Cruising to Woy Woy

Another adventure along our well travelled path to Woy Woy, narrated by bunny Amanda; enjoy :)

The Ride Stats

Bunnies on board: Amanda and Annettte
Meeting place: Near Adcock Park
Distance cycled: 28.2km
Time spent cycling: 1 hour 40 min
Total adventure time: 2 hours 10 min
Calories burnt: 895
Heart rate: 119 average 173 max
Speed: 16.1 km/h average 47.6 km/h max

Being caged up in the rain certainly made Annette and I somewhat keen to get back on our bikes – even though Annette had just completed the 100km challenge. With somewhat dubious weather, as soon as we saw a break in the clouds we jumped on our bikes and set off on a gentle ride to Woy Woy and back. We passed lots of happy cyclists along the way and had a couple of laughs as Annette and I put tissue paper in our ears to try and stop the wind from giving us headaches, but Annette had to take them out because she felt like she was cycling underwater. We came across a large amount of dog poo on the path which set Annette off on a rave about ‘why didn’t they just let their dogs shit in their lounges and how rude they were.’ It WAS rather a large poo!

The detrimental tissues in ears 

At our usual coffee stop at Gnostic Manna, we run into Ann Maree and some rather unusual characters. While ordering coffee Annette gets into a funny conversation with a cyclist:

Cyclist comes to a halt on the pavement and asks Annette "How are you feeling?".... "Good Good" she replies, whereby cyclist exclaims: "Well I'm feeling GREAT now that I've STOPPED!" 
Then we see a large array of weirdo’s. First of all, a man dressed in full on ski-like attire starts chatting to Annette’s new cycle friend whilst he smokes a cigarette and looks like he should have a set of skis in his hand, an old man walks past in two pairs of jeans, which has Annette staring in amazement whilst he stares back at her and then a little old lady with a 10 foot turban on her head rambles past. It was almost like we were in a movie script for Jumanji or something ... vey funny indeed!

On our way home we cycled past a lady walking her dog (off the lead) and Annette disappeared into the distance as I shouted ‘The dog is not interested in you … it is not even looking at you’ – poor Annette really doesn’t like dogs which makes it difficult for me because I am not that comfortable with them either and I have to chase her every time at jaw breaking speeds. At the underpass we also passed a couple of lads who shouted ‘oooh it is slippery down here’

Then when we reached our departure point we had a giggle whilst we both tried to mount our bikes whilst pushing off with one leg and cocking the other one over the saddle … sounds rude especially since we had also been talking about places to route our bikes (but we meant root).

Unfortunately we didn’t go into another world today but once we have worked out our time frames, fantasy land here we come.

In the sun-glass world...

Amanda :)

Century Challenge

A sole bunny ventures out on a 100k ride....

This bicycle event (which I found out about from Bunny Tor), is organised by the Rotary club, and starts pretty much right on my doorstep. Sadly none of our other bunnies were able to attend..., but being so close and tempting, I decided to give it a go and see where it landed me:

The Ride Stats:

Meeting place: Mt Penang 7:15 am (cold)
Start time: ~8:10 am
Finish time: ~1:30pm
Active cycling time: 5 hours 42 min (including to and from event)
Total time: 6 hours 13 min
Calories burnt: 3723
Heart rate: 145 average 174 max
Speed: 18km/hour average 53km/hour max

I got to the event registration with time to spare and had my BLUE number pinned to the back of my vest by a very helpful and encouraging volunteer. Everyone mad enough to sign up for the 100k ride wore blue numbers, while the slightly more sane riders sported a red number on their back.... I wandered around for a bit and watched other riders getting organised, there was an air of flurry and excitement - further enhanced because the PA system didn't arrive, and the organisers were forced to convey their instructions multiple times by moving about the crowd with a megaphone :) One happy bloke next to me summed up the barely audible instructions in one line: Basically Don't fall of your bike and you'll be fine!...

