Monday 17 October 2011

Holiday Rides Update

Monday morning 40km sunny, no wind ride to celebrate Martin's new bike shoes.

I celebrated by fitting a new set of cleats. What a difference, solid 'click' on entry and exit.
After a quick bike fit check for Martin to make sure his new shoes were good 'fore and aft' and we took off for an hour and a half at a steady pace. Steady enough to gossip and hold up traffic at the same time.
Martin was looking for a shorter disctance, but we toured happily at an average of 25kph.
Gossip touched upon  family updates, health of self and friends, work related gossip, the future and problems in education.
Infact, an almost perfect ride. The imperfection was having to barrel up the hill home.

Cheers - Martin.
Extactically and Eclectically onward - into very poor weather over the next few days.

Sunday 9 October 2011

Holiday Ride 1 Updated....

Sunday, temperature in the low teens which means arm warmers. Ride out towards the coast a breeze only, no wind.
Met one of those farm truck drivers whose sense of humour extends to using 2 tonnes travelling at 90km to cross the centre line and intimidate cyclists!
Fixed him.... switched up a gear and sprinted straight towards him. He hit the horn in an offended sort of way. I guess he forgot he was steering towards me on my side of the road! Great fun bullying bullies!
The lungs had an excellent work out with average speed 30.80kph. I won every sprint, mainly because I was riding solo.

Happy ride, lungs burning and the sime of holiday forming.
Eclectically on holiday - ride, ride, ride! - Cheers.

Update 1516hrs:
Friend Bridget in Dorkland knocked off bike and spent the morning in A&E. At the start of her holidays too.
Splint on right hand and bruising.
Yep, you guessed it, must be the cousins to the 4WD's I met this am. Truck basically took her out. She said she was very lucky no other vehicles around.
Take care out there!

Sunday 2 October 2011

Spring is here for real! Killers about!

Clear skies, little wind and inclination lead me to the hilliest 30km ride around our area this fine sunny Sunday.

It is great to roll out on the carbon Avanti, until the breathing gets hard near the summit of the second hill. It was just beyond here that I met the second person to attempt to side swipe me with a car this week.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not small. On a bike I appear bigger ..... ask the dogs who chase me and to whom I raise my voice. I wear hi-vis clothing and this morning I turned on the 12cm wide rear red flashing light, which I am told can be seen from 400m in daylight.
So why did a green station wagon doing 90 - 100 kph come so close at the top of this hill that I swear I could tell it was green by osmosis before I felt the wind of it passing?
The hairs on my legs tell me the the car was within 200mm. How can I tell? Well, the first vehicle to attempt my murder coming up the two lane hill on Thursday went past at about 300mm and the hairs on my legs can tell the difference. I know what was printed on the side of that truck and they won't get my custom ever again. As for the green driving god, he got away with it!
On to the rest of the ride,  which was lung busting up hill, down hill relentlessly until the final insult in the last 400m before home. The steepest hill around. No real chance to warm down before I'm off the bike. Great ride if you ignore attempted murder.
Why attempted murder? Well, simply, if either vehicle had struck me I would be dead!
Smile and pedal on!  That's after a shout and the odd hand gesture to each driver.
On dismounting I realise the right hand cleat is sticking. A quick look reveals why.


You wonder how worn they could get and still do the job. Change is needed....... sure I've got a new set in the bike chest (sea chest).













Eclectically spring and new cleats yours - Cheers.