December 11, 2009

Toukley Lakes 61km

The Ride Stats

Bunnies on board
- Amanda and Annette
Meeting point - Rotary park, Long Jetty
Distance cycled - 61 km
Average speed - 18.6 km/hour
Maximum speed - 45.1 km/hour
Time - including stops - 4 hours 30 min
Active riding time - 3 hours 15 min
Calories burnt - 1465
Delirious outbursts - countless!

The Young Inventors started me thinking – I needed two water bottle holders in order to ride further than 40 kms so I tied a water bottle holder to my bike and devised a cunning plan – a plan so cunning that even black adder would fall for it – black adder being Annette – a 60 km bike ride! A 60km bike ride that even the people that lived in the 60 km bike ride world would be proud to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Background music do do do do do do….that is supposed to be like Jaws, but as usual anything musical evades me!

Getting ready to ride...

 

 

Anyway, Annette and I set off on a 61km bike ride with hills that undulated, rose but never fell and peaked when you thought you could go no further. The trip was sooooooo long that it is difficult to tell the whole story – suffice to say I will tell you the highlights:

  • Following Annette to our meeting destination
  • Meeting Annette at our meeting destination
  • Planning our 61km trip
  • Starting with all the joys of spring
  • The large person that kept following us and making Annette pedal faster
  • The lovely undulating hills on the ride
  • The bloody horrible never ending hills and trust me it was full of them
  • I nearly became Stacker Bunny as Annette and I pulled over past Lake Munmorah to check directions – I braked but the pavement wasn’t there and I only used the front break causing my back wheel to arch and I couldn’t put my foot down and so I pulled my inner thigh muscle and then narrowly missed a railing with my head and bruised my legs quite badly (edit: see photo below!)



  • Shortly after that being encouraged by one very handsome young man “GO GIRLS” and go we did after that along the Pacific Highway and up those bloody hills
  • A police car screeching out of control as it reached speeds of over 120kms (and I know that because I was doing 100km) – Annette said it was lunchtime and they were on their way to McDonalds based on her experience in Bondi
  • The bus driver who didn’t want to pull over at the bus stop (even though we were sitting in it and looked like we were waiting for a bus) and then got the poops because we didn’t drag our bikes on his bus – go figure!
  • The FUNNIEST moment was whilst sitting at the bus stop – Annette decided she wanted to do a wee and so was considering going behind the bus stop (this is on the Pacific Highway so very busy main road) when she suddenly remembered (after I gently prompted her to look at her attire) that she had an all-in-one bike suit on and she would have to squat naked!!!!! Imagine the drama that would unfold as untold car accidents one after the other happened whilst drivers trying to get a good look at the naked cyclist and then imagine our leader being jailed for Indecent Exposure!!!!!!!
  • Hopetoun – a bloody fairyland – miniature horses and log cabins – I felt like I was in the gingerbread house and Hans Christian Anderson was going to tell me a story!
  • Twilight – so much noise in the country that I was waiting for a vampire to whisk me away and if it looked anything like Edward I would gladly have gone – by this stage I was getting very tired
  • The real bike track along Wyong Road and I am talking REAL – the best bloody bike track either of us have ever seen
  • The lake
  • Singing happy birthday along the lake (out of tune)
  • The end!
  • Goodbye Annette I love you! And I must say that Annette now has a new name THE TERMINATOR – you can never catch her or get rid of her – no matter how hard I pedaled I nearly reached her every time and then she would just put a little more effort in and away she went out of my grasp once again. So raise your glasses to the new POSITIVE TERMINATOR!!!!! 
But the most embarrassing part of the day was when I decided to go for a quick swim and Annette took a photo of me!


Amanda :) x

and... from 'terminator's' saddle:

Oh it was such a fabulous ride! We laughed lots (you really must come on this ride, it's hilarious!), the countryside dishes up all sorts of delicious variation... whereby yours truly at some point managed to coin the phrase: It is the trickyness of Undulation that does it...

