Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Have done a handful of commutes on the new road bike, having recovered from my attempt to spatchcock my own hand (see Honourable Reasons). Each time I've managed to auto-pilot-fail my way around the wrong side of the Fiona Stanley site due to the latest bunch of detours, am finding it's a greater demand on my concentration, oddly - so don't have a good picture of how much faster it is. I think I like it though! First thing I did was put my rack & trunkbag on it which is some sort of crime against honour and righteousness from what I see out & about, ie approximately no other roadbikes with racks?! (Eh, I've never looked cool for a single moment in my life, can hardly expect to start in my mid-30s now can I ...)

Perversely I have moved into a new office where there's nowhere for my bike, plus apparently Facilities are cracking down on bikes in offices for occupational repression and control ... oops I mean health and safety reasons ... oh well, there are cages (yes I have a nice big chunky d-lock now) so it could be worse, although not having the bike sitting next to me does add a few unwelcome minutes of PFing around at either end, probably those same few minutes I gained by getting a road bike Will have to work on the engine now I guess.

Looking like a few hot ones on the way ...

Cool and overcast for the ride home yesterday afternoon, with a nice tailwind.
Clear and chilly this morning, uneventful ride into the Melbourne CBD.

well had four days off the bike...one for home duties...had spent the long weekend working on our back deck, using muscles not normally used, and hasnt that made the body a little sore. I also find that when I havent ridden for a while my whole body starts to tighten up. Maybe because I dont stretch, never have really never will I guess. I find the bike riding stretches me plenty these days.

So this morning the body wasnt feeling the best when I started. It gradually worked itself into the routine and I am sure come friday arvo it will well and truly be in the routine. Had the typical morning southerly headwind all the way in too. Thought about being lazy and doing the basic 45 k ride but finally overcame that side of the brain and did the extra k's that I have added this month.

Fell Down
My fault, was at traffic lights had one shoe clipped , lost balance and fell.

Rode to work on the mtb this morning and it was a hard slog as i'm accustomed to using the roadbike. Still a bit of debris on the road in (Wynnum Rd) and i even stopped to move a largish chunk of fallen tree from the on road bike lane so other inbound riders wouldn't have dodge it and move into the traffic. Speaking of traffic, the smokeboxes were backed up all the way from the railway overpass at Morningside, so it was a great feeling to shoot past all those misguided car users. There was a large fallen tree completely blocking the footpath around the bend next to the Bulimba cemetery, which i hope the council can cart away shortly because you can't use the road to ride on along that part due to it being used as a carpark...

HOT. coro drive bikeway is being detoured onto the footpath.
vic path golf course shared path also requires detours (lots of trees down)
careful going down the back of coot-tha - lots of debris/rocks
good to be back riding.

had to check my camelbak wasn't split I was sweating that much.

kunalraiker wrote:Fell Down
My fault, was at traffic lights had one shoe clipped , lost balance and fell.

That's why I never stop at lights, he says putting on his flameproof overalls

I was pretty pleased with my ride in - went for a ride up the hill on Lilyfield Rd & found that I could actually maintain a half decent pace up it. Maintained a nice pace up Anzac Bridge, so it seems I am finally regaining some decent fitness

My morning ride was uneventful but there was a lot of debris around and BIG stretches of the bike path was covered with sand and in one place there was a huge mound of shells on the path. The most amazing thing is that the low rock wall that runs along the water front between Brighton and Sandgate had large section broken away. The surf must have really pounded ashore. There were also several trees down but nothing overly significant.

did a back street boogie through Milton to avoid waiting at the traffic lights. It worked. 2 cyclists I was behind when I turned off coro drive at cribb street overtook me on the western fwy (lazy ride home after knackering myself with a few coot-tha this morning in the heat/humidity). see if i can get it right on the way in tomorrow

Must have got a few looks today. We have a 3month old and a feeding pillow (pillow for feeding baby on) came up for offer at work so I grabbed it. It's big enough to fit around your waist with bub on top so no way it was going in the backpack, also has a head, ears and tail to make a sort of cow shape. I strapped it on top of the back pack and cycled home. So this cow got a lift on my back. It was so big it was hard to head check for traffic on both sides so I detoured via a wider, safer route. Who needs a car.

bychosis wrote:Must have got a few looks today. We have a 3month old and a feeding pillow (pillow for feeding baby on) came up for offer at work so I grabbed it. It's big enough to fit around your waist with bub on top so no way it was going in the backpack, also has a head, ears and tail to make a sort of cow shape. I strapped it on top of the back pack and cycled home. So this cow got a lift on my back. It was so big it was hard to head check for traffic on both sides so I detoured via a wider, safer route. Who needs a car.

