Meeting at IGA the excited threesome chattered away, touched and admired Tor’s new highly visible Lorna Jane shorts whilst Netti got dressed and undressed and then off we went. Cruising up through Erina was easy and then along Avoca Drive seemed easy to begin with but the hills are actually rather hard and my heart rate was jolly high. I even thought I was going to be sick...
You can pick up some serious speed going downhill but always remember what goes down must eventually go up (the opposite to Newton’s theory – he obviously didn’t ride a bike).
We cycled along Avoca Drive to the second roundabout, which I think is the Davistown turn off and then looped back the way we came. The Terminators, as I like to call them because they never bloody stop, cycled up the hills like pros and no I don’t mean prostitutes (although we did talk about pimping out my son at one stage!). Classy ladies!
Thank god the traffic lights turned red because that was the only way I was going to keep up and luckily for me I had gathered up downhill speed for the uphill ride leaving them at the traffic lights from a starting position. Then along the punt bridge (actually along the road) and over lots of uneven tree stumped lined cycle path we turned off at East Gosford traffic lights and went along Althorpe St – a quiet backstreet which runs parallel with… something or other.
At the end of this road is an extremely steep hill that I had to stop for a breath (which is quite difficult in cleats going uphill at such a slow speed). The Terminators powered on and waited for me at the top of the hill (as usual) and then we turned onto Springfield Rd and with the end in sight I pumped my little legs as hard as I could. I arrived at the traffic lights onto the Entrance Road dreaming of rest and a coffee when this little voice shouts from behind “Amanda”. Oh NO I thought, what does Annette want? Not wanting to stop whilst I was going uphill, and secretly knowing that Annette wanted to add some more cycling time, I kept cycling until Annette had caught up with me and then the dreaded words “let’s keep going”.
So we turned left at the lights and cycled to the Grammar School and along the back roads of Matcham before turning around and coming back to IGA. Along the way we battled gale force winds and flying tree branches, and we looked out for the mafia and our little Lilliputian friends but to no avail. Annette suggested we look for hob nobs until I told her that they were biscuits – so she was out looking for talking chocolate hob nobs – what a nutter!
And that my dear ladies was our Friday ride followed by a lush cup of coffee and some friendly chatter!
Amanda :)
Before I include the photos from our adventure - I need to add that along our 10km add on detour we came across 2 hair-raising dog moments.... The first one was a black dog playing chase with cars..., he waited behind the bins just next to the road and then JUMPED out to chase each car that passed by! For some life saving reason he decided that 3 mad girls on bikes weren't worth the trouble & we pedalled past (some at lightning speed).... The second wasn't really any trouble, just someone being a wuss... the (big) dog was safely on a lead - and even stopped off the side of the road while we zoomed past. Our detour was most delightful (despite the lack of talking chocolate biscuits), and gave us a pleasant taste of the countryside after zooming up and down the busy roads.
Ride Stats:
Distance Cycled: 25.6 kmTime Cycling: 1 hour 30 min
Total Time: 2 hours 5 min
Speed: Average: 17km/h Max: 56.4km/h
Calories Burnt: 972
Heart Rate: Average: 132 Max 172
Posing bunny at the start...
... pity you can't see Tor's hot pink shorts :)
Big smiles after all those hills!
Coffee after bike ride = bliss! :)
Happy riding!
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