Byron Ninjas

Just got back from a late job at Suffolk Park, just South of Byron Bay, and my God! the number of Ninjas riding into, around and out of the town center was astounding (maybe a little strong!) but still very surprising seeing the number of cyclists riding, mainly the bike paths, without lights and/or helmets some with a manditory slab tucked under one arm, on a Monday night!.

To add to the surprise as I was just about to reach the 80k/h zone there was a member of the local constabulary booking a Car Driver. Obviously they do not enforce the bike ridng rules as stringently in the Bay!

A little later...

Well Fridays commute saw me start out, with a raincoat, it was only just starting to sprinkle as I swept my leg over the saddle... I managed with a bit of luck to get through the lights onto the main road, but... as I approached Machinery Drive with it's light just turning red, down it came. The drops of rain were massive, as large as possible before it would become an uninterrupted stream poured from a jug. Today was one of those days when I had not replaced the mudguards after cleaning the bike last weekend!!!! When i finally got moving again after the mandatory 3mins at these lights the road spray from passing vehicles was like a deep fog. I still climbed Sextons on the Pacific Highway but was a little concerned, after all the accidents that occur here during times of rain.

After making it through to the Mur'bah turnoff the rain suddenly stopped. Zip zilch nadda not a drop from there to home. Peddled the rest of the way with squelching socks. Which of course I took off after arrived home. Along with the socks came this soggy outer layer of skin yech!  

 

The moral? If I had left on time I would of missed the drowning rat experience! Consider it as just another part of an enjoyable journey.

Someone else Spoke

Today's afternoon commute saw me once again tailing a roadies rear wheel. In a way it was pleasant travelling at an average speed of 29km/hr out of the wind and only really needing to peddle with any vigour up inclines.  We came down the Coast Road after the freeway and rode the 21km quickly. I dropped in on Jeff at Cabarita Beach Cycles to see if the peddle arm puller I had ordered a cup-la-weeks ago had turned up yet. It had and Jeff gave them to me on the  spot to come back and pay later. Both he and Mark, the roadie I was slipstreaming, (this Mark is not my usual riding partner who is also named Mark just a flukey coincidence), ride as members in the Murwillumbah Bike Club B Grade but for whatever reason had never met before! They have both probably been too busy psyching out the "other guy" to get time for a friendly chat. Ahhhh... the sociability of racing!
Anyway to the topic, we continued past my place as I was going to ride Mark back to the freeway interchange at Clothiers Creek Road. About 3kms past my place "PING", a front spoke on Marks bike comes away from the hub on the front wheel. I look through my saddlebag and get a rubber-band to tie it back. Mark tells me the wheels have already been respoked as the "New" bikes wheels had had a history of breaking and they were all replaced under warrantee. Also he had broken a spoke in the same wheel 2 weeks ago! About 1km down the road on the tangle wood flats of Wattie Bishop Road "PINGG" one of the rear spokes lets loose... Mark finds another rubber band and makes the come and get me phone call to his partner, who sounds none to impressed!.

I left Mark to wait byhimself at the interchange for his lift and set off on the return journey home, all uneventfully, for a change!

Change 'n the Air

This week sees the days of change. The Site gets moved and a new look that might make it a little faster and a little more readable, yeah right! But the seasons do seem to be showing signs of starting to drift toward summer. The little wrens and finches have started their dances in earnest. The magpies song is becoming louder, longer and more melodic, nearing the magpie attack season the truce may end any day now!

The sun is getting warmer, though with this cold (which I can't seem to shake) it's difficult to notice being chilled to the bone this winter! I can't imagine living any further south than here at the moment, I invisage that it is all somewhere close to a penguin colony!  

And don't I long for those long, hot and humid rides to come! When the desire to feel a cold breeze is gaining hold but at the same time getting farther and farther from becoming a reality. Not too much unlike trying to recall exactly what happened in a dream episode from last week then last month etc, It ain't going to happen! It does not matter how much effort you put into it some level of failure is inevitable.

Just make do with what is possible a bit of a cooling breeze from riding! ( And some small attention paid to the possibility of a attack launched from above! ) Let the games commence!

