Wind, energy levels and recumbents

A high stress week at work with one thing and another. There was an evil headwind coming home Monday night. Plodding along Footscray Road and down Millers Road into the wind I must confess I felt like the novelty of the exercise of cycle commuting was wearing a little thin. Woke up Tuesday morning with the idea that I'd catch the train the first thing I thought of, so I did. Tuesday night our household seemed to be running a competition to make sure everyone got as little sleep as possible. Anne wanted to finish the book she was reading, so she was late, then couldn't get to sleep. An hour later my daughter had a nightmare and woke up screaming. To add the finishing touches to the night, about 3 am I got a terrible cramp in the calf muscle of my left leg. Next morning I was limping round, and not feeling that flash, and so caught the train again. Thursday morning rode in, but after a work related dinner, at 9 pm when it started to rain, I left the bike at work and caught the train home, and back in next morning, riding home again Friday night, again into a headwind. So all in all I rode the equivalent of two days. Maybe a tiring week at the end of a tiring year, maybe the change to daylight saving, but I'm feeling dead tired. Hopefully I can pick up next week, after a restful long Melbourne Cup weekend.

On Saturday, my brother Mike and I met Jane and Simon at Cogs Café in Mt Evelyn. They'd kindly offered to bring along their recumbent short wheel base bike – a Rans Rocket - for us to try out, something I've wanted to try for a long time. It was a good place for a first recumbent ride, on the Warburton bike path, with no traffic to worry about, and a nice long down hill to get the hang of the steering. It's strange to have to have to learn how to ride again. First impressions were of the comfort of the ride – incredibly comfy seat and the posture takes the load completely off hands, arms and neck – and the speed. We were fine going down hill. When it came time to turn around and take the bike back up the hill, things got a bit harder, and we both found trouble gaining sufficient momentum starting on an uphill slope. Ok once you got going though. By the end of an hour, each of having a turn of around ten minutes a time, we both felt we'd got the hang of it.

See - even ride it with one hand. Thanks Jane for the photo.

I never see a recumbent on my commute – I wonder why? I guess parts of the journey are not that recumbent friendly – the bits between paths, negotiating some of the road crossings, and indeed the Capital City trail itself I can imagine could be awkward and a bit hairy on a recumbent. But given the prevalence of wind and its impact on my commuting energy levels, I wonder if a recumbent might be worth a try for the commute.

Tally for the week
118 km
Rained on – no
Near misses – no
$ spent on bike stuff = 0

Reminder of why I ride, Death of a cyclist.

I rode four out of five days this week. Popped a spoke Monday in Yarraville, just about exactly half way, so I squeaked on slowly to Abbotsford cycles and left the bike there to be fixed. Picked it up after work - $15 and great service. Not feeling too well on Wednesday so I used the train. Coming home on Wednesday night, waiting at Flinders Street, the message came over the PA that Werribee line trains were not running, and all us Werribee people should catch a Syndenham train to Footscray, then a bus to Newport as there had been a level crossing accident at Yarraville. The experience of the trip home was reminded me of all the reasons I ride – the train was grossly overcrowded, people physically crushed up against one another. It took an interminable time to get through the loop, with long periods of time when it just sat, and all the crushed people got hotter and the sense of desperation grew. It stopped again just outside Footscray, waited, started, stopped suddenly so everyone fell over as far as they could being packed tight, people started looking green and ready to pass out. At Footscray, a huge crowd of people milling around while Met employees wandered around looking harassed but offering no guidance, control or assistance. People in wheel chairs, parents with a young child in a stroller, people everywhere not knowing where to wait, or what might happen next. A bus pulled up, nearest people surged on, general panic and chaos. We gave up, and walked to the other side of Footscray to catch the regular bus that goes through Altona. That was packed too with people who had had the same idea, but at least we got on, and we got home, somewhat later than I would have got home had I ridden my bike.

While on the bus, I overheard someone saying that it was a cyclist that had been involved in the level crossing accident, and indeed that proved to be the case. The Age next day ran a brief article on the incident. I don't know anything beyond the account in The Age, but it's all too easy to imagine. It's such a waste of a life, and I'm so sorry for his family and friends. Every day I see cyclists taking risks of varying degrees, just to get that bit ahead, to get where they are going a bit faster. I know I've done exactly the same sort of thing, and every now and then there's the chance that you get it wrong, you miscalculate, and you either get a bent bike and some bruises, or you get killed. There is a huge amount to be done to build safer cycling infrastructure, but at the end of the day, we've got to develop safer cyclists as well.

