brian - September 2005

i know few of you will identify with this, but an ad in the 'comic' last week sported a colnago extreme c (as ridden to king of the mountains victory in the tour de france) with full carbon record groupset and campag hyperon ultra carbon wheels.

the whole bike only weighed 6.5kg (just over a stone for the imperialists) but cost £5,500

quite worrying that i was sorely tempted:-)

not really wishing to labour the point (who am i kidding?) but i thought some folks might like to see what £5,500 worth of carbon colnago actually looks like.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tech/shows/eurobike05/?id=eurobike053/EB05-ColnagoExtremeC-1

copy and paste into your browser 'cos i can't get the hang of clickable links in this blogging thing

only on an island (probably)

at this year's black bottle islay jazz festival (16/17/18 september) islay singer sheena swanson and myself will be performing a selection of billie holiday songs along with pianist paul harrison and bassist mario caribe.

since the latter two are based in edinburgh, sheena and i have been rehearsing songs with voice and snare drum, probably a combination that should generally be avoided, but needs must.

while it is serving us well, i shudder to think how it looks and sounds to those around us.

read an article in the paper yesterday about a bicycle film festival that was on in london 1 - 3 september. seems it also puts in an appearance at los angeles, new york and tokyo.

www.bicyclefilmfestival.com/

d'you think hi-arts would be amenable to running it on the screen machine? surely the new one must have bike racks somewhere?

excellent quote from cycling plus magazine...

"cars are a great invention because you can attach them to a bike rack"

couldn't agree more:-)

noticed a new book with info on cycle friendly tea/cafe stops (along with attendant anecdotes) in wales.

would be nice to have something similar for the islands. if anyone knows of any that fit this description (decent coffee, carrot cake, muffins, beans on toast etc.) post a comment and i can add to thewashingmachinepost.

best two on islay are the croft kitchen in port charlotte (really good espresso + carrot cake) and the old kiln at ardbeg (apparently they make whisky there too:-)

if you're not a guardian reader then this probably makes no difference, but apparently the new size, folded in half lengthwise, fits comfortably into the rear pocket of a cycle jersey (coincidence, or what).

and in the wednesday edition this week, on the very same page as the 'four wheels' car review (a bentley something or other) was 'two wheels' - a cycling column by matt seaton.

all we need to know now is, will we get this every week?

no cycling this weekend, just jazz. starts tonight and finishes sunday night. (7th black bottle islay jazz festival)

if you're going to be here, should be great. if not, just be envious with dignity:-)

maybe photos next week

excellent weekend's jazz on islay and several gigs recorded for bbc scotland's 'from be-bop to hip-hop' to be broadcast on wednesday 28 september.

photo is of john rae's new jazz dining al fresco at ardbeg. john's off to new zealand tomorrow for six months so we wish him all the best down under.

apparently the norwegian consul commissioned one of his country's top bass players, arild andersen to compose a work for saxophone and bass for the talents of himself and scots sax virtuoso, tommy smith.

the premiere of the work was in aberdeen last week, but the second outing was in bowmore's round church on saturday evening at the black bottle islay jazz festival.

truly amazing stuff, and also recorded for radio scotland - you can see some of the recording gear in the background in the photo.

sad to relate due to aforementioned musical activities and more this weekend, the bike has remained lonely in the bike shed for too long.

how sad then that one of the few opportunities to ride this week is after taking the car in for its mot. pop the velocipede in the back, drive to the garage and cycle home. and if conditions remain as they are, i've a tail wind on the return.

but a headwind when i go to collect it tomorrow:-(

yep, headwind today

wind's changed. tailwind for a second day. how good does it get?

the duich bridge on the low road is currently under re-construction, so there is a slight diversion on to what used to be a the low road and old bridge. since this is single track, there are now traffic lights to control the traffic.

current fun part, therefore, on a bicycle is to control the speed in either direction to ensure that you don't have to sit at the lights at all.

this either means dawdling at a few km per hour, or sprinting like petacchi to get there before it changes to red. even more fun, there's a downhill approach from each side.

ah, happy days :-)

i know it's about a week or so late, but i only just received the photos yesterday (thank you mr fletcher).

photo below of brian palmer (drums) and sheena swanson at the billie holiday gig in ionad chaluim chille ile on sunday 18 september. at least one song should be broadcast this evening on radio scotland's 'from be-bop to hip-hop' at 8pm -10pm (repeated on sunday evening).

the two guys behind me turn up every year and attend almost everything, and i swear that beard hasn't changed a bit over the last few years