Ride Updates

While the Biker Bunnies have been finding time to ride, there doesn't seem to have been much time to post about rides on our blog, which is why I thought on the eve of the  Loop the Lake  ride - I'd add some photos from our latest adventures...


November 2011 - February 2012
Gosford to Ettalong and back
A sunny pre-summer day in November, took us on a slightly longer than our trusted Gossie-Wossie ride... We continued past Woy Woy down to Ettalong - where we had a most interesting coffee experience (which included a lecture on the failures of making a strong coffee :P)... and a browse in the outdoor shopping arcade area, before embarking on the return pedal. All up this adventure covered about 35km.

Amanda at the start near Gosford Pool

Tor arriving in Woy Woy

The waterfront between Woy Woy and Ettalong

...hmmm interesting coffee indeed!

... couldn't agree more :)

Ettalong cycle path with the Jacaranda in full bloom

Gossie Wossie Rides and more...
Amanda and I fitted in a few rides to Woy Woy and back before the Christmas rush. Then early in the new year (after another bout of rainy days), Tor - with her brand new bike came along for an adventure along a slightly wetter bike path. After coasting along for years on her old (but still lovely) bike, Tor literally flew to Woy Woy and back on her aptly named (female) Stallion:

Coming out of the railway tunnel at Point Claire

Biker Bunnies with style :)

Amanda's bike is 'looking after' the new Stallion...

Early February Amanda and I did a hilly ride around Springfield (no camera on board for this one sadly). We started in Erina and cycled down towards the art gallery where we turned into the back streets of East Gosford and Springfield. There are a few decent hills along the way, which gave us a chance to grunt and pedal through the lower gears for a while. Almost at the end of our loop (finish line in sight),  yours truly came up with the idea that we could turn around and double back the way we came to make it a longer (and hillier) ride. Amanda delightfully accepted (you know she secretly loves hills...) and proved a star going up the mad hill where the round-about is painfully positioned before you get to the top... No time for coffee at the end of this ride, but it was still a fabulous adventure :)

Bike re-vamp...
After spending the early part of its life being pink it was time for mini-Amanda's bike to have a re-vamp. With spray cans and stickers at hand, we embarked on a mission to give her bike a new look. This involved cleaning the bike, pumping the tyres, oiling the chain and masking (some) areas before taking aim with the spray can - and here's the groovy result:

Hope you're all well and stay tuned for an update on the Loop the Lake ride which we're off to do tomorrow!

Annette :)

End 2010 Ride Wrap-up

Here's a little wrap-up of our latest adventures in 2010... Hope you enjoy the slightly belated photos, and hope to see you on lots of exciting escapades in 2011!

The Gossie - Wossie rides...

Amanda & I went on a few of these leisurely adventures in the last few months of the year. Armed with a good dose of humour, lots of silly laughs and a few hysterics; we cruised along the beautiful waterfront spanning the distance between Gosford and Woy Woy. In Woy Woy we stop for that delicious coffee before returning back the same way.

The stretch of road from just past Truscott & almost all the way to the Woy Woy bridge (not sure if that's the name... but it is a bridge and you can see Woy Woy 'towering' just after it :) ) offers a fabulous sprinting tempter to the ride. We mostly forget to record the exact time we leave Gosford, but always marvel at the 35+km/hour clocked along this stretch, believing we MUST have done it in record time...

Our last ride had an extra treat thrown in at the end: Amanda came up with the great idea that we should finish off with a swim in Gosford pool! Oh that blue, blue water and the sun shining from the blue sky! It was blissful and although I still had the ride up the hill before I could call it a day, it was a fabulous way to 'end' a ride. We could almost call ourselves tri-athletes (a bit of running around in the parking area would have sealed the deal for sure...) after our mixed workout.

     Posing at Gosford pool...

     It's hotting up... time to get out the sun-screen!

    Which way to Woy Woy??

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Tuggerah - Long Jetty - Entrance Adventure

At the end of November bunnies Tor, Amanda & Annette went for a slightly longer bike ride. It was a nice warm day (plenty of water needed) - just perfect for a ride with friends :)

Amazingly we all managed to meet up without anyone getting seriously lost... I caught the train to Tuggerah station planning to meet the girls at the start of the cycleway - but Tor & Amanda (who started from Tor's house in Forries) got to the end before my train got in & so they cruised down into seedy swampland for a hair-raising detour into the desolate forgotten side of Tuggerah. Quick back-track pedalling had them swing out onto Wyong road just behind me... unfortunately though, traffic drowned their excited yelling and obviously I didn't see them... so we all caught up at the Chittaway pub (& had a few beers before continuing in our dreams...).

