Amanda's solo bunny ride

I swallowed a fly

Oh no not I....

Indeed I did! What a great start to my solo ride. The fact that I left my water bottle on my car and drove off leaving the bottle to rattle down my drive, unbeknownst to me until I had already set off on my solo cycle.

Oh never mind I thought as I cycled along merrily, I can always buy one at the little shop on the way. I decided to as fast as I could considering I hadn’t ridden for nigh on three weeks. Talking to myself I pushed myself harder and harder and then I did it – I swallowed a FLY!!!!!!!!!!!! It got stuck in my throat and I couldn’t do anything but swallow – yuk and no water to wash the nutritious meal down with either. I pulled over at the shop, fly in throat and delved into my pouch to discover that I only had 50cents – I did for one brief moment consider going into the shop and asking if I could get some tap water for 50cents but couldn’t be bothered getting off my bike only to be kicked out of the shop.


There were lots of merry cyclers on the path today and each and every one gave the nod or a big hearty smile. Got to Woy Woy in record time for a solo cyclist – 35 minutes and then continued on to the Peninsular Leisure Centre – what a pleasant ride it was even if I was dehydrating. It got so bad that I stopped at the toilets and took a sip of water (from the tap not the toilet bowl).


On the way home I passed a photographer taking a photo of yes you guessed it Belinda Neale on a bike – well she was standing with the bike I don’t know if she could actually ride it and the Major Chris Holstein was standing beside her. Now if Lou had been with us she would no doubt have stopped, pushed her breasts out and somehow got in the photo. But not I – I am the shy type so I cycled past chuckling at the unbelievable photo this would make.


And that is about it for my little adventure except for the last lap when suffering from severe dehydration I saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in the woods!


Lesson to be learnt – NEVER GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amanda :)

A Free Bicycle Workshop

The Event

Bunnies on board - Lou, Amanda, Diane & Annette

Meeting place - Ourimbah, CARES facility

Time - 9:30 am - 12:30pm

Weather - Overcast with some drizzle

Distance cycled ~ 1km...

Today's event was the much anticipated workshop provided by Central Coast & North Sydney Area Health. We rocked up with our bikes to find an amazingly "cute" facility: traffic lights, a roundabout, intersections & road signs galore – all backing onto the bush with bellbirds singing at the top of their voices :) (They also run a great program for school kids here!).

There were quite a few exclamations of WOW! as we parked our bikes outside the main building, where we had the introduction and theory component of the workshop... The co-ordinator Nigel, introduced himself and talked a little about the reasons for setting up these 'cycling confidence workshops', before handing over to our workshop instructor – Allan.

Allan talked about state and council goals for improving cycling safety and participation around the country. He also talked about his previous work within Gosford council and gave us general advice on helmets, what to wear and different types of bikes.

Lou ticked almost every box as the prepared and road-ready cyclist, and was asked to stand up and demonstrate not only her outfit (great for cycling) but also her fancy basket, with both water-bottle and sunscreen onboard! :) Amanda got to stand up and demonstrate her helmet (she even performed a most graceful bend forward, to show that her helmet remained on her head :) ), and as she is our fashionista bunny, she also got to show off her very flash reversable cycling jacket :)

So 2 of our biker bunnies (sporting slightly redder faces) were now offially introduced to the entire group. A group which consisted of mostly women and a few happy guys of varying age and cycling confidence. Although we didn't really have time to get to know each other in the short time, it was great to see the level of enthusiasm in the group: everyone seemed keen about cycling and finding ways to gain more on-road confidence.

A 'mature' couple had brought their fancy 'fold-up-bikes' to the workshop, and the man demonstrated how quickly he could fold the bike into a small package: Janine, you'll love this: Not only does the bike itself fold up to almost "carry-on" luggage size, BUT the PEDALS fold up as well, meaning

that this bike is perfect if you want to push it along and not get jabbed by protruding pedals each and every step you take ;)

With all these demonstrations, Diane (my mum), quickly removed the disintegrating foam pads in her purple helmet just in time to show off her 'older-style' helmet, naturally a perfect colour match to her vintage purple bike, which also received quite a bit of attention on the day :)

By the time our instructor picked up my heavily modified blue bag, attempting to introduce it as 'the latest in bag technology' oh ok, maybe not quite... ;) I had to stop him, fearing that he'd discover all the chopped off straps half-way through the sales-pitch, with inevitable occy-strap tangle to follow...

We had a quick coffee break and by now we were getting excited about trying out the outdoor facility, wriggling slightly in our seats and looking at those clouds outside moving closer and closer...

Then... Lou pipes up: "Ehhhmmmmmnm – are we going to learn how to fix a puncture???" Who could deny such a request? Our instructor dived into descriptions of the latest puncture fixing gadgets (slime, air canisters, inner-tubes pre-lined with slime, other types of inner-tubes and valves, patches, allen-keys, levers, wrenches and more) while a guy in our group went off to get his handy-dandy floor pump, which enabled the demonstration to finish with a fully pumped tyre at the end :)

Finally we appeared to have covered all the theory aspects of the workshop and we moved outside to try out the bicycle riding facility! Rain was just starting to spit, but thankfully it moved away pretty quickly :) We practiced riding in an anti-clockwise pattern around the COLA (Covered Outdoor Learning Area :D ) and Diane, who will happily signal right-hand turns, was thrown in at the deep-end with only left-hand turns on the menu! She managed gallantly though, and we all seemed to pass the first practical test.

