Friday, 16 March 2012

Incubus

It’s not often that we are faced with events that seem absolutely ridiculous to try and accomplish, yet are so possible to do...if keen and ‘irresponsible’ enough to try it anyway in the hope that something crazy cool comes of it in the end... Well... let’s just say a ridiculous task was an understatement. Ridonkulous (take ridiculous - and throw a donkey into the equation) was a far closer description of what we were going to undertake. And that we did.... crazy cool outcome – check! With so much to do and so little time.. how would it all transpire?!

Drive up with friends to East London to meet the troops at the track for the second event in the Supadrift series. Long day and was a track event unlike anything I’ve grown accustomed to, as it was juuuuust drifting! How cool? Anyway, cool vibe out there, loads of pics taken.. we did pretty well given the high boost and 3rd gear were issues (girl conversion of the story) hahhaha. See kiuhouse.blogspot.com for a more interpreted elaboration on that. :/ The day came to a close around 4pm at which point we needed to pack up from this event and roll out and head back to PE where we would shower and wolf down a plate of decent food before hitting the road once again... destination – Cape Town. Why you ask? Well, QS needed to participate in the Supadrift event (Saturday all day) and also needed to participate in The Argus (Sunday 6:30am) hmm, starting to see the donkey in the situation? So with 3 people in one car and in the rain and been going all day at a track event in one town..... we overdosed on caffeine and hoped for the best. 6 Hours later, the motherland welcomed us... the petrol stations not so much, epic fail. But Sauls did.... hahaha. We’ll leave it there. Dead tired, zonked out beyond literate conversation.. we managed to snooze, support at the Argus finish line like hobo’s in one day old clothing and 2 day old breath. Hahah. And finally checked in to lodge, showered and head to camps bay where we looked like the fabulous who resided there.. And so our cape town trip kicked into gear. So much shopping, eating out and seeing cool shit that we felt like we could stay there indefinitely... there were highlights throughout...

One highlight was our last night in town, where we went out for a dinner and jazz evening at a trendy spot called Asoka on kloof street... we laughed, we ate good food, had a drink or two and I speak for all of us I think when I say it was one of the coolest nights since we can remember, the company, vibe, music, menu and just - everything. We even spotted some celebs amongst us. Hahaha. It really was the culmination of our time in cape town.

Other very cool vibes whilst there were, the visit to Woodstock Cycleworks to check out the shop, talk some cool crap about cool crap, See what was up to buy... see the ‘ever elusive’ diamant frame and and... Also, shopping at canal walk coz we realised that there were some seriously serious bargains going down there. Got bicycle stuff, Superdry stuff (had no idea the deal I was getting til I wore it and felt the value of it and secondly when I saw the discount sign outside) Yikes... yea... like I said bargainzz. Super cool highlight - our unforgettable game of snakes and ladders at Clarkes whilst waiting for the maddest breakfast youve ever had in the coolest of cool coffee cafe’s with the craziest waiter trying to sell us his laced chocolate brownies. (or alleged laced brownies) hmmm haha! Awesome spot... a new fave for sure.

What a trip.... what a jol.... Mexican food, record stores, artic degree fridges, and it all ended with a flat tyre on the side of the road 45km outside PE... One for the books... And for those who weren’t there for it - Every day we sang “I wish you were here” ...... Some pics to paint a pic.















Thursday, 15 March 2012

Thursday, 8 March 2012

Frame of mind... Single Speed: part 5

It finally found me, and it's the perfect size...


