The brave wet riders

Bunny Amanda's account of a very adventurous ride:

Mmmmmmmmm company aside I am not sure whether I enjoyed today's bike ride or not? Tor and I arranged to go on a short 30-40 km plus ride whilst Pam could babysit Loddie so there was really no going back. This was the first day Tor and I had ridden together (apart from Sydney) so we were both really looking forward to it. Rain Rain go away come back another day or as Tor kept saying ‘It will clear up in a minute' or ‘Blue Sky over there' – right so why were we always cycling under a black bucketing rain cloud???????


 I left my car at the iBar and cycled to Tor's, by the time I reached there I was literally soaked. Not thinking it could get any worse, we set off on our merry way up the steepest of hills and around the back of the Entrance Road through bush or should I just say mini lakes and out onto the road. Whilst cycling through the bush Tor proceeded to tell me about the huge python she jumped over whilst trying to protect her children and nearly having her leg bitten off – I kid you not ask Tor!!!!!!!! (I may also add here that we should be called the Rebel Bunnies because we cycled along a path that specifically stated ‘Bushwalkers only'!! Let them try and stop us)!!!!!!

Panic set in but I couldn't cycle very fast because it was so bloody wet and I really didn't want to put my foot in a muddy puddle. Some time later we emerged from the bush beaten and bruised but elated at reaching the other end. Rain was coming down so heavy now that I thought for one brief minute that it was hail stoning. We took shelter under a tree but alas it was not really shelter just another way of getting wet. Shivering and shaking we decided to brave the rain and cycled into The Entrance where for a brief five minutes it stopped raining and we felt the warmth of something I believe is called the sun on our backs.

That was it – the rest of the way home we were literally attacked by sheets of rain straight into our eyes. We stopped for shelter at the shops but realized that it was never going to stop so cycled on in the now cold rain. At one point I couldn't see I had so much water flooding into my eyes (and I am seriously not exaggerating).

Tor with a constant smile on her face, me with madness in my eyes cycled through puddles as deep as the Nile screaming Yahoo we are bloody mad!!!!!!!!! Some puddles were warm, some were ice cold but they all made us laugh as waterfalls came out of our shoes and we sat in puddles of cold water in our knickers ( I didn't have any knickers on as I was wearing my bike pants but they weighed 150 kilos by the end of it)

Two hours of cycling in the heavy rain and then we hit Wamberal Road where we could smell the coffee at the iBar – I put my bike in the car whilst poor Tor braved the café, drenched, flat headed and still with that by now mad smile on her face. Then we met Noelle and sat under a blanky like little ole ladies sipping our coffee and shivering.

When we cycled through the golf club the oldies commented on how mad we were cycling in the rain to which Tor replied rather valiantly ‘well you're playing golf' and we got beeped a couple of times by young lads who thought we looked hot – little did they realize we were cold! No I think they beeped us to make sure that we realized we were MAD STARK RAVING MAD!

I DO NOT ADVISE ANYONE DO THIS!

Amanda :)



And... here's bunny Tor's first post on our blog (hooray!):

Well... what can I say...... Amanda has described our lovely wet bike ride so very well. I did enjoy it, very much in fact  -  but as you know I am a bit weird like that. I had been longing to go on a ride with any of the bunnies for such a long time, so there was NO WAY a bit of rain was going to stop me!  I was pleasantly surprised when Amanda still agreed to come along, even more suprised when she turned up in my driveway soaking wet!  Off we went, and it did look like the weather might clear up, but,  no matter how hard we peddled that big black cloud was over us most of the way.  It was a most joyous ride, as I could hear Amanda laughing most of the way, especially as we peddled through puddles that were nearly up to our knees!!!!  We are sooooooooooo extreme!  We even went off road for a little while and got mud on our faces... we are just so cool!

It was lovely however to chill out at the ibar under our blankie (aka dog towell) with the lovely noeybella for company.  The only problem being that then I had to bike home again, via the primary school to change home readers.  I did look a bit of a state, in an extreme bunny sort of way, but when I saw my son at primary school he just looked at me, in an embarrassed sort of way as if he didn't want to acknowledge me!  I can't understand why? Yes stark raving mad and probably a tad irresponssible but lots of fun..... and a rather good work out..... and amazingly,  we didn't pick up a single leech in the wet bush!

Tor :)


and... the Photos to prove it:

Very soaked feet...

