June 27, 2009

A hell-bunny birthday ride :)

An absolutely gorgeous morning (despite wet weather forecast) allowed 2 bunnies to go on an adventure in birthday celebration mode for one lucky journo-bunny :)

The Ride
26th June 2009
Bunny-riders - Lou and Annette
Meeting place - Kariong
Ride start point - Kerta Street Kincumber
Ride end point - Lou's place Copacabana

Lou-bunny arrived at Annette's place, where we loaded bike, bags, helmet and selves into car & zipped over to Kincumber. Car mechanics (due to service Lou's car, but currently minding her bunny-bike 'Silver') watched vehicle swap and donning of bunny vests as we got ready to embark on our trip.

Added excitement was that we had 2 heart-rate monitors on this journey! Maiden voyage for Annette's birthday monitor and lots of yelling out stats along the way... "I'm on 123 WHAT ARE YOU ON?????" "I'm on the saaaaaaaaaaaaame!!!" Once we worked out the interference factor (picking up each others monitor reading), we did end up on slightly different,
heart rates (quite similar though) - but kept yelling out statisitcs for the mere fun of it :)

Our first stop was at the bike shop in Kincumber - browsing for helmet and comfy girly seat. This brought a happy surprise rendez-vouz with bunny-Janine, who was in the shop picking up a puncture repair kit.

Avoca Drive through Kincumber and Green Point, was a lovely cruisy part of the ride - the sun was shining and the road was bliss to ride :) Actually the cruisy bit continued all the way around, down Serpentine road (bit bumpy along the edges in parts - but otherwise quite nice), and down Terrigal Drive to the foot of Charles Kay drive....

This is where the hell-bunny bit began!

Going up Charles Kay drive was hard and relentless, there is simply no panning out along the way - the hill just goes UP from the bottom to the very top, and it's #$% steep :) Close to the top I was going over options in my head:
1. Lean sideways and fall (ungracefully) in a heap on the side of the road and wait for the tow-truck to pick me up...
2. Stop pedalling and roll backwards (not a good idea...)
Then... there's a roar behind me: "WHAAAAHHHH YOU CAN DOOO IT!!!!" Lou saved the day with a well-timed pep talk! It's amazing what encouragement does when you're in dire need! Kept pedalling against all odds and... we made it to the top!

Our reward was a meandering down-hill ride towards Avoca, bellbirds singing in the trees and the sun beaming on our happy faces. A short phone stop along Avoca Drive (involving some car-mechanical issues) and a reasonably flat ride into Avoca.

We glimpsed the beach as we swung through the roundabout, and then... it was all uphill again to the top of Cape three point road. Along the same level as the massive hill we'd just done (and to quote Janine: "My car finds it hard getting up that hill"), we made it - though to say 'in style' would possibly be a slight exaggeration, unless you count scaring elderly flower-picking couple by the side of the road as we slowly huffed and puffed our way past them...

Past the water tower there was a definite sense of "Hooraaay", we'd climbed the hills and were on the homebound stretch for a nice cup of coffee and lunch at Lou's. We even allowed ourselves a shortcut through Noey-bunny's backyard to save ourselves riding up any more hills. Lifting bikes over fence and steps we ran into Noey just having returned from her Woy Woy ride :)

It was a truly fabulous ride - and as Lou said: "on the bunny scale this one would rate a 2 bunny ride up to Charles Kay drive, where it becomes one hell-bunny ride :D"

Thank you so much for a fun ride & looking forward to the next one :)




The Stats

Riding distance - 24.5km
Active riding time - 2 hours
Calories - 920 (Lou's monitor says a little less but that may be because Annette forgot to pause for about 8 minutes... ;) )
Heartrate - Max 172
Heartrate - Average 127

The Map

June 26, 2009

The Woy Woy hero bunnies


By biker-bunny Amanda :)

It started off like every other morning for the last 12 years, I woke up and clambered out of bed ready to get the lunches and scream out to the kids to get out of bed. But wait, this was not just like any other morning as I was going to go on my inaugural biker bunny training session, not with the biker bunnies from hell but with the tamer more chilled version – Noelle! Panic attack just like the harbour bridge hit me!

