42km around Brisbane Waters

Following Amanda's entertaining account of our Friday adventure, here's the same ride viewed from the saddle of Annette :)

The Ride
21st August 2009

bunnies on bikes: Amanda, Lou & Annette
meeting point: BikeworX in Erina
meeting time: 9:30am
attire: sparkling new Biker Bunny t-shirts + new padded bike shorts!
water: not enough
sunscreen: yes

As you'll know from Amanda's post; we all met up at the bike shop to investigate and delve into the world of padded bike shorts. Not sure if we ever had the slightest chance of remaining professional, but if we did, that chance quickly left the building as our very helpful sales guy took us through the various types, showing off the padded inserts (including a lot of technical specs, which floated way above our heads) followed by our hysterical laughter as we took it in turns to try on a range of shorts; waddling about the place and exclaiming things like "paahhhh these give me playdough legs", "whoooo looks like I'm carrying a load here" ... & "Help my bum really DOES look big in these!!".
Somehow (while some of us were still in the throws of selecting shorts), slick Lou managed a detour into the mechanic's area (undoubtedly passing on a few valuable tips to the guys), and as we left the shop, she proudly told us that she sports a 'PINK' saddle-seatbone-size, having had herself officially measured. Naturally bunny-Amanda and I were most impressed :)

So... after a slight delay of around an hour, we finally set off on the riding part of our adventure, wearing our new bike shorts (ahhh they doo feel comfortable!) and with our new Biker Bunny t-shirts we definitely stod out along the road (a laughing team yes, but definitely a team!).

Door-zone hazard (or getting 'doored'), almost became a reality as leading bunny Amanda passed not one, but 3 cars in a row, where the slightly elderly driver (note: different driver different car :D), swung the door open without looking behind! Luckily there was enough room so no damage done, but parked cars can definitely pose a worry... We continued on our merry way, encountering our next hazard (the magpie incident described by Amanda), where we were given proof that wearing a helmet can indeed save the day (and your head).

It was warm, close to hot (summery) for the first half of our ride, and a warm breeze floated around our bareish legs, which more than likely helped our water consumption through the roof. We got to Woy Woy where we stopped for a quick snack - a photo opportunity (Lou you win hands down!) and a visit to the local 'ladies'.

Woy Woy through to the spit bridge was mostly covered along a lovely bike path (which a very helpful elderly gentleman directed us to), showing off the waterfront and a nice easy flat ride.
Once we crossed the bridge, the terrain changed and we embarked on our first big hill of the day.
Despite what bunny-Amanda tells of her efforts, she did extremely well and was never far behind - dubbing her the bunny-battler of the day and well deserving of hell-bunny status indeed! Empire Bay Drive throws some unexpected (and horrific) things at any slightly 'un-co' rider... Several times along the way both Amanda and I almost 'ditched' ourselves when quickly looking back to check on rider behind and finding that in the short 'look-away and swerve a bit' time, the shoulder turned into a ridge with a sheer ditch drop coming at us!!! Somehow we both luckily managed to avoid tangling with the bushes, but it certainly was a tad freaky :)

I tend to believe that the people who design bike lanes (also known as shoulders if they are wide enough :P ) believe that bikes travel at walking pace (i.e. if the lane finishes suddenly (merges into a barricade) then that's fine, because you have plenty of time to do whatever it is you do when a lane ends... Or they simply calculate shoulders and extra lanes for bicycles on a $ per metre system, allocate X amount of $$ for a particular road (maybe it was meant to stretch the full length, but then the weather was bad.. and Johnny left as supervisor.. and Drono said he wanted a payrise and... the lane shrunk! Sorry to whinge, I just think if roads were consistently made more bike friendly, so many more people would ride to work & to school - which would be great for the environment :)

Water running short, and more hills to climb, it was sheer determination from the map-bunny Amanda (no taxi was called, nor did she call the RTA to accuse them of 'changing the road by adding heaps of hills just to stuff her around') which kept her pedalling and cruising on upwards and onwards.

With time starting to creep away (especially for bunny-Lou who'd been given a biker-bunny exit visa to come on the ride and she had to get back in time for her son's presentation and the weekend camping trip) we managed to (not truthfully!) picture bunny-Lou crashing in on her son's presentation in full biker-bunny gear, dropping bike at door (on top of some non-award kid) applauding Oskar while stamping on toes and falling over the kid that threw up at the mothers' day singing feast, while dragging her son off to the weekend camping adventure with a loud "SEE YA!!"... When you've been riding for 2 and a half hours, the above seems hysterically funny - although in a sober frame of mind it most likely seems half silly to say the least ;)

Avoca Drive through Kincumber and Green Point was conquered despite all the road works along the way. As I climbed to the half-way point of one of the last hills (it sort of panned out half way and then rose up the last bit) there were road workers by the side, one guy who was walking along the side smiled at me... :) I stopped & turned around to wait for 2 blazing bunnies, and suddenly realized that the 'now conveniently turned and walking back in my direction road-worker-guy' , thought my silly smile was directed at him. So to complete the picture of an erratic girl on a bike, I jumped back on my bike and pedalled to the top of the hill "DOH" Oh well, most likely he just thought "there goes another biker-bunny, they're like that"...!

We waved good-bye to bunny-Lou at Fountain Plaza in Erina and collapsed at the coffee shop up the road, where conversation circulated around fish tacos (!) and the possibility of never being able to walk again. Coffee was bliss and the ride was a hoot. It truly feels fantastic to cover all those kilometres on a bike, see all the things along the way and do it in the company of special friends!

Thanks for the laughs and the company and lets do it again soon!


Photos (posers riders et all)



The Stats
Riding time - 3 hours 20 min (less about 20 min for stops)
Distance covered - 42km (YEAH!!!)
Heartrate - 113 (average) 166 (max)
Calories burnt - 1116
Evaluation of padded bike shorts - GREAT :)


The Map