Just after 8:00 am the 100k riders were ready to set off (with the 40k riders due to follow at around 8:30); I'd placed myself waaaaay back in the pack, where I was able to take in the view of the more serious riders up front, hustling and bustling for a good starting position. We coasted through the park-lands and turned right into Kangoo road from where the riders spread out as everyone settled into their own pace. I quickly became aware that most of the 100k riders were men - and very, very few were riding anything other than skinny-wheeled road racing bikes... Oh dear I thought, one in a million - here I come :D

Even though my first observations had me slightly worried (sunset would arrive with me still out there pedalling to reach that elusive destination - with every other rider finished, packed up and off to enjoy a relaxing evening...), I soon discovered that although the fast and serious riders would have eaten me for breakfast, there were still lots of friendly riders (who didn't bare their teeth at me) to tag along with; making it a very enjoyable ride all round :)

The Map...

   The yellow stars on the map are my banana - snake stops :)

The flashing red lights...
Some of the riders sported a flashing back light; this is such an amazingly visible gadget! However, few beat the rider I seemed to be following for most of the ride: He had a red helmet light, a red light on the back of his jacket, and.... a red light on the back of his bike - 3 red lights in a vertical line, encouraging me to pedal on... towards the end I was positively hallucinating over these 3 jumping lights, but very happy to have them in view :)

The clonking gears...
With about 65km to go, my gears started playing up - making it near impossible to get into top gear. Although annoying it didn't put a stop to the adventure - at the next drink stop a very helpful "mature" guy brought out his handy dandy multi-tool and loosened one of the derailleur screws: "Just a half-turn should do it". It didn't quite fix the problem, though I was most thankful for his effort, and soon worked out a way of tricking the gears to shift: Juggle, juggle - get into 2 - 6, then: push and hold the left gear lever (trying to get it into 3rd), while at the same time shifting into 7 on the right lever... Bit un-technical, but it worked!

The long and undulating road...
Having ridden most of these roads before (being close to home et all), I knew it was a feast in undulation - the road travels up and down, up and down and back up again, in a steady variation of sorts. The scenery is beautiful (even though it rained for a bit of the ride). The difference on this day was that there were over 500 other cyclists on the road and a bunch of happy volunteers (braving the rain) with big waving hands showing us where to go.

The hills...
My "You can get up this hill" pep-talk started with the usual: "Pass that next road marker... and then pass the next one 50 metres up.... and the next one 50 metres up... and then you've only got 3 more to go...." But nearing the end of 100km it was more like: "Pass that tree (1 metre up) and now the next tree... (half a metre up) and..... the next bloody tree..." My muscles were positively screaming - but then somehow there was this exhilarating reward - once reaching the top of the hill, energy seemed to return and I felt like flying again :)

The volunteer treats...
There were a number of drink and food stops along the way - I stopped at the one at the top of Peats Ridge road and again just passed the Kulnura store. What a delight it was to roll up to a table laden with a big box of bananas, chocolate cake and... SNAKES! One rider told me he'd worked out that he could go 5km on a snake - this is where I asked how far we had to go (38km) and so I stuffed 8 snakes in my back pocket - it worked a treat!! The ever so positive and friendly volunteers also brought a smile to my face and definitely helped as a happy encouragement.

The finish...
The last leg of the ride was a detour down to Somersby falls... I didn't stop to take in the scenery at the falls, but I did stop and chat to the lovely volunteer ladies at the bottom of the hill before braving the last hill of the day. They were kindly warning riders of the slippery road, and told me about the two guys who'd already decked it in the bend going way too fast on their "really skinny wheels"... I psyched myself up with the last snake, grit my teeth, asked the lovely ladies to wish me luck and... worked my way to the top of the hill. After that I felt I was officially on the home run - watching the trip metre on the bike computer click over to 100km actually had me in tears! Seeing Bo and the kids past the finish line - welcoming me back, was very emotional indeed - I'd done it! And although I could barely walk, it was an exhilarating feeling!

Reaching the finish line :)

This is definitely a ride I will repeat and hope to entice you bunnies into coming along! :)
Safe and happy riding to all of you!

