Rider of the Month for September is young Satnav.
According to Strava Satnav cranked out 1,591.8km and 22,804m in 61hr 46m and that’s not counting the lunchtime sessions on the Turbo Trainer. He even managed to take the last two days of the month off to mow the lawn a couple more times.
Satnav aka SOL is a Life Member of ER and currently ACFMI (Acting Chief Foundation Member Intergalactic).
1. Tell us a bit about yourself
Tight bean counter from the bush. Love the bike and a chat. And spreadsheets. Mild mannered until WBA bolts off the front. Still upset that Drastique ruthlessly flogged my only KOM before I got the chance to publicise the fact. Have been known to mow the lawn twice on the same day in search of a leave pass.
2. What got you into cycling?
Used to ride to high school (Dubbo), about 4km each way. Got cleaned up by some old duck one morning but luckily no lasting damage to the bike. Continued riding though Uni (Canberra) and then Sydney….then a long break until 2004 when I took up commuting in London. Have been riding ever since.
3. How did you come to join the Easy Riders?
Our daughter’s baseball, of course, in late 2008. The good wife was commenting to a fellow parent (HB) that I commuted by bike. HB flicked a business card, reeled me in, and I joined the (few) others at Gordon shortly thereafter. I was the 50th on the email list at that point however we were only getting a couple at Gordon each morning in those days. Haven’t commuted by train since.
4. Tell us about your bikes.
I don’t have any BMX’s, unicycles or tandems. My fleet are of the road variety. Carbon Madone 5.5, Carbon Norco, Ally Saracen, Steely Pro Ace, and soon to be released ER Steely Single Speed. (Note for the purposes of the ER Xmas Party only one of these is mine; the rest I’m merely keeping in reasonable working order for our kids when they’re big enough to fit them). Yes they’ll all insured and no you don’t know where I live.
[Editor’s note: SatNav is known for the meticulous care he takes over his equipment. On the left is one of the cogs from the Pro Ace and on the right is the infamous 3P blow-out]
5. If you could ride anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I’m as much about the company and the hitout as the whereabouts. There’s something special about turning yourself inside out with a group of like-minded souls all happy to share the toil and a coffee afterwards. Last year’s G2GGvG and Bumble Hill “magnificent 8” rides stand out in that regard.
PD’s Thredbo training camp (20 ER’s) in February provided the entree for some real climbing – that where it’s at I reckon – some of these legendary climbs in Europe being marketed by Tormey Tours look the real deal.
[NNNick once again failing to drop Satnav – ask NNNick who recently won up Macquarie Pass]
6, Tell us a riding story.
Well this one’s more of a non-riding story…..re-told now (i) for the significant number of newbies we’ve welcomed in the past 18 months or so since this one occurred, and (ii) because the victim is on holidays currently and unlikely to read anything sent by Drastique anyway.
So the victim, let’s call him “c”, used to park his bike in Coopz’ garage for convenience to Gordon. c hadn’t ridden for a while, so Coopz and TSS thought it might be a giggle to sell c’s bike without his knowledge. So TSS did one of his best sales pitches yet of the said bike, together with photo, and circulated around the group to gather EOI. (if someone can dig this out it would be great pls)
c, busy working on “matters”, didn’t notice his bike being marketed around the group. It went on for a month or so….
So someone in the group (can’t remember who) flicked it to someone outside the group who made an offer to TSS of $1000 for it. At that point TSS got nervous and suggested we tell c about the aforementioned events. “^&#*% him” was Coopz response.
Eventually c found out from which it is believed his favoured term “you ragtag bunch of misfits” was born.
c hasn’t had a break from the pedals of that duration since.
