I simply am running out of hours in the day to keep up with everything happening in CTA. In spite chasing customers away, my local business involving repairs and rebuilds has gone through the roof, literally. There are bicycles and bits from the attic to the basement at the moment, and I really have no idea what is actually going on. I just do what has be done at the moment. So the blog is once again seriously out-of-date. So if you really want to know what is going at CTA, you need to come past and we can discuss bicycles, life, and solve most of the world’s problems over a cup of coffee.

To add the chaos, our household was revisited by cancer on Easter weekend. So I have been stretched to breaking point trying to manage both business and family matters. Thankfully, the prognosis is very good, in fact, the real blow has been more mental and emotional than physical, since we all thought that we had put this behind before. But all is well that ends well.

Recently, I added fenders the 650b Gemini World Randonneur that I built for a rider late last year. I think it has ended being a good-looking bike. Well, as soon as the rider get some bar tape!

The Phil Wood Titanium-Magium Bottom Bracket with a set of Phil Wood Alloy Bottom Bracket Cups.

Quite possibly the finest bottom bracket in the world.

Need I say more?

I have to keep this short and sweet and no pictures today. The past two weeks have been the busiest in the history of CTA. That is good and bad, good because, for once CTA is not charity case, bad because I am loosing ground. I am so busy in the workshop, that I am not finding the time to reply to everyone’s inquiries, much less update the blog. As one person, I am only able to do so much in a day and keep my sanity. Along with running CTA, I have to be husband and father and find time to ride myself.

Because if I am not riding, I get really cranky!

I recently stated there is a direct correlation between the time I spend in the saddle and the success of CTA. The more time I spend on the bike, riding, exploring, and enjoying the freedom of two wheels, the more passionate I become about all things cycling and CTA. True to my resolve to let nothing get in the way of my riding, I have been riding just about everyday since the beginning of 2008. Some days it is nothing more than riding the mixte to the post office, other days, I spend the whole day on the bike, like I did on Wednesday.

A customer and very good friend from Newcastle has been telling me how great Newcastle is and that I need to spend a day with him exploring Newcastle and the surrounds. After year and half of trying to get our schedules to mesh, with no success, I called him and we set-up a day, that no matter the weather, we were riding Newcastle.

And we did! And what a great place to ride! I personally think that Newcastle is Australia’s answer to Portland. A bit of a stretch? All I know is that in 5 hours of riding, albeit rather leisurely, we rode no more than 4 or 5 klms on the road. The beaches, the over-looks, the breakwater, the city waterfront, everywhere we went there are these wonderful bike paths or bike lanes. There was quick, fast riding through the CBD, flat and meandering paths along the river, and gut-busting, leg-destroying climbs. And then within 15 minutes or so, we blasting along groomed trails through rainforest. Newcastle has it all within easy riding distance. What more could you want? I was going to try to put our ride route into bikely.com, but we covered so much ground, I could not remember all the details. It was a gorgeous day, filled with riding, food, coffee, tea, and good conversation. I will let the photos tell most of the story.

But there is one part of the ride I have to mention specifically, the Fernleigh Track. An abandoned coal railway that meanders through lush rainforest, tunnels under mountains, and will run from Newcastle to Belmont when finished. Perfect for easy, lazy riding with family or friends. Put Fernleigh Track on your ‘to-ride’ list.

The day ended perfectly. As we coming back into Newcastle on the Fernleigh Track, we got caught by a massive thunderstorm. We sheltered for a few minutes in the tunnel, then figuring we were not water soluble, made a dash for home. The cycling gods decided to test our mettle and it rained torrentially. There was so much water sheeting across the road, it was running through our wheels. Visibility was almost non-existent, while thunder cracked overhead, but that did not wipe the grins from our faces as we pulled into the driveway, looking like a two drowned cyclists. After warm shower and dry clothes, we enjoyed a spot of lunch and a big cup of tea as the we watched the sun break through the clouds and the sky turn blue!