Photo-opportunity on the Entrance bridge

 
Magenta girl riding the undulating hills

 
Precarious photo in Lake Munmorah carpark


Amanda turned into 'Magenta girl', when we cycled through Magenta :) She had her aptly coloured fashion towel tied to her handlebars for all to see, going up and down the east-coast hills. The weather was good for riding, a few raindrops fell at one stage, but they were only a welcome cooling assistance from the elements. Overcast and nice fresh air saw us happily and madly powering around the lakes...  There's so much to see on a bike, taking in the scenery and laughing at all sorts of silly things as one powers into oblivion, it really is a fabulous way to spend ones time! :)

One can also, I have learnt, measure distance in Dentist terms... Hmm you say? Oh it's definitely true! The amount of times Amanda used the word "Dentist" in conjunction with how far we had cycled, and how far we had to go, was truly fascinating... Then at one point, we almost took a wrong turn (which would have shortened our ride!) and again, the Dentist saved us! We were back on track in no time, following that map to a T... (stands for Tooth). I say, we live and learn :) (Amanda says; her dentist lives up there, but I think she's just being silly...).

Loitering at a busstop...

Me..catch bus? No I'm on day-release (again)

Most of the way had amazingly good cyclepath or shoulder, the only real shocker was riding through the main street of Wyong, where apart from the footpath (which was not a fabulous option as we even in our wildest dreams couldn't pass for 'under 12'  - and with all the police cars hanging about...), there was really only the dive in and take the lane option, which we handled with elbows out and determination! As Amanda noted, we then discovered THE bike path of bike paths... riding from Wyong to Tuggerah along a fenced off 2-way super-duper pathway! Such bliss! All bike paths should be like this one!

Amanda cruising down the Pacific Hwy

Best bike path ever!

 
And then we reached the lake...

By now Amanda was delirious, bursting into song and almost dance at the thought of us soon reaching our destination. We cruised along this familiar pathway and only stopped to capture a few final photos...

Are we there yet?...

 
Yipeee! I DID it!!

 
And a Yodelling finish from the other one...

Thank you for a fantastic ride Amanda! You're a hoot of a bunny to ride with :)

A happy call to all bunnies to join us on a repeat of this ride (look at the map below) or any ride, come on... you know you want to!
Hugs to you all and stay well and safe!

Annette :)

The Map
 



December 6, 2009

Undulating hills to Terrigal

The Ride Stats
Time and date - 4th December 9:20am
Meeting place - Gosford Gallery
Distance covered - 16.2 km
Calories burnt - 620
Active riding time: 1 hour 40 min
Speed - Maximum: 47.6 km/hour Average: 16 km/hour
Hills - Many :)
Behaviour - Most angelic :D

Now... enjoy Amanda (seen the light) Dolly's serene account of our latest adventure:

Well I must say I awoke to the beautiful sounds of bats shrieking on their way home from their evening forage for fruit. What a wonderful bright and cheery morning it was going to be. I jumped out of bed full of the joys of spring, did the usual school run and met Annette at the gallery. Oh how delightful it was to see her smiling face cycling towards me – I could tell we were going to have an adventure.

We decided to do a shorter ride than normal (given the Christmas time constraints) and so we set off on a ‘shorty but a hilly’ as they say in the land of love. Our route took us along the wonderful nature strip down the Central Coast Highway where we heard birds twitter and cars glide past, past Karalta shops where a stray balloon hit me in the face (oh how we laughed at that one), up to the beginning of Terrigal Drive where we saw THE MOST BUFF MAN on the planet. In awe, Annette and I stared in amazement and decided he was one scary cyclist (who I may add did not even have a helmut on – not advisable for us law-abiding bunnies) – we debated asking him to be our cycling bodyguard but decided he was way too scary!!!!!

Along the beautiful undulating hills of Terrigal Drive with nothing but anticipation in our bones, I made it to the top without stopping and indeed followed my positive bunny with her infectious smile with great delight. We then turned along Serpentine Road and stopped for a giggle before we headed back down The Entrance Road. This is quite a delicious ride along here as one can certainly pick up lots of speed. Then along the back of Springfield where I made it up two hills that I had previously walked up so I must be improving – I was still way behind my wonderful leader but the inspiration emanating from her very bones left me with nothing but praise.

Cruising the Entrance road


Then on the home straight towards the gallery where we plonked down our beautiful bums and had a delicious cup of coffee, made by very friendly staff with love.