Monday, 5 March 2012

Get a grip... Single Speed: part 4

Easier said than done. I know that better than anyone! There's a little thing called 'the snowball effect' or the 'domino effect'.... Snowball effect is a figurative term for a process that starts from an initial state of small significance and builds upon itself, becoming larger (graver, more serious), and perhaps potentially dangerous or disastrous. The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on. When these 'effects' come into play in one's life, especially the snowball effect, Its probably important to take a step back and get a grip. Get a grip of what the hell is actually going on... get a grip of the reality of a situation and look to the source of why you actually threw a glass at someone's head and called him a crazy motherfucker. Retracing steps always seems to make us more calm the further back we go, because we realise that one thing on top of another and on top of another can eventually lead to the pile falling over and saying something or doing something that has no bearing on what the initial problem actually was. Flip..... but dont we all do this? It's ridiculous. Look, sometimes some people are just completely out of line and say and do things that regardless of whether I've won the lotto or not - Its still going to annoy the crap out of me.. or offend or upset me. That's different... then they need to be told to get a grip. But I just realised that a LOT of the time.... it can be a build up of snow that just gets bigger and bigger until eventually it knocks someone out..... literally.... haha. Not ideal. Buuuut, let's face it we're all human.. as long as we're trying. And if you cant get a grip figuratively... get one literally.. So I did.. a hot pink set too! Check it out.


Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Lent - fail

Seems every year I try.. and every year it's difficult. This year was no different...
I gave up biscuits, and today I held the heart in my hand and failed..

Friday, 24 February 2012

And slowly it creeps in....

...excitement... 1x return flight to London booked :) In 131 sleeps I will wake up on the morning I leave for London to travel Europe for 2 and a half weeks. Nothing better than having a reality to look forward to...


Thursday, 23 February 2012

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Eet-nun-no-mor

You wanna what? Eet sum mor? Welllll... you can't... hahaha. Yeah it's Ash Wednesday and today is the day that Lent begins... and seeing as how I have failed with chocolate time and again, I decided to give up something a liiiitle easier, but still quite a challenge, given it has become quite customary to enjoy biscuits with my tea drinking time.. Usually they're custard toppers, but Eet sum mor's, well.... it says it all, and now, I'll eet nun. For a little while anyway. Let's see how it goes... What you are sacrificing....? hmm..

Tuesday, 21 February 2012

Living for the weekends

"Got a man of the people says keep hope alive,
Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive..."

Couple lines from the lyrics of a Pearl Jam song.. I was having a Pearl Jam weekend and with that set the tone for a cool vibe overall. Saturday morning started at the Sasol garage with a small gathering of the eager track buddies that were all headed in the same direction.... it was raceday at Scribante and irrespective of the outcome on winning and losing... we were all hoping to have a day filled with laughs, pics, braai, racing and ultimately.. fun! The morning flew by and before we knew it we were eating lunch and waiting for the last race, or second last it seemed afterwards... but evidently... last 'actual' one, given that the 3rd one didnt really get under way... A certain other blog might have more details that I dont really need to get into... Mine is more for the pics and memories of the day we had... And a good day we had for sure :) Dinner with friends.... and a random (yet cool) tea session ended the jam-packed day... PS Macdonalds Drive-thru is an nightmare on steroids. A battle I have yet to win... Do yourself a favour... just dont do it. And Sundays......... well sunday sessions was an idea I conspired for many reasons.. one being, its a day to see your nearest and dearest... always has been and always will be in my mind, so this needed to happen. A good brunch/breakfast was in order for this to happen and to ensure all the dearestszez were in one place at one time, the best option was to support Phillipa's shop, Vovo Telo in Newton Park... Nowhere is open on a sunday... (was) and with all wanting to be together doing something good and cool and in favour of Vovo sundays, the breakfast club was born so to speak. So this took place for a second Sunday now. The idea is for us to ride to breakfast, so its chilled and relax til close... No better way to end of a weekend... Pics for proof. --->













Monday, 20 February 2012

Single Speed: Part 3

Need direction? Handlebars....... hahaha. (Or a trusty guru.... usually) I choose both. While I wait on the news on the frame and wheels, it's tough to decide what colour I am going with on the parts I buy... so ya, sitting on hands at the mo with everything. But this is the style of bars I wanted.... I can paint them whatever colour I like and plus the colour of desire within my 'grip' were for............. the grips - Pink. :) They'll be here soon, hopefully.  It was a busy weekend this weekend and all things considered it was a really cool one. Need to blog about it, but that's tomorrow's story to tell. Today, just another part of the project, the project being - completion.


