RTE St Helena Sunday 26 April 2020

Williamson

Part of the furniture
OzSTOC have a regular, generally monthly RTE. This is a Ride to Eat, a date is nominated, a desination announced, Forum posts and information exchanges leading up to the day.

Sick of sitting at home, twiddling thumbs, not bored yet, but not far from it so I decided 'eff 'em all, I'm going on an RTE.

This was an RTE with a twist, this was a Ride to Exercise, and this is how it went.

Didn't need to set the alarm, with the anticpation, excitement on a ride, it wasn't needed. Woke about 6:30am, freshened up, laid out my riding kit, including lycras. Despite the expandable nature of the lycra fabric, they were too tight. I think 10 years and 15kg may have something to do with that.

Cup of coffee, down to the garage for a few final adjustments and checks, tyre still holding pressure (120psi), where's the helmet, gloves, found 'em ....... Mmmm, pinched a few corona whiskers putting in on, ready to go.


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Looked back to see an old friend.



Be patient, our days will come.

A small, short incline to start with, so a short walk. When I reached the top of the driveway, mounted the truSTy STeed, head down, bum up, ready for the next hill. Reached the top without dismounting, an achievement. Then generally straight and flat for the next 400m, then some twisties.

Grinning from ear to ear (hurt my face muscles), leaning in and out the curves, power on - power off, couple of tight switch-backs low range, 1st gear needed, but I knew this wouldn't last, a short pause and a look back.

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And then what every road rider wants to avoid, gravel, especially as the 700 x 23 HP road tyres had seen better days.

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But every cloud has a silver lining, after 300m the tar and cement (it seemed like a km, but I had a tune and words from 1966 helping, soothing me), ended.

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Generally flat, winding and but fast for the next few km, then a short fast downhill, high-range, 7th gear, probably up to 40km/h a couple of times, almost home.

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But every downhill means an uphill following. As we are almost at the top of the hill and the shortest routes are the steepest, my mind searched for a route with a smoother up grade. This added another 2km to the ride, and me zig zagging across a wide carriageway, creating my own series of switch-backs, to further flatten the steep grade. At least I zigged when I needed to, and zagged likewise.

Home about 9:00am.

Total distance 10.09km.

Now I think I earned those extra rashes of bacon and sausages, and pancakes and maple syrup.
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Now I think I earned those extra rashes of bacon and sausages, and pancakes and maple syrup.

Hell Yeah!

There's that mental picture of our Willo popping out of those lycras like a cork.:whistle:

Thanks for the yarn :clap:
 

Williamson

Part of the furniture
I notice you have a very long valve stem.. does this bear a relationship with the tightness of your Lycra??

I got a pack of 10 tubes a few years back, about $5.00 each, normally about $10.00, the extra long valve stem was the least of my worries.
 

robbieb

Tassie Daddy
I got a pack of 10 tubes a few years back, about $5.00 each, normally about $10.00, the extra long valve stem was the least of my worries.

You been keeping those rubbers in your wallet? :bs

If you want to flatten the curve, restrict the post ride bacon intake :bees:
 

Williamson

Part of the furniture
From pic of the day thread ...

... Mountain Bikes they are out of control around the ranges.

... No surprise about the MTBers...plenty of chopped up redneck downhill tracks all over, at least 4 between Camelia and Edgar Tracks alone.

All but early morning rides are spolied some d'heads from the MTB brigade, zooming and zipping along the shared paths, many at dangerous speeds and clearly reckless behaviour. I do pity many of the walkers, so I have taken to riding early mornings.

I've struggled on the Giant flatbar road bike, gearing is just too high, struggled on many of the hills. Son-in-law returned my Giant MTB, triple chainrings make it much friendlier on hills.

Despite many, many rides since shutdown, still struggling with fitness, best I can do is around 20km, and then I'm knackered. Might be a while until I'm back to my best Around-the-Bay-in-a-Day condition.

Let me just say, 15 years makes a big difference, 15kg makes a bigger difference though.
 
My son is riding a bicycle home from work in the city to a East Hawthorn about 3, 3-30 am many days, I asked him this afternoon if he has problems with Mountain bikers. Apparently not. :)
 
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