Busy busy

I have been too busy to post anything in ages. So I thought it was time I put something up here. I am still a student after all, so I am never really that busy... well thats what employed people think. So what have I been upto since hanging up my frisbee boots (they are in a suitcase in my new car hole)? Applying for jobs is the short answer.

Anyways, here is a fuzzy photo of my latest bike. It is a Phillips frame that my friend gave me for free with some vintage pats. I binned most of those, and did a bodge job conversion to a single speed for zipping around Southampton. Have been reading a bunch of funny blogs about bikes recently (BikeSnob NYC and this on Trackstar). There is a lot of anger about people converting their bikes into ugly machines, or building wheels yourself. I think these two guys are playing the part, but I have heard that London messangers are getting cranky aboout people like me who have a fixed gear bike, and a messenger bag and cycle our fixies. Well well, they should chill.

Bikes bikes bikes, not been playing frisbee at all, so am probably becoming bike obsessed I guess. Well, I am writing up my thesis, so I need some distraction...

I wrote that a while ago and did not post it, but it is all true and I have been biking a lot lately. I miss frisbee and will never give it up, but cycling is a welcome break.

Tour 3, Cardif

It rained last weekend. It also was the last of the ultimate frisbee Tours of the season, Tour 3. There was a time when there were 5 Tours, but now with the mixed season expanding, the open season has become nice and short. I know I am not that old, but I am beginning to feel that I have been around the block a little in terms of ultimate frisbee now. A friend of mine and I are beginning to talk about taking a break from the game, maybe taking up triathlons or something equally crazy. Perhaps ultimate is losing it appeal, or perhaps it sucks to get soaked to your pants during the first game of a weekends frisbee.

So to the tournament: We came 15th out of 16th in the A Tour. Not bad to be honest, we showed consistancy, and moments of great skills and ability. We beat Blue Arse Flies, who as it was said at the weekend were "the ass of the Midlands", or something like that. A bit harsh, but made us laugh. I remember during the first year of Ltd Release, we lost to them in the cross over to the top eight after taking a huge lead. Well we wooped them this time on the Saturday, and so set up a great game against Brown of Newcastle to break into the top twelve. We lost, but we fought the whole way, trading up at many points. So top twelve was not to be, and on Sunday we played three games, none particularly memorable and ended up 15th.

The high point for me was a pitch length huck the I pulled off. It was caught spectacularly by the opposite team (bad luck Nick), but I was proud of my throw non the less.

So thats that. I am leaving Southampton soon, and wont pick up a disc for Ltd Release ever again. It makes me a little sad, but not too much. There is so much more to look forward too. Lets see, cycling my bikes, making more bikes, talking about bikes and probably, maybe, more ultimate. I just need to find a team that I like, are good fun to hang out with and can take a bit of abuse, I think I know of one...

Cowes Week

We came 4th on Saturday, helping the boat, "Premier Flair", the one with the red and gray tear drop logo come 10th over all, sweet.

European Ultimate Frisbee Championships 2007

It was super cool, despite paying the ridiculous £5 entry fee. Watched GB play Finland in the womans division final. It was not such a great game for the spectator with many throw aways and drops. Such mistakes make the game seem a little amature. Which is a shame, cos the players were definatly not, and had trained hard I am sure to play in the championships and worked super hard to make the finals. GB never looked like they would win, and lost in the end by a few points after the time cap went.





The mens game was the main event for me. With the final being contested between GB and Sweden. It was a wicked game. There were a few brakes of a point or two, but the game for the main traded points with GB and Sweden level at time. Game to 15, scores were 13:13 Sweden on offence (I think).



GB did not manage to get a break on the Swedish machine, and the score was 13:14. Time for GB offence to score. They made hard work of it, with one turn I think. They eventually scored, making it a game of sudden death, next point wins. It was a goodie, Wiggsy for Great Britain made some huge efforts, narrowly missing a defensive block in the Swedish end zone, and then making a huge lay out grab (which might have been out, but I was not complaining). Two throws later, we had scored and had won the EUC open finals.





Jb, Hannah and I were happy. Moritz and Aazani enjoyed it too I think. A fun day had by all...