Anyway, back on the bike again for the rest of the week, just pottering, but I get there. I'm developing a new commuting style where I really don't push – just put in about the same level of effort that I would if I was walking. Seems to take about 5 -10 minutes longer but my energy levels are higher and I suppose I will slowly get fitter over time.

Saturday morning Anne and I got up early, before the wind kicked up, and rode over to Newport then back round through Williamstown, had breakfast at the Rotunda on Williamstown beach, then home. Good to ride just for the pleasure of it.

Tally for the week
323 Kilometers
Rained: 1 - Monday Night
$ spent on bike stuff: $15 for the new spoke and wheel true, plus I cracked and bought a cue clip, $10
Near misses: none.

 

 

 

RTB 50k

I made the mistake of assuming the trains ran on Sunday morning on our line, so after wasting 10 minutes sitting on the station at Seaholme - which almost at the end of the 50 k ride - we realised we'd have to ride in or be way late. I persuaded my wife Anne to come on the tandem on the promise of an easy one way ride back to Altona with a tail wind, so she wasn't too happy to find we had to do a sprint into town into a headwind.

Forecast for the day was for 31 with a strong Northerly, and even before 8.00 the hot wind was kicking up. We missed the start, but intercepted the ride in South Melbourne. We met up with Tony a friend from work at Clarendon Street, and enjoyed a relatively easy ride thanks to the tail wind over the Westgate. Very jolly crowd despite the heat, and the tandem seems to cheer people up. Anne was really chuffed to get over the bridge, and Tony took the photo of us below just as we got to the top – a nice moment to have captured.

We stopped off for a coffee at Nosh in Newport, highly recommended. By the time we got back on the road, the main group of cyclists had gone, and except for one school group which we kept running into, we hardly saw any other riders for quite a while. We rolled down through Williamstown and round the bike path to our place for another morning tea. Anne declined the option of another ride over the Westgate into town. As Tony and I headed back the heat was getting serious, and every patch of shade along the way seemed to be sheltering a group of red faced cyclists. A real pity about the weather. Saturday was just beautiful for riding, but I wonder if the experience of Sunday will actually put some people off.

We got to the gardens about 1.00, had some lunch, watched the race on the big screen and generally got cooked by the sun, then I rode home again, very glad to have the tail wind. As I rode home under the bridge, there were still plenty of cyclists heading up and over – a sight I'd never seen before. I wound up doing a smidge under 100 k for the day. A good time had by all I think.

Windy week

I rode every day this week, and the days have started to blur. Lovely day Monday, rain in the morning and again going home Tuesday, fine for Ride to Work day, windy Thursday going in, windy coming home Friday. A couple of nights there I found it a real slog getting home,
down Millers Road with the wind coming straight off the Bay, and me grinding along
at about 13 K per hour. Bruises from my fall the previous week have come out in spectacular fashion, and all in all I found myself feeling a bit sorry for myself a few times this week.

Sorry to frighten you - but here's an illustration of what can happen if bicycles and cars come into contact. Best avoided.

Nice to see so many people trying out cycling on Ride to Work day. Quite a few red faces and bikes wobbling gamely along. A huge sea of cyclists at Fed Square – the queue for breakfast seemed to bisect it diagonally when I got there, and as I had a meeting at work I had to miss the bacon and eggs. Next year I’ll try to get there earlier. Saw some pretty awful cyclist behavior on the way home on Wednesday. A line of cyclists are winding through the bit of Footscray Road bike path which is adjacent to the big ferris wheel construction. One guy decides to pass some of the line. Another guy decides to follow him. Cyclist approaches from opposite direction. First guy has probably taken the approaching cyclist in his calculations, and slots into the line going our way. Second guy hasn’t seen the approaching cyclist and a head-on is very narrowly averted. You wouldn’t overtake in a car if you couldn’t see that it was safe ahead to do it, why do people do it on bikes?

Whatever, I think the number of cyclists along my commute went up a bit Thursday and Friday – pity the weather wasn’t a bit kinder. If only we’d had a few days like today, with light wind, blue skies, balmy temperature. Its just magic to be out on a bike on a