Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Took the long way home today. Saw one of these

Mt Pleasant Rd Eltham was slightly less pleasant than usual due to resurfacing. My poor sticky tires..

TigerFilly wrote:Riding on the bike path, stopped at lights to cross a main road, one guy took off in front of me going slightly slower than i prefer, but i figured I'd wait until the next straighter section of path to go past. At the next road crossing a mate of his pulled in front of me then they settled in to chat, one on each side of the path, travelling slightly slower again. Feeling rather peeved that they obviously thought I wouldn't want to go any faster than them, I went onto the road for the next section of path and steamed past them. 5 mins later the first guy had ditched his mate and caught me up waiting to cross a main road, and asked me if I'd just started riding, because my bike looked new. Hmmph.

Oh my... He needs a better pick up line. Arkle, do not emulate this guy.

Lizzy wrote:A few vexing incidents this week, one near-pandemonium experience approaching the Canning Bridge underpass (big oncoming bunch screaming through cutting the blind corner, what else is new ). On the way home I experimented with a detour through Manning / Salter pt to see if it was worthwhile to remove myself from the whole dynamic, and got muscled in on at a roundabout for my trouble (first I saw the bull-bar, then the p-plate ... sigh).

Monday I discovered that Sistema clip-lock containers are not airtight worth a metric pinch of showtime, just ask my cucumber raita infused cardigan! Yummy. Today, managed to forget to pack either my lunch or my wallet, subsisted on a crumpled sachet of instant porridge I found at the back of my filing cabinet.

::POUT::


...

... mind you, still better than sitting on the freeway I go past. Neener neener, suckers!

Just think of it as a good weight loss day. I would have been eating my wooden desk and all my files if I didn't have food. I leave a few sachets of noodle soup in my desk just so this doesn't happen as I apparently turn into the Incredible Hulk if I'm hungry.

Today was a headwind again on the way home, as predicted, except this one hit on the uphill section as well as the flat just before home. Stuck my head down and pedalled. And now I think I've pulled a muscle in my side from playing a friendly match of water polo tonight. I think I did it when I dived in the pool and it got incrementally worse over the hour. I'm getting old. Might be interesting riding tomorrow.

Wild peacocks?! Cool!

Summernight wrote:Just think of it as a good weight loss day. I would have been eating my wooden desk and all my files if I didn't have food. I leave a few sachets of noodle soup in my desk just so this doesn't happen as I apparently turn into the Incredible Hulk if I'm hungry.

Yeah, thinking about it now my collegial diplomacy was starting to fail me by about 3 ... Under normal circumstances I have a better emergency ration but just moved office.

Hope you're not too sore in the morning

Ride home took me past the LBS in Ivanhoe to pick up a master link for the chain on the other commuter, as well as some other bits and pieces. Quick stop at my old local and then homewards into a warm northerly.
The BoM radar looked pretty grim for greater Melbourne, and had me anticipating an extremely wet and warm ride at 22C. I pondered the correct wardrobe for the ride - winter/rain boots? Too hot. My regular shoes? No point getting them soaked. So on went the SPD sandals . Debated the spray jacket, but as rain seemed certain, I opted to put it on despite the warmth.
Had light rain when I headed out, but apart from a few drops and gusty winds, I ended up having a dry ride. Felt a bit silly about my choices then.
Had a nice chat with another rider going along Heidelberg Rd towards the CBD. G'day, if you're on here!

brisbane ride to work day today so rode in via a free brekky in town.

Mmmm.. Free breakfast. Yum yum. I went for seconds last time there was a ride to work day here.

The side was sore this morning when I woke up but I went for a morning swim prior to riding to work and the gentle exercise of doing all 4 different strokes (free, back, butterfly and breaststroke) for about 1.2km seems to have worked miracles on it.

This morning looked ominous with darkish clouds, but I risked it and it was dry into the Melbourne CBD. I almost got blown off my bike a few times with the really strong gusts of wind though. It was very nice when the wind turned and blew from my tail at some points. Not so nice when it then swung around and pushed me back or to the sides.

And there were no cars on the road, it was really weird. Where did everyone go? It was chock-a-block in the CBD itself and I had to manoeuvre around a fair few cars who were blocking intersections, but usually busy streets in Richmond and East Melbourne were deserted. Made for a very pleasant ride in those areas.

Quick & wet ride to work this morning with new 105 pedals and Fulcrum Racing 7s. Feels like a new bike

TailWind wrote:.... I pondered the correct wardrobe for the ride - winter/rain boots? Too hot. My regular shoes? No point getting them soaked. So on went the SPD sandals . Debated the spray jacket, but as rain seemed certain, I opted to put it on despite the warmth.
Had light rain when I headed out, but apart from a few drops and gusty winds, I ended up having a dry ride. Felt a bit silly about my choices then....