Then we got to extend our riding practice by riding past Nigel, who was sitting in a car unable to decide if he was coming or going, & kept swinging his door open into our path! Admittedly we giggled quite a lot, though we're very aware of the 'door-zone' danger in the 'real' world and did our best to not get caught by Nigel's door :)

After the door-zone hazard, we moved onto the actual traffic area of the facility and got to practice riding through the roundabout (Lou can now navigate a roundabout with her eyes closed), stop and start at traffic lights and navigate the speed humps and other cyclists along the way.

One of the ladies in our group had an unfortunate, but elegant topple-stack in the middle of the roundabout! (I almost called out "Bunny DOWN!! Bunny DOWN!!!" But managed to contain myself as Allan ran to her rescue; luckily she was fine, and only needed to pop her chain back on before she was ride-ready again :)

Diane on her 'vintage' bike stopped at a red light

Amanda on good behaviour with our instructor

Waving at the traffic lights ;)

bunny-Diane cruising around the course

Summing up:)

This was a great workshop, especially as council and area health have provided these workshops free as an incentive to get people out cycling more for fun and fitness. Gear Up Girl also run an annual workshop (I think it's once a year, around July-August), a more hands-on workshop covering bike maintenance and practical skills. Maybe this would be fun to do at some stage??? :)

• Information - We received lots of valuable and interesting information, including cycle maps, clubs, websites and events on the coast.
• Technical Know-how - We covered "fix a flat", "bike-locking", clothing, and necessary onboard tools
• Practical - Personally I would have liked to have spent more time outside, but we still got to practice the "power position" for that cruisy start, "left, right and stop hand-signals" and avoiding the "door-zone".
• Goodies - We also received a cool backpack with lots of great information, a fabulous cookbook and a way-cool cycling computer which will help us clock up those kms! Talk about a great incentive! :)

All up: A fun morning, which no-doubt will lead to more exciting adventures on our bikes :)

55 km ride to land of exhaustion

The Ride Stats

Bunnies on board - Lou, Amanda and Annette

Meeting place - Gosford gallery

Set off time - ~9:35 am

Weather - Cloudy, hot and muggy

Distance cycled - 55 km

Active riding time - 4 hours and 25 minutes

Calories burnt ~ 1650

Heart rate - 120 (average) 170 (max)

Today's biker-bunny ride had three die-hard bunnies panting with exhaustion and delirious hallucinations at the end of what turned out to be a 55km ride. We pushed off from our meeting place at the gallery after a somewhat delayed start (caused by Annette's ongoing confusion with bag zippers and straps, and also Lou's complimentary first-aid kit demonstration show ;) ).

Sizing eachother up before the start

Put your left foot here and your right arm there...

Grinding sounds and a rear view of Lou's frantic pedalling (trying but failing to get into 3rd gear) caused us to stop off at the bikeshop in West Gosford for an emergency bike fix. However, as it was miss "shopper" Lou's bike in dire need of attention, she somehow managed to get a super-cool basket with a rack fitted to her bike as well as the gear problem sorted!

So while Lou kept popping her head out "Only a few more minutes" Amanda and I degressed into pure silliness outside, even discovering the lost Lilliputians in the shop window!

Let's take Amanda's bike for a spin!

Texting and window shopping

Oh look the Lilliputians!

Finally we were on our way again and Lou's spanking new basket proved to be a fabulous addition all round. (it could take anything - except rubbish as Amanda found out the hard way :) )

We cycled up Manns road and cruised all the way up along Narara Valley road to the end where we had one last steep bit to get onto the Pacificy Hwy at Lisarow. Just before this hill Amanda confided that she was feeling a little 'flat' today *cough* little did we know that this bunny was pushing herself up hills in a 3:2 gear setting (the sort of gear you'd normally use on a FLAT) - "Oh but I'm trying to get fitter" she explained innocently... Thus, 'flat' can mean different things when on a bike :)

Clouds were hanging low in the sky above, but it was a hot, muggy day and our water supplies were already running low, so we stopped off at a servo in Ourimbah for a top up and a giggle.

Refilling our watersupplies

Roadworks through Ourimbah had us initially cruising along the brand new shared pathway; oh such a breezy, smooth, lovely, wide and inviting path.... until the unfinished pathway came to an abrupt end in gravel and fenced off terrain! Oh dear! As we looked around we realized that we were in fact stranded; the pathway, which had seemed so safe and sensible, travelled to the side of the main road and we were now separated from this same road by a wide stretch of dug up road filled with prime movers, road flatteners and all sorts of other fancy machinery.... oh and roadworkers with their way-cool walkie-talkies ;)

The dude closest to us must have felt some sort of affinity with us (Amanda's bright orange flouro vest no doubt helped), because as Lou approached him with her "Oh dear we're a tad tangled up here and we need to get over THERE" he quickly got on his walkie-talkie "Biker Bunnies coming through.... pave the way..... yep.... over.... righti'o..... yep...... all clear" And we got escorted all the way up to the crossing by heavy road machinery, feeling very special indeed :)

Biker Bunnies in a spot of bother!!

