Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Got to do some inadvertent bikepath exploring this morning!!

Halfway through Minnippi Parklands, and it was completely flooded. Had to backtrack and work out a non-main road route. Rode through a lot of back streets that I hadn't been on before, but successfully made it...

Pleasant ride in, but once at work found a loose shower head which flipped over with water pressure, hit the roof and made an huge mess lol. Luckily only got my work clothes slightly.
But to make up for it a nice tail wind most of the way home.

First real wet ride into work on Thursday.
Strangest thing, I saw more people on the commute than I ever have in the dry weather!

90kms today. The humidity and the group ride pace= me cooked

Almost went down hard on the way home tonight

Was in the dark, on a shared path that I never ride on, going faster than I should have been, coming over a tiny little crest (hence no amount of headlight was going to help) ... when suddenly I saw a section of path in front of me that was covered in dirt (we've had a ton of rain recently and its obviously washed half a cricket field of stuff across the path). Thought I'd be ok as it would just be compacted dried muddy sort of stuff but once I got into it, it was a actually a loose fine gravel and my wheels just sank in. Lost the front wheel for a while - it was not pointing the same direction I was heading - but somehow stayed up and got through kind of going partly sideways.

InTheWoods wrote:Almost went down hard on the way home tonight
<snip>
somehow stayed up and got through kind of going partly sideways.

it's like golf. you don't have to draw a picture, just write down a number. you stayed upright and got home safe. that's a win.

jasonc wrote:

InTheWoods wrote:Almost went down hard on the way home tonight
<snip>
somehow stayed up and got through kind of going partly sideways.

it's like golf. you don't have to draw a picture, just write down a number. you stayed upright and got home safe. that's a win.

Although remembering not to hit the rough on the seventh to avoid a double bogey is a good lesson to learn.

biker jk wrote:

jasonc wrote:

InTheWoods wrote:Almost went down hard on the way home tonight
<snip>
somehow stayed up and got through kind of going partly sideways.

it's like golf. you don't have to draw a picture, just write down a number. you stayed upright and got home safe. that's a win.

Although remembering not to hit the rough on the seventh to avoid a double bogey is a good lesson to learn.

Easier to do on the bike than with a golf club unfortunately. Onthewoods will have learnt his lesson

Trial commute to the new office, with a lot of fatigue I did it in less than 30 minutes. Not bad at all. I'll probably do some fine tuning of the route which will shorten it more.

g-boaf wrote:Trial commute to the new office, with a lot of fatigue I did it in less than 30 minutes. Not bad at all. I'll probably do some fine tuning of the route which will shorten it more.

Single figure TSS?

jasonc wrote:

g-boaf wrote:Trial commute to the new office, with a lot of fatigue I did it in less than 30 minutes. Not bad at all. I'll probably do some fine tuning of the route which will shorten it more.

Single figure TSS?

Not really sure, but it's about 12.5km if I use the longer way with mostly cycleways. I can cut that down if I use a few more roads, which I might do. The roads are smoother, free of glass and the ones I need to use should be fairly quiet.

Sure beats a 1.5 hour train and bus journey morning and afternoon. Looking forward to getting back a few more hours of time. Save money too, no more paying for public transport. I used to commute to the current (soon to be old) office on the bike until the traffic got too crazy, so it's nice to get back to that again.

g-boaf wrote:I used to commute to the current (soon to be old) office on the bike until the traffic got too crazy, so it's nice to get back to that again.

Time to join the endomondo commuter challenge

Did 107km yesterday, first time getting the century this year, but felt great even at the end, alot more shorter sharper rides this year but they seem to have paid off and benefiting the longer rides aswell

I knocked the top off a beer on the way to work this morning. Unfortunately it was on my front rack rather than my hand so it went to waste over my legs.

Bit wet this morning (i.e. flooded bikepath) so had to take my chances on the road. Got through unscathed!

Wet roads and drizzle in Brisbane this morning

This morning's short ride (<5km) to The Beach and then The Shops was like a new beginning in some ways, although there has been some trend in that direction over the year so far. Reading here last week has done me a lot of good, and I can appreciate each and every pedestrian even more respectfully now, than even since the start of the year, when the err, 'road-testing' on the new bike was over and there was no more need for speed.

Partly it might be improved fitness, because I noticed on the way up the Big Hill this morning that there was no pain in the chest like I would get last year just trying to stay over 20km/h by the crest of it. The legs really wanted my head to get over the fear of non-existent pain and tell the heart to send more blood to them so they could go harder, and that was the first comfortable feeling at the top of a hill that I can remember in a decade or more.