...and drenched knee

Amanda soaked all over

Wet & cold bunny Tor

Happy smiling Tor :)

35km bunny adventure

Today finally proved beyond doubt, that when bunny-Amanda and I go bike-riding - hysterics will follow in our trail as certain as the sun shining on our padded bums... Flouro-vests and incessant laughing make us an easy duo to spot along the Central Coast roads (give THOSE ones a WIDE berth!!). :)

The Ride
27th August 2009

Bunnies on Bikes: Amanda and Annette
Meeting point: Radjhani's restaurant on Ocean View Rd
Set-off time: ~9:30am
Accessories: padded bike-pants, map, camera, phones & flouro-vests

First up - Amanda's delightful riding account:

Sadly there were no little people binding me up and carrying me into the woods today or wild boars chasing me through the forest with men in tights trying to save this fair maiden. But there were cement trucks trying to cement Annette into the road and ute drivers being pains in the derriere)!!! AND HILLS!!!!!!! And once again lots of them. I am learning to embrace my new love of hills and try my hardest to reach the top because if I don’t I will always be at the bottom!

Today was not like every other day – I was actually looking forward to the challenge and it was an early challenge followed by a cruisey straight flat ride home.

Funnily enough both Annette and I (and I blame it on the fact that it came up so quickly) had to walk up our first hill, which was at the end of Ocean View Drive, obviously Annette walked up less than I did but nonetheless that is the first time I have seen it happen.

We cruised along the shared footpath along the Entrance Rd until we crossed onto Tumbi Rd where I think all in all there are about 5 hills and guess what; I cycled up every single one of them! I did nearly vomit on the first one but soldiered on and managed to keep going for another 2.5 hours. The road is not too bad, there is a cycle path along some of the road and one has to be careful of stopping on posh people's driveways (yes even I think they are posh Noelle), especially when they are trying to get out. We discovered that Prado drivers cannot turn on a square but need a perfect arch into which they can maneouvre themselves onto the rd as one lady asked us to move further down the road – we were on HER turning circle – years of worn out bitumen and she simply couldn't veer of her traditional approach to coming out of her drive.

Water stop at Mingara petrol station where Annette lost the plot pretty early and bought herself not one but two waters, and she was already carrying a spare – what had I let myself into – was she going to kidnap me and is this why she had purchased unnecessarily large amounts of water – NO she had just had a brain freeze!

Following Tor's advice we went down Tumbi Creek Rd to try and find the lake track and I nearly ran into a grumpy old bag pushing a pram across the road – strange people in this world – she seemed pissed off that she had to wait to cross the road for a bicycle and decided to try and go it alone – but I was too fast for her and she got stuck on the kerb! :D

Then at the end of what we thought was the bike track we turned into the village idiots as we ate our sesame snaps and laughed incessantly at how out of place we looked in suburbia.

No further accidents or incidents to report until Annette with her divine love of taking photographs at every single stop said "Can you take one of me with the water in the background" and proceeded to hand me the camera forgetting that she had her bike in the other hand CRASH BANG OH MY GOD HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER STOP LOOKING AT US SERGEANT MAJOR – you get the picture. Lucky I had my bike pants on to soak up the... Only joking!

As we drove past Tor's house Annette waved and I wished the girls luck on their walk. Nearing the end of our road I got beeped by a P plater who had no idea that the road was not hers alone. Coffee break at the iBar where Annette made me pose in my workman's vest beside a road digger – do you think I look the part?

Oh home and happy!

Amanda :)


& here's my (Annette's) view from the saddle:

This 35km bike-ride started by taking on Ocean View Rd (pushing bikes, huffing and puffing up to the roundabout), & then meandering down the shared path to the Tumbi Rd roundabout (in a most elegant fashion needless to say). Sun was out and the day was indeed a beautiful one for a ride... What could possibly cause these biker-bunnies to go off the rails...?

We struck the hills of Tumbi road, but with happy undulation we got plenty of free rides too :) Our encounter with the 'posh' Prado driving lady at our first 'water stop' is probably in hindsight, what set us up for further laughs and hysterics along the way...
You have to picture this; You have just wrenched your lungs inside out to get to the top of a hill on a bicycle, adrenaline is pumping and your breathing is still that of an asthmatic horse. You wheel your bike to a stop, well off the road, plenty of room, metres and metres to the road and the driveway behind you... Then down the driveway, loud and vivacious (non-diva I might add), comes the PRADO lady. You look up and smile (as you do...), then you see her performing strange hand-signals from the driver seat... Waving? No not waving.... Drowning? hmmm nope shouldn't be... OH!! Wants me to mooooovve! Right! 20 metres isn't quite enough to steer this beast out onto Tumbi Rd, sure I get it :) Hobble Hobble (that's you moving your bike with water bottle in one hand), followed by the roar of the Prado finally making the near impossible turn onto the main road... Witness this and you're bound to lose the plot!