Rushing around like a bat out of hell, I managed to lift my bike onto the bike rack and screw it into place. Slowly reversing down my drive I realized that I would be driving like a Volvo driver, slowly and cautiously as I was not confident I had attached everything properly. True to form I drove for five minutes before I decided to stop the car and do an emergency screw check (and no there were NO boys in my boot). After checking everything over I proceeded on my merry way and met Noelle at Gosford Swimming Pool. After laughing raucously at what we were about to do and how ridiculous we both looked on bikes we headed on our merry way. No sooner had we got to the stadium bridge than we started panting at the slight hill (thank God we didn’t do the hell bunny ride), then we took a wrong turn and cycled around Adcock park before realizing we had done the wrong loop.

We eventually got to Woy Woy after being completely splashed and covered in mud and water – Noelle in water and I a pig in shit! Finally we saw Fishermans Wharf and my legs are like lead. A quick mandarin break and we were on our way back. We tried to do it in 35 minutes but just got too tired and ended up doing it in 45minutes (one way that is).

All in all a most enjoyable ride but next time we want to try the full trip in 1 hour.

Sore bum and sore legs will see us through this weekend but hey it’s a start

See you at the next jaunt (maybe)

Amanda

June 25, 2009

Upcoming DIY workshop

Hello all bunny riders!

As a fun and hopefully fruitful initiative, I thought it could
be exciting to do a DIY workshop one weekend morning in say Adcock park, possibly followed
by either a ride to Woy Woy - or alternatively some 'time-trials' around the outdoor velodrome :)

The things I thought we could collectively pool our resources to conquer and find ways of solving while on the road (and please add more if you have requests or talents you want to share) so far are:

How to change a flat
puncture kit group discussion, how to use the bits and pieces in the box, how to find the hole in the tube and.. how to turn bicycle up side down, without being covered in bike and mud...
Bring your puncture kits and I will bring an old inner tube for practicing on :)

The nitty-gritty of pumping tyres
let air out of your tyres and enjoy the 'pump-them-up-again' workout :)

How quick-release vs spanner release front and back wheels work
Handy hints (removing wheel is necessary when changing the inner tube and also when putting bike in smaller car) group discussion including past survival stories more than welcome.

Gears
Changing gears - when to change and how to find a good gear
Clicking and rubbing noises - what they mean and how to fix them...

Brakes
oh yes those funny little things that scream when I go down a hill :)

Biking attire
fashion vs visibility (what to do, what to do.......?)

Defensive riding
how to enjoy a combination of scenic tours and trafficked roads
  • a few basic road-rule tips for staying safe in traffic on bicycle
  • hand-signals - when to use them and a practice run :)
  • practice riding in a straight line while looking over right shoulder
  • If anyone can demonstrate a 'bum-turn' more than happy to learn this one too
Keep your bike running smoothly
When to front up at bike shop for a service and the little things you can do yourself to keep the bike shipshape :)

Have a think and lets see if we can organize a happy DIY morning :)

June 19, 2009

Puncture plus ride

Journo bunny went for a solo-ride - I usually don't write about rides sans other biker-bunnies... but this one somehow warrants a mention... ;)

The ride itself wasn't all that far - 19km return to the Gosford art gallery (had a meeting to go to and decided to pedal with the first sight of clearing skies since Monday), but it dished up some interesting moments regardless.

All went fine down Kariong hill, breezy riding and fresh air. Main event along the straight stretch of the hwy was being passed by a suspicious looking Volvo (a backseat bunny rider ;)). I changed lanes to access the bike path through Adcock park & onto the bridge, but only got as far as Holden motors when I realized my back tyre was seriously flat. I parked in a fairly stupid spot (right in the entry gate to Holden), but having already up-ended the bike, I really couldn't be bothered moving, despite it turning into Pitt Street within minutes - EVERY car on the coast must have decided to go window shopping at Holden! Anyway, all is well when you have a puncture repair kit on board... Managed to locate the hole in the tube, and patch it up ok. Then came the serious swearing session trying to pump the stupid thing with the stupid pump... I was sooooo close to carting the bike over to the service guys and say: "PLEEEAAASE pump this!!", but finally (due to severe threats), the pump gave in and started filling the tube instead of the air around me.

