WTB(orrow)/Hire, road bike in hobart for 21st march

[ldrcycles]

I'm honeymooning in tassie next week and my betrothed has given me permission to ride Mt Wellington on one of the mornngs we are spending in Hobart, but none of the bike hire companies i've been able to contact have any road bikes available. Are there any local riders who would be able to lend (or hire, i don't mind paying) a 54-58cm road bike for a Thursday morning?

[jacob_T]

I so badly wanted to ride wellington when I was there a few months back I started up on one of those free art hire bikes (sidenote: these are genius if you guys wanna cruise around the city by bike). Needless to say... Didn't make it.
Good luck.

[LG]

I've sent a pm. Could loan my old merckx if you promise not to scratch it - 58cm.

Hmm, I could make a business out of this for forum members heading this way

[munga]

you could make a business out of it. $500 credit card deposit. $400 bikes on loan for $20 day. buy 10 superlites

[munga]

Lovely Gears Bicycle Hire

[LG]

It's an interesting thought, but not sure how I'd fit it around full time work etc. It just happens I have a day off work this Thursday and my bike should be available for the morning. It would be good to help a forumite out.

I do have a few other pretty good quality steel road frames I could build up and loan (olympic 12, shogun celeste beau, 90s giant) if there are others visiting Hobart and wanting to ride the mountain or just ride for a day, but their availability would depend on what we could arrange at the time. These other frames are a variety of sizes and would mostly have integrated shifters etc. If interested, send me a pm before coming to Hobart. I'm not a business and wouldn't want to go down the path of needing insurance etc.

[ldrcycles]

Pm sent to LG, roll on Hobart!

[scotto]

honeymoon cycling - better get a tandem too

[vaeske]

just give him a single speed. he'll be fine!

[Dan]

just give him a single speed. he'll be fine!

don't forget the heaviest wheelset you have.

[LG]

I'd be concerned that a tandem + around 30km up hill could = a premature end to the marriage! I don't want to be a part of that .

If I wanted to provide some pain I'd suggest a fixie, so he gets a good workout on the way down as well. Taking it easy on him for Thursday, the merckx has quite a nice granny gear. Weather might be interesting though, think there's meant to be some precipitation and probably quite chilly on the mountain.

[munga]

"remember that trip to tassie, love? the time i rode mt such-and-such on the merckx?"
"you mean OUR HONEYMOON!?!"
"..."

[ldrcycles]

Just did a recce in the car this evening, boy am i in for a treat riding up that!!

And better still, after driving from Launceston to Cradle Mountain and then all the way through to Hobart today, Stef is absolutely exhausted and wants a big sleep in tomorrow. Sure thing darling, sleep in as long as you want .

[rangersac]

Looking out the window right now, you have my everlasting respect if you make it up the mountain today. There might just be a new set of brake pads required after the descent given the conditions!

[LG]

He started at 9am, about the same time the rain arrived. I expect to see a drowned rat appear back here at some stage

[jasonc]

He started at 9am, about the same time the rain arrived. I expect to see a drowned rat appear back here at some stage

kudos to you lending him a bike LG

[doggatas]

The rain is certainly coming down....

[Wazza]

Is he back yet?

[LG]

Well my bike is back! I was out when he returned. The subsequent text messages indicate he had an interesting ride . I'll leave it up to him to give the details, but it appears he's had an interesting induction into Tassie mountain weather... I must say I felt very lazy (& comfortable) watching the rain pour down this morning.

[Dan]

I'm not sure lochy has ever had an un-interesting ride.

[jasonc]

the ride is on strava. but no comments/story

[ldrcycles]

My most sincere thanks guys, i had a great laugh reading through those last few posts .

So, the ride....

I picked up my steed for the day from Chateau de LG (and my undying gratitude for the borrow), in somewhat grey weather. The day had actually started very nicely, to the point i texted LG with the words "the weather is looking pretty good".

I set off up past the Cascade Brewery, spinning along in very light drizzle through the foothills. From there to the start of the climb proper the weather varied from the abovementioned light drizzle to steady rain, but as i was working hard it was just a bit of moisture.

I can't remember when the fog started, but i know by the time i reached the chalet at 1000m (with about 3 k to the top) it was so thick i couldn't see more than about 50m. By that point it gets a bit exposed, so i had a bit of breeze to go with the light rain and fog, but still nothing too crazy. The gradient was crazy enough, thank god LG had a 39-30 granny on that Merckx!

So while i was riding, my new wife was lazing about in the hotel, and happened to look out the window to see a band of rain sweeping across the Derwent. I was in the fog,so never saw that rain coming...

So about 2 k from the top, the rain was steady and the wind was picking up a little, so i put on the vest LG had lent me (again, many thanks) and carried on. At about 1 k to go, things started to get a bit serious, the wind was strong enough for the rain to be not just going sideways, but directly up. By the time i reached the top, i couldn't even see 'the stick' from the car park at the base.

So i ran into the observation shelter (taking the bike with me of course!) to put my arm warmers on ready to get my ar5e off the mountain ASAP. In the time it took for me to do that, things turned into a damn near blizzard. I set off and got less than 100 metres before realising that i simply couldn't keep the bike upright AT ALL . Being the spectacularly intelligent individual i am, i came to the conclusion that salvation lay further down the mountain in the trees, and if i couldn't ride there, i should run. Yea i know, crazy queenslanders.

So obviously i didn't get too much farther (well, only a k) before realising i was going to die if i kept that up, so i rode back to the top (strangely enough i could control the bike pretty well riding back up) and rang my wife to arrange a taxi to rescue me from this frozen hellhole.
(At this point i should make a point of mentioning that LG had offered to pick me up if i struck trouble, but i simply couldn't bring myself to ask anyone to get me in that weather for free)

So a taxi was called, and i ran endless circles inside the shelter, jumping around and slapping myself to try and keep the cold at bay. When i realised i had been there for over an hour i asked stef to check how the taxi was going, apparently either the hotel receptionist hadn't called, or there was a problem at the taxi company's end, but they didn't know i was there. So a cabbie was sent lickety split.

Funnily enough, by the time he arrived, things had cleared up enough that i could make out the city, damn crazy mountain weather!!

So long story short, i had a fantastic ride on my first ever HC climb thanks to LG's generosity, and thanks to the weather not only was my wife ok with me being gone for something like 5 hours, she was absolutely delighted to get me back in one piece! .

[munga]

"yeah i'll run down the hill!"

crazy mountain-man syndrome.

[munga]

"yeah i'll run down the hill!"

crazy mountain-man syndrome.

[vaeske]

awesome story lochy!! Hell of a way to spend your honeymoon!! i remember doing a photography trip with a mate of mine a few years ago so we had some brews at the cascade factory and then drove up the mountain. It was all nice and dandy until we open the car door on top of mount wellington. It was seriously sh1thouse with the wind and rain hitting our faces....then on the way down the fog came. It was an interesting day!