Out of the Ordinary

A Sunday morning to myself and what could be better than a leisurely ride around the river to Fremantle Beach and back. However with the temperature set into the high 30's (Celsius), I wanted to be back early.

The first sign that it was going to be a different ride than the norm was my cycling clothes were all over the house. Why weren’t they neatly all together next to the bike?

Jersey in one room, knicks in another, put my shoes on and check the tyres.
Where’s the sunblock? Outside. Shoes off to trapes through the house.
Shoes back on and wait where is helmet and cap? Shoes back off and I go searching for these two elusives. They are always in the last place I look. J

In case I forget anything else I pump up the tyres before shoeing up.
Hmmm, pump not getting air into either tyre. I fiddle for 15 minutes and for some unknown reason the pump works fine and desired psi is achieved.

By this time a little voice in my head is saying, “You know, maybe you just don’t ride. Like, rest in bed, have breakfast, read?”

But I held true and whatever happens on the ride happens and I will cope with it. And then I checked my puncture kit, tools and credit card.

The first unusual was a forward crash into a doggy poo wheely bin. 200 metres from home I turn hard left to get onto a PSP (public shared path). On the right of the turn is said bin chained to a pole, usually half a metre from the path. However, today it was on the edge of the path and as I turned in, my right crank it cushioned into the centre of it, pushing me back. With one hand on the ground, I steadied, pushed up and kept going. I didn’t even unclip. I hope it looked elegant.

The ride over the narrows and along Mounts Bay Road was cool and picturesque. There must have been more than 20 boats of people dropping crab nets in the vane hope of catching a feed. I set a steady but low average pace and sucked in the fresh air and scenery.

Just before Fremantle came the second unusual event. What was that tick, tick ticking noise?
Something in the tyre? Stop and check both tyres. Nothing. Check the front wheel. Oh a broken spoke. Well that is the first time for 5 years. No problem, just tuck it in to get stealth mode and go and enjoy the beach. Half an hour of laying, dozing listening to the waves was quite invigorating. Next time I will bring a bike lock and go for a swim.

On the return leg I consciously remind myself to take due care and protect my wounded front wheel. Then I here that infamous tick, tick, ticking. Stop. Sure enough a second spoke gone on the front. No worries, I still have 18 doing there job. Five minutes later more ticking. Stopping I find broken spoke number three. At this rate I will run out of spokes before getting home.

Mmmmmm, taxis time or put it in the lap of the gods?.... Lap of the Gods. I still have 17 spokes out of 20 holding on. Surely with care that is still enough??? Thank goodness the new tube in the rear wheel is behaving itself.

Riding along now I have 15km from home and decide to take a few shortcuts due to the very hot temperature and front wheel. Half way along Kintail road there is suddenly two bumps from the rear and then an almighty bang!

Yep! The rear wheel tube has let go. I stop without falling off and scamper to the cool shade of the nearest tree. I find to my misfortune that the tube has split along a seam and is not salvageable.

It is at this time that I discover my bike pump will work for Schrader and not Presta valves. When did this happen? I was perplexed. I tried turning the opening around etc, but  no luck. Unusual circumstance five.

Okay I am about 1km from Canning cycle shop. The choice is to leave the split tyre in place and walk there or change the tube and walk. Not wanting to damage the spare tube I leave the old tube in and start walking to the shop. I am impressed by the way I can hold onto the top of the seat and steer and push the bike as I walk.

I go into the store and purchase an adaptor to convert from Schrader to Presta valve.
Outside I go and install the spare tube. I start pumping and in my energetic efforts the pump handle says goodbye to the pump!!

Into the shop with wheel and kindly has to use a floor pump, which I did. Thank  you Canning Cycles for your generosity.

The rest of the ride home was slow and hot and without anymore dramas, thankfully.

It was super super hot by this time and after gallons of water, a swim and lunch I felt much better and laughed and reflected on a ride to remember.

Head Winds

How is that when the wind is blowing strong and hard, it is always a headwind?

This mornings ride was just like that. Strong headwinds or side winds all the way.
It has been blowing hard for a few days now. From the East.
usually it ends by mid afternoon and the southwest wind blows and cools.
However at the moment it is Easterly all day.

Speed was down and effort was up so much so I felt I was on a continual rise.
I definitely have to do more in the engine department.

Big Start

Happy New Year to everyone and I hope all your dreams and resolutions for 2015 come true.

Two rides in two days is a good start to the New Year.

A leisurely Guildford loop via the Great Eastern Hwy/Ascot racecourse cycle paths to Garvey Park.

If the back door to the cafe is open you can get a coffee or tea.

The lady very kindly did this for us even though they were not open.
From Garvey I headed down the cycle path alongside GEH (Great Eastern Hwy) and crossed the Helena Valley Bridge into Guildford.
The new section of cycle path is brilliant. It is wide like the new freeway path, well signposted and minimum number of stoppages or crossovers.

A Shelley loop ride with the return going over Manning road and riding passed Canning College to Hayman road. I must admit the legs were rather tired from the previous day's Guildford ride but still very enjoyable. The scenery was idyllic. There were lots of cyclists riding and plenty of people paddling canoes.

There are lots of cycling goals I would like to achieve this year.

The big ones are:

Commute to work at least twice a week.
Ride three to five 200s.
And the big one is organise and ride the Great Southern Railway from York to Albany. If I don't make it to Albany then to Katanning. Yet to be decided.
The reason for creating and riding this railway line is due to a great sense of family heritage. My father worked on this railway for many years, driving steam engines and then diesel engines. Other family members farmed in and around Tambellup and Kendenup.
Initial ideas is to ride just after Easter around the 5th of April where the temperature is not too hot or too cold, the landscape is starting to green up and the freight traffic volume will be low.

If anyone knows about the side tracks or rail trails down this line please let me know.