Friday stroll to Woy Woy

The Ride
Gosford to WoyWoy return - 26th April 2010


Bunnies on board: Amanda and Annette
Meeting place: Gosford pool
Distance cycled: Amanda: 24km Annette 33km
Speed: 16 km/h average 45 km/h max
Time riding: 2 hours 20 min
Time it took us all up: 3 hours 30 min
Calories burnt: 1213
Heart rate: 115 average 173 max

With bunny-Amanda still in recovery mode with her ligament-outed back, we met up on this fine Friday morning to ride to Woy Woy and back... We had arranged to meet by the pool at Gosford and I was happily on my way to our meeting place when suddenly out of the blue, I was YELLED at: A guy waiting at the lights on the other side of the road decided to vent his morning anger at me as I road past in the opposite direction... He threw in a few F***-ing for good measure (where one was referring to some idiot and the other was referring to some road...)... Although it wasn't nice to be yelled at, I can see the similarity with the kid in the sandpit yelling "GET OUT OF MY WAY" to the cat up a tree 50m away... There are a few (not many - truly most people on the road are ever so nice) so called motorists who need to take a good look at how they behave on the roads... a tonne of metal is a strange thing to hide in, while directing your anger at people you've never met... Yes... driving can be frustrating - there's roadworks, delays and the general stress of getting to places on time. But if you think about the real risk involved in doing something stupid - and not getting there at all: Is it really worth it??

Anyways, with that little debacle way behind me, I found myself at the pool with time to spare, and waited for bunny Amanda by the fence... Low and behold my surprise when I spot an orange flouro vest zipping around the pathway at the back of the pool! Quick! jump on bike and catch up - silly me, I was waiting in the wrong spot :) I caught up with my fellow rider just by the boat ramp and got to admire her new and very exciting bike! Black Beauty is very flash indeed and oh so suits our fashionista bunny! We set off on our merry way, chattering all the way to the bridge - and beyond... for with her new bike bunny Amanda can come out of the closet and happily embrace her secret love of hills!

We kept up a nice pace along the pathway, there were a few people out walking which we said hi to, my bell had stopped working so I did the loud HI, Hello and SORRY, while Amanda rang her bell double time... The sun was out and it was a fabulous morning to be riding. So fabulous that we were both overcome (as you too would be...) by a compulsion to YODEL & YOHOO riding through the railway tunnel at Point Clare. Meeting Mr Serious biker halfway into the tunnel was such a contrast that we ended up in stitches laughing our heads off... we honestly don't strive for this half-mad image, it just happens... ;)

Once we'd passed Point Claire we zipped out into the bike lane on Brisbane Water road, where we stretched our legs and picked up the pace sitting on about 24km/h all the way into Woy Woy. Ahh the wind in our hair and the water views - just lovely!

Getting to our half-way coffee stop at the Gnostic café had us bumping into a gang of 'senior' bike riders, all out on a Friday adventure. Amanda had properly dismounted to cross the road, whilst I was sort of straddling and trying to walk half-dismounted (bit indecisive there...) and at the same time attempting to smile, wave and say hello to the above-mentioned gang of riders.... It's a wonder I didn't lose my balance completely and fall over! We had our coffee (which was divine) sitting outside with a fabulous view... across the street, where Amanda had spotted this dress she simply just HAD to try on....(the short story to that adventure is that yes the colours were fabulous, but the cut was a disaster... and it all ended with this little voice calling for help from the change cubicle and both of us making a quick exit, leaving the shop girl to fold a pile of bedspreads which I'd been looking at... oh dear!)

Waiting for coffee... 

 

Mad...? oh no not me!

We started on our home-run with all going smoothly. A quick water stop on the side of Brisbane Water road provided a photo opportunity, where I managed to capture that elusive bunny...

 

Catch me if you can!

Water..... ahhh :)

One happy biker bunny

Everything was going ever so smoothly until my phone rang... I'm never good at finding things in my bag (even when off my bike), so to try and get the stupid phone out of the bag before it stopped ringing had me swearing at the phone while emptying my bag on the side of the road... Naturally I didn't find the phone in time and proceeded to tell Amanda what a stupid phone it is, that despite me extending the time it rings for - it still makes sure it stays hidden for those extra couple of rings... However the person who had to listen to my little sermon about phones wasn't Amanda at all, but some innocent bike rider who in the corner of my eye was posing as Amanda... I laughed and said sorry and hopped back on my bike to find Amanda laughing her head off down the road, with her camera ready... 

