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skint
Flogged
Joined: Jan 17, 2003
Posts: 3,318
Location: New Plymouth
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 Posted: Tue 6th May 10:30am Post subject: Skint's Roadrat: 1 Month Review |
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Here is Skint's 1 Month Review for the Cotic Roadrat he won through the "Win A Custom Built Cotic Bike Worth Up To $5,500" Competition held on Vorb.
Kicked out of bed just after dawn by a beam of sunlight hitting me in the face. Stumble into bike gear still a little damp from yesterday’s ride. Grab a muesli bar and a fresh bottle and pull the Roadrat out of the garage.
Swing a leg over the top tube, clip in, and quickly accelerate across the short drive and out onto the quiet street. Good, nobody else has woken up yet.
End of the street and choice time. Left around the coast. Right into the Waitara back-country. Coast wins today.
Spin through dormant town, dodging bread trucks outside dairies, hopping curbs. Feel slightly guilty with each jump, as technically I’m on a road bike.
Open road now, cold numb fingers working the XTR lever and pushing the bike faster. Until this bike I’d only ever owned one bit of XTR – a rapid-rise rear derailleur on a Kona I bought from Tama years ago. It’s always been on dream bikes, and now I’ve got a dream bike, I’ll be buying more. Anyone know what a kidney is worth?
The single 44 tooth chain ring starts spinning out somewhere around 46k as I push down the first big downhill. The same ring forces me out of the saddle as I hit the climb on the other side.
Spin through Oakura, stop for photo of the giant surfboard, and further south to Okato. Turn away from the coast with a sharp left that takes me straight towards the mountain. Now the fun really starts.
It’s amazing where thoughts wander when you’re in a good long climb. Today they start with the 60 hour weeks I was working a couple of months ago in Wellington, the mad dashes to Makara in between work-related phone calls and weekend trips to the office, the countless times I ‘just popped in to send an email’ and got home after dark, having missed the ride.
Times have changed, in part thanks to the Roadrat.
Snapped back into consciousness by a milk tanker on what is now a narrow road, still climbing. My first mountain bike and my first road bike were both steel framed, but they didn’t handle anything like the Roadrat. The ride is hard to pinpoint in words. It’s point and shoot – aim where you want to go, make your legs go round, and suddenly you’re there and having to line up the next stretch of road, grinning and out of breath.
The handling? Precise, fast. Soft enough to make you forget you’re on a road bike. Hard enough to make you think you’re on a roadbike. Forgettable enough to be beautifully memorable. Fun.
I’m up in the Ranges now, surrounded by bush and nearing the top of the climb. The temperature has dropped, but my thighs are burning.
Now left through the best part of the ride – 3km of tight windy moss covered cambered back road. This is like tarmac singletrack. Nervous hell on a road bike, too slow to be enjoyed on a mountain bike. Perfect on the Roadrat.
Steaming ferns and rivers dumping melted snow blur past, as I throw the bike into one tight s-bend after another.
Too soon I’m spat out into green countryside with nothing but a stupid grin and a burning desire to do that again. Maybe tomorrow. I still have a job to go to.
From here it’s a 16k downhill to work – steep enough to spin out, but not so steep it’s over too soon. Shower. Coffee. Work. Home. Sleep. Do it all over again.
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| ...and 16k downhill. To work. |
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| ...and out the other side... |
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| still climbing, postcard styles |
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| backroads + roadrat = fun |
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| Tourist intermission: it's like a surfboard, only really really big |
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| Through the urban jungle... |
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psychavoc
going Crazy
Joined: Jul 17, 2003
Posts: 22,397
Location: Welly-town
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 10:32am Post subject: |
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A bit different to where you thought you'd be riding your bike when you entered the competition! 
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skint
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Joined: Jan 17, 2003
Posts: 3,318
Location: New Plymouth
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 10:32am Post subject: |
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Ah parc - photos are all in the wrong order...
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skint
Flogged
Joined: Jan 17, 2003
Posts: 3,318
Location: New Plymouth
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 10:33am Post subject: |
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| psychavoc wrote: | | A bit different to where you thought you'd be riding your bike when you entered the competition! |
Totally, and that's a very good thing (except for the bit where Makara is hours away)
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Oli
Mangled
Joined: Aug 03, 2005
Posts: 30,812
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 10:38am Post subject: |
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Very cool, Skint! Lovely evocative writing... 
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sifter
Moving forward
Joined: Nov 13, 2003
Posts: 10,322
Location: Wellington
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 10:45am Post subject: |
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| Oli wrote: | | Very cool, Skint! Lovely evocative writing... |
What he said!
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thorg
Gozzies: the new black
Joined: May 20, 2004
Posts: 12,706
Location: Looking for gozzies - have you seen any?
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 10:47am Post subject: |
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 Couldnt have put it better myself 
So when we switching rats for a side by side comparison  I have the BB7's now
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Oli
Mangled
Joined: Aug 03, 2005
Posts: 30,812
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 10:48am Post subject: |
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Hey, keep that passive-aggressive parc out of here!
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thorg
Gozzies: the new black
Joined: May 20, 2004
Posts: 12,706
Location: Looking for gozzies - have you seen any?
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 10:48am Post subject: |
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I wasnt being aggressive 
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Oli
Mangled
Joined: Aug 03, 2005
Posts: 30,812
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 10:49am Post subject: |
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Whoops, that was addressed at that troublemaker Sifter... 
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thorg
Gozzies: the new black
Joined: May 20, 2004
Posts: 12,706
Location: Looking for gozzies - have you seen any?
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 10:51am Post subject: |
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oh - um :imtheveryconfusedabouthisemoticon: 
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Colin
Scheming Dreaming about Singletrack
Joined: Jun 08, 2003
Posts: 4,858
Location: Wellitrack
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 10:53am Post subject: |
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Marvellous
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skint
Flogged
Joined: Jan 17, 2003
Posts: 3,318
Location: New Plymouth
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 11:11am Post subject: |
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| thorg wrote: | | So when we switching rats for a side by side comparison I have the BB7's now |
Whenever you fancy a road trip to the provinces!
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skint
Flogged
Joined: Jan 17, 2003
Posts: 3,318
Location: New Plymouth
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 11:12am Post subject: |
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| Oli wrote: | | Very cool, Skint! Lovely evocative writing... |
What can I say: It's a lovely evocative bike!
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thorg
Gozzies: the new black
Joined: May 20, 2004
Posts: 12,706
Location: Looking for gozzies - have you seen any?
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| Posted: Tue 6th May 11:30am Post subject: |
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| skint wrote: | | thorg wrote: | | So when we switching rats for a side by side comparison I have the BB7's now |
Whenever you fancy a road trip to the provinces! |
I shall be travelling mid winter around the North Island for work, but not to your part - closest I get is Wanagnui or Turangi  and all midweek as well, no weekend stuff
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