This is a bike and a half

Seen on the fixie gallery.

Biking with Ed

John's bike, 5 August 2007
Originally uploaded by ed_needs_a_bicycle

When cycling with Ed from Southampton to Lymington and then caught a ferry to the Isle of Wight with Lidia.

Have not been pushed so hard on a bike since the Chiltern 100:
Distance: 31.91 km
Max Speed: 44 km/h
Avg. Speed 28.9 km/h

Not Working

I am not, not sure why really. Have been tired most of the time over the last few weeks. Have done some good stuff recently work wise, but most of the time I just sit around thinking of bicycles and my holiday in Italy this September.

Oh well, I think I need a holiday.

My sister found these bikes, they are cool, if a little ugly. I like that they are shaft driven. I like Charge Bikes, especially there 700cc models. But the next bike I want to have will have gears, cos I will maybe join a cycling club through the winter. So shall be riding through the rain. Then again, I will have no pennies, so shall just cycle my carbon fibre beauty, and clean it after each ride. Not the best solution, but as my girl friend says: I need to watch my spending habits.

Where frisbee will fit in with all of this I have no idea, then again I am not sure I care so much any more... or do I.

UKUA Tour 2

It absolutely rocked.

I know there is le tour de France right now, but while Chicken Legs was rocking it up the mountains, I was stuck in the mud of the north that is the little known town of Mansfield, but it is a Mecca of frisbee tournaments. There is at least one every year, god knows why. Well I do know why, because Hannah organises one every year, and makes a handsome profit (and I don't blame her, running frisbee tournaments is hard work).

My little club got three teams up to Mansfield, one womans and two mens. I was in the first team (of course), and we were in the A Tour (the top tier). Check out photos here, not of us but you can get the general idea. There might be some clips here, again none of my team. That’s because in the grand scheme of ultimate frisbee, Southampton's team no longer figures. Never mind though, we came 13th, and it felt good.

You see, we were promoted to the A Tour a month or so ago, and this was our chance to stay up in the A Tour, and to do so we had to get 13th or higher. Getting it yet?

On the Sunday we won every game, beating fellow promotees Flight Club and Devon in rather un-inspiring games. For a while during the mud and rain I sat on my ass thinking about giving this stupid sport up. Biking is becoming a great distraction. Then though, we had the final game, the game to go, the game we had to win to stay up with the big boys. We had to beat Bristol (my friends Penfold and Rob's team). We came out firing, I through some long discs to our trusted recievers Nick and Whittle. They caught them all. We played it short and scored, I scored, wee Si scored, we all scored. Man we rocked.

We won 15-9, and crushed them like mice. It felt so good. Although I felt for Penfold, it sucks losing too.

You know, sometimes just when you feel like tossing in the towel, frisbee just yanks you back... But then there are still the Pyrenees to come...

Le Tour

Went to the prologue and it was fun. Alle alle Daveed Millar!

This rocks

MASH

And am going to go out in the rain on my fixie and catch some disc tonight. And I have a set of new Fulcrum racing wheels, life is wicked.

(I was feeling very sweary that day, not sure why, but I have removed the fowel language. I should was my mouth out with soap some days)

Spin

He just cycles around on his fixie to begin with, but wait for it...

Straight to the point

This cartoon in the Guardian is a good'un, hehe.

Mysterons

These guys are wicked, and from Leamington Spa. Cool.

Went to the beach last weekend, cycled there at an average of just over 27 km/h so was super quick. Beachfest was on at Bournemouth but I could not be bothered going, so instead tried out skim boarding with LIdia, Klaus and family and Caroline.

On the beach

Here is a photo of us hanging out in mist at Highcliff beach. It was warm'ish despite the mist.


It was cool, but was rubbish at skim boarding. Klaus however was riding the surf like a pro... and Julia found a massive shark tooth. Beaches are cool.

Chiltern 100

It was great, cycled 100km in four hours and fifteen minutes. Here are the stats:
Mean rpm, 74
Peak rpm 179
Mean speed 25.3 km/hr
Max speed 66 km/hr
Distance 106.16 km

They don't let on how tough it was, and how fast it was whizzing down the hills. The route took us up some very steep roads. I have no idea why the roads exist, there appear to be no towns or houses at the top. Anyways the roads just go straight up these hills, rather than around them. So up and down we went.