Phone safely put away and smile back on...

Somehow we managed one last incident just as we were parting ways (I continued up Kariong hill, while Amanda rode down past Adcock park and back to the pool)... Excitedly I was telling Amanda about my very first karate lesson and hopped off my bike to show her one of the moves, I think I asked her to hold her arms up and then I flailed my own arms in something supposed to resemble a 'block'. Who should ride past just as I'm performing the most vicious karate chop on the most innocent bike rider ever...??? The 'senior' gang of bike riders chose the perfect moment to appear out of nowhere! So... with our mad image intact we said our goodbyes and continued on our laughing merry ways.

Happy safe riding all and hope ride soon again!
Annette :)


And...... bunny Amanda has a few lines to add:


Annette has the ride well and truly summed up except I may add that when we sat down for coffee two notable things occurred:

• A vintage stationwagon pulled up next to us and out of the car climbed five old people all in their 70s and 80s having a quick coffee before they went on the ferry to Palm Beach. They were a chatty lot and even told us we had had long enough for our coffee and should jump on our bikes and keep riding – they were all jolly cute
  
• The dress looked absolutely stunning on the model (as always) and I in my delusion state thought it would look just as good on me, so after coffee we mosey on over and I get the dress of the manikin and run into the changing room all excited about such a find. However after trying for a couple of minutes I realized there was no zip so yanked it over my head and squeezed into it – silly really because I had to then try and get it off. Now I was in my trainers and I did have my bike pants on underneath but I looked absolutely hideous, more so than at the Hunter Valley, and that is saying something. I really did look like a homeless person this time. SO after laughing hysterically at myself I had to get Annette to come in and help me get it off because try as I might I really couldn’t get it over my head. After a bit of yanking and fear that I may rip the bloody thing, Annette showed me the trophy dress in her hand all safe and sound. Then the shop assistant showed me a similar patterned dress kinda A line with a biker back top half which looked even worse on me…… so we left the shop dejected but ready for our ride home.

And I also have to add, that when Annette was karate chopping me we weren’t just laughing – we were hysterical to the point that Annette nearly fell off her bike…. All in all another mad adventure with The Terminator!

Amanda :)

Hell-bunnies and a Road Angel

The Ride Stats
Bunnies on board - Lou and Annette
Intended distance - 65 km from Awaba to Broke
Covered distance - 27 km (Lou) 45km (Annette)
Water consumed - HEAPS (5-6 litres)
Heart rate - average 123 max 182
Time - including stops - 6 hours 10 min (Annette)
Calories burnt - 2483 (Annette)

Weather forecasts were predicting record heatwave temperatures, but these two hell-bunnies decided to be undeterred by nature and conquer the hell-ride we'd creatively thought up months ago.
So with our spouses declaring us barking MAD – we arranged to set off from Gosford train station early Friday morning, for a leisurely train ride to Awaba; start-point of the ride.

Both bunnies arrived well on time for the train, but with one bunny waiting at the front of the station and the other at the back entrance... there was little time left once we realized our debacle. Frantic running up and down stairs, buying tickets in a flurry and dashing down to the platform, only to realise we were on the wrong platform! We tore back up the stairs and had a fabulous view of OUR train leaving... Unfortunately this event unleashed a (somewhat embarrassing) tantrum from yours truly; foot-stamping, yelling, unruly language et all...

We missed the train tantrum...

Oh noooo...

RUN Lou RUN!!!


Luckily tanti-time was short-lived and we consoled ourselves with prep and pep talk while waiting for the next train to arrive. Lou-bunny was suffering a slight hang-over (Berocca cure on board), but kept her spirits up as we ate our breakfast on the train.

We got off the train at Awaba and stepped out into an already HOT day at 8:30 in the morning. Braving the initial heat shock, we saddled up and left the station. The first part of the ride took us up to Cessnock road and on to Palmers road where we crossed the bridge over the F3 freeway. A few short stops to consult our many maps (we definitely didn't want to get lost on this ride), making sure we were on the right track (which luckily we were :) ), we then continued on towards Freemans drive.

This is where we covered the HILLY part of the ride! There were quite a few hills thrown at us, the biggest of them being very similar to Kariong hill... It just kept going UP and UP and UP, with the demoralising feeling of trucks passing and SLOWING down past the bend in front of us... informing us that it was going to get even steeper before we reached the top. We got there though, and realised that our water supplies would need topping up soon with the temperature quickly creeping up towards 40 degrees. We stopped at a servo near Brunkerville and took on board several fresh bottles of water. Lou's handy-dandy bicycle basket proved (yet again) to be a fantastic receptacle for all sorts of on-board luggage; 4 water bottles and her backpack sitting nicely in the basket with room to spare! Where my own bag-strapping contraption proved (as always) to be a slightly hazardous companion, purely due to my failure to remember closing zips and fastening straps after each stop...

