Posts by Richard Irvine
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I commute from East Coast Bays to town via the Bayswater Ferry (about 18Kms each way), ride a road bike and shower after each ride, so I lycra up. I appreciate being able to wear what you’re wearing at the time for shorter journeys, but for longer rides with hills and in the heat, I like temperature appropriate gear. Some of the things I use are:
I do like road jerseys for their cut and their pockets – I have both plain ones and TDF team ones, which you can get from torpedo7.co.nz for reasonable prices in their frequent sales. My fav is the Euskaltel Euskadi one for its visibility.
Lycra, padded bike shorts are best for longer rides in my opinion. I wear 3/4 length tights over them in the winter, and I’d throw a pair of shorts over ’em if I was meeting people. The best accessory for lycra shorts I’ve found is a sense of humor about their inherent ridiculous-ness.
I cannot recommend the Timbuk2 messenger bag highly enough. It sits right, has padding, can take a decent size laptop with ease, it waterproof and looks as new as the day I got it, about 8 years ago. When I was commuting on a crappy old mountain bike, I was in a ridiculous situation where my bag was more expensive than my bike. Ah well.
Ground Effect. I have their Flash Gordon rain shell and Vespa hi vis vest, which I wear for commuting. Both have taken a thrashing and are still in as-new condition. They’re a Christchurch company and are very much recommended.
Merino. I wear extremely lightweight Icebreaker undershirts I got in their clearance sales on all but the hottest days, and they provide all the moisture wicking / warmth you need. I also have a pair of merino Solo CC (NZ company) arm warmers which they don’t seem to make any more. They are tremendous.
In a fit of extravagance I got an Assos rain shell (similar to this) for rain in the summer. It was bloody expensive, but it’s bloody good, v waterproof and never gets too hot. I love the look of the Rapha gear too, despite it’s ridiculous pricing – if it wasn’t for having kids and having to eat and that I’d be all over it.
I also use clip in road shoes with zip on rain covers when it`s wet, wear cheapie cycling glasses and wear a cycling cap under my helmet if it’s raining ’cos the peak keeps the rain out of my eyes. Very interesting reading everyone’s views – also recommend bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com for those times you find yourself taking it all a bit seriously!
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One thing I've always wondered... when Ben Konobi says "You can't win, Darth" to Darth Vader before their light sabre duel in IV, is he prophesising on the eternal natural superiority of the light side of the force, in the face of his impending death, or just sledging?
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Fuck it was quite good to see Field Theory back in action. Cheers!
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@Gareth - thanks, that explains that. I tend to ignore most things Sky send me, so that may explain why I missed it!
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On the telly thing, I've been using Sky's 'mosaic' (overview of all the different sports channels' to see what's on at any one time - but there's three channels at the bottom labelled 'HD only' I can't see. I have MySky HD, I have sky sports, what else should I need to watch them?
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OK – I’ve written a blog post entry for this competition, a little yarn about a night out me and me and some mates had at the 1999 world cup:
"We ended up in the Leeds equivalent of a Lone Star, thoughtfully offering a two-for-one happy hour, where more accumulation ensued. From there it was on to a dodgy nightclub, an upstairs, no-windowed affair. Our group was busy being loud and witty and making friends with the locals, when we noticed a group of improbably wide-shouldered guys in matching polo shirts and pleated pants making their way in – it was only the bloody All Blacks! Imagine their surprise, having chosen accommodation away from Huddersfield, and entering a wee nightclub where the boys could unwind safe from the pressures of a rugby mad public, only to see us in our All Black gears and slurry-voiced charm."
It’s too long to all post here – but you can read the whole thing over at my blog. There’s pictures and everything.
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@hadyn good to hear you've been watching! It gets pretty intense now they're about to get into the mountains.
@jack yeah, I was pretty gutted about Wiggins, he's a great rider and an interesting guy too. I thought he'd have had a great chance.
Here's the Tour de France In Focus: http://bit.ly/nSDY9p
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Speaking of NZ locations, I quite liked this KnightShade video, featuring the Meremere power station before it was turned into a Totalspan. That stretch of river is pretty too.
I really liked AA Gill too – here’s Al Brown’s blog where he admits he was shitting bricks, with bonus pic of their Kahawai.
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A couple of people interviewed on Campbell Live last night said they were more concerned with having somewhere to poo than the RWC.
We may be a rugby nation, but when it comes down to it, pooing beats rugby I'm afraid.