Haha, don't you love victorian weather, I often head out in late Autumn with a jacket because it's going to rain and yep, no rain, no wind... and then you turn around and do the reverse and it pours down Gotta laugh.

Great ride in this morning, had a tailwind 20-30 km/hr which made riding in a breeze. Wind has picked up, so might be a tough ride home.

Had an awesome ride last night, work decided that they needed to use my desk for another staff member, so I got to knock off early, so took the advantage to go and do a few laps of the Crit. on the way home. Slicks were a bit skittish on the dirt, but great fun Excuse the dodgy editing, I'm just learning.

Lizzy wrote:Wild peacocks?! Cool!

I think escaped rather than wild. Nice change from cows, llamas and rabbits though.

Started out nice and early this morning, all the better to stop by the Melville bike week breakfast, it was going off! Hundreds of people and bikes everywhere.

Ended up taking myself on a magical mystery tour further south, after my usual duck-through the Fiona Stanley site was blocked off - ended up looping round via the Farrington / Murdoch Drive roundabout and holy living goo I am NEVER doing that again As I was halfway through, a P-plater in mum's camry waiting to enter on my left looked me fair in the face and entered anyway. Vocal cords got a workout, I live to ride another day ...

Anyone commute via/through the Spit/Mosman/Neutral Bay/North Sydney/Willoughby/Chatswood area this morning? Harbour Tunnel was closed due to a diesel spill which cause absolute terror (if you believe the reports). A good day to ride.

Jim

My commute home yesterday arvo took a bit longer than usual due to my first ever commuting flat in over 3 years. Since I never flat, I didn't have a spare tube, patches, tyre levers, a pump, a phone to call for help, cash, a credit card or anything useful. The upside was that I was only 4 km from home and wearing comfortable sneakers. It was quicker to walk home than I thought it would be and also a nice arvo for a stroll, so no complaints.

On my MTB today and no, I don't have a spare tube, patches, tyre levers or pump but I do have a phone in case

Got an email on my phone for cheap airline tickets. Tried to use phone to book them, got as far as "pay now" and their web server crashed. It was close to knock off time (10 min) and Vodafail has poor network speed so I raced home and got a PB. Of course that $450 Brisbane to Auckland return for two adults was no longer available

Still, I'm happy with my PB and that was achieved with zero risk taking. Just peddling the Oppy for all it was worth


i won't say what that PB is because it's pretty low by BNA standards

jasonc wrote:brisbane ride to work day today so rode in via a free brekky in town.

Oh right... Forgot about that..

drizzle on the commute in. I got a new bag monday. As I got out of the garage this morning, the drizzle was starting. I knew it had a rain cover (as did the old bag). I take out the rain cover - what colour is it? flouro yellow. I was blinded. But it worked well.

EDIT: was talking to a lady this morning with a Trek 7.7FX. Nice bike - carbon flat bar with Tiagra.

First commute since going clipless and I made it in one piece. Riding felt easier but not sure if that's a placebo effect of the price sticker on the shoes and cleats (I told hubby they would make my riding easier so now they have to).

Mad mad wind in Melbourne yesterday afternoon for the ride back - up to 70km/h gusts. Saw a substantial branch snap off a tree on the MYT along the Yarra and land on the path about 20 seconds before I got there. There was a tree down across the Darebin Creek Trail as well. I usually enjoy riding along the treed sections of the trails, but with these crazy winds it was a bit of a nervous time. The rain hit about 10kms from home, but was pretty patchy, so didn't get soaked.
Rode into the CBD via the Darebin Trail again this morning, expected all sorts of drama riding in the dark with debris on the path, but it wasn't all that bad after all.
Happy Friday!

Edit: spelling.

TraceyG wrote:First commute since going clipless and I made it in one piece. Riding felt easier but not sure if that's a placebo effect of the price sticker on the shoes and cleats (I told hubby they would make my riding easier so now they have to).

Even if you don't use the extra power you can exert by pulling up you'll notice it's easier because you don't need to spend any energy keeping your feet on the pedals, there's a reason why foot retention has been around nearly as long as bicycles.

