Loop the Lake

The Ride in Stats...
Loop the Lake - Long Jetty - Toukley - Tuggerah - Long Jetty

Bunnies on Board - Amanda & Annette
Distance cycled - 45km
Time cycling - 2 hours 34 min
Time it actually took to loop the lake - 3 hours 55 min!
Calories burnt - 1363
Heart rate - Max: 173 Average: 110
Speed - Max: 38.5 km/h Average: 17.2 km/h

Back in the Southern part of the world, after 5 weeks of sneaking away from the winter chills, it was a treat to embark on a new riding adventure with bunny Amanda. As we've just registered to go in the 90km Newcastle to Dungog ride (in less than 3 weeks time) we decided, on this fine sunny Friday morning, to do a slightly longer ride than the Gosford to WoyWoy cruise to help us 'get ready for the big one...'

We met in the carpark at Long Jetty and unloaded our bikes. I showed Amanda a new mad gadget I found online... the Dog-Off.. This funny little thing is a training device, completely harmless to both humans and animals, designed to train pet dogs who bark (I know, I know - I don't have a dog!)... Anyway, the gadget features an ultrasonic beeper (inaudible to humans, but dogs can hear it) and a loud alarm to alert people (help) and scare off an attacking dog - this was the bit got my attention, as I have nightmares about being chased by dogs whilst cycling through semi-isolated areas on my own... The online description said it was particularly useful for cyclists, meter-readers & early morning walkers... So as we laughed our heads off and pondered how this novel thing would work, I stuffed it in my bag and we got ready to leave the carpark.

Amanda showing of her iPhone case at the start

Our first pitstop was just up the road where we tried to pump Amanda's tyres with a service station pump designed for anything but Black Beauty's skinny wheels.Failing to put even a smidgeon of air in her tyres, she decided to brave the land of softish wheels, and so we continued towards The Entrance and beyond. It actually was truly wonderful, the weather was perfect and the undulating terrain toward Toukley is blissful to cycle, it really is...

There's a big bridge at Toukley (with amazing, windy views from the top...), but this bunny decided the ultimate photo opportunity was before the bridge and the ultimate views... this meant that we had two photo stops with very little space in between. Getting a bit too excited about taking photos, we almost ended up with a drowned camera, but luckily Amanda stopped me from placing the camera on the bridge railing to take a 'group photo' - it would most definitely have blown off and landed in the drink!

Pre-bridge photo opportunity...

 

Amanda near Toukley bridge

Two bunnies ON the bridge...

... and the view from the now famous bridge

Cycling through Toukley was exciting; water was clearly visible on both sides between the houses on either side of the main street which made the scenery quite spectacular! We cruised on up a steep hill where poor Amanda was pushed to the limit as she didn't want to stop half way up the hill in full view of a domestic argument taking place on the other side of the road. Time to catch that breath and find a cycle shop where Amanda finally got some air in her tyres. She will tell you she gained a foot in height, as she zoomed down the road towards H.C. Anderson land and Wyong.

Along the cycleway (an absolutely lovely stretch of separate cycleway between Wyong and Tuggerah) we almost collided with a car - parked, doors open, right in the middle of the pathway - I made some comment as I swerved around the car, only to get past the car... and see a dad with a kid that obviously had brought the car to a stop with a session of unpredicted projectile vomiting! Oh dear I thought, let's hope they didn't hear me as it was clear they had well enough on their plate already.

Amanda found an unexpected helper coming up onto Wyong road, where the hilly finish had a supportive passenger in a car wind down their window and yell: "You can do it! You can do it!" We continued in happy spirits all the way to the cycle path along the lake at Chittaway bay, where we parked our bums on a bench for a quick snack and a breather.... There were a couple of dogs barking and just out of curiosity I aimed the Dog-off gadget in their general direction and pushed the silent button to see what would happen - they stopped barking! We decided we'd leave while we could still believe it was the gadget that did it (Amanda already seeing her furry friend at home wearing this little gem around her neck...). We gritted down and cruised the last 10 or so km back to the Long Jetty carpark to make it a 45k ride with a delicious coffee waiting around the corner (where we seriously thought we would fall asleep and have to be carried off the premises).

Pelicans posing along the cycleway

Cruising along the last bit of cycleway

On the way home I dropped my bike in for a service (a mysterious clunking sound in the pedals...) and it looks as though I (in my not so clear-headed state) asked the helpful bike shop man to fit some cleats as well... oh dear, next post may well be more adventurous than I care to think of...

Fabulous to be back riding and hope to have more bunnies back on board too!