After the Mingara water stop, the ride took us along the bike path up towards Tuggerah with alcoholic drink inspired street names... we pedaled (drank) our way up to Kalua, before heading back down the bike path towards Long Jetty & the Entrance Rd *wave to Tor as we pass her street* completing the ride back down to the end of Ocean View Rd in Terrigal.

It is fair to say that we went from bad to worse - but we had an absolute ball :)

• At the water-buying stop, I lost my brain arriving out of the shop with 3 bottles of water (one for Amanda) not having thought where to store them... subliminal kidnap plans no doubt.
• Then the kerb-crashing grump threw us into fits of laughter, the look on this lady's face was pretty priceless as she steered her child occupied stroller BANG into the kerb with a look of complete indignation aimed at Amanda.
• The village-idiot-convention became reality as I decided to take a photo of both of us 'poised' on a log; instead the camera captured me side-swiping Amanda's sesame snap into the grass looking as though I'm either walloping her or trying to push her off the log...
• As we left the 'convention' we cycled past a suspicious man kneeling in his front lawn... in front of a very rectangular coffin-shaped hole! We instantly thought 'six feet under' and All is NOT what it seems in the 'burbs! With a few nervous giggles we quickened our pace, throwing a few looks over our shoulder ...
  
• I dare say it was a good thing that I wasn't on my bike when I haphazardly threw it on the ground (again - caused by a photo opportunity), but the crashing noises and hysterics we brought to the peaceful setting had us scrambling back on our bikes and leaving for the next debacle in less than 5 seconds!

Amanda frequently takes calls from her various family members on each ride - generally these calls appear to follow the line of either "Where are you mum?" or "How far have you ridden now? - aha... that's possible to do in half that time...!" This naturally adds to the excitement (especially when yours truly embarks on a no-brain conversation with Amanda's poor unsuspecting husband, where I was unable to string a sentence together, yet still intent on portraying us as true hell-bunnies, the end-result most definitely confirming that this village-idiot is still on the road :D ). To make matters even more hilarious, Amanda makes a quick call to Tor letting her know that we were now at (not, as would have been just as accurate in terms of location - at the Tumbi Umbi roundabout)... Wamberal Cemetary!

Finally, we cruised on back down Ocean View Rd to a well-deserved coffee, a digger waiting by the side for a last pressing photo opportunity :)

Thanks for all the laughs!

Photos


The Stats

Distance covered: 35km
Riding time: 3 hours 11 minutes (less if you ignore water stops)
Heart rate: 111 (average) 168 (max)
Calories burnt: 1017

The Map

The map doesn't show the bike-path, but generally it's pretty close :)

Big well wishes go to the Toad pole champions Lou and Tor (and Pete & Adrian) doing their 100km Oxfam trailwalk this weekend!
GOOD LUCK!!

42km around Brisbane Waters

Following Amanda's entertaining account of our Friday adventure, here's the same ride viewed from the saddle of Annette :)

The Ride
21st August 2009

bunnies on bikes: Amanda, Lou & Annette
meeting point: BikeworX in Erina
meeting time: 9:30am
attire: sparkling new Biker Bunny t-shirts + new padded bike shorts!
water: not enough
sunscreen: yes

As you'll know from Amanda's post; we all met up at the bike shop to investigate and delve into the world of padded bike shorts. Not sure if we ever had the slightest chance of remaining professional, but if we did, that chance quickly left the building as our very helpful sales guy took us through the various types, showing off the padded inserts (including a lot of technical specs, which floated way above our heads) followed by our hysterical laughter as we took it in turns to try on a range of shorts; waddling about the place and exclaiming things like "paahhhh these give me playdough legs", "whoooo looks like I'm carrying a load here" ... & "Help my bum really DOES look big in these!!".
Somehow (while some of us were still in the throws of selecting shorts), slick Lou managed a detour into the mechanic's area (undoubtedly passing on a few valuable tips to the guys), and as we left the shop, she proudly told us that she sports a 'PINK' saddle-seatbone-size, having had herself officially measured. Naturally bunny-Amanda and I were most impressed :)

So... after a slight delay of around an hour, we finally set off on the riding part of our adventure, wearing our new bike shorts (ahhh they doo feel comfortable!) and with our new Biker Bunny t-shirts we definitely stod out along the road (a laughing team yes, but definitely a team!).