Bunny on dubious day release

Annette had zinc all over her face and kept pulling insane faces (she actually was on day release) unlike me in the Hunter where I was only play acting. We laughed our heads off for nigh on an hour and then I waved farewell to my positive leader who cycled off into the sun up Kariong Hill. Myself, I chose the easier option of driving home but next time I shall cycle from school.

Have a wonderful Christmas my great friends and fellow cyclists and may the love be with you
Amanda :)


And here's a short "off the record" view from Nettibunny's saddle:

It was indeed a most pleasurable ride, with undulating hills, a few hysterics along the way and absolutely wonderful weather to keep our spirits up the entire way.

The balloon incident was hilarious - attention attracting balloons strung up outside a shop near the Erina roundabout decided to go awol as Amanda cycled past; they veered off their predictable path and WHACK! caught Amanda fair and square on the head! This meant we were still in fits of laughter when we reached the intersection at the top of the hill and spotted Mr Beef on bike. "DID YOU SEE THAT???" (with dropped jaws et all), was all we could say as we doubled over yet again.

A bit of laughter goes a long way (as they say); as does breathing in the serene early summer air (which you will no doubt conclude has had a most interesting effect on bunny Amanda...). I did manage to capture a roadworks shot of her, complimenting her flouro vest. This is also where we dreamt up the look of her soon to be bunny-on-vest logo; I won't spoil it by telling you just yet - but promise it will be a hoot!

Road worker bunny

In true fashionista-bunny style, Amanda declined parking our beautiful sweaty bums at Body-Fuel in East Gosford (chic café alert); "helmet hair - no can do baby!" and so we rode back to the safe haven of the tucked away café at the gallery.

Bikes and bunnies at the end

I'm already looking forward to riding again, and want to thank all of you delightful bunnies for the past year of adventurous riding!

Annette :)

Cruise to Umina

The Ride Stats
Time and date - 26th November 9:00am
Meeting place - Adcock park
Distance covered dolly-bunny - 38 km
Distance covered netti-bunny - 45.5km
Calories burnt - 1408 (total)
Active riding time ~ 2 and a half hours
Average speed - 16.3 km/hour
Maximum speed - 36.5 km/hour

After the hot weekend of the Hunter ride it was blissful to meet up with bunny Amanda on a slightly overcast morning. We set off in our bright flouro-vests meandering down the bike path towards Woy Woy. Cruising down the familiar road we felt the morning breeze and our confidence rising as this was sure to be an obstacle free adventure.

Low and behold we still managed to dish up a few dramatic moments...

Having successfully mounted the bicycle computer (with help from Bo) - the exciting gadget 4 bunnies took away from the workshop in October, stats were now being recorded left, right and centre with average & maximum speed, distance, riding time & odometer added to the heart rate and calorie counting... It's a wonder I stayed on my bike at all!

First up was Netti-bunny entering the throws of foot-cramp-city (again). Slightly panicked I dumped my bike in the hands of Amanda, took my shoe off and jumped around on one leg at the top of Brisbane Water Drive, an entertaining sight no doubt for passing motorists and innocent walkers. Luckily the cramp decided to leave pretty quickly, so we were able to mount our bikes and choof off again towards new and exciting places.

Cruisy Amanda


We made it through Woy Woy without any more hazards, and followed the bike path along the water - ohhing and ahhing at the beautiful views... until we passed this particularly stinky part (sewer and bird poo) of the pathway and decided promptly that we would not, afterall, covet to live just there...

A few innovative twists and turns later we found ourselves at the half-way mark with a lovely view over the southern end of Umina Beach. We stopped and had a few fruity (sugary) treats and took some photos.... and then Amanda said " How many calories have we burnt now?" Stat-queen looks down to discover that I had forgotten to start the heart rate monitor!! Oh well, being a stat-queen allows some innovativeness, so a quick double-up of the figures (all except average and maximum heartrate, which would have meant serious trouble) ensured we had all our stats intact :)

Beach bunnies



We cycled back a slightly different way (avoid the stinky part) to Woy Woy, where we chilled out with a nice coffee and a few laughs, before making our way back to the RSL turn-off in West Gosford. We waved merry good-byes and each went to conquer our last hill of the day: Amanda slugged off towards the Brian McGowan bridge to finish her ride by the pool, and I ventured on back up Kariong hill to colapse at home.
Time for coffee and a laugh



November 23, 2009

Bunny Awards

With so much fun and adventure packed into our rides this year, bunny Amanda and I decided it would be fitting to hand out awards at our Hunter Valley weekend. Lots of laughs were had in both creating the award certificates (& key rings) and during the ceremony itself.





