The day before the century, a friend and I went for a 25mile cruise out
of the city, basically to get him out of his flat. We ended up riding
pretty hard out to Dalmeny (via the Cramond walkway[1] which involved a
lot of cyclo-cross carrying of bikes which were wholly unsuited to the
terrain.) to visit his old colleagues at EBC's warehouse and then
cruised gently back into town. We then neaded to go to EBC in town to
pick up some new brakes for his bike. We ended up going twice as he had
forgotten his credit card which resulted in the following:
1) While waiting at the lights at a crossroads, we were sat behind a
twin-exhausted BMW which was signalling right. A quarter of the way
across he changed his mind and floored the accelerator resulting in a
loud farting sound as he screamed across the junction before being
forced to brake for the cars that were in front of him. We laughed at
this moronic behaviour and while doing so I looked at the speed he was
travelling and thought "I can 'ave 'im". So I did. It was wonderful to
have him look in his wing mirror and see a cyclist sat just outside his
rear wheel with a smile on his face. Gotcha mate. Was your girlfriend proud?
2) At EBC I was admiring the Centaur equipped Six13 when my friend
suggested that I ask to take it for a ride. Ignoring the amateurish
tendencies in the shop which resulted in the front derailleur not being
adjusted properly (Cable had clearly slipped!) it was a beautiful ride.
Amazingly comfortable despite the road surfaces and so very very fast.
Now if I could just find the £1999 I'd consider saving a little longer
for the full carbon Record version.
Jon