A Saddle with a View  (Amanda)

I must say up to this point it had been pretty cruisey really and yes I was feeling a tad flat as lack of sleep and worry had kept me up the night before.

We had covered most terrains on the ride thus far and paving our way through dirt certainly did not help but the lovely workmen were most accommodating. It was then onto our favourite part of the ride – Enterprise Drive where I must admit I felt a tad incompetent this time. For all those virgin bunnies out there – do not go on a hell bike ride with Lou and Annette as they do not rest and their legs pedal at the most amazing speed which I could not match – I was constantly at least 1km behind Annette and 1/2km behind Lou – this led me to talk to myself rather a lot and imagine various scenarios where it always ended in me disappearing. As Lou now had all of my equipment including my phone (in her new basket) I knew I had to keep up with them as there was no other way to reach them. We cruised along Enterprise Drive with absolutely no mishaps – no doubt the speed was indicative of the fact that we knew we would be stopping for a sugar snack at the end!

I led the way (surprise surprise) along the cycle track at Chittaway Bay to the sounds of Lou cooing "oh isn't this lovely – I never knew this existed" and we found a lovely little shed with a picnic table for our much earned rest stop. Just as we had all dismounted and biker Lou is stuffing her face with a banana we see a group of children cycle towards us and dismount in our very spot – panic set in as we realized that this dangerous ‘bikie gang’ as one little chappy excitedly called them grew into rather a large class load of primary school students. Lou approached one of them and asked what they were doing and was told that they intended to stop here for lunch ‘right’ she said ‘we have left our children at school so I think we will love you and leave you’ – we jumped on our bikes and cycled off into the sunset looking for another peaceful spot – which we found further down the path but it did have a little bit of dog poo – which Annette kept trying to dodge. "My son plays drinking games where they have to do push ups over dog poo" I piped up – "loverly" was the response.

It was at this stage that Lou decided to try out her new quick release basket and do a couple of laps posing as a shopping basket model – Lou pose No I hear you say – yes indeed she did. We got a rare glimpse into the modeling career of Lou the biker bunny with the shopping basket. We then had to go on a toilet search as the model needed to relieve herself – she even talked about going in the bushes! Poor bushes I thought.

Before the troops arrived ;)

Did someone say CAMERA???

Demo of legshave and lift

Some pics say it all...

The half-way mark

Right! come on.. I'll race you!!

Now, by now we had been cycling for at least two and a half to three hours and as usual Annette and I lost the plot when we discovered that we had driven over and killed lots of Polynesians who were going to befriend the Lilliputians (from our previous rides). Polynesians I hear you say – what the hell are you going on about Amanda? Annette asked me if there were raindrops on the ground and I replied "not at all – it’s just pollen" which then developed into little Polynesian people who not only had been crushed by us but were also going to die when the ocean rose and drowned the entire race – YOU HAD TO BE THERE as Annette and I laughed hysterically – although saying that Lou was there and she didn’t laugh hysterically. Too busy thinking about her next wee stop I suppose!

Everything was going swimmingly until I realized that the worst part of the ride was yet to come – Terrigal Drive and Karalta Rd – the two biggest hills on the planet. Weary legs, weary brain and lack of food did not help matters. (especially as we had somehow lost our last bag of energy along the way) As usual Annette powered up, followed by Lou who turned the corner and left me talking to myself half way up the hill. I past the church with Jesus advertising on the billboard and asked him for help but didn’t get any – so I stopped pedaling and lay my head on my bike – F**** what am I doing – keep going you can do it and do it I did – wind in my hair saw me power down Terrigal Drive only to reach the very last steep hill of the day – at the back of Erina Fair. Lou sprouted angel wings at this point and I was convinced something was growing on her shoulders for about 10 minutes until I caught up to her and realized it was her pigtails and not some beautiful white set of feathers.

Need sugar to get up those last hills!

Cruising along into Gosford I waited for the traffic as I tried to cross the road – there was a little old lady looking at me with her mouth open wide in panic and I am looking at her thinking I am a human on a bike get over it when I suddenly got swooped by a bloody blackbird and then I looked at her with my mouth open wide thinking you could have warned me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By now even Annette was hallucinating:

"On the home run there was definitely an element of exhaustion creeping in to the mix, by now we'd clocked up close to 55km and our legs were oh so feeling it. As we cruised around the last bend on York Street I was watching the bright light on the pathway.... and suddenly the path sort of lifted above the rest of the surroundings (stairway to heaven here we come....) with the cars and all the rest fading into oblivion..."

Exhausted, but still smiling :)

Please take me home!

Not even a cup of coffee at the end of the two fearless leaders raced off to be with their children leaving me crying at the gallery

We did it! (in style)

Annette and Amanda :)

Looking forward to our next adventure bunnies!


The Map