Posing bunny on our first stop

2 MAD and HOT hell-bunnies

Stopping for water in Brunkerville


By the time we passed Mt Vincent and headed onto Lake Rd, poor bunny Lou started to hit the proverbial WALL... She had been feeling slightly off-colour since the start of the ride, and with the relentless heat things quickly went from bad to worse. Her heart rate monitor was threatening to pack things in and go home (if Lou didn't), shade was playing hide-and-seek, water didn't seem to help... and finally Lou stopped, got off her bike and wandered aimlessly into the trees on the side of the road looking for SHADE!!! Naturally I was worried (this is not hell-bunny Lou's normal behaviour), and tried to establish how bad things were (ambulance, helicopter air-lift, taxi, food???); we rested for a while and Lou decided she was right to go again, although she said she wasn't quite tip-top... We ventured a bit further along the long HOT road with Lou's heart rate climbing way too fast for comfort. In an almost dazed state she crossed the road to flop down in a shady spot under some trees announcing that the heat had beaten her. We then sent an emergency message to Road-Angel Amanda, requesting immediate pick-up!

Freemans Drive with heavy traffic

It's getting harder and hotter...

Ouch! an ant BIT me!!

Little shade and 40+ degrees!

Brave bunny-Lou soldiers on


As Amanda bunny was driving to our destination (a frivolous girls' weekend in the Hunter Valley) she would be passing our way in a few hours time and would be able to pick up heat-struck bunny number 1. After some food and more water, Lou decided she'd try to make it into Cessnock (roughly 15km from where we were), and we tentatively set off again with Lou leading the way. SUN, HEAT, more HEAT and finally a long slow climbing hill to Kearsley (about 10km from Cessnock)... Poor bunny Lou looked as if she would faint!! We stopped at a servo with lovely people who quickly got Lou sat down with ice water, splice ice-cream and more water "No no don't pay now – OHH you do look PALE! In this HEAT...!!! Sit down here love..." After a short bunny-conference, we decided that Lou would be well looked after with cups of tea and a well-deserved rest; waiting in air-conditioned comfort for Amanda to arrive, and I would continue the ride...

Smack into the proverbial wall

Crawling towards Kearsley

Lou coming up the hill into Kearsley


So... pig-headed bunny number 1 continued her ride... Initially I felt fine (even made the mistake of comparing myself to a lizard when earlier telling Lou that "the heat doesn't really affect me"), it was hot but I got through Cessnock and out onto Wine Country road without any trouble. By now the temperature had just past 43 degrees and the HOT westerly wind was blowing straight in my face and I was slowly starting to wonder what on earth I was doing...!!! I drank plenty of water and even crossed the road to stand under a sprinkler to cool down. Stops were definitely becoming more frequent as I would eye the road ahead looking for SHADE, any SHADE (which incidentally there was very little of...)! By the time I reached Pokolbin I was feeling so exhausted I parked myself on a verandah at a wine, cheese, café and mixed shop complex with two 1 ½ litre bottles of water and a splice ice-cream (somehow firmly planted in my mind as REALLY GOOD STUFF by Lou :) ). As I sat there with sweat, ice-cream and grime pouring down my face and arms, a Dutch student of sports medicine came up and said hello. He was kind enough to not comment on my outward appearance, instead choosing the ultimate pep comment: "Respect man!" (this can also be translated to "You are friggin Barking MAD" which I naturally chose not to hear :) ). After resting, I continued on to Broke Road, although by now I was really starting to feel pure exhaustion taking over; my arms felt COLD – not hot... and my vision was sorely focussed on seeking out shade ahead. Road Angel Amanda could not have passed me at a better moment: A beep from behind and there she was, with Lou-bunny safely on board, packed in with Tor and Lou Hopley! "Do you want a lift?" Oh Thank you! :)

An exhausted bunny

A pretty tired bike too...


With 45 km completed on the hottest day ever in November, it was time to call it a day and thank my lucky stars that Road Angel Amanda arrived when she did :) The last 20km of the journey were completed in air-conditioned comfort watching the bumpy hilly road ahead thinking "There's NO WAY I could have ridden this now" It was an adventure, and I'm glad we did it – even if we didn't complete the full distance. This ride feels like a good lesson in learning to hear when the body is yelling "ENOUGH", and I'm glad we had the help to stop when we needed to.