The Awards



In addition to our bunny awards we also handed out honorary awards to our non-riding friends and bunny-awards to our riding bunnies at home:





Well done to all of you; and hope to see you on lots of happy cycling adventures in the near future :)

Hell-bunnies and a Road Angel



The Ride Stats
Bunnies on board - Lou and Annette
Intended distance - 65 km from Awaba to Broke
Covered distance - 27 km (Lou) 45km (Annette)
Water consumed - HEAPS (5-6 litres)
Heart rate - average 123 max 182
Time - including stops - 6 hours 10 min (Annette)
Calories burnt - 2483 (Annette)

Weather forecasts were predicting record heatwave temperatures, but these two hell-bunnies decided to be undeterred by nature and conquer the hell-ride we'd creatively thought up months ago.
So with our spouses declaring us barking MAD – we arranged to set off from Gosford train station early Friday morning, for a leisurely train ride to Awaba; start-point of the ride.

Both bunnies arrived well on time for the train, but with one bunny waiting at the front of the station and the other at the back entrance... there was little time left once we realized our debacle. Frantic running up and down stairs, buying tickets in a flurry and dashing down to the platform, only to realise we were on the wrong platform! We tore back up the stairs and had a fabulous view of OUR train leaving... Unfortunately this event unleashed a (somewhat embarrassing) tantrum from yours truly; foot-stamping, yelling, unruly language et all...

We missed the train tantrum...


Oh noooo...



RUN Lou RUN!!!


Luckily tanti-time was short-lived and we consoled ourselves with prep and pep talk while waiting for the next train to arrive. Lou-bunny was suffering a slight hang-over (Berocca cure on board), but kept her spirits up as we ate our breakfast on the train.

We got off the train at Awaba and stepped out into an already HOT day at 8:30 in the morning. Braving the initial heat shock, we saddled up and left the station. The first part of the ride took us up to Cessnock road and on to Palmers road where we crossed the bridge over the F3 freeway. A few short stops to consult our many maps (we definitely didn't want to get lost on this ride), making sure we were on the right track (which luckily we were :) ), we then continued on towards Freemans drive.

This is where we covered the HILLY part of the ride! There were quite a few hills thrown at us, the biggest of them being very similar to Kariong hill... It just kept going UP and UP and UP, with the demoralising feeling of trucks passing and SLOWING down past the bend in front of us... informing us that it was going to get even steeper before we reached the top. We got there though, and realised that our water supplies would need topping up soon with the temperature quickly creeping up towards 40 degrees. We stopped at a servo near Brunkerville and took on board several fresh bottles of water. Lou's handy-dandy bicycle basket proved (yet again) to be a fantastic receptacle for all sorts of on-board luggage; 4 water bottles and her backpack sitting nicely in the basket with room to spare! Where my own bag-strapping contraption proved (as always) to be a slightly hazardous companion, purely due to my failure to remember closing zips and fastening straps after each stop...



Posing bunny on our first stop



2 MAD and HOT hell-bunnies



Stopping for water in Brunkerville


By the time we passed Mt Vincent and headed onto Lake Rd, poor bunny Lou started to hit the proverbial WALL... She had been feeling slightly off-colour since the start of the ride, and with the relentless heat things quickly went from bad to worse. Her heart rate monitor was threatening to pack things in and go home (if Lou didn't), shade was playing hide-and-seek, water didn't seem to help... and finally Lou stopped, got off her bike and wandered aimlessly into the trees on the side of the road looking for SHADE!!! Naturally I was worried (this is not hell-bunny Lou's normal behaviour), and tried to establish how bad things were (ambulance, helicopter air-lift, taxi, food???); we rested for a while and Lou decided she was right to go again, although she said she wasn't quite tip-top... We ventured a bit further along the long HOT road with Lou's heart rate climbing way too fast for comfort. In an almost dazed state she crossed the road to flop down in a shady spot under some trees announcing that the heat had beaten her. We then sent an emergency message to Road-Angel Amanda, requesting immediate pick-up!