Door-zone hazard (or getting 'doored'), almost became a reality as leading bunny Amanda passed not one, but 3 cars in a row, where the slightly elderly driver (note: different driver different car :D), swung the door open without looking behind! Luckily there was enough room so no damage done, but parked cars can definitely pose a worry... We continued on our merry way, encountering our next hazard (the magpie incident described by Amanda), where we were given proof that wearing a helmet can indeed save the day (and your head).

It was warm, close to hot (summery) for the first half of our ride, and a warm breeze floated around our bareish legs, which more than likely helped our water consumption through the roof. We got to Woy Woy where we stopped for a quick snack - a photo opportunity (Lou you win hands down!) and a visit to the local 'ladies'.

Woy Woy through to the spit bridge was mostly covered along a lovely bike path (which a very helpful elderly gentleman directed us to), showing off the waterfront and a nice easy flat ride.
Once we crossed the bridge, the terrain changed and we embarked on our first big hill of the day.
Despite what bunny-Amanda tells of her efforts, she did extremely well and was never far behind - dubbing her the bunny-battler of the day and well deserving of hell-bunny status indeed! Empire Bay Drive throws some unexpected (and horrific) things at any slightly 'un-co' rider... Several times along the way both Amanda and I almost 'ditched' ourselves when quickly looking back to check on rider behind and finding that in the short 'look-away and swerve a bit' time, the shoulder turned into a ridge with a sheer ditch drop coming at us!!! Somehow we both luckily managed to avoid tangling with the bushes, but it certainly was a tad freaky :)

I tend to believe that the people who design bike lanes (also known as shoulders if they are wide enough :P ) believe that bikes travel at walking pace (i.e. if the lane finishes suddenly (merges into a barricade) then that's fine, because you have plenty of time to do whatever it is you do when a lane ends... Or they simply calculate shoulders and extra lanes for bicycles on a $ per metre system, allocate X amount of $$ for a particular road (maybe it was meant to stretch the full length, but then the weather was bad.. and Johnny left as supervisor.. and Drono said he wanted a payrise and... the lane shrunk! Sorry to whinge, I just think if roads were consistently made more bike friendly, so many more people would ride to work & to school - which would be great for the environment :)

Water running short, and more hills to climb, it was sheer determination from the map-bunny Amanda (no taxi was called, nor did she call the RTA to accuse them of 'changing the road by adding heaps of hills just to stuff her around') which kept her pedalling and cruising on upwards and onwards.

With time starting to creep away (especially for bunny-Lou who'd been given a biker-bunny exit visa to come on the ride and she had to get back in time for her son's presentation and the weekend camping trip) we managed to (not truthfully!) picture bunny-Lou crashing in on her son's presentation in full biker-bunny gear, dropping bike at door (on top of some non-award kid) applauding Oskar while stamping on toes and falling over the kid that threw up at the mothers' day singing feast, while dragging her son off to the weekend camping adventure with a loud "SEE YA!!"... When you've been riding for 2 and a half hours, the above seems hysterically funny - although in a sober frame of mind it most likely seems half silly to say the least ;)

Avoca Drive through Kincumber and Green Point was conquered despite all the road works along the way. As I climbed to the half-way point of one of the last hills (it sort of panned out half way and then rose up the last bit) there were road workers by the side, one guy who was walking along the side smiled at me... :) I stopped & turned around to wait for 2 blazing bunnies, and suddenly realized that the 'now conveniently turned and walking back in my direction road-worker-guy' , thought my silly smile was directed at him. So to complete the picture of an erratic girl on a bike, I jumped back on my bike and pedalled to the top of the hill "DOH" Oh well, most likely he just thought "there goes another biker-bunny, they're like that"...!

We waved good-bye to bunny-Lou at Fountain Plaza in Erina and collapsed at the coffee shop up the road, where conversation circulated around fish tacos (!) and the possibility of never being able to walk again. Coffee was bliss and the ride was a hoot. It truly feels fantastic to cover all those kilometres on a bike, see all the things along the way and do it in the company of special friends!

Thanks for the laughs and the company and lets do it again soon!


Photos (posers riders et all)



The Stats
Riding time - 3 hours 20 min (less about 20 min for stops)
Distance covered - 42km (YEAH!!!)
Heartrate - 113 (average) 166 (max)
Calories burnt - 1116
Evaluation of padded bike shorts - GREAT :)


The Map