Lidia and I got to great Misseden for the race the day before and set out to see the sights. Pretty place, home to Rhoal Dahl. I wonder if I spelt that right...



To race day:
I joined Ed at the start, and we took photos of each other and saw Ed off (Ed was doing the proper Grand Fondo of 100 miles). I set off on my smaller 100 km race at 9 am, and zoomed along for the most part with Mark and Mark from the local cycle club. The hill climbs were hard, but quite cool, as they went up through a canopy of trees. The down hills were super fast, although I took them slower than the Marks. We were later joined by some more riders, and sped along the flat roads slip streaming beautifully. That was great, felt like a real biker, was imagining myself as Marco Pantani for the most part.

Anyways, some people (Will) have moaned that I have not talked about frisbee much as of late. Well tough. But, the guys came 5th at Mixed Tour 3 in Nottingham while I was out in the chilterns, which rocks.

Great weekends had by all.

Long time riding

Have just rewired the bike computer back onto my road bike (Lidia's dad, Vincenzo's old bike) no big deal in it's self . But, seeing as I put the computer on the bike, which for those that don't know just measures the peadalling rate (rpm) and speed I cycle at, I thought I would keep a geeky record of my stats etc. Check out this for an idea of how involved stat taking can get. Vincenzo is worse, hehe.

Anyways, I digress. The thing is my inherited bike computer has covered over 80,000 km according to its odometer. Holey fucking shit, that is fucking far. Lets assume the bike computer has been on that bike for most of it's life, unreasonable assumption? Well, that means the bike has covered that distance. I recently rebuilt the front wheel as the spokes would regularly break, which was getting a little irritating. I though I would leave the back wheel as it is, as if it aint broke and so on.

But, I think the wheels have been with the bike since it was bought, and I recently looked over the back wheel again, and the spokes are well worn where they cross and at the hub. No wonder though, eighty thousand kilometers of use. I hope it holds out for 100 more this weekend, otherwise I will be walking far in cycling shoes, and that wont make me happy.

80,000, I hope I can take it to 100,000.

Wheel Building

There is just something about my bicycle wheels that I have built my self. They look like any other bike wheel, but they are all mine. I trued them, laced them with my own bare hands.

If a bike shop man tells you "ooh, don't recommend building your own wheels, it is a real art you know." Tell them to fuck off, and go to another bike shop and get all the bits you need.

Then you too could love your wheels like I do :)

Here is my fixie sporting wheels I built (with some help of my friend Hedley)

Good old Ryan

Found these effusive remarks about some guy and Ryan, my former captain. They were said by Alex de Frondeville:

" Playing with Tyler Grant. The guy is a stud. He would be a starting receiver on DoG's O and a shutdown defender on DoG D (or any other open nationals level team out there). Only slightly behind was Ryan Reynolds. Definitely a pleasure to play with people where if you put it up deep to them, you're 90% sure they are going to come down with it, regardless of who is covering them. This is definitely something that has been missing from DoG for the last few years. "

Interesting stuff. Makes me quite proud of tall Ryan. I wonder if I would make it into Condors, or I am just too average. Apparently Ryan is just an average rooky for them (according to some Condors players Em and Lou were chatting up at Paganello). Maybe I will stick to cycling, no requirements on how good I need to be. I just need to stay on my bike, which with my new fixie may be easier said than done. It is weird to be unable to free wheel.

More Fixie

...and I hope I don't lose my teath like that guy. Need to remember, no free wheel and no free wheeling.

Fixie

Am going to switch my single speed into a fixie this weekend. To get an idea of what I mean check out this video,

"Macaframa SF Track Bike Promo"

Mini ultimate and bike rides

Wanted to ride my bike today, but it is raining, so instead limped to Asda in the rain. Stupid ankles, played some mini ultimate yesturday on Clapham Common, great fun but my achilies do not like the hard ground. They will just have to get used to it though, cos I don't think the ground will get softer, despite the rain right now.

Oh yeah, and we made the quarter finals in the mini losing to the eventual winners.