Musings

I have just played with the MapMyRide - Site and have found that with the 3 direct bike riding routes home from South Tweed there is a difference of about 5kms.  The two routes that cars take are the same for a bike but the Tweed Shire Bike Path Route adds about 6kms to the trip!

1. The Highway then the Freeway about 26.4kms of very flat and on a scale of 1-10 Danger: Level about a 5 Duration:1.25hrs Distance:26.5km


2. The Highway then the Coast Road mostly flat but many sections with no verge and lots of 80km/hr road rage-ers. Danger: Level 8 Duration:~1hr Distance: 21kms


3. The Tweed Coast Bike Paths as well as adding at least an extra 6kms to the trip it introduces a lot of sharp/blind corners, street crossings,  and badly maintained and or built pavement surfaces which is shared with other bike riders (very few commuters mainly cruisers and bmx/skateboard riders on the way home from school, joggers, dog walkers, site-seeing pedestrians and exercisers as well as "elderly electric goers" ie lots of slower non-concentrating traffic to avoid moving in both directions. The speed through most of a trip along this path is reduced to about 15kms/hr, except for the two wide open sections along the dune front where 25-30km/hr is attainable but with caution as kids have come out of side tracks to and from the beach without looking on many occasions. Danger: level 7 Duration: 1.75hrs Distance:27.4kms

Just a Quickie Post

Feeling really bad today but was called into work and went anyway, box of tissues and "codral cold tablets" © in hand... Yes I did drive and even then was late! During the day i was very forgetful, lucky I didn't ride for sure i would of forgotten to take something of necessity maybe the bike!

Anyway, on the way home i decided to see what the skid marks looked like from Mondays Near miss. They started in the median strip lane about 100 meters from where they eventually stopped! crossing 3 lanes of traffic. The guy was really hooting along! The only reason I can see for the fuss was that he was speeding to get around those last few cars turning off and must of wanted to cut in front of them and to his surprise we were in his racing line to the exit and reacted by jamming on his brakes and just managed , lucky for us, to partially control his skid. Enough he really deserves ChrisL's Tosspot of the Week award.

Finally Down

Well I suppose it was inevitable. More later... Being a casual relief teacher I replace Sick Teachers and today's ride home saw me travel with a partner, a road racer needing to burn off the lactic acid build-up from the races last weekend so he was keen to have someone "make him" ride slowly. We were riding along the edge of the freeway near the Chinderah Kingscliff off ramp and from behind came the dreaded sound of screeching tyres that seemed to go on and on and on.... Next thing I see out of the corner of my left eye a ute sliding sideways that finally came to rest level with us... a bit of heart pounding after that... the driver without us understanding why seemed to consider us the cause of his delema! After discussing it later we still could not come up with a completely plausable explanation.... luck might mean trying a different method to get through that intersection with safety next time!

After trying to tail him along the rest of the freeway to Clothiers Creek exit I asked him if he wanted to get a few small quiet hills in as well on the ride he said OK and I took him along Watti Bishop and Kanes Road loop into Potty and then into the headwind along the coast road...

Here is where I will continue with the first statement. During the ride along the coast road I seemed to begin to lose all my energy and could not even tail my partner at 20km/hr. Knees started to hurt as well as my back and shoulders... The sniffles I had been having all day were about to change into a fully fledged cold! fever aches & pains, coughing and a runny nose ah! the pleasure of working in a sick environment!

I can only hope it's over in 24hours and the ride burnt it out not increased it's presence!

Simple Commute

At work today I had to put up with the usual put-downs from the "resident roady", about what I was going to be wearing for the journey (What no lycra?), low topspeed (What you need...), My helmet cost me, $XXX and look at that airflow! ie my helmets cost, age and style, blah blah... Surprisingly none of it stopped me getting home from work without the need to call a tow-truck or ride in the peloton!

The ride was uneventful, sun shining light breeze from the East consistently neither a head nor tail wind. The lightness was noticeable to the point of "feeling" the blowby from trucks rolling past on the other side of the road travelling in the opposite direction!

Anyway the wind is expected to reach greater strengths tomorrow and be blowing out of the North West quadrant so the journey home should be at unusually high speeds!! You never know might even average in the 30s. Just need to take the sail to work with me in the morning and it will be a cert!

At the moment it seems to be "just perfect" riding weather.