TailWind wrote:Mad mad wind in Melbourne yesterday afternoon for the ride back - up to 70km/h gusts. Saw a substantial branch snap off a tree on the MYT along the Yarra and land on the path about 20 seconds before I got there. There was a tree down across the Darebin Creek Trail as well. I usually enjoy riding along the treed sections of the trails, but with these crazy winds it was a bit of a nervous time. The rain hit about 10kms from home, but was pretty patchy, so didn't get soaked.
Rode into the CBD via the Darebin Trail again this morning, expected all sorts of drama riding in the dark with debris on the path, but it wasn't all that bad after all.
Happy Friday!

Edit: spelling.

Thought it was just me that experienced the crazy head winds on the ride back. Was not fun at all.

TraceyG wrote:First commute since going clipless and I made it in one piece. Riding felt easier but not sure if that's a placebo effect of the price sticker on the shoes and cleats (I told hubby they would make my riding easier so now they have to).

Congrats on the purchase and first clipless commute! I love my clipless pedals - I can put my foot in the correct position ready for take off at the lights and not have to worry. When I've been trying out new things at home (ie. when I installed the new rear vision mirror) I pedal the bike with thongs on and stop a lot to adjust - I hate having to move my foot off the pedal to put it in the correct position for take off.

I really, really like my clipless pedals. Clipped in and feet forgotten. Heaven!

Yesterday home was uneventful, apart from the wind. I really enjoyed cruising past all the cars stuck in traffic on their way home.
I went to the theatre that evening and drove the car back into the city. My gods it was an absolute nightmare - took 20 minutes to move 20 metres in one section (due to the building of another apartment skyscraper in Southbank they've closed two of the three lanes that lead onto the freeway from the bridge near Crown Casino, and these lanes also lead into City Road and the theatre district so that area was stuffed). It would have been faster to walk from home, that's how bad it was!!! Then had to find a park and feed the ravenous partner - I ended up dropping him off while we weren't moving anywhere fast, he went to get food and then I almost got him lost trying to find the theatre as he was walking and I was getting stuck in traffic trying to park. Whoops!

This morning had an idiot motorcyclist change lanes without looking or indicating. He looked in his mirror halfway through the manoeuvre and got a fright when he saw me there. Good thing our trusty steeds are so easy to manoeuvre.

Recovery week came to an end, and I apparently had a quick one in. Should appear on a couple leaderboards on Strava as well after a couple sprints... that's going to be my next build I think, need more high end sprint power from my skinny chicken legs!

Feel for you guys in Melbourne that had to ride home in that weather!! Looked a bit more extreme to what we had in Ballarat, was quite windy, but not too bad, still trundled home at an acceptable pace.

This morning was a pretty good ride in, I like those crisp type mornings where it's chilly but you warm up on the bike. Had a near miss with old mate on a bike this morning though, had no idea he was behind me until I heard a random noise behind me, so turned around (when I got a bit wonky [somehow] on the vid below). Worryingly he didn't brake for the intersection, which I've seen many people go through at 40-50 km/hr without looking, and I did, thus nearly collecting me... Oh well, shows you have to watch out for everyone. I dunno, I rekon he was a little close to me for my liking (could at least have called out 'bike behind you' or something, I usually do, so people don't get a shock when they turn around). I worry about people doing that maneuver into the roundabout as well, the car you're passing isn't concentrating on you because they're looking at what's in the intersection and what's about to enter, not at someone sneaking up the side. I dunno, I will cut up the inside when safe and I'm not going to impact on traffic, but not past that first car, traffic's not really that big an issue here. But that's just me.



Cheers and safe cycling for the weekend everyone!

FuzzyDropbear wrote:Had a near miss with old mate on a bike this morning though, had no idea he was behind me until I heard a random noise behind me,

I head-check regularly looking for who/what is behind me. still important to do on downhill runs

jasonc wrote:

FuzzyDropbear wrote:Had a near miss with old mate on a bike this morning though, had no idea he was behind me until I heard a random noise behind me,

I head-check regularly looking for who/what is behind me. still important to do on downhill runs

Yep, I do so all the way along my ride, this guy just popped up because I didn't see him coming around the roundabout (focused on traffic entering the intersection), and then when I headchecked exiting the intersection, he must have been just behind my bag so didn't spot him.

FuzzyDropbear wrote:

jasonc wrote:

FuzzyDropbear wrote:Had a near miss with old mate on a bike this morning though, had no idea he was behind me until I heard a random noise behind me,

I head-check regularly looking for who/what is behind me. still important to do on downhill runs

Yep, I do so all the way along my ride, this guy just popped up because I didn't see him coming around the roundabout (focused on traffic entering the intersection), and then when I headchecked exiting the intersection, he must have been just behind my bag so didn't spot him.

Did you say SMIDSY ?