All Bull, No Hearne Hill

The Red Bull Mini-drome on Saturday night was brilliant. I loved it. But a slight downside was that there was no sign of anyone collecting for or promoting the Hearne Hill Trust. This was a massive missed opportunity considering there were 200 or so bike loving people there watching. Nevertheless, the velodrome looked fun, the people were slowly getting into it, and the stacks were brilliant.

For the finals it was a pursuit format for 10 laps. One rider on each side of the velodrome. Some races were over within 2 laps, some went right down to the wire and the crowd loved those. With the velodrome being so small it was less about power and more about bike handling abilities. The closer you kept the bike to the sweet spot on the banks the fast you went. One chick came from 3/4 of a lap down to eventually win after finding the right lines, despite having less power than her competitor. It was intriguing to watch.



I pulled out my camera for the first time since early last year and took a few random photos but because my wind-up computer is running slowly I'll put them in a separate post tomorrow.

Hearne Hill and Red Bull

I'm a fan of saving some historical locations which can still be used/ admired/ learned from. I think the Hearne Hill velodrome in London's South East can offer all of the above. It was built in 1891 and is the only remaining venue from the 1948 London Olympics. It's quite decrepid but there seems to be a local crew willing to do it up. It's a shame that this crew only became vocal when the council suggested they might smash it down, however, they seem to be getting a little attention now.
http://www.savethevelodrome.com/

I'm also a fan of taking established sports and offering them on a smaller scale in order to fit a party in there too. And thanks to this offering I have ended my one-man boycott of Red Bull after their poor treatment of should-be world F1 champion Mark Webber last season. This is the Red Bull Minidrome:

Red Bull Minidrome from Eyeball Moving Image on Vimeo.

The vid above was the last minidrome party in NZ (you can tell by people getting up after big stacks- cousies are hard!) but the German manufacturers of the velodrome claim that the new one for London is banked in a way that allows speeds of 80km/hr! There are 100 people entered and the top 32 go through to the finals at 7pm on Saturday night.

Luckily I will be there to induldge in what this blog post would have you believe are my two favourite passions; watching mini-sports and giving money to good charities because entry is through a donation to the Hearne Hill Velodrome Trust.

Come along and support if you can.

http://www.redbull.co.uk/cs/Satellite/en_UK/Event/RedBullMiniDrome--BikeSportsEvents--RedBull-021242923679584

Him & Her

In the absence of having a life worth telling you about(I'm on hiatus from working hard- I'll just sleep and watch BBC iPlayer for another week or two) I will show you a clip from my new favourite tv show: Him & Her.



Nothing ever actually happens in this show. It's just awkward humour about a young, lazy couple who don't go out and don't want anyone to come around. It took me a bit to get into this show but as you gain an understanding of the characters it gets funnier and funnier. There are only 6 episodes in the first season but luckily the BBC have put my TV licence tax to good use and approved a 2nd series. Looking forward to it.

A Fairytale Bar Story

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, Tommy, Todd and I built a bar. It was only a few months ago but it's taken me an eternity to put it up on here...

So Tommy and Nicky bought a lovely new house in Finsbury Park and have an outdoor section which is relatively useless. No, not just because it's in England... They also have a backyard but this is a kind of small courtyard area. So while showing me around they suggested they didn't know what to do with that area as yet. I half jokingly, yet always up for a silly challenge, suggested it would be the perfect size for a bar. Their eyes lit up and wild, overindulgent planning began.

A few weeks later, Tommy and I took his mum's convertible Audi down to Wickes and bought some wood. In a convertible at a timber shop we must have looked like David and Elton buying material for a baby's cot.

Nevertheless we decided to draft in Todd, who designs furniture for a living. He should know what he's talking about. And building began.



Todd measuring twice, cutting... ahh, yeah.

There was no messing around here. Building toys for drunks requires drilling into walls.



Tommy ensuring the bar won't fall over when he's dancing on it.

Over the course of two weekends we finished off the structural part of the bar while Nicky set a date for the official opening and naming party.






Now as this party has come and gone I feel I should have some photos of the completed bar but I was simply in attendance as minder to my alter-ego during his guest bar stint.

Tommy managed to astro-turf the ground and walls of the bar and install a chiminea, and it looks sensational. I'll try to get some pics. Come both days of summer 2011 this bar will be well used. I guess we should find a name for it by then!

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My New Favourite Photo

Parko won the Triple Crown yesterday for the 3rd time in a row and is only the 2nd person to have ever done that. Unfortunately he had to wait for Ace Buchan to lose before he was crowned but this photo shows that it's not a bad spot to be if you have to wait around.



Aside from the finger in the shot, this is my new favourite photo.

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A Teaser

Despite my internet being "fixed" I am still unable to get onto it so here's a preview of the 4 blogs I want to put up:



Cyprus




Tommy's bar




Glasgow




And Indoor Surfing.

There might also be a bit of world domination:



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Excuses...

I promise I will have something for you soon! I have no Internet at home and work blocks Blogspot but I have a backlog of 5 posts to put up.

If I were English I'd just blame the 2mm of snow that just 'dumped' and you would have to deal with it.

...but if the Internet man uses that excuse again I'm going to break his legs.

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