Freemans Drive with heavy traffic



It's getting harder and hotter...



Ouch! an ant BIT me!!



Little shade and 40+ degrees!



Brave bunny-Lou soldiers on


As Amanda bunny was driving to our destination (a frivolous girls' weekend in the Hunter Valley) she would be passing our way in a few hours time and would be able to pick up heat-struck bunny number 1. After some food and more water, Lou decided she'd try to make it into Cessnock (roughly 15km from where we were), and we tentatively set off again with Lou leading the way. SUN, HEAT, more HEAT and finally a long slow climbing hill to Kearsley (about 10km from Cessnock)... Poor bunny Lou looked as if she would faint!! We stopped at a servo with lovely people who quickly got Lou sat down with ice water, splice ice-cream and more water "No no don't pay now – OHH you do look PALE! In this HEAT...!!! Sit down here love..." After a short bunny-conference, we decided that Lou would be well looked after with cups of tea and a well-deserved rest; waiting in air-conditioned comfort for Amanda to arrive, and I would continue the ride...



Smack into the proverbial wall



Crawling towards Kearsley



Lou coming up the hill into Kearsley


So... pig-headed bunny number 1 continued her ride... Initially I felt fine (even made the mistake of comparing myself to a lizard when earlier telling Lou that "the heat doesn't really affect me"), it was hot but I got through Cessnock and out onto Wine Country road without any trouble. By now the temperature had just past 43 degrees and the HOT westerly wind was blowing straight in my face and I was slowly starting to wonder what on earth I was doing...!!! I drank plenty of water and even crossed the road to stand under a sprinkler to cool down. Stops were definitely becoming more frequent as I would eye the road ahead looking for SHADE, any SHADE (which incidentally there was very little of...)! By the time I reached Pokolbin I was feeling so exhausted I parked myself on a verandah at a wine, cheese, café and mixed shop complex with two 1 ½ litre bottles of water and a splice ice-cream (somehow firmly planted in my mind as REALLY GOOD STUFF by Lou :) ). As I sat there with sweat, ice-cream and grime pouring down my face and arms, a Dutch student of sports medicine came up and said hello. He was kind enough to not comment on my outward appearance, instead choosing the ultimate pep comment: "Respect man!" (this can also be translated to "You are friggin Barking MAD" which I naturally chose not to hear :) ). After resting, I continued on to Broke Road, although by now I was really starting to feel pure exhaustion taking over; my arms felt COLD – not hot... and my vision was sorely focussed on seeking out shade ahead. Road Angel Amanda could not have passed me at a better moment: A beep from behind and there she was, with Lou-bunny safely on board, packed in with Tor and Lou Hopley! "Do you want a lift?" Oh Thank you! :)



An exhausted bunny



A pretty tired bike too...


With 45 km completed on the hottest day ever in November, it was time to call it a day and thank my lucky stars that Road Angel Amanda arrived when she did :) The last 20km of the journey were completed in air-conditioned comfort watching the bumpy hilly road ahead thinking "There's NO WAY I could have ridden this now" It was an adventure, and I'm glad we did it – even if we didn't complete the full distance. This ride feels like a good lesson in learning to hear when the body is yelling "ENOUGH", and I'm glad we had the help to stop when we needed to.

So... after a shower, a jump in the pool and a nap, it was time to enjoy our wonderful weekend in the Hunter Valley.

Thanks for an impressive effort bunny-Lou and thanks for saving us bunny-Amanda!!

Looking forward to our next (less hot) adventure already!

The Map



Annette :)

November 6, 2009

The brave wet riders

Bunny Amanda's account of a very adventurous ride:

Mmmmmmmmm company aside I am not sure whether I enjoyed today's bike ride or not? Tor and I arranged to go on a short 30-40 km plus ride whilst Pam could babysit Loddie so there was really no going back. This was the first day Tor and I had ridden together (apart from Sydney) so we were both really looking forward to it. Rain Rain go away come back another day or as Tor kept saying ‘It will clear up in a minute' or ‘Blue Sky over there' – right so why were we always cycling under a black bucketing rain cloud???????