Annette :)

... and from bunny Amanda's saddle:

What a morning … Annette has covered most things but I shall just add my tuppence worth

I was so looking forward to this ride as I hadn’t seen or ridden with Netti for over 6 weeks and I was itching for an adventure..

First photo of the day...

Whilst we were trying to pump up my tyres I noticed that my back wheel was out of alignment so Annette and I clashed bicycle helmets on numerous occasions whilst we try to realign the wheel – this means that I had been cycling with a dodgy wheel for two weeks how funny!

A few things that caught my notice – mainly the ride through Toukley was one of the scariest cycling moments I have experienced and of all places to happen it had to be on a hill when I was tired. Annette was already up the top of the hill before I had got a quarter of the way up and as I looked up I saw this young lad running across the road and head towards a young girl who screamed about 4-5 times – you f**** C*** - unfortunately for me I had just stopped pedaling out of sheer exhaustion but this certainly got me going again. There were old ladies lined up on their balconies watching and one old lady walking looked at me and tutted as if to say “here we go again”. Sad that that was part of their daily life!

Safely out of Toukley we headed along the freeway (I think) and pulled up to some traffic lights – Annette ahead and me close behind. On the side of the road was the black guy from the herbal essence ad (well that’s who he reminded me of) and he was cruising down the road with his headphones in. He looked up and saw Annette, stopped and mumbled mmmmmmm and then looked at me stopped and mumbled mmmmmmmmmmmmm. What a pleasant young man I thought.

My final point is when I was cycling in the wrong gear up the underpass and I was pulling an atrocious face full of agony when a young lad wound his window down and shouted ‘ you can do – a little bit harder and you will be there” – he could quite easily have taken the mick out of me in a nasty way.

Anyway that is the end of our 45km ride, we are still preparing for our big 90km one from Newcastle to Dungog and even thinking about cleats and bike shoes. Gosh we do take this seriously!!!!!

Amanda :)

Toukley Lakes 61km

The Ride Stats

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!

Getting ready to ride...

 

 

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!!!!! 

But the most embarrassing part of the day was when I decided to go for a quick swim and Annette took a photo of me!

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...

Photo-opportunity on the Entrance bridge

 

Magenta girl riding the undulating hills

 

Precarious photo in Lake Munmorah carpark

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...).

Loitering at a busstop...

Me..catch bus? No I'm on day-release (again)

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!

Amanda cruising down the Pacific Hwy

Best bike path ever!

 

And then we reached the lake...

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...

Are we there yet?...

 

Yipeee! I DID it!!

 

And a Yodelling finish from the other one...

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
 

Long Jetty - Toukley

The Ride stats
12th July 2009

Biker bunnies: Amanda, Noelle & (buck) Matt
Location: Jong Jetty to Toukley~ 29kms
Riding time: close to 2 hours
Attire: Bright orange vest(s)
Hazard: Plastic bottle interferes with biking bunny!!!!

This ride has been superbly documented by bunny Amanda, I'm merely posting it here for all of you to enjoy!

What a jolly delicious day it was on Sunday as Noelle, myself and Matt decided to conquer our longest ride yet – Long Jetty to Toukley which is close to 29 kms.


There I am getting dressed looking pretty hot (if I may say so myself – seriously joking) before I realized that I had to wear my construction site sleeveless orange vest – I assure you it is for safety not fashion reasons that I don this wonderful invention.


Anyway, unlike the Biker bunnies from Hell, we drive to our destination and then cycle merrily on our way. Noelle and I were not prepared for the hills I can assure you. When you drive this road it does not feel hilly until you actually take notice and then wow – where did that one come from?????????? After dodging all the littlies with their mum and dads on bikes and poor old Matt nearly fell off as a kid cycled straight in front of him – we got onto the hard leg of the ride. Don’t know the name of the road but boy are the hills horrible (when you are not fit) – if Matt hadn’t have been with us we would have taken about 50 breaks instead of 2. We got a five minute break as Matt had to field a work call and Noelle and I decided to support him resting! Not bad really but I must tell you there was a lot of panting and swearing and what the f**** did we do this for...


Word of warning – on our return cycle I got hit with some passing plastic bottle clipped by a car – I nearly fell off as it hit me in the head and then went under my back wheel. Wobble wobble shit I am scared – this fear turned into energy which I used to pedal as fast as I could to get off this bloody road. It did take us close to 2 hours but Matt reckons we could do it in one – so give it a go!


Highlight of the trip – stopping at Robbos Café de la Soul for a coffee and getting some freshly made doughnuts and coffee on the house – well cool!


We will be attempting to break our records on the Gosford to Woy Woy ride this Sunday for any takers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Happy cycling!

Amanda