‘I can make better quality coffee than in any café in europe’: ac-dc student

since cousin james from perth is travelling around Europe he brings his portable coffee maker and hand-held fresh bean grinder with him. he uses his stand-up bike pump to charge the aluminium coffee maker which has a gauge that gives more accurate pressure readings and control of that pressure (from 1-9 bar) than the best coffee machines in the plazas of milan or paris, says james in an off-hand way.

hand grinding the coffee with a brass unit hand-made with a lathe by artisanal coffee lord, ross spencer, in his shed in brisbane, brings another level of bean quality control. the oils and flavours are freed from the singing that can occur with regular electric machine grinders. it’s quite labour intensive but the result is worth it, says james. for those of the barrista persuasion the grinder is called ‘port espresso’.

‘with these I can make better quality coffee than in any café in Europe,’ adds james, who is constructing a biography of the deceased rocker bon scott, from ac-dc.

‘was bon scott a coffee man?’ I ask james.

‘it is uncertain,’ james says, but scott rarely drank alcohol before going on stage, so maybe a mildly stimulating beverage like coffee he would have gone in for.

‘do you think your research will bring a clearer picture of bon’s views use of coffee products?’ I ask.

‘I hope so, but I have little doubt he drank coffee at some points in his life.’

‘yeah but…’

‘shut up dude…’

i have a regular percolated coffee, we eat breakfast in our hill-side girona flat, then head out to the costa brava for the day’s ride. it’s warm, windless – a great day for the 120k ride we complete out to the costa brava around a town called tossa and back.

pretty exhausted. time for a coffee…or a wine...

 

 

girona bound

james arrived yesterday from london on the train. he’d been there doing some research for a masters he is writing about bon scott, the former AC-DC frontman. he gave a talk about it in scotland and met some other people, including a man he had an appointment with in a soho bar who promptly denied he was the guy who wrote the encyclopaedia about AC-DC james was there to talk to him about. strange. it's a long way to the top if you wanna write a rock'n'roll encyclopaedia...

here in montpellier though, james was taking a break from bon and rogue states-of-mind and myths to do some cycling. a bike waited here for him. we walked in the sun to my flat, picking up a sandwich on the way. settled in to watch the giro d’italia but inclement weather blew out the live coverage, so james tuned the bike while I followed the giro on twitter. the italian vicenzo nibali was doing the business in snow-hit mountains but cuddles evans was hanging in there in second, not bad for a 36-year-old who had zero form going into the 3-week race.

in the early evening we went for a 2-hour ride  heading west out around grabels and pignan. there were a couple of issues with james's bike but it was basically ok. we were ready for girona in north east spain, where we were heading for a week. girona is a pretty famous cycling city – it’s surrounded by excellent mountain climbs inlcuding the pyrenees and the costa brava. for this reason a lot of pros base themselves there, including lance armstrong and quite a few of the US postal team back in the day when shooting EPO for training rides was de rigeur.

sir bradley wiggins used to camped there. perhaps we would find him slumped at a bar surrounded by empty san migs and crumpled SKY tarot cards as he grappled with his poor show at the giro this year that forced him to abandon last week...still he'd probably win the tour de france again with the biggest, most non-aerodymamic pork chops to ever grace the pro peloton...

i went to girona with my ex-girlfriend kotryna last year and had one pretty spectacular ride north of girona. while I cycled the balmy mountain passes, kotryna shopped and wandered the pretty streets of girona’s old town. we both won there. james had done research into some parcours we could attempt and I had my strava app for more when we got there.

it was james's first time in serious mountains while I had only ridden the occasional col here and there, once grovelling up ventoux and getting up a few other peaks in the french pyrenees and the cevennes just north of montpellier. james had also done some serious touring including riding from perth to melbourne one time, from darwin to perth another and also around much of the UK. he was a good cyclist. james is my cousin from perth, where I am from but have not lived for many years.

this morning we headed out around pic st loup, passing valflaunes, then st martin de londres, before returning to montpellier via cazeveille and prades le lez. about 90kms. there was some wind but it was nice riding. in the giro, nibbles and cuddles finished together in falling snow at the marco pantani monument 4km short of the 2600m summit of the galibier in the french alps. that battle would be decided later in the week back in the dolomites as james and I battled for form and velo fulfilment in the spanish pyrenees.

we take the hire car in the morning.

strength to your legs jim…

and mine…

oh, et allez cadel!

 

 

 

India

Mumbai. A coffee shop that says 'because a lot happens over coffee'; shanghai vibes, smells, road mayhem; Soraya's kindness at noon baker; Renault seafood restaurant where only men eat, noisily; the slums RIGHT before the airport runway; fatigue flatness in evil dubai; django unchained on the plane; thé utter gaud of Dubai - 'living proof buckets of money does not buy style' said friend RJ; excellent fucking squid; passing thoughts of work and betterment - or extrication; prawn curry less fucking good; half the time wondering wtf am I doing here;

that's just a day in Bombay; goa passes by blissdreamed blue-sea-ed; thé anjuna night market is enormous and exciting if not for the stall holders; hampi has enormous boulders, indo-chine like temples, a palm valley in red dirt 40 degree non-monsoon zode; there are train rides in sleepers, slow trains crawling over india; there are taxis driven close to many collusions; there are collisions; exploring, it's worth it you know...

The wolf peak series

descent

when en velo
you descend
a beautiful mountain
(because all mountains are beautiful)
right?

when en velo
you descend
a mountain
with the green-bleu river down there
mist shrouded misty
you are just that descending thing...
no exhaust
no litter
falls from your jersey pockets,

no one can mis-
understand that intent,
politick it
wish
to take it from you.

you suffered climbing
now this,
60k/h
a shocking
unifying
unspeakable bliss
near montperoux.

shared with a few
that get it. later
you reflect
on those that don't.

 

 

 

Nice day for riding north of Montpellier

http://instagr.am/p/WNmARGuImZ/

sigh borgues

when the silicon dream died
there were just prints
of abandoned villages

                        in
    abandoned
villages.        there were

    just houses bought
                              où maisons virtuelles
got by bitcoins...
   vans passed slowly
  monitored

or monitoring.

streetlamp flick'rin'
circuits pulsin'
CYKEA dreamin'
cyborg lovin'