Pull the udder one Would have got even more looks if you had strapped it around your tummy like it is intended

I went out to the track at Nundah after work...it was a cyclocross style commute as I had to carry the bike around a couple of downed trees and one of the bridges over the KB was covered in rubbish too high to ride over and the best fun of all was riding through the mud under the Sandgate rd overpass near the shopping centre...it was real thick and I fishtailed and thought that I was going to come off for a second...so much fun!!!
Poor old Dolce is covered in mud yet again!

bychosis wrote:Must have got a few looks today. We have a 3month old and a feeding pillow (pillow for feeding baby on) came up for offer at work so I grabbed it. It's big enough to fit around your waist with bub on top so no way it was going in the backpack, also has a head, ears and tail to make a sort of cow shape. I strapped it on top of the back pack and cycled home. So this cow got a lift on my back. It was so big it was hard to head check for traffic on both sides so I detoured via a wider, safer route. Who needs a car.

pics or it didn't happen

was going to do coot-tha this morning, then maybe a riverloop. then it started raining so I just rode straight to work instead (via my milton detour)

Been a huge month for me, best ever actually for commuting. Should come in just under 1900 k's for the month and had I ridden the 3 work days I didnt ride I would have got over 2100.

I have upped my morning commute by 15 k's but have left the afternoon commute the normal length. Some days I feel great other days I have no energy, but overall I think my speed and strength have improved as a result.

Been lucky weather wise as I have only been hailed on once, rained on twice in 37 odd rides. Have ridden in 44+ heat and survived. Been a month of first for me in lots of ways.

Downside is my weight hasnt moved. It seems it wont move below 97kilos. Aim for the year is to get as close to 90 as possible

Fun and games trying to get out of the Melbourne CBD yesterday afternoon. Reckless drivers, dozy peds milling about the Copenhagen style bike lane in Albert St, deaf to the world and my bell.
Pretty standard commute in this morning, incident free with pleasant conditions.

gretaboy wrote:Been a huge month for me, best ever actually for commuting. Should come in just under 1900 k's for the month and had I ridden the 3 work days I didnt ride I would have got over 2100.

Fantastic work, gretaboy! Pretty much double my distance for the month

TailWind wrote:

gretaboy wrote:Been a huge month for me, best ever actually for commuting. Should come in just under 1900 k's for the month and had I ridden the 3 work days I didnt ride I would have got over 2100.

Fantastic work, gretaboy! Pretty much double my distance for the month

agree tw - well done gretaboy.

wet commute in today. - did my back street boogie through milton again. works ok.

Busy day on my beat this morning, absolutely every kind of person on every kind of bike was out, pretty much all at once. The revolution's here!

Lizzy wrote:Busy day on my beat this morning, absolutely every kind of person on every kind of bike was out, pretty much all at once. The revolution's here!

did they all over take you?

Hee! Most of the time over 99% are coming the other way which spares me a level of insecurity - but I actually passed one today! (hamster on a rusty MTB)

Gotta love the return to school! After nearly a month of incident free commuting yesterday brought about a reality check! I should have known things were heading in the wrong direction when my rear wheel on the commuter finally died on Friday

It seems like the motorists were still in holiday mode with the exceptionally low standard (read appaling) of driving abilities being exhibited! This culminated in some headphone wearing, Volvo driving (nice beige one), cretin pulling out in front of me as I was descending a particularly steep section of road through North Sydney. I'm not quite sure how I missed crashing into him, but I suspect my spider senses were tingling when I first noticed him and went to brakes in anticipation of not being seen. In retrospect, I suspect I provided some entertainment for the general public as I pulled up beside him and gave him a serve whilst remonstrating wildly.

After that wakeup call, I considered it better to take the safety first version of getting home!

Oh, and I got a flat as well just to add insult to injury!

Other than that, I noticed a massive increase in the number of brothers and sisters pedaling their way to and from their places of work/rest.

Be safe all.

The GoPro ran out of battery this morning (which I should have anticipated due to the poor battery reviews of the Hero 3 and having used it for 4 previous commutes of about 20 minutes each). No biggie though. Commute was normal, although there was one cyclist who thought going through reds was his due. It is fun to pass these people further up the road and sing out "Passing" as I breeze by. I think he was a bit surprised about that. I'm shocking on the hills though - absolutely no stamina to keep pushing and most people pass me there, especially on the Albert Street, East Melbourne hill on the way to work.

Lizzy wrote:Hee! Most of the time over 99% are coming the other way which spares me a level of insecurity - but I actually passed one today! (hamster on a rusty MTB)

It WASN'T me!!!

Everything is routine, still lots of debris about but the paths are being cleared. Yesterday evening a bee frew in through one of the slits in my helmet. Given that the helmet has been worn regularly for the past 6 months or so I don't blame the bee for stinging me but it still hurt. Somewhere along Flinders Parade in Brighton there is one VERY flat bee.

jasonc wrote:

bychosis wrote:Must have got a few looks today. We have a 3month old and a feeding pillow (pillow for feeding baby on) came up for offer at work so I grabbed it. It's big enough to fit around your waist with bub on top so no way it was going in the backpack, also has a head, ears and tail to make a sort of cow shape. I strapped it on top of the back pack and cycled home. So this cow got a lift on my back. It was so big it was hard to head check for traffic on both sides so I detoured via a wider, safer route. Who needs a car.

pics or it didn't happen

GoPro faced forwards.