As I said, it was a perfect day…

It was a tragic weekend for me, I lost two of my most faithful riding partners. My beloved Nike Grand Poobah shoes have departed this world after 16 years of faithful service. I was so distraught I was prepared to declare a week of mourning. These shoes were with me during my weekend warrior MTB days, toured and tooled along the Eastern Seaboard of the US, then came with me to Sydney, saw me through my trailer pulling days, powered a loaded Xtracycle to building sites and spent their last days just riding around Sydney taking in the sights. I was coming across the Harbour Bridge, panniers laden with tools from a weekend of helping a friend with a building project, when I pulled the cleat from the bottom of my right shoe, so they chose a great spot to go out in style.

I knew my shoes were running on borrowed time for the last few years, and had been doing some shoe shopping, but I could not find a shoe I liked. There seems to be a dearth of nice, working cycling shoes at the moment. There is enough carbon wonder shoes to build a space shuttle, horrible ugly things that are impossible to walk in, great if you are racing, but otherwise worthless. From there you go the other end of the scale, clunky, chunky free-style stuff that makes me want to get pierced and inked. There are a few low-end commuter shoes, but they tend to be heavy and not something I would wear to a gallery opening. I am not inclined to carry a spare set of shoes, tried toe-clips and found them wanting, and despite the preaching of Grant Petersen from Rivendell, I am a more efficient rider with my feet fastened to the pedals. So it was a futile search until today(well, I had to get a pair of shoes, didn’t I).

I did panic and spent most of my free time on Monday cruising the web for shoes. Nothing, nothing. I was resigning myself to a pair of Shimano SH-MT90’s, and yes, they do look like a pair of hiking boots. Did I forget to mention I prefer a boot-like shoe? I do not like black shoes, but light colored shoes and cycling just do not work, get to grubby looking far too quick. I just happened to be on the phone to the Time agent for Australia about some other things, when I mentioned that I was looking for a new pair of shoes. Well…

I found my shoes, they are perfect. Not black, but dark. Nice looking boots, definitely look good with blue jeans(my choice of cycling pants). Solid, but not chunky. Light-weight and very, very comfy. They are the Time TXC MTB shoe. These are perfect for me, I can wear them everywhere for everything, going to cafes, galleries, shopping, meetings, whatever, for touring, for off-road. The perfect all-purpose shoe. And they are extremely comfortable to walk in, guess how I know? Well, I had to take the new shoes for a ride, for some coffee, then off for some back-street rampaging and then for a bit of off-road testing. On the way home, I flatted very badly, was running late to pick-up the children from school, so the bike went on my shoulder and I walked the last 3klms home. Very comfortable shoes. Of course, you know the story, it is a new relationship, all is shiny and new, so give me a few months and I will let you know the real personality of these shoes.

Now for the bad news, I have the only pair of Time TXC’s in Australia. Evidently, I am the only one willing to pay $240 or so for a high-quality, versatile pair of cycling shoes. Unless I can get at least 25 more people to agree with me that the Time TXC’s are the perfect pair of shoes for them, Time is not importing them into Australia. So if you also think that the Time TXC is your perfect shoe, let me know, and I will start a petition.

Now back to riding for another decade or so…

Been an absolutely crazy week in the workshop, just flat-out. Been so busy I really have not had time or energy to update the blog as I hoped. But I took a bit of time out this evening with some inspirational reading about bicycle touring and camping.

With the recent passing of Sheldon Brown, I was reminded of another well-known and well-loved cyclist that is no longer with us, but his legacy remains an inspiration for any true cyclist. Ken Kifer was killed by a drunk driver in September, 2003, but like Sheldon Brown, he was a prolific writer and teacher and recorded his experiences and thoughts for all to read as ‘Ken Kifer’s Bike Pages‘. His writings are a must read for any cyclotourist, jam-packed with the information and advice gleaned from spending many years and over 100,000 miles in the saddle. If you are not motivated to go for a good, long ride after spending some time reading through the Ken’s writings, then you are not a true cyclist.

