Bunnies on Board - Amanda and Annette
Distance cycled - 27km
Time cycling - 1 hour 46min
Total time - 3 hours 14 minutes*
*that's about 1 hour spent just laughing!
Speed - 15.1 (average) 62.7 (max)
Heart rate - 114 (average) 168 (max)
Calories burnt - 1101
Near Kidnaps ~ 3
Weather - Hot and sunny
Our Wednesday adventure around Somersby is delightfully narrated by Amanda - enjoy!
Well what a day! Driving up Kariong Hill I had my reservations about riding around the back streets of Somersby and I know why now – bloody hilly or should I say mountainous roads with no end in sight. This ride though truly was lots of fun and even though I hate hills I did deep down enjoy this one.
Amanda ready to take-off!
I arrived at Annette’s at 9.15 and she politely asked me in for a coffee which I declined – coffee before a bike ride is not a good start to the day (well not that close to the bike ride anyway). After admiring her bike rack and then being given some oil for my chain we then had to decide which ride to do. As usual I opted for the easiest one and as usual Annette completely ignores me and picked the hardest one. So I am sure Annette will map the route but we basically went down the Old Pacific Highway towards the reptile park (I think)!
After riding for less than 10 minutes we saw a drug deal happening – well you know it is our vivid imagination but here is how we saw it …. FACT 1 – there were 3 men in shirts and ties (and pants of course) in an overgrown field of grass with one car– they looked very dodgy so here is our account of a short film that we made up from this one little prompt. FACT 2 – my chain did come off at the bottom of the hill as I tried to go into the lowest gear imaginable...
Annette actually looks like a policewoman on her bike – blue bike, blue helmet and oh so professional … I was being escorted by a female police officer and as we rode past the drug deal the men saw us and we tried to pretend we hadn't seen anything. Knowing that we couldn’t go very fast they let us cycle off and so we thought we were safe. We get to the first hill and Annette as usual cycles off way into the distance leaving me lagging miles behind. (FACT my chain came off at the bottom of the first steep hill). As Annette disappears from view the men drive past and bundle me into their boot leaving my bike on the roadside and they take me to an old factory at Somersby. Annette completely oblivious to this thinks she hears me shouting I’m fine and waits at the top. Ten minutes have passed and Annette decides to investigate further – she cycles down the hill and sees my bike lying on the road and panics for a moment.
Generally being a cool headed female she decides to do some investigation and puts two and two together pretty quickly and realizes that the 3 men must have kidnapped me. So off goes policewoman Annette scouting the factories around Somersby, knowing that it had to be in this direction as she had not seen anything pass her on the road. She eventually comes across a dodgy warehouse and sees me (after she puts on her glasses) tied up and being tortured with all things pertaining to bikes such as loose chains, spokes, tyres, brakes and water bottles etc.
Obviously that is not what happened but we did see about 8 old people riding soft top MG’s and Jags on a beautiful day out looking jolly posh and smiling and waving at us as we pedalled along!
After that we cycled along mountains and down wonderful speedy roads all the way to Somersby Falls with the only mishap being Annette nearly falling off her bike as she mistook a blade of grass for a bird!
Somersby Falls is actually a beautiful spot and I was most impressed even if I did have to ride back up that hill! When we arrived there were two rangers having lunch at the picnic table (both in their 50’s or 60’s) – poor chaps we ruined their tranquility with our incessant laughter. They asked us not to tread on a piece of sandstone that they had just set so we politely obliged and climbed over the pole and sat on the rocks where we laughed and chatted happily and loudly. Photos were taken and off we set on our merry way!
Now if I don't calm down this will turn into an epic blog of ginormous proportions so from here on in I shall just bullet point:
- After leaving the falls Annette decided that we would take the longest route with only one hill what she failed to say was ‘there was one hill after another after another’
- We cycled down the Old Pacific Highway over the bridge gathering momentum and lots of lovely speed – I screamed with joy whilst Annette kept screaming AMANDA!!!!!!!!!! I thought she too was enjoying the downhill ride
- OMG – I turn around and realize that she is actually trying to get me to stop and I am half way down the biggest hill of the ride – I ask if we can keep going and get home another way but realize that would add about another 3 hours onto our trip
- Turning around I reluctantly start cycling back up the hill that I once loved so much
- Actually that is a fib – I get off and start walking, and then up the hill cycles this hyperfit lone road cyclist – he stops to ask if I am ok and has a short chat with me about how bloody good looking I am and did I want a quickie in the bush – No thanks I reply – bit hot!!!!!!!!!!
- Annette, up ahead, knew that she wanted to challenge him so her legs start pedaling as fast as they can but he catches her pretty quick and again makes polite conversation
That is about all that happened to us today – not much I know but hey we can’t always have a Disney adventure! And that my dearest biker bunnies is the end of our adventure – well it ended when we got back to Annette’s for a much needed glass of water and she sported her relaxing attire for me!
Amanda:)
The Map
And before we close on this adventure - a short summary from Annette's saddle... :)
As Amanda's covered our ride in a most entertaining way I'll just wrap up with a few moments along the way... While my aforementioned fellow cyclist was recovering from her nearly lost chain at the top of Chivers road, a rattly old dump-truck blundered past us on the corner. Amanda said.... "He waved"... so I waved back (as you do....) Then it hit me: this was the 'reckie' guy for those shady types we'd spotted earlier - waving had just put us in straight in the kidnap frame!
The plot thickened (as you know) and we rode on... We thought we might catch up with the MG drivers at the falls (lovely place for a picnic), hoping these jolly drivers could pose as our rescuers if needed - alas it wasn't to be. However, we did have the Rangers watching our every move (or step as it were,... in particular one step...), so going down to the falls proved to be a great diffuser of danger after all. :)
The next part of the ride was all about the blazing heat and endurance; after settling on a Pacific Hwy detour, I was slightly apprehensive about how Amanda would react to the big hill - I think I may have stretched the hill to make it count as one (that's both directions of up, down and then up again) - We cruised through the back of the Reptile park, all going well and happy.... We swung onto the Pacific Hwy in the middle of a downhill section, on an obscuring bend... I held my breath.. (you can't see the hill until you've passed the bend)... and then - Amanda looked up on cue and screamed!
Having made it to the top, naturally there's a happy joy in swishing down the other side... although on this decent I was half-panicked screaming my lungs out - trying in vain to get the attention of the yodelling (legs stretched out to the side of her pedals) cyclist zooming down ahead of me (I was thinking about the 'not happy Jan' moment we'd undoubtedly have if she made it to the very bottom of the hill, as I'd promised that there was only one (well maybe two) hills left on our ride... :) )! Finally my yelling filtered through, and we crossed the road to return slightly past our intended turn-around point. As the hill ahead dawned on my fellow adventurer, she tried to create a flat road out of thin air, which would magically take us through the bush, back to where we needed to go. No harm in trying... and magic does happen :) But after a short moment, she took one look at the hill, gritted her teeth and cruised to the top (managing social chit-chat with the guy who'd most likely heard all our the yodelling and yelling on his way up from the bottom, and... almost throwing her water bottle off the F3 bridge in a freak moment of "I don't know what my arms are doing!").
As usual, fresh air and bunnies on bikes had us laughing up most of our calories, add to that a large dose of insane imagination (bound to have you in tears), we somehow managed to reach our destination in an exhausted yet very pleased frame of mind.
Happy cycling bunnies - and looking forward to our next adventure!
Annette :)