The ride was lovely - weaving along the waterway on the cycle path to Long Jetty & then all the way up to the Entrance where we stopped for coffee. Fuelled on coffee we rode back the same way & continued on to Tor's house in Forresters beach where we all drank lots of water, after which, Amanda picked up her car & I waved bye to the lovely bunnies and rode on home.

    Someone at the back really wants to be in the photo...

    Tor & Amanda near Long Jetty

    This coffee bunny's got attitude :)

    I am So allowed another coffee - my iPhone says I can!

    It wasn't me...

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Mini Bunny Rides...

The kids and I have been on a few little rides close to home, checking out the horses and ducks across the road & riding to the local library. Ben is definitely due for a bigger bike: at the moment he's riding with his knees up near his ears poor kid, funny how they grow so quickly!

We went on one sunny adventure which involved a mix of road, pathway, roadworks and even some lovely scenery thrown in for good measure. Crossing the Pacific Hwy was precarious to say the least, with roadworks and a new crossing to contend with and lots of traffic. Once we got to the other side things quietened down and even the ducks came out to say hello...

    Crossing the Hwy...

    Cruising down the bike path :)

Apart from a bunch of solo rides this concludes our rides for 2010.

Happy riding to all of you in 2011!

Annette :)

Norah Head return

After a few so called 'convalescing' rides to Woy Woy, Amanda comes up with a delicious offer: Ride to Norah Head light house (from Duffy's oval in Terrigal) and back again. I thought this was a fabulous idea as the road up that way is gloriously undulating and the scenery is positively beautiful! For those of you who haven't yet ridden along the road north of the Entrance, you really must come on a ride; most of the way has a generous shoulder and although there are some hills you can maintain a nice steady pace because the road goes DOWN as well as UP :)


The Ride Stats
Friday 7th May 2010 

Bunnies on board - Amanda and Annette
Meeting place - Duffy's Oval Terrigal
Distance cycled - 58km
Time cycling - 3 hours 10 minutes
Total adventure time - 4 hours 15 minutes
Speed - Maximum: 40.9km/h Average: 18.1km/h
Heart rate - Maximum: 168 Average: 121
Calories burnt - 1650


The Map

Friday dished up a lovely Autumn morning; sun shining from blue skies and a road waiting to be explored. Despite that we both had lingering colds we were excited, and so we set off with determination and glee written on our faces.


The first killer hill comes at the top of Ocean View road, it takes you by surprise as it sort of stages up in 3 levels - the last bit up to the roundabout being quite steep - if you're in the wrong gear it pretty much turns into a case of get off your bike or roll backwards...It is a short hill though, and straight after (once you cross the busy road at the roundabout) you land on the oh so smooth bike path which takes you all the way down to the Tumbi Rd roundabout - definitely a reward section of the ride :)


We meandered along, laughing at all sorts of things - and managed to get on to the bike track at Long Jetty without any major obstacles. Riding along the path way we spotted a cop car parked inconspicuously by the side of the pathway (naturally it was waiting for Amanda... and I, being her 'police-escort', was supposed to deliver her to the car without causing too much of a kurfuffle... ), failing my mission we stopped by THE Long Jetty.... and took some photos - whereby the next alert to my failed mission cycled past in the shape of 2 cops on mountain-bikes. I decided that I would play vague and continue the ride with my "escortee".

The Long Jetty at Long Jetty...

Lovely water views :)

Cops on bicycles disappearing in the distance

Gung ho Amanda rearing to continue riding

Having officially become deserters of an undefined mission (elaborate at your leisure), we reached The Entrance in shorter time than expected (even though we did have quite a few short stops along the way). We had a group meeting to decide on where to go from here... Lingering colds played a part in the possibility of turning around and making it a shorter ride, yet the road beyond the Entrance bridge beckoned to us and we soldiered on towards Soldiers Beach...


I could rave about the road (Amanda will say I'm MAD) as it is a truly lovely stretch, but instead of boring you with the details I'll just say COME for a ride; you're bound to love it! :) 

Central Coast Hwy at Magenta

Isn't Magenta just a lovely name for a place? 

We made it all the way up to the lighthouse at Norah Head, with amazing views and a fruit and sesame snap snack as our halfway reward. While we were admiring the view and thinking about booking a weekend in the lighthouse accommodation;  I realised that time was going to be short getting back in time for my son's school assembly presentation... ouch!

Blissful ocean seen through trees at Norah head

The lighthouse 

The lighthouse obscured by a bunny

Amanda  in front of the lighthouse accommodation.