Grease up to my elbows (puncture kit included a bunch of very dry and not very useable 'wipes') I was finally on my way again, and although Ferrari won't be taking me on as their new speed tyre gal in a hurry, all was well again and I got to the meeting - better late than never.

On the return trip I popped into the bike shop on York street and asked the guy to check my tyre pressure and give me hints on how to use the 'stupid' pump :) Very kindly the guy pumped my tyres and showed me how to use the 'now not so stupid pump' "Spit on the valve and it's heaps easier to attach the pump" Great - a solution! Swearing, spitting - I'll take whichever one works the fastest :)

And... as it happened, it wasn't long before I got to put my newfound knowledge to the test. Almost at the top of Kariong hill the back tyre was flat again! Luckily there was a bus shelter on the side of the road where I could pop the bike up-side-down to fix the hole. Even a bench to unload bag, water bottle and sunnies on... The back tube is now decorated with 5 colourful patches, maybe I aim for sharp things on the road? Patch in place and with the tube back in, I gracefully spat on the valve... attached the pump and whoooohoo it stayed in place! Pumping the tyre this time was so much easier, I even managed a smile to the 2 cyclists who rode past enquiring if I was ok :) Back on bike in a shorter time (Ferrari here I come!) and completed home run without any more 'moments'.

Now - getting a flat on a remote road with a long way to walk, is not all that exciting, I had to walk for an hour and a half a few months ago when I'd left puncture kit at home (yes I know I AIM for anything sharp on the road...), so I thought I'd throw in a repair check-list here of handy things to always bring (atleast if you're puncture-prone like myself).

Bike repair kit

Self-adhesive puncture dots (these are great, you don't need glue & they attach quickly)
rough sand paper or a fine metal surform (to rough the tube surface)
1-2 tyre levers (helps get the tyre off and on the rim)
a pump
a phone (so you can call and ask someone how to use the pump)
some money (so you can buy an extra bottle of water to help bring blood pressure down after using pump - or alternatively use it to hail a taxi...)
wet wipes (not essential, but may help if you plan to hail a taxi)

other useful things
raincoat
spare water bottle (always have atleast 1 full water bottle)
map (may or may not help ;) )
thermos flask - Lou bunny may be trialling one soon :)


Looking forward to our next bunny ride :)

June 15, 2009

Saturday morning country ride

The Ride
13th June 2009

Biker bunnies: Lou and Annette
Meeting place: Kariong (Annette's place) 7:30am
Biking weather: Sun coming out after a freezing night (gloves a must!)

We set off in various styles - Lou dressed in biking gloves and "Skins"(long fitted biking pants), looking a million dollars on this freezing morning. Annette sporting the multi-layered look and totally convinced that all is allowed when preventing death from frost-bite... ;)

Early on we were stopped by a pair of frantic (lost) runners, who demanded to know where the Pacific Hwy was. We offered what help we could ("Just keep on running down to the left there and you'll be fine"). We believe that the woman (who did get a little hysterical) must have decided we were plainly not trust-worthy, after seeing the bunny on our hi-vis vests... We left them to their merry ways and continued on ours :)

All went very well up Wisemans ferry road, if you ignore the fact that poor
Lou left a lung somewhere along this part of the ride, due to intense coughing... a few nose-blowing stops and a chance to catch breath did seem to help.

We continued along Wisemans ferry road past the Peats Ridge road crossing and shortly after turned into Dog trap road. This leg of our journey dished up an excellent opportunity to test bike-acceleration... Halfway down the road Annette spots a moving dark shadow on her left. An anxious look later confirms 3 dogs, and a further quick look alerted to the lack of fence between biking bunnies and dogs with lots and lots of teeth! Miss Lou did have some assuring words and even offered up her own body as a barrier between dogs and Annette. This information and re-assurance did sadly land on deaf ears, as Annette darted hell-for-leather down the road without a single thought beyond "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Acceleration = instant
Leg speed =
100miles an hour
Brain activity and ability to check team bunny is ok =
zero!
Luckily the dogs were (according to Lou) 'all bark and no trousers' and the whole debarcle only left us reeling over our handlebars in fits and tears of laughter.