So... after a shower, a jump in the pool and a nap, it was time to enjoy our wonderful weekend in the Hunter Valley.

Thanks for an impressive effort bunny-Lou and thanks for saving us bunny-Amanda!!

Looking forward to our next (less hot) adventure already!

The Map

Annette :)

Amanda's solo bunny ride

I swallowed a fly

Oh no not I....

Indeed I did! What a great start to my solo ride. The fact that I left my water bottle on my car and drove off leaving the bottle to rattle down my drive, unbeknownst to me until I had already set off on my solo cycle.

Oh never mind I thought as I cycled along merrily, I can always buy one at the little shop on the way. I decided to as fast as I could considering I hadn’t ridden for nigh on three weeks. Talking to myself I pushed myself harder and harder and then I did it – I swallowed a FLY!!!!!!!!!!!! It got stuck in my throat and I couldn’t do anything but swallow – yuk and no water to wash the nutritious meal down with either. I pulled over at the shop, fly in throat and delved into my pouch to discover that I only had 50cents – I did for one brief moment consider going into the shop and asking if I could get some tap water for 50cents but couldn’t be bothered getting off my bike only to be kicked out of the shop.


There were lots of merry cyclers on the path today and each and every one gave the nod or a big hearty smile. Got to Woy Woy in record time for a solo cyclist – 35 minutes and then continued on to the Peninsular Leisure Centre – what a pleasant ride it was even if I was dehydrating. It got so bad that I stopped at the toilets and took a sip of water (from the tap not the toilet bowl).


On the way home I passed a photographer taking a photo of yes you guessed it Belinda Neale on a bike – well she was standing with the bike I don’t know if she could actually ride it and the Major Chris Holstein was standing beside her. Now if Lou had been with us she would no doubt have stopped, pushed her breasts out and somehow got in the photo. But not I – I am the shy type so I cycled past chuckling at the unbelievable photo this would make.


And that is about it for my little adventure except for the last lap when suffering from severe dehydration I saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in the woods!


Lesson to be learnt – NEVER GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amanda :)

Lilliputians on the Ridgeway

Today was an adventure to write home about :) this ride is therefore posted by both survivors, to fully illustrate the gruelling and exciting paths we took. The ride started in West Gosford, cruised up to Lisarow, then looping around Gosford, taking in the scenic parts of Holgate (including the hills), East Gosford, Springfield & finally back to the starting point.

The Ride
12th August 2009

Bunnies on bikes - Amanda and Annette
Meeting place - Gosford RSL
Start time - 9:45 am
Attire - 1 bright orange flouro vest & 1 bright yellow bunny vest

First up: bunny Amanda's fabulous ride account - enjoy!

Fear and trepidation were my initial feelings this morning as I rose out of bed. Pack the children off to school, put the washing on the line, load up by bike and off I set – to meet the BIKER BUNNY FROM HELL!

I was ready for a hard ride but not quite this hard – my knees are killing me, by bum and front bum are sore and my back is a tad stiff and I have just had a nanno nap! And it's only 5:15pm!

Anyway I digress, we set off on the ride at around 9:45 (after we finished taking photos and generally being silly) and I was going ok until an alsation decided that it didn't like bikes and tried to maul me – hey I didn't think I looked that scary in my fluoro top but the owner assured me it wasn't me it took offence to but my bike but seeing as I was on the bike I figured that the dog would probably attack me anyway. She managed to pull it away and I asked her which way she was walking so I didn't have to ride past her. Thank God she wasn't going the same way – Annette at this stage was in Niagara Park shops getting water and mistakenly taking a BIKE RIDERS MUST DISMOUNT BEFORE THEY ENTER THE SHOPPING CENTRE to read BIKE RIDERS MUST DISMOUNT ONCE THEY ENTER THE SHOPPING CENTRE. That would explain why 6 security guards tackled her to the ground – only joking!

Anyway we had actually ridden, what I was later to discover, the easy part! Ridgeway shocked my senses into a profound lack of energy – the hills were oh so steep and long! At one point Annette had cycled off into the distance and left me to the sounds of the birds and nothing else. I began to panic and had visions of wild boars running out of the wilderness to attack me and then being taken by scores of Liiliputians and tied up. Annette would never find me – I had no energy to cycle faster so I just had to pray that there was nothing sinister in the woods. (yes by this stage, my brain had been starved off oxygen and I was going mad).