 I left my car at the iBar and cycled to Tor's, by the time I reached there I was literally soaked. Not thinking it could get any worse, we set off on our merry way up the steepest of hills and around the back of the Entrance Road through bush or should I just say mini lakes and out onto the road. Whilst cycling through the bush Tor proceeded to tell me about the huge python she jumped over whilst trying to protect her children and nearly having her leg bitten off – I kid you not ask Tor!!!!!!!! (I may also add here that we should be called the Rebel Bunnies because we cycled along a path that specifically stated ‘Bushwalkers only'!! Let them try and stop us)!!!!!!

Panic set in but I couldn't cycle very fast because it was so bloody wet and I really didn't want to put my foot in a muddy puddle. Some time later we emerged from the bush beaten and bruised but elated at reaching the other end. Rain was coming down so heavy now that I thought for one brief minute that it was hail stoning. We took shelter under a tree but alas it was not really shelter just another way of getting wet. Shivering and shaking we decided to brave the rain and cycled into The Entrance where for a brief five minutes it stopped raining and we felt the warmth of something I believe is called the sun on our backs.

That was it – the rest of the way home we were literally attacked by sheets of rain straight into our eyes. We stopped for shelter at the shops but realized that it was never going to stop so cycled on in the now cold rain. At one point I couldn't see I had so much water flooding into my eyes (and I am seriously not exaggerating).

Tor with a constant smile on her face, me with madness in my eyes cycled through puddles as deep as the Nile screaming Yahoo we are bloody mad!!!!!!!!! Some puddles were warm, some were ice cold but they all made us laugh as waterfalls came out of our shoes and we sat in puddles of cold water in our knickers ( I didn't have any knickers on as I was wearing my bike pants but they weighed 150 kilos by the end of it)

Two hours of cycling in the heavy rain and then we hit Wamberal Road where we could smell the coffee at the iBar – I put my bike in the car whilst poor Tor braved the café, drenched, flat headed and still with that by now mad smile on her face. Then we met Noelle and sat under a blanky like little ole ladies sipping our coffee and shivering.

When we cycled through the golf club the oldies commented on how mad we were cycling in the rain to which Tor replied rather valiantly ‘well you're playing golf' and we got beeped a couple of times by young lads who thought we looked hot – little did they realize we were cold! No I think they beeped us to make sure that we realized we were MAD STARK RAVING MAD!

I DO NOT ADVISE ANYONE DO THIS!

Amanda :)



And... here's bunny Tor's first post on our blog (hooray!):

Well... what can I say...... Amanda has described our lovely wet bike ride so very well. I did enjoy it, very much in fact  -  but as you know I am a bit weird like that. I had been longing to go on a ride with any of the bunnies for such a long time, so there was NO WAY a bit of rain was going to stop me!  I was pleasantly surprised when Amanda still agreed to come along, even more suprised when she turned up in my driveway soaking wet!  Off we went, and it did look like the weather might clear up, but,  no matter how hard we peddled that big black cloud was over us most of the way.  It was a most joyous ride, as I could hear Amanda laughing most of the way, especially as we peddled through puddles that were nearly up to our knees!!!!  We are sooooooooooo extreme!  We even went off road for a little while and got mud on our faces... we are just so cool!

It was lovely however to chill out at the ibar under our blankie (aka dog towell) with the lovely noeybella for company.  The only problem being that then I had to bike home again, via the primary school to change home readers.  I did look a bit of a state, in an extreme bunny sort of way, but when I saw my son at primary school he just looked at me, in an embarrassed sort of way as if he didn't want to acknowledge me!  I can't understand why? Yes stark raving mad and probably a tad irresponssible but lots of fun..... and a rather good work out..... and amazingly,  we didn't pick up a single leech in the wet bush!

Tor :)


and... the Photos to prove it:

Very soaked feet...


...and drenched knee


Amanda soaked all over


Wet & cold bunny Tor


Happy smiling Tor :)