We then spent the ride across the F3 Bridge and down steep Mangrove road talking about phobias and enjoying the scenery. This would be a gruelling hill to ride up, but it would still be fun to try it one day... Once we got to the bottom we had a mandarin, banana stop before cruising on to Narara Valley road towards West Gosford and Manns road. This was the first bit of real traffic we came across - but the bike lane gave us plenty of room to ride happily and safely :)

Our ride finished with Kariong Hill, and after a slightly close shave (during an Annette solo-ride on Thursday) it was lovely to get to the top without any worrying moments from passing traffic (read trucks). 30kms in beautiful country scenery - what a lovely way to start a weekend :)



The Stats

Riding distance - 30.6km
Active riding time - 2 hours 30 minutes
Calories burnt - 937
Average heartrate - 123 bpm
Maximum heartrate - 161


The Map

June 5, 2009

The Silver Maiden Voyage

The ride
5th June 2009

Bunny Riders: Lou & Annette
Meeting point: Bike shop West Gosford
Meeting time: 10:15am

Whooo hooooo :) this ride was going to be something extra special... meeting up at the Bike shop on the very day, the very minute that Lou's bike was to touch the road surface for the very first time! Journo-bunny arrived at the bikeshop to find miss Lou out the back, with brand new bike and a whirl of cool gadgets thrown in for good measure. There was the matching helmet, the snazzy front and back lights, the massive bike-pump with pressure gauge (not for taking on rides... ;) ), the zippy little 'under-seat' bag; perfect for keys, wallet, bike-lock, and 2 bananas! And finally, gleaming in the sunlight was SILVER! Check out those racey wheels and the flashy silver frame!!

Before we set off, we side-tracked into a 'future-event-warderobe-issue', and the bikeshop guy found us in the carpark outside the shop, trying on silver knee-high platform boots... As always, image is everything - and a good laugh goes a long way!

Back in business, bunny vests on - we were ready to set off :)

We stuck to the foot-path for the first part of the ride (up to Manns road) - it saved crossing the highway, and also gave Lou and Silver a little time to 'get to know each other'. Along Manns road (plenty of room on the side for bikes - yay!), we struck our first hills of the ride (both up and down). At the end of Manns road we continued on Narara valley road, beautiful scenery and plenty of sun coming through the clouds!

Up another hill and then a Yelp! Lou's chain decided to jump off just as she'd got to the top of the hill... Luckily it was easy to pop back on and we were on our way again, passing the Sara Lee factory outlet (mmmmmmmmm chocolate icecream..... ), consolation prize for not stopping was to play ice-cream truck with our bicycle bells, merrily pling plinging our way into Lisarow :)

The Pacific highway going back towards Gosford has a volatile road edge to say the least, branches and other debris, along with the constantly changing 'wide edge ' whooops! 'no edge' oh 'narrow edge'. It felt safer to be riding in the actual lane rather than get tangled up in the bushes. Things did get slightly tangled up when we reached the Wyoming-West Gosford roundabout, and Annette (remember the lack of sense of direction...) sent poor Lou skerting off towards West Gosford, so she had to do a full lap of the roundabout - ah well, she did it with style and a smile.


Then came the hill from HELL! Cycling up Henry Parry drive, long and very very steep! The sort of hill where you feel quite certain you'll either faint (die!), roll backwards, or simply throw up. Somehow we got to the top with none of those things occuring - but it did manage to switch off my hearing... Swished down the hill to the traffic lights & waited for Lou, who arrived saying something as the lights turned green... I zoomed off with an "Excellent!" for reply... Thing was Lou said "My chain just came off!" Bit of a dorkish reply - but no harm done; on virgin ride - Lou graduated to bike-mechanic, successfully re-positioning chain, not once - but twice! :)

We stopped for a photo-shoot on the Gosford waterfront, before returning to the bike shop for a chain adjustment and a banana. Call goes out to rest of biker-bunny gang: next one is coming up very soon, and we want you there :) :)



The Stats

Riding distance - 23 km
Average heartrate - 125 bpm
Max heartrate - 172 bpm
Calories burnt - 620
Riding time - roughly 1 hour 40 min
Weather - brilliant, a few clouds with sun breaking through after days of rain!