I even had to get off my bike and walk up one of these god-damn awful hills – I am a loser!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We meandered our way through Matcham and Holgate and stopped outside the Grammar school where we laughed incessantly over really stupid things. A poor guy stopped to get something out of his boot and Annette and I watched him carefully afraid that he might get a hacksaw and come and chop us up and chuck us in his boot. Then Annette made me nearly wet my pants laughing by creating this vision of this poor chap walking towards us and pulling a map out to ask for directions and we both ran off screaming – by this stage both of us were mad and salivating!!

INTERRUPTION – I just had a phone call from a market research company asking for peoples views on, well this is what I thought he said – how people choose to fold their bike but he actually said how people choose the food they buy! - I am turning into a bike fanatic – everywhere I look there are bikes!!!!

We then cycled up the Entrance Road towards Springfield and once again my little fat legs gave way and I had to walk – hill number 2.

I then had to walk up hill number 3 at Springfield and then we stopped for coffee at Café Jam and my legs by now were nearly jam – I had gone past the jelly stage.

A couple more giggles and then we cycled all the way back and collapsed – well I did anyway

posted by Amanda :)


Bunny Annette's view from the saddle:

First up: bunny Amanda is NOT a loser! She's conquered every hill on this ride without hailing a taxi or disolving in tears - that's star bunny quality and determination :)

After a hectic morning of aiming to get out the door on time (failed), bike, kids and myself walked up to the school... slightly aware that I was running close to the wind - I pushed on with the obligatory "COME ON" calls, which prompted one of the mums near the school to dub me the pacer in "the Keirin" (oh dear, that bad is it? ;) ) left 2 panting but kissed kids at school and raced down to the RSL (for a couple of quick middies - NOT ;) ). Bunny Amanda had her bike out of car and ready to go, but before we took off she had to endure the photo session, with the RSL in the background... There was the 'almost temptation' that we'd plonk ourselves in the RSL for some pokies and beers (and maybe some Bingo), but as the sun was shining and we'd got THIS far, we cruised out on to the highway.

Manns Rd has a nice wide shoulder, so despite the reasonably heavy traffic, we cruised past the industrial area and Bunnings at a happy pace. Due to the hectic morning I'd forgotten my water bottle, discovering this after our first hill... a shop stop was planned to fix this minor hiccough. Niagara Park provided a small shopping complex (with confusing signage described in Amanda's post), & with water back on board, we cruised on towards Lisarow.

Getting across the Pacific hwy threw in a slightly stressfull moment when bunny Amanda suddenly became 'boot-camp-Amanda', yelling GOGOGOGOGOGOOOOOOOOO! causing me to half-freeze (halfway across the hwy) thinking I'd missed something coming fast our way (being short-sighted et all) ... All good and well, we swung onto the quieter McDonalds Rd, which led to.... The Ridgeway...!

There were some hills (as described in detail above), but once we'd conquered these and met up outside the grammar school - I found out that the Lilliputians were on the prowl today! This distubing bit of news sent us on a mind-detour, which not only created a monster of a lost man in a car, but also conjured up images of poor hill-climbing bunny Amanda being dragged off into the bush by a mob of Lilliputians, with NO ONE there to save her! We laughed so much that it was quite a feat we managed to get back on our bikes (not that a Lilliputian kidnap is joking material, but exhaustion and oxygen deficiancy has a habit of doing strange things to the brain ;) ).

We encountered a slight detour before finding the right path to East Gosford and the much talked about coffee stop. There were 2 girls just leaving a nice sunny table and we had a quick chat with them before sending them on their way and plonking ourselves ready to absorb caffeine and a well-deserved short break. These girls told us they sometimes did a bikeride around the Rumbalara (we both decided this was NOT a good time to mention the Lilliputians...), we smiled and waved and ENJOYED our coffee!

The last leg back to the RSL was covered in sunshine and with our caffeine boost - we finished the home run in no time :) A 28km ride, but with all the hills and variation - this is definitely a good training ride... Any ride that prompts bunnies to seriously consider the prospect of shopping for the 'padded' bikeshorts, has to rate in the 'hell-bunny' category!

Thanks for all the laughs and look forward to our next ride! :)



The Stats

Active riding time - 2 hours 30 minutes
Distance covered - 28km
Heartrate - 130 (average) 177 (max)
Calories burnt - 1049
Dogs - 1 with lots of teeth and an anti-bike attitude
Lilliputians - countless and hidden

The Map