[Editor’s note: Original email is below]
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: RE: Another bike for sale
From: “Stubbings, Captain”
Date: Sat, September 08, 2009 8:34 am
To:
Satnav/Coopz
You blokes are hilarious. I was going to delete this email as another inane bike worship email, but Coopz knows how fastidious I am in reviewing my emails (but I do it in the same calendar year as receipt – rather than his timing, which is generally on each full moon). So I checked the photo. And yes, it looks remarkably like my bike, helmet, shoes, lights, gear box, pump and brand new *?!%ing tyres which I put on 2 weekends ago and haven’t even rolled on yet, propped up neatly in Coopz garage!!! Nice sting boys.
I am typing this on yet another Saturday morning at work, but I will finish this deal mid-week and then I’ll be back in my rightful place leading this rag tag bunch of misfits (from the back of the pack).
But if you want to know more about The Stallion, it is a beautiful looking bike (as the photo taped to my filing cabinet attests). As I say, it has new tyres and tubes and I have matching red and black high speed cycling clothing to match (for anyone who has the same buff physique as me). My only concern with the bike is that it seems to go better down hill than up hill. Not sure if I bought specialist down hill wheels…
Anyway, back to work.
Enjoy your weekend (and your belly laugh at my expense) you jokers.
Captain
– hide quoted text –
>
> From: Sat Nav
> Sent: Friday, 7 September 2009 10:26 PM
> To:
> Subject: RE: Another bike for sale
>
> Matt / Captain
> Brownie’s latest offering looks to be an Avanti similar to yours. Can you pls provide a product review on this model?
> Much appreciated.
> Thanks
> Mark
>
> From: Brownie
> Sent: Thursday, 6 August 2009 11:39 AM
> To:
> Subject: Fw: Another bike for sale
>
>
> Hello All,
>
> I forgot to add in a bike to the spreadsheet that I sent out last night. The bike is a Carbon road bike with Shimano 105 groupset and Fulcrum Evolution wheels and is approximately 12-18 months old.Frame size is 56cm with sloping top tube. The bike was intended to be used for occasional commuting with weekend wine tours and local coffee rides in mind and has been kitted out accordingly. The bike will be sold as a package deal with the following additions included: Two rear Smart LED lights, Saddle bag complete with spare tubes and tyre levers, Two biddon cages, Clip on Aluminium mini pump, Small front LED light and a brand new AYUP lighting system that has a seperate light set for both the bike and the helmet. The helmet is near new Giro Atmos and there is also a pair of Shimano RO-72 shoes in size 43. The bike has barely been pedalled in anger if pedalled at all and is in immaculate condition. You could count on one hand how many times it has been used this year. The bike is being sold due to lack of use and really needs to go to a rider who would actually use it on a regular basis to its full potential. It would be ideally suited to a fastitious commuter who is looking for a quality machine. Asking price of $1000 ono and if not sold prior to next weeks BBQ will be auctioned to the highest bidder at the BBQ (phone bids welcome).
>
> Cheers,
> Brownie.
This is the matching eBay posting.
7. Do you have any advice for the riders at the back of the ER peloton?
Keep at it and you won’t be there for long. Take a look at the motivational readings of our BT, VD, and a myriad of others who have significant success stories to tell. And if I still see you towards the back after that, I’ll bore you to death with stories of pivot tables.
[Editor’s note: This is not actually true – all new ER’s wax lyrically about how Satnav looks after the rear of the peloton]
8. Lastly, tell us something we don’t know about you.
Lived in Moscow for a year in the late 90’s; timed perfectly when the Russian economy went to pot.
Only had a handful of frightening experiences – being taxi’d (i.e. hitch-hiked, as the norm then) around the outskirts of Omsk at 3am when I knew it wasn’t the route to the hotel; seeing the inside of a Moscow police cell when a mate didn’t have his papers and I thought it rude to leave him on his lonesome; Taliban supporters club demonstrations in Tashkent; foot long fishing knife shown to me by some random bloke I shared a cabin with on the train to Smolensk…..combination of the above has driven my passivity when getting cut up by utes on the OTP – you never who you’re up against so best not to find out.