The Map


June 1, 2009

Bay to Bay 3

The Ride
31st May 2009

Bunny Riders: Janine & Annette
Meeting point: Gosford Pool
Time: 11:20am sharp
Bunny status: hung-over

We steered through puddles along the pathway - so called wheel-washes 'pling' pop your coin in for fabulously clean wheels, wet bum and spray person behind you with fresh rain water... There is a knack to lifting feet high and hoping speed will get you through the water without a gentle topple (bike & rider bath), which we gladly managed.
Along the ride we also managed to discuss pro-opinions on ‘cleats’ (also known as dare-devil-straps), which keep your feet locked to the pedals, adding an adventurous element to stopping at intersections – while supposedly giving your calf muscles an all-round workout. The importance of this gadget needs further pondering...

Although there was a lot of water on the road, we avoided the rain completely – we did meet other riders who had obviously come through a shower or two, but we seemed to have timed our ride quite well.

A short stop in Woy Woy before we embarked on the trip back. Janine spent part of the ride deciding to commit to the upcoming 'Bay-to-Bay-Run' (12km Woy Woy to Gosford), and devising strategies to conquer the track on foot.
We stopped at Officeworks in West Gosford on the way back, where we topped up our depleted water supplies. After a nice chat we parted ways here; Janine continued on the ride back to Gosford Pool to complete the 24 km ride.

Annette turned her bike homeward bound & rode back up Kariong hill.

The fresh breeze from the bay and the nice cruisy ride was a perfect way to lift the Sunday to a new level. Breathing in fresh air while taking in the scenery and riding along with great company: PERFECT!


The Stats


Riding distance – 24 km
Riding time – 1 hour 30 min
Attire – high visibility bunny vests
Fluids – water and vitamin water


The Map



Look forward to the next ride girls!

Kariong - Debenham road

The Ride
29th May 2009
Friday afternoon with only a few clouds hanging in the sky, it was time for another adventure on wheels!

Meeting place – Annette's place Kariong
Time – 1pm
Riders – Lou & Annette
Attire – Designer Biker-Bunny visibility vests!

This ride involved a few big hills and some very steep down-hill riding. Pleased to say that we managed to follow the map without getting lost once
We set off following traffic going towards the Sydney F3, turning on to Wisemans Ferry Rd & the long slow climb up towards Somersby falls road. After a swishy burst downhill, we stopped at Somersby falls and drank some water (& Lou had a try of Annette's bike "Ohhhh your saddle is a bit HIIIIGHHH"), before charging up the next big hill.

We passed the RSPCA along the top end of Debenham road (Lou reckoned a puppy would fit snugly in her bag – or inside her vest...), not much traffic around here, and very country like with large properties, trees and fences with barking dogs (Annette goes "IIAAHHHH") – beautiful scenery though.

The end of Debenham road is a steep descent to West Gosford; getting down in one piece means hanging on for dear life & applying the brakes the whole time... A bit of screaming helps too!

Time for some shopping!
Well, we got down the hill in one piece, so a little ‘window shopping-detour’ seemed the perfect way to celebrate. Lou wanted to look at bikes and we found ourselves admiring all sorts of bikes and accessories in the bike shop on the Pacific hwy (girly saddles, shammy bike pants, bandannas "what’s THIS???" and more).
With research complete – we munched on a banana and mandarin before turning our bikes towards Kariong hill & the last big hill of the ride.

There should have been a photo of Lou grinding her way up the hill – sheer determination and grit – NOTHING is going to stop this bunny from getting to the top of this #%@ing HILL!!!


The Stats


Heart rate – 165 MAX
Heart rate – 125 Average
Calories burnt - ~850
Distance cycled – 22km
Time on bikes – 2 hours 5 minutes

High-visibility designer vests totally worked! We were given lots of extra room on the road by kind motorists – understanding that we’re special! :)

The Map


Rumbalara Hell-Bunnies

The Ride
23rd may 2009

This ride was going to be a cruisy ride,
pre-named the east-west-gosford loop, taking on a few hills and a little un-explored (but seemingly straightforward) territory through the Rumbalara reserve. Maps ready and eager to ride, 2 of the Biker Bunnies, Lou and Annette, met up at 9am in Adcock park. We had braved the weather(storms forecast, heavy showers minutes
before set off, torrential rain through the night etc..) and were excited to say the least!

