Thinking happy thoughts

Saturday 15 September

KM: 50

Bike: C2C

Jersey: Spearmans

Time started: 0714

Time I should have started: 0700

Time home: 0930

Time ridden: 2 hours 15 ish

Weather: Bathed in angels

Smell: clean

Coffee: Next time – quick home brew before chores

Soundtrack: idle chat

Enjoyed: the whole thing

Didn’t enjoy: dilly-dallying a bit much

I want to change: my garage

What a terrific start to a weekend! In company with my workmate Brendan and with the wind at manageable level, we racked up the first 50 of the season. Birds were chirping, folks were smiling, bikes were humming… just perfect. I’ve managed to talk myself into a few attitude changes over the last couple of weeks and – as is the way with these things – it’s now coming a bit easier to chamois up and hit the road.

Have I built my new bike? No. I’ve officially run out of excuses, though; the last parts have arrived and are waiting patiently for a new lease on life. First, though, we’re going to build Brendo’s bike.

I’m a little chuffed with this one. We’ve found a sweet little CTR carbon frame out of Spain on eBay, a brace of Ritchey Pro finishing gear and some other bits, and we’ll sling it all together with a few parts from the Robbo Stash o’ Bits this weekend. The best thing? I reckon we’ll have it built for around a grand. Sure, the wheelset is a bit old, and it’s ‘only’ going to run Ultegra 6600, but what the hey? Brendo gets a sweet ride, I’ll have another riding partner and I’ll be able to see my garage floor again. Maybe. One day…

More pics, and maybe a time lapse vid, of the builds as they happen. In the meantime, grab the latest copies of AMB and Bicycling Oz mags to see what else I’ve been getting up to.