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!
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!!!!!
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...
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...).
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!
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...
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
That was certainly some ride! Sorry, I haven't been fulfilling my position as the blog's only commentator, however, I have been thinking of you all - especially today, in 35 degree heat! I sincerely hope that you are all doing something 'cooling' and not sitting on saddles, wending your way up very steep hills.
ReplyDeleteThank you ever so much for your support (ongoing and always so encouraging!!! We have all had a bit of a break over the silly season, and now looking forward to more adventures. :)
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