Note the bit about unexplored territory above...

We set off and managed to get close to the Rumbalara reserve area with only 1 wrong turn (which still landed us in the same spot, so no drama there). In search of Marana Road, we rode up Tulip street, had a look at Lilac street (all very hilly around here), scratched our heads and accepted that Google maps are fraudulent & basically all we needed to do was follow our noses... :)

The next hour and a half of our ride involved lifting bikes over gates, dredging through mud, clambering up REALLY steep cliff faces (OK bit of an exaggeration, but they were steep and they
were slippery... A few swearing sessions and lots of laughing got us further into the mountain maze - by which time we’d both admitted to having a lousy sense of
direction.

BUT we were feeling CONFIDENT and part of the trecking was possible on bike, which obviously made us feel we were going in the right direction...

A wee stop near a big rock, and then hoiking our bikes over yet another gate - this one had barbed wire extensions running on either side, the type designed to in Lou’s words "Keep BIG animals out". After Lou's safety check (which involved bravely clambering over the fence to see if anything BIG would come charging at her!), we
continued deeper into the Rumbalara unknowns.

Finally we heard the sounds of distant traffic noise & breathed sighs of relief! We weren't going to need to call for emergency back-up from Tor, Bo or Paul "HELP HELP COME AND GET US" "where are you?" "WE DON’T KNOOOOOOW!!!!" We rode on expecting signs of civilization to manifest themselves around the next corner...

Traffic noises faded, and the track started winding further up the mountain. By this time one of our maps (thanks to Annette's generously open pocket) had left us for some other mountain trecker to find, so we consulted the remaining one and agreed that we were definitely not far off Henry Parry Drive in North Gosford now, this was simply a last little turn before the descent to the way out...

At last we found the very, very steep track down the mountain, we had to get off our bikes again because we were laughing too hard to safely use the brakes - there were HOUSES in sight, and even a road! Marvelling at the lovely houses in North
Gosford "You never see this when you zoom past in a car..." Lou suddenly pipes up: "Ehhmm I think that building over there is the Erina Heights Grammar School..."
We had indeed taken a few completely wrong turns - adding 7 kms to the ride and a surprise exit from the mountain, finding ourselves with very muddy bikes and happy smiles - in Erina Heights instead of North Gosford!

The rest of the ride back to Adcock park was smooth sailing, we even bumped into Biker Bunny Janine, fresh from Yoga (at the Erina Heights round-about)! All up, a great adventure with lots of laughs and great weather (only a few drops of rain fell during the whole ride)!

Looking forward to the next adventure already!


The Stats

Riding time 2 hours 55 min
Calories 1100 +
Heart rate 126 bpm (average) 169 BPM (max)
Riding distance 28km (planned 21)
Maps 2 (1 lost on way)
Saviour Lou's Tofu treat

The Map

Bay to Bay

The Ride
16th May 2009

A gorgeous bikeride from Gosford to Woy Woy (returning the same way) via Adcock park and and following the shared pathway along the waterfront in Point Clare & Tascott.

Meeting point: Gosford Pool
Meeting time: 7:15am Sharp (!!!) with the yet to be named (but growing) group of biking girls.
Riders: Janine, Lou, Allison and Annette.

We set off just after 7:15 in the morning – cold fresh air and a beautiful ride along the
waterfront in Gosford. We cruised over the bridge and in for a scenic look at Adcock Park. The bay to bay is a mostly off-road (paved pathway), flattish ride with lots of gorgeous water scenery along the way.

Posture check – good
Heart rate – cruising along fine
Map – oh no! – I let everyone down this time (forgot map) so we had to trust that our feminine intuition and visual interpretations of the landscape would guide us all the way to Woy Woy ;)

At Fishermans Warf in Woy Woy we took a short break; a few stretches with an irratic fountain providing spurts of entertainment.
We turned our bikes around and completed the return leg of the 24 km ride. Sun up and spirits high, what a great way to start a weekend!