Oh! and my annoyance for the day (coz I have so many on the road generally), what's more annoying than 4 cars stopping at a 4-way stop at the same time? ........................................ Absolutely f***all. Twice now its happened, and every time, everyone sits and stares at everyone, and no one moves..... til we all do... al the same time. :/

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Single Speed: Part 2

As it mostly goes... things don't happen over night... But what does happen is, that a picture begins to form or the end result starts to become more clear over time. And like anything, the restless ambition is inescapable, yet patience is so important. Well if anyone knows me and knows me well, I don't decide I want something until I know I can have it. The anxiety is too much to contain when I want something. So i choose in my mind to 'not want it yet'... Strange... but I know emotion that goes into that decision.. it's a type of patience that need not be tapped into yet - it's a back of the mind thought almost. The reason I do this, is because the second I decide I need to own something or have something in particular - then life as I know it comes to a halt, so that I can focus and direct all my energy to get that 'thing' as soon as humanly possible. Waiting... - not my forte. So now, back to my point... I am restlessly learning the game of patience in the one thing that has all my energy at the moment, which is (as you know from my earlier post) building my Single. But, I'm at part 2 and I have a feeling the others are going to start coming soon... What it will be in the end - only time will tell, but the 'ride' thus far has been fun. Latest part - a set of new, white DMR pedals..



Thursday, 9 February 2012

Single Speed: Part 1

And so it starts... Super excited to the point that I’m riding bicycles in my sleep. It has become quite consuming.... but the ideas are flowing abundantly. This is all fair and well, but the cool part is when you start following through and seeing your ideas come to fruition. Anyway enough nonsense talk..  I want to run white tyres on white wheels, so as to get the deep section ‘look’. There is still the potential of getting the Deep V wheels, in which case the white will look pretty thick... and consequently ‘sick’! They’re still a tight find at the right price and and.. so for now.. part one of my bicycle build – a set of white Maxxiss tyres.  *smiling*




Wednesday, 8 February 2012

Laughing at myself

Sooooo turns out... the 'project game' is exactly that... and my ignorance into the idea of knowing what you want from the outset has become evident. But, like everything in life... .its a learning curve. At least this one is fun. You have an idea which turns into another idea and then before you know it your concept has transformed from shapes and colours to curves and styles. So instead of posting a million ideas (I know how my mind works) I will rather post the purchases and progress. A part almost in the bag already... something pretty perfect and a lucky find... I know the value of this type of luck, and it doesn't seem to come around often....Watch this space..  But for now check these out..







Wednesday, 1 February 2012

Raise the roof

So I found the exact colour....!! Now all I need is to find a frame. Haha, well, coz the rest comes easy It seems. And where I was leaning toward the teal contrast... (yes I did just start a sentence with 'and' - but it's my blog and therefore can write what I like and escape judgement) Or... at the very least pretend not to be concerned with it. I'm also looking at doing all the parts in white. Which is odd, given the fact that a white accessory isn't on my list of favourite things. But then again, on a bicycle with another colour it looks pretty mad. So let's see. That decision has yet to be made. At least one has been made though. It's a step I guess. A baby step........ but one nonetheless. Finding the frame you would think might be an easy task, except it's really not. Especially when you're trying to find the 'right one'. Funny how the right one isn't the cheapest, nor is it the most expensive, nor is it the best. But 'right' is more in line with what I want it to look like, given what I know I like, and how I imagine it will fit with me. Anyway... hence the task at hand. Perhaps when I'm in Cape Town again, the land of fixie culture.... Welllll that's a lie... its the land within South Africa where fixie culture exists. Maybe there, is where I will find 'some diamonds', here's hoping.  For now, even though I don't have it... I know what it is that I would like to have.