It takes away the strain on the mind of that 'fight or flight' video game kind of mentality that happens you're in pain but you have to keep going. It allows me to observe pedestrians as living humans, and I even had a couple of quick hellos on the way down the hill on the bike path to the beach, nice and slow, on the brakes down the hill, and it is all peace and harmony in the village today.

Out on the roads, it was actually surprisingly nice at late peak hour around nine, because I counted every car in the mirror on the main highway as they all approached, and they ALL either changed to the right lane, if not there anyway, or passed by halfway across the lane line so they ALL gave me at least a metre if not two.

The newfound fitness and that feeling of relief at the courtesy of the passing drivers on the way down the main road and up the Big Hill with no close calls and freedom to move out to the centre of the left lane to avoid a couple of potholes and some horseshite stain without getting tooted or shouted at from a passenger window put me in such a good mood it was like some new religion that I had to share to convert every pedestrian I could find to the new world of utopian vehicular peace and wellbeing!

Then it just kept getting better. On the way back from The Beach, the bloke in a white 4x4 dualcab in the opposite direction waited for me to get around the 270* I needed and didn't pull out on me like all the others, and I saluted as I went around. Then the dark brown landcruiser/pajero that was coming up the hill after the roundabout just followed happily behind all the way up the hill to the next roundabout. I had to take up half the only lane to keep 750mm or more clear of the parked cars, for half the street, but then I had room to peel off into the left and they still couldn't be bothered. At the first supermarket checkout, a young lady with a trolley full of cans and jars got to the back of the line just before I did, and then she offered to let me go through ahead of her because I only had a few things. Did The Aliens come down from Heaven and kidnap me last night?

Then began the ride to the next shop and the right turn off the main road was uneventful, and at THAT checkout, the old man who go to the end of the line just before me ALSO offered to let me go first, (even though I had almost as much as him anyway). Luckily the second checkout opened and so we took the 50-50 option.

Everyone today, on the roads, on the paths, at The Beach, in The Shops, and on the roads again was really in some kind of friendly communal harmony this morning, and riding slow was the best way to enjoy it for the longest time.

last night. i was running late. got in trouble for that. it was wet, and it was drizzling. to boot i got a puncture.

I met a nasty piece of work on my ride to work today. Another cyclist overtook me very unsafely, then when I mentioned that to him, he threatened to knock me off my bike. Idiots like that shouldn't be cycling, because they just put everyone else in danger, and this one obviously has a bad temper also.

Cyclophiliac wrote:I met a nasty piece of work on my ride to work today. Another cyclist overtook me very unsafely, then when I mentioned that to him, he threatened to knock me off my bike. Idiots like that shouldn't be cycling, because they just put everyone else in danger, and this one obviously has a bad temper also.

just be thankful they weren't driving. we have a dumb cyclists and pedestrian thread for exactly that

Magnificent weather in Melbs last few weeks. cannot complain.

honourable reasons thread for me today - sick child

Tequestra wrote:Everyone today, on the roads, on the paths, at The Beach, in The Shops, and on the roads again was really in some kind of friendly communal harmony this morning, and riding slow was the best way to enjoy it for the longest time.

Great post, love it

As for me I rode a little less slowly than normal today! Was overtaken by a fellow on a flatbar roadie, and after a short while he started to look as though he may not withstand a challenge. My head says "You've got 20km to go, just chill and let babies have their candy", my heart said "GAME ON". So I cruised past him up the next hill, about 2km out from the City at which point 99.9% of people going my way turn off, but I keep going. As it turns out, so does this guy, which I had not bargained for! He sat on my tail through City West up to Parliament, I think that I've shaken him off again, but he puts another dent in my armour over the narrows and he still hasn't turned off. Augh. I know I can't let my guard down, and I don't catch him in the mirror again after Como Beach. End result, a clear 5 minutes off my best time this year

Lizzy wrote:End result, a clear 5 minutes off my best time this year

Thank You and congratulations on a good time, unless you meant five minutes behind your best. I deduce that the friendly competition spurred you on to a new record.

Thanks also for the good memories of Como and The Narrows/King's Park. I used to do a lot of running training around those places when I lived on Labochere Road, Como in 1996. I have the smell of salt from the estuary where the Canning River meets the Swan in my nostrils just thinking of those days. There might be something good for the lungs in salty air. Have a good Wednesday and be safe, Lizzy. It is a pleasure to meet you, and read of your competitive escapades in the eternal heart of my home town.

Might have to leave work a bit early soon... currently we are getting the remnants of Cylone Hola and the rain is about to get worse along with a gale force headwind .. wasnt many cyclist out this morning