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 :)

Gossie to Woy Woy

Friday morning bike ride

Oh what fun
Thought bunny Dollikins
As she jumped out of bed with glee

The weather man said ‘possibly some showers’
But not enough to dampen the spirits of the Friday bike rider

So in her car she jumped, with Black Beauty safely in the boot
Off to Gossie to meet rider Netti Poletti

Mmmmm the clouds look grey
But hey
Haven’t ridden in a while
And don’t want to be a party pooper

So out comes Black Beauty and the red riding jacket
And off I ride
To meet Netti Poletti
Otherwise known as The Terminator

Ting Ting Ting Ting goes my bell
Ting Ting Ting Ting
As I try to cycle past two pedestrians
Deaf to the sound of the tolling bell

Then out in the distance
I saw someone just like me
In fact if I had two ponytails
It could have indeed been me

Sporting matching attire
We laughed and laughed
As we both realized
We were biking twins

Both in red jackets
Black pants and long black tops
We cycled along laughing at our display

Of matching wardrobe 'oh what a faux pas'

'Coffee break' shouts Netti
As we pull up at the Bay
'Yummy' shouts Dolly
As she wishes the clouds away

Then it came from nowhere
The drip drip drip
Of the eternal rain drop
Wetting our bikes and dampening our hearts

Laughter follows
As Netti grunts a reply
Oh I Know……..

If only you were there

The rain decided to continue
So we jumped on our bikes
And drenched and cold
We reached our destination

Silly biker bunnies
That is no way
To get over
The flu and an ear infection

Best get a cuppa tea
Or another coffee
Into ya
As they say in OZ

Amanda the rain Gnome

      

Red Jacket two

Amanda :)


and... just a quick note from the other soaked bike rider...
Our Riding Stats...

Distance cycled ~ 28.2 km
Maximum Speed - 55.3 km/h (that would be down Kariong Hill ;) )
Average Speed - 18 km/h
Time Cycling - 1 hour 34 min
Total Adventure Time - 2 hours 30 min
Calories burnt - 932
Heart Rate - 118 average 174 max
Weather - very wet second half

Wouldn't it be great if sunnies came with little windscreen wipers? Auto-sensory things that wiped your vision clear from splashing raindrops and blurring vision. Uhming and ahring about which was better (sunnies off = eyes full of water and can't see a thing... sunnies on = no water in eyes, but still can't see much), I opted for a bit of both and somehow found my way home. Despite the rain it was a lovely ride - we laughed a lot and Amanda got to use her bell twice as much as she decided mine (not really working) sounded like it was drunk.

Here's an exciting link for anyone up for a challenge: Ride 500km before the end of the year and you can win stuff and get a certificate! Simply register and record your rides :)

Bicycle NSW Commuter Challenge 
Register here


Happy riding all and stay safe
Annette :)

My First Annette Free Blog Post - EVER!

Annette is tied up in the office whilst I take over the computer and her well organised office and I reorganise the world as created by the biker bunnies (not according to Garp) ..... I am very excited about my new adventure into a world created whilst my feet are firmly on the ground (Annettes are in the air flaying around trying to escape the coils of my well tied Granny knots) ...sipping coffee and eating chocolate cake ..... I hope you will support me in my mutiny................xxxxx (evil laugh ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

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 :)

Amanda and Black Beauty

It was with much joy I received Amanda's email about her virgin ride on her new bike... News that her back is on the mend and she's getting back in the saddle is fabulous - read and enjoy and hope to ride with ALL you happy bunnies soon again! :)

The Ride
Mingara to The Entrance and back

Riding distance ~ 18km
Bunny on board  - Amanda
Bike on road - Black Beauty

Well Black Beauty has been most patient waiting for her injured owner to feel confident enough (and get the go ahead from the physio) to go for a ride!

Today was the day and I must say I was jolly well looking forward to it. I bought Black Beauty about 3 weeks ago and pretty much injured my back the day before I picked her up. Listening to the words of my physio ‘ok you can go on a ride but only a flat one’ I decided to park at Mingara and ride to the bike track and then to The Entrance and back. It was a glorious morning, the sun was shining and there was a crisp breeze to keep me cool. I rode safely there and back and Black Beauty did me proud for her first ride – she socializes very well, doesn’t rear up at other riders and even picks up speed on the flat – something Gertrude didn’t do very well.

Black Beauty in her resplendent glory

Posing seductively...

So girls although I cannot ride long distances and up hills yet I am back on track for anyone who wants short flat rides!

Amanda