Turf Blog 05-08-23

Turf Zone – MelvillePark

It’s often interesting reading the banter on turf chat, sometimes it’s merry and jolly, at other times, it can be quite brutal, inappropriate and direct. The other day a certain turfer suggested that another turfer who takes the regional and country medals regularly, should take a break and give others turfers a chance. I find this rather annoying. Why do they need a “chance”? They already have a chance each and every round. Perhaps they should get out of bed at silly o’clock every night and spend the next 8 to 10 hours turfing on a bicycle and have a chance at those monthly medals. You don’t get over 1,000,000 points in a round asleep in bed. Enough said.

Another topic of conversation on turf chat is that of e-bikes. Personally, I don’t think that e-bikes, or any form of non-human powered transport should be allowed. Turf should be muscle-power only but e-bikes are within the rules of turf, so that’s that. And to be honest, at some time in the future I’ll be struggling to ride my bikes or kick my kick scooters, so will more than likely get an e-something or other.

Along with the topic of e-bikes, the topic of fairness often crops up. And yes, turf does not always seem fair. But turf is open to all people, no matter how old they are, regardless of their fitness levels, where they live, if they are retired or working, or anything else for that matter. Tough, that’s turf, so get over it and go and take some zones.

The word obsession appeared in the turf chat the other day, posted in relation to the above turfer who puts in a humongous effort each and every day throughout the round to achieve that million plus points required for the regional and country medals. Why should a turfer who puts in that sort of effort be obsessive? In my opinion, they should be praised and I would raise my cap to those who gain these round medals again and again. In fact, I’d like to meet him and ask how he does it? Must find out which pub he goes to!

And finally, a mystery. You may be aware that I’ve been busy converting my Surly Pugsley fat bike to single speed and also giving him a fancy paint job. So, I weighed the frame and forks before painting and again after adding primer. It was, of course, heavier, as you would expect. Then I weighed them again after final painting and you would expect them to be even heavier. However, they were actually slightly lighter after painting then when weighed with primer. Can anyone work that one out? Same scales, same setup. A mystery indeed. Back soon.

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