Cycle lanes

Read this and sign up to the petition.

Interactive Interweb

So joined this internet radio station last.fm and it rocks. My sister is on it too. And so I have added a list of my top played tracks on the right. Might be interesting, maybe, maybe not.

Was at student nationals last weekend, it rocked. My uni team Skunks came third in the 2nd Division. Which whilst not being the top division of student ultimate, was still an awesome result as the level of ultimate in the eight years I have been a student has risen considerably. We had a small squad of ten players, of mixed abilities but equal enthusiasim. Rock.

The only downside was a cricket player (from Southampton Uni) called it "ultimate gay", cos ultimate frisbee is a gay sport. I am not fussed about the use of gay to mean rubbish, loser etc, but why do people react in this way to frisbee being played as seven a side team sport. Are they afraid of it as it is something different? It is a childish playground insult to a un-offenisve sport. I don't go around calling cricket gay, football gay, rugby gay.

Anyways, Southampton lost the cricket to Cardiff Uni I think (it is not up on their website yet) this made me happy too.

The finest sports club in Wessex, fuck off.

Rooting around the interweb...

Check out the fixed bikes, perhaps this is bike porn, ooh dirty bikes. Check it out.

Angry team

Not a lot of joy at training these days, I wonder why...

Chiltern 100

I have entered my first cyclosportive event. I am not doing the big 100 miles, but the shorter 100 km around the Chiltern hills. I will hopefully travel up with Ed, although Ed is taking on the full 100 miles. And then more races afterwards, few. Just one for me will do, need to find out if I will enjoy it before I take on Paris to Roubaix next summer.

I am excited and a little scared of racing. I have never done it before. So over the next few weeks I will need to get in some sort of training. And will need to work out how to fix the bike computer so that I can get my milage and average speed. I took it if last week in disgust as it was not working.

Or I can try being like Greame Obree, and just follow what my body tells me.

Oh and here is a frisbee tip:
Take up more than just one sport. It is good to not get too involved in just frisbee, there is a big world out there to explore.

Word out.

Southampton to Calshot

Here is the bike at Lepe beach. It was a nice ride, will have to do more like it.

Paganello

(Photo taken by Roland)

So it was great fun once again. I arrived feeling a bit jaded and was not sure if another Paga full of UK players was going to be as much fun. Maybe it is a bit mean of me, but I woud just rather not hang out with British players most of whom I do not know. I much prefer hanging out with my mates and playing ultimate.

Fortunatly I only hung out with my mates and we hand a great time. I was a little anoyed that we came 7th and not as high as last year, but it was still awesome. I was thinking, if we came 7th but stuck it to an American team I would have minded less. But this year we rolled over at the quarter finals stage. For some reason we did not really perform.

The other games were all close run things though, and the beaches were beautifull, my team, Shocker, was fantastic. Our super sub Mega Man rocked. In fact it was great, screw 7th. We are still the best UK team at mixed ultimate, and we are rude.

Oh and I did not catch that disc in the photo, I forgot to close my hand around it, so it bounced out. Luckly JD expected this to happen so dove (layed out) to catch the redirected disc (we call this a MAC, mid-air correction), woop.

Tour 0

So it is Tour 0 this weekend, so called because it is a seeding tournament for the real beginning of the season, Tour 1. All a bit stupid really.

Anyways, my club is sending a team. Many people express a worry that we will not do that well. I was just thinking, I don't give a crap. Surely it is about enjoying the game. We are the only team from Southampton, we cannot be an elite squad, we represent all abilities so we just need to go out there and play. Where we end up is not so important, it is the love of the game that matters.

Anyways, I ain't going as need to catch a train to Rimini. It will be awesome!

Back up and running

I started a blog last year to report on the progress of my ultimate frisbee team and their bid at world championship success (see here). In the end we came 27th, so not so succesfull, oh well.

Well, I thought I would dump ideas here for the coming season. Maybe people will be interested, maybe not. Also, I was planning on competing with Ed and boast about my cycling achievments, haha, I think not. But I may talk a little about zooming around the New Forest on my bikes.

Check out Woozy With Cider too, I like it.