Josh caught wind of the impending mods, and being the tinkerer that he is, was soon digging out a set of cantis from his box of mystery, citing "ya gotta keep it authentic" as a reason to sacrifice the braking power of V-brakes for a more traditional set-up. 
Of course he's right, and the knobbies don't roll fast enough on my commute to warrant needing any brakes anyway! Now, to get it off-road again...
I'm looking forward to getting it into the Hataitai Velodrome and racing on it once track season starts in a month or so. I've only ever ridden track a couple of times. I turned up on my Surly Cross Check with a bigger gear and gave it a go last year; good fun, but the Surly is definitely more of a street cruiser. The Pista couldn't be more different; it's plenty stiff and way tighter and steeper (uh, like a track bike, I guess...). Anyway, once the track dries out (it's outdoors and it's raining a lot today) I'll be out there for a trial run. To exorcise some of the hate.
Josh checks out the Avanti Pista Pro and gets the ridiculous idea that he might do some track racing this year (I hope I don't suffer the same delusions). No doubt he was inspired by the huge success of the NZ track team at the Olympics, where it was a Bronze-rush! Ok, and a silver too. 
Pista Solo, basically a entry-level Pista with some brakes and a dodgy 'cityscape' paint job. Still looked better than the Las Vegas Langster though.
Avanti K.I.S.S. (Kylie Is So Slutty) 29er. Actually looks pretty good, a way better colour than last year. Cheap but not too nasty (unlike Kylie). 
And the 26" version. I think this one stands for Kevin Is Slightly Stoned. Just like any good singlespeeder (well, fixie rider anyway.)
Tricross Singlecross... I'm not gonna say anything bad about this one, because I wish mine had this paintjob. One of the best looking bikes there in my opinion (which counts for nothing really).
so being the good bloke that he is, he rebuilt the bike for me. He'd taken off the faux Indy Fab stickers and was going to get new ones made. I suggested he get Scared Shiftless instead, and the lad did a smashing job, don't you agree?
We're thinking of getting a batch made up, but they ain't cheap, so if there's any interest in them we'll get 'em in circulation.
I felt I could push it into corners with confidence, and even in tight, twisty singletrack through close-together trees, it still felt nimble and responsive.
This thing would rock with a Fox F29 fork on it, I think it would just fly through rough stuff. Although the rigid fork does look way cool, as does the Salsa CrMo stem. 
An old AS Gillott... as old school as you can get.
This Langster was bought from us, but has been through a remarkable blinging process... Campy Record cranks and levers, carbon tubulars...oww.
A Koga Miyata... there's a name I havent heard for a long time. Apparently ridden by someone named Jenny... where are you, fixie riding ladies?
Luckily, there's always Chris The Courier to rely on, out there day in day out delivering parcels either on his cobbled-together-piece-of-crap or the Langster. Today he dropped by with this bit of carnage, which happened during a wheelie down one of Wellington's busiest streets. A nice ball-slapper was the result, followed by a quick change tho the Langster, and off he went, flying the SS flag for us other slackers.
Until, of course, the hand of death comes back to haunt you. 
The course wasn't revealed until we actually got into the forest, and it was a cool figure-8 layout, nothing too long and steep but plenty of technical challenges to punish the tired and/or unattentive.
Chris The Courier got a good start and rode with the big guns for awhile, and finished in 6th place... awesome ride CTC! He would fade later that night in the drinking stakes though, proving once again that the young guys just don't have the endurance.
Kah just about to put a move on me into the first corner, followed by me putting a move on him into the second corner. My bike got plenty of attention and cheers, probably for the "why the hell are you riding that?" aspect of it.
Cabin and Garth were like this for almost the whole race, with Cabin pulling the lead after a beer stop, then Garth re-taking him on the last lap, both doing a final beer-slam to finish off in true SS style. I was doing my beer stop when Cabin came in, and I was still there struggling to get down the Speights as he flew off back onto the course resplendent in his beige skinsuit (a la the NZ cricket team of the 80's).
The first two laps I was on auto-vision when light rain rendered my glasses useless.... I stopped and removed the tinted lenses after lap two, the rain stopped, and I could see clearly now.
When it was all over, the real event began at the Pig N Whistle, where I performed a lot better than I had earlier in the day. The night ended up (in the morning) with some shenanigans involving some of the local wildlife, bourbon, and a spa pool... enough said. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
I've always wanted a cyclocross bike, and this was the perfect introduction, at the right price. Those tyres aren't as scary as they look. I took it on it's first off-road jaunt today at Makara, and it handled the singletrack with aplomb, and put the biggest smile on my face since Jesus rode a ProFlex. My back ached on the climbs and my hands went numb on the descents, but man it's fun. (I double-wrapped the bars as soon as I got back!)
And the looks and comments you get from mountain bikers is priceless. I'm running 38-18 gearing for off-road, and will revert to 44-16 fixed for the road, probably with smoother, narrower tyres. But then again, it could see a lot more dirt than tar this winter...
Paul's (the mastermind behind Wellycats) On-One.
The young fella who's name escapes me's Pinarello, with Chorus goodies... nice.
Jim's Cotic simple... does everything that machine.
Chris the courier's winning piece of cobbled together crap! Just proves that it's not really about the bike at all... 
Kah's thing...not sure what is going on there! 
More Kah-razyness.
Damn-I-can't-remember-his-name-Giant-rep's Giant TCR, lookin pretty good (for a Giant!).
And my trusty Langster, which copped a good rogering down two flights of stairs at Parliament.
Still got those dodgy red grips though. Do your mates say "what a Wanga" to you, Dan?
The rules are simple; get to the checkpoints in any way you please, first one back with all the points stamped on his card wins. Then drink beer. There were time bonuses for the first rider to each checkpoint, and I picked up the one at the SPOKE office (only about 200 metres from the start, and no-one else went there!).
And they're off! Owen and me almost didn't make it out of the street, trying to go in opposite directions on the wrong side of each other. Most went to the Basin Reserve first, Mark headed to the Beehive for the sprint win, then it was a heinous climb up to the Met Service. 
Benji got a flat down near Parliament and ended up running his 50c dumpster-special back to the finish, proving that you should spend at least a dollar on a bike.
I show off my unco-ordinated running dismount skills. A couple of monumental navigational errors had me riding up Cuba Mall, like a salmon swimming against the current, pissing off a few pedestrians.
And the winner is.... Ricky stomped around the course on his brakeless ghetto fixie in 20 minutes, then made us all feel ill with this unbuttoned shirt victory salute. Thanks to Paul for putting this on, it was a blast and I can't wait for the next one (last Wednesday of each month is touted).