The Peugeot was wearing the panniers over the weekend, filled with tools, food and clothes for a weekend of helping a friend with a building project. Not quite the camping trip that I am dreaming of…

Just when I have finally come out of the closet and publicly admit I am Peugeot collector, I stumble across another bike that grabs my fancy and becomes my newest time-waster and obsession. And to the shock of my entire support group, it is not a Peugeot. Is this a positive sign of the success of my treatment or worse… that I have a hopeless addiction with anything with two wheels and a crankset. Let me present the case, you can be the judge…

I was cleaning up a back corner of the workshop today, and I stumbled across this Mitchell mixte(I won’t say by what means it came into my possession except that this particular person is going to be solely responsible for my demise) buried back in the corner, all dirty and covered in grease. It is built on 24″ wheels, has fenders, a gorgeous 3spd Sturmey-Archer hub in the rear, and nice curly lugs. It needs a heap of work, but the paint is in good nick, hub in seemingly minty condition, and the fenders are stainless. So let’s just say that the workshop clean-up has come to complete stop, while I attended to the very important task of rebuilding the mixte. I will be posting photos of the restoration to the Mitchell Mixte gallery as it progresses.

A bit of history, the Mitchell brand was built for/by the Royal Blind Society of Enfield, NSW in the west of Sydney.

I no longer have a choice but to admit that I am a Peugeot-holic. I refused to admit my obsession for a long time by claiming that I preferred a Peugeot bicycle only for its superior ride and handling, nothing more. I was adamant that I was not a collector, just a rider with a practical, rational, reason based preference for the French marque.

But how does that explain that I now own in excess of 12 Peugeot bikes(I stopped counting at 12)? And what about the Flickr group I started which has the name ‘Cycles Peugeot‘? Why do I have a wool Peugeot jersey(which is well hidden in the closet) from the same era as my bike? Why am I always looking for old Peugeot posters and catalogues(especially Australian)? With evidence mounting against me, I have had no choice but to admit that I am no longer in control of my desire for just one more Peugeot bicycle. I am a obsessive Peugeot collector, and there is no end in sight. Even worse, my addiction is broadening(deepening) to include all things French. I am compulsively hoarding Simplex derailleurs, Stronglight cranksets, Mafac brakes and levers, and TA bottle cages. Where will it end…

My own son, just today, said this as we were riding along, “Dad, you ride a Peugeot bicycle, you drink lots of coffee, and eat too many croissants. You are becoming French”!

Well, I have at least admitted to my Peugeot addiction, and they say admitting you are an addict is half the battle.

So I feel better now…

With increasing popularity of track racing and the decreasing number of quality track hubs on the market, Phil Wood track hubs have become very much in demand. So much in demand, that Phil Wood is struggling to supply and keeping hubs in stock in getting difficult. In fact, often a large part of a shipment of track hubs is pre-sold by the time the shipment arrives at CTA.

In spite of high demand, Phil Wood will still take and fill orders for custom hubs. Recently I delivered a fully custom high flange track hub, custom drilled for 20 spokes and slotted for wide bladed spokes. This hub can be seen in service around the velodromes of Sydney. In an age of standardisation and sameness, it is good to know that Phil Wood is willing to take the time to make a track hub just for you.

This week has been absolutely flat-out, as evidenced by lack of blog entries for the week. I am working very hard to get through the backlog of hundreds of E-mails and enquiries that accumulated over the past few months. We are also in the middle of renovating the workshop with new display cabinets, workbenches, and storage. So CTA is running full steam at the moment. I will be resuming polishing of rims next week, the new wheelbuilding bench will be up and running, and I will have an idea of what stock of hubs, BB’s, rims and etc. I actually have on hand. I have been unearthing boxes and containers of old bike parts and bits, that I forgot I even had. And among this hustle and chaos, I am still need to find time to ride and reinvigorate CTA.

There have been a lot of changes around CTA, lots of exciting stuff on the horizon. But I will save that for another day.