Apres Velo Blog

APRES VELO and its Cogregation are so proud of the results of its sponsored rider Rachel Neylan, who mixed it with the best in the world last Sunday in Italy, coming 13th in the the first European race and first World Cup of the 2010 season.

Not only did Rachel do her team proud but also contributed towards the overall results of her team.

Check it out here

We also think you should checkout an interview with Rachel conducted by the people from Cycling Tribe.

Let's talk about stools.
Everyone's thinking i'm gonna chat about my toilet habits aren't they? Well, when you're a highly trained athlete such as myself and training at ungodly hours and doing the Tour De Public Toilets of the Northern Beaches as my friends & I do....we all do talk stools.
Naah, here's 2 cool stools I covered with tee shirt strike-offs and bikes tubes last week and took to the Mont. My photoshopping is pathetic but you'll get the idea. More stools on the way....(it's my high fibre diet).

Team Big Test Icicles kicked, um...well, lots of dust up. That's what we did! We kicked Dust. In our own faces.
Below is a photo of Andy after a lap. He has just come and woken me up to do my laps -hence the horrifed look on his face.
Then there's a photo of me in my Test Icicles gear, all nice and clean ready to go eat some dust. We drank, breathed and slept in dust.
It was in every nook & cranny of EVERYTHING and I'm still clearing it out of my traumatised nose, ears and eyes. 

 
We had a great time -it was an excellent race, extremely well organised and the atmosphere and the people are the nicest on earth.
Mountain bikers are a wonderful breed of person and the genorosity and kindness out on the track was enough to bring tears to your eyes -but that would have made mud -not good! Thru the night it was lovely, there is nothing on earth like the experience of doing a 24 hour race and cycling thru a pine forrest on winding trails, the lights on MTBers looking like fairy lights and chitter-chatter between riders wafting thru the trees. Simply awesome.
Team Apres Velo (Bruno: a lovely guy with a rooooly cool french accent & Me) set up our Marquee and we were selling our gear there.
Below is a photo of one of our cutest customers ever (Amelia?) who was busking in an AV shirt. Her brother is trying to earn money for a new bike.

I also took up a dare that has been running for quite a while....I did an underwear lap for my last lap. I was terrifed... I have to say and worried about all sorts of things such as saddle rash, falling with no protection and everyone seeing me in my undies....plus more stuff. I overcame all fears and JUST DID IT. It was exhilarating to face my fears & conqueur them. NO rash -it was incredibly comfy.
It was really nice and cool -it was very hot at Sparrow Hill and each lap I did I had been really sweaty hot -so it was lovely to feel the air all over my body cooling me down. No-one vomited (although I may have caused a few nightmares) and I didn't fall at all on any lap or come close to crashing. Everyone should do an undie lap, it's good fun. So many people tell me they're going to do a fancy dress, nude or undie lap and never do it. I did it. If I get a decent photo I may even put it up on the blog after I've airbrushed/photoshopped/edited it.
Big Test Icicles: we came 2nd in our category of Mixed Team of 6 over 40 who like to drink coffee & eat copious amounts of muffins and 5 of them like to drink home brewed beer. Not bad, eh?
Do the Mont next year. You'll love it.
 And the showers in the semitrailer after a hot dusty lap are an experience I shall liken to heaven-on-earth.

The Apres Velo Shop @ The Mont 2010

this is me "roughing it" at the Mont with my Pavoni coffee machine and grinder. There is 1kg of freshly roasted Allpress beans under the table and an esky of frozen Long life Organic Milk bricks -just in case. I'm pretty low-maintenance as long as I get my regular coffee intake. Below are some photos of one happy Test Icicle doing some dusty laps and a night lap.