Return trip was slightly rushed, yet still very enjoyable. Poor Amanda looked quite exhausted as we neared the end of our adventure, yet she deserves a big pat on the back for enduring close to 60 km after 2 months  of recuperating (with only a few shorter rides up her sleeve) from her back injury - well done bunny!.

I made it home - unloaded bike and walked (stumbled) up to the school, getting there at the tail end of the assembly item which was lucky, good and a happy ending to a lovely day out :)

Safe and happy riding to all of you!

Annette :)

Extreme cyclists!

Us Aussies really can't complain about the weather conditions... no matter how bad, wet, windy or anything they get... As I'm sitting here on the eve of going down to Cronulla for the Gear Up Girl ride tomorrow (with weather forecast predicting rain, thunder storms and windy conditions), I thought I'd share these photos with you...

Sweden is a small country way up north.... they get a lot of snow there - yet they still ride bikes; all year! One of our happy blog followers lives there and rides her bike every day: after seeing these photos, Greta is officially an HONORARY Biker Bunny! And we've run out of excuses for bad weather :)

 

   First you have to FIND your bike...

 
Then you may need to brush some snow off


Built for speed...


   Here comes Greta, swishing through the snow...


...and a basket full of snow


   Workplace bike racks... they all ride!


   And here's the bike path!

Hope you enjoy these as much as I do, having ridden in snow and ice I know it's not the easiest conditions to stay upright in (although you can be lucky with soft landings...). Thumbs up to our northern bunny and keep enjoying your cycling wherever you are!

Annette :)

1st Bunny-ride for 2010

The Ride
18th January 2010 - Gosford Pool to Umina return 


Stats
Distance cycled - 50.2km
Speed - 16.5 km/h average 50.7 km/h max
Heart rate - 113 average 170 max
Calories burnt - 1440
Time - 4 hours 19 min incl stops


... and here's the adventure seen from the saddle of bunny Amanda:

An interesting article prompted me to write about our last bike ride from Gosford Pool to Umina Beach and back –

Extract:
"...It seems to have escaped the attention of a lot of bicycle riders that it is a shared path for pedestrians and cyclists. It has also escaped their attention (to put it politely) that pedestrians do not have eyes in the back of their heads…"

I had a chuckle at this because we were cycling along this very path when an older lady (who I may add was right in the centre of the path) shouted at Annette ‘Would you like to cycle over me’ – Annette as usual was totally oblivious to this and had no idea the comment was aimed at her. Whilst I admit cyclists do (sometimes) need to be more conscious of pedestrians the same can be said of pedestrians who think they can take up the whole path and expect us wonderful health fanatics to veer into the grass and wave politely at them as if they were royalty………… there, I have had my whinge – now its all over!!!!!!!!!

This was actually a delicious ride, perfect weather and perfect company – Lou as usual up for a pose wherever she could and Annette laughing her merry way around the track. I surprisingly had a hangover and was not feeling to hot when I started but after a dodgy start I was raring to go (especially at the end when I discovered I had burnt 1000 calories).

Our first giggle of the day started when Lou told us that she wanted to go to the toilet even before we had started riding and that she wanted to go to the bike shop and get a stand on her bike. ‘No way’ I screeched – it will take hours and I was on a time limit. Dejectedly she cycled past the bike shop dreaming of her missed chance.

Posing bunny on our first stop

... more posing :)

Bunny Amanda in Woy Woy


Shortly after, Annette and I chuckled at the most intense cyclist we have ever seen – about 50 years of age with his lips tightly pursed and his eyebrows furrowed doing about 10kms – at least he was giving it a go!

Then we cycled along the beautiful Brisbane Waters to the end of Umina Beach where Annette and Lou both leaned their bikes up against the showers (no stand see) making it virtually impossible for any beach goer to have a shower.

We've reached our half-way mark

Note the bike having a shower...

3 beach bunnies


Acting like little pigs we stuffed our faces and then headed off to Woy Woy for coffee where Lou once again not missing a shopping opportunity headed over to ‘maybe do a little shop’. Annette couldn’t decide whether she wanted coffee here because last time we came, a little child had pooed in the toilets and you could smell it outside – too funny!!!!!!!! And no funny smells this time!

Posing coffee drinkers...

Back on our bikes and off home where I stopped every five minutes to see if I had got my dream job as Web Author at Sanitarium but alas I did not get the phone call til later in the afternoon and it was negative!

The beautiful waterfront ride!

Start gearing up for the 50km cycle from Cronulla to Homebush in the Go Girl Challenge March 6

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