Gouranga

When you’re out and about around the UK, it’s quite possible that you will have seen the word Gouranga plastered on a number of road and motorway bridges. I’ve always wondered what it was all about, as it has always seemed a bit Reeves and Mortimer to me and I’ve always forgotten about it about 30 seconds after reading it.

Anyway today I thought I’d try and get to the bottom of it, but I have to admit defeat and say that after a few searches on Google, I’m no closer to uncovering the truth. It seems that Gouranga is not some engineering company that maintains concrete bridges, which means that it is:

Either a publicity campaign for Grand Theft Auto game, where the award for sucessfully running down an entire group of Krishna followers was known as the ‘Gouranga bonus’.

Or it’s the Hare Krishna’s trying to get everyone to be happy and travel safely.

Either way it’s pretty bizarre, but why did they have to colour it in? Now it’s more noticable and annoying.

Australia’s mountian biking website 26 inches has launched its first magazine issue. It’s a mix of articles available on-line and those that are only available to subscribers via the CD edition. Read more over at the site.

Jim currently has pride of place as the background wallpaper on a certain bike shop computer with this interesting picture, to be honest I think this one is better (or should that be worse?). Now he can be seen taking his Soul out for a spin along with some other people who have bought themselves a new Soul.

This retro-revival thing is getting a bit out of hand…

From The Outcast: The Top Ten Ways To Aggravate Bike Shop Mechanics

1. On Friday say, “I need it for the weekend, I’ve got a race.”

2. Call them “dude,” “buddy,” “mate” or whistle to get their attention.

3. Start any sentence with “I was just” and demand a warranty on some broken part.

4. Walk in, ignore them, stick your bike on the stand and start lubing the chain and pumping the tires, claiming you’re “just giving it a once-over and I’ll be out of your way in a moment.”

5. Claim that all bike shop employees are on commission from Shimano when they say you need a new chain and block.

6. Bring in smelly, greasy, delicious food an hour before closing, and don’t offer any to the mechanic who has only had an out-of-date Clif Bar all day.

7. Say “Could you just….”

8. Borrow a tool, break it and return it without a word, hiding it under other tools to gain escape time.

9. Laugh at the poor state of their bike.

10. Go riding with them and expect them to deal with any mechanical. Or turn up unannounced at their house with a buckled wheel and no beer, donuts or salsa.

There’s more over at Bicycle Retailer. I’m off to Norfolk for a few days so there’ll be no updates for a while.