The Stats
Riding Distance: 24 km
Calories burnt (according to our trusted monitoress miss Lou): 500
Average heartrate (sourced from heart monitor attached to miss Lou): 115
Riding time: Roughly 1 ½ hours

The Map



...now a certain someone couldn’t pass up the challenge of riding up Kariong hill (guess who...)
Bike back out of the car; Lou knuckled down & joined Annette on her homeward bound journey – a 4.5 km constant climb up the gruelling hill. Egged on by the beauty of the scenery (yeah right), & the engouragement of workmen shouting their support; she made it to the top in style!


Stats for the hill challenge

Distance: 7km (Gosford pool to Kariong Shell service station)
Working heartrate: ~150 (max heart rate ~170)
Calories burnt: 315

Thanks for the fun and the awesome riding company girls!

Tuggerah - The Entrance

The Ride
April 2009

Janine and Annette embarked on the ride from Tuggerah to the Entrance (& back to Tuggerah), meeting up at Tuggerah train station - braving weather and dodging rain puddles.

Unfortunately this adventure involved a stack... Brave Janine performed what would have to go to the history as THE most elegant bike stack ever! A slow motion wave towards the green strip
beside the foot-path. At the time it was obviously quite distressing, with blood dripping and a pub with front row seats of the action to ramp things up... It is safe to say that Janine's contact with the greenery lasted all of 2 milliseconds, before she was up and ready to push off again.

With wheels back on track, we left Wyong road and found the bike track leading to the Entrance, and the ride turned quite lovely. We did get rained on, but only for a short while, and as Janine had brought not one, but 2 raincoats - we were laughing!

On the way back we deviated from the map slightly (it was meant to be a short-cut, avoiding Wyong Road) but as the creek got wider and the bushes got more imposing, we made a unanimous decision to double-back the way we'd come & avoid getting lost in the Tuggerah bushland.

All up the ride was close to 30 km - hat goes off to Janine for completing it in an injured state :)

The Kariong Crusher

The Ride
3rd may 2009

Riders: Janine, Lou & Annette.
Our ride meandered past Mt Penang Gardens, taking in the scenery with horses, lots of greenery and sculptures on the far side of the gardens. Everyone managed to cross the cattle grids in the road without coming off… The garden section of the ride ended with a spot of weight-lifting, as we had to lift our bikes over the gate at the bottom of the road.

Next section was the cruisy Kangoo Road, past the industrial estate and a greyhound farm (thankfully the greyhounds were in ‘non-chase’ mode) leading up to Debenham road in Somersby.

By now Lou had had the gear-chat and was successfully clicking through the gears like a pro, gaining speed by the minute.

It was a bumpy ride down Debenham road (massive potholes) and more industrial area for visual entertainment, before we reached the round-about and swung onto Wisemans ferry road.
Janine stuck true to her motto: When on a hill – Don’t stop! Just keep on peddling past the top!

The downhill reward to Somersby falls was a thrill-seekers dream (check brakes first) where we had a rest-stop and gourmet snacks brought by Lou.

Re-hydrated, snacked up and ready to push off!

By now, ideas of going the distance (100km plus) were flying around in delight! – Easy peasy baby!

The next leg of our ride took us up Somersby falls road. Despite a chain coming off and someone else peddling for dear life because of a barking dog, we all made it to the top & cruised on over to the Pacific highway via Piles Road.

Point of interest: work in progress on the section of the Pacific highway that collapsed in the storms a few years back, although there's not really much to see other than road-blocks...

We continued along the pacific highway (towards Sydney, although we weren’t planning to go that far just yet…) after a few hills we arrived at the freeway overpass, which marked our "HOMEWARD BOUND POINT" (heaps noisier than I remember from riding there on my own – possibly because I’ve never had to carry out a conversation on the bridge before) :)
This section of the road is a measly 60k per hour, but obviously you can’t expect everyone to follow that. A particularly hurried driver almost collected the camera (and our extended extremities: arms, heads, feet – that sort of thing) as he WHOOOSHED past our photo opportunity…



The Stats
(partly taken from test-pilot Lou's heart monitor)

  • Maximum heart rate reached – A massive 207 BPM (though there is some suspicion that this occurred when some irresponsible person suggested to our test-pilot that we'd sneak across the pacific hwy 'short-cut' and not during actual riding expenditure)
  • Calories burnt – 730
  • Distance cycled – 26km
  • Active cycling time - ~ 1 hour 45 min
The Map


Stay tuned for the next one :)