz
We biked through the rain for Frozen yoghurt madness!
Meet The Mittens, Clemence, Elvire, Victoria, Sylvie - four fun loving French girls living and cycling in and around Paris. They’ll soon be blogging for Candy Cranks, so for those of you who don’t speak French (Me!) You’ll be able to follow their antics in English on right here.
Sydney | London | New York | Tokyo | Berlin | Los Angeles | Milano | Boston | Dublin | Vancouver | Amsterdam | Paris | Chicago | Philadelphia | San Francisco | Zurich | Nagoya | Singapore | Nashville | Honolulu | Shanghai | Montreal | Toronto I Budapest | Salt Lake City
Completing the epic ball breaking, Pinapple Hill
