Reclaiming the BCL

Recently I learnt that the term BCL is in far greater parlance than I thought. The BCL is a looping ride through the foothills of the Waitakere Ranges. What surprised me was how widely the BCL is known, how few know what BCL actually stands for, who invented the loop and where the name came from. It's also been appropriated by others and claimed as their own. I love the loop, want more people to go and ride it, get out of the traffic and ride some decent roads, but I also want to restore it's murky origin and give credit to one of the sports' more foolish men.

The loop is a thing of beauty, it has all the right attributes for a good ride, scenery, quiet roads, easy access and bail-out points, shelter, a mix of terrain and most importantly an excellent cafe in the form of The Hardware Cafe at Titirangi. It's generally around two to two and a half hours (excluding coffee stops). The official loop has four climbs. Starting from the Swanson end they are Christian Road, Coulter Road, Parrs Cross/Forest Hill Road and Carter Road. It also has the knuckle whitening plunge down Godley Road and the sprint for the crossing at Green Bay. So, time for the history lesson.
I invented the loop. Yeah, sure someone else had probably strung the roads together in that particular sequence before I did and probably has since I did, but that's semantics . I first starting riding it soon after the roads were first sealed and then started dragging, and being dragged by, others over it.
Enter early winter a sometime a while ago. A group of us set out on this loop. I know that present that day with me were Steve Parker, Chris Tennent-Brown, Peter Ulmer, Garry Ulmer, Wayne Mason and Pete Bruggeman. A diverse bunch. I seem to remember Eric McKenzie being in attendance, but he disavows it.

The ride went well, with the usual banter and bluster, we stopped at Titirangi for a coffee, but The Hardware Cafe was full. So, we went across the road to the unfortunately named, and now deceased, Long Drop Cafe. There, the strange and slightly rude, Austrian/German owner gave us a lukewarm welcome.
For some less than fathomable reason CTB and I both ordered a glass of champagne (ok, not true champagne, but something wet and cold served in a flute glass with alcohol and bubbles). The others ordered standard coffee stop fare, scones, muffins, etc, except for Steve Parker.

Steve ordered what is argueably the strangest, least desirable mid-ride meal I have ever witnessed - Butter Chicken. What came out was a bowl of rice with the usual red coloured curry, floating, no, swimming in oil. It looked more like oil soup, like the Exxon Valdez had run aground on the rice. He devoured it.
After a few minutes rest we rode on, took the Godley Road plunge, contested the Green Bay sprint and wobbled home, all the time waiting for Mr Parker to explode. Overall a satisfying morning in the saddle.

Over the wires the following week there was much laughter at Mr Parker's food choice and comment that we must ride that loop again. Someone called it the Butter Chicken loop. Soon that was shortened to the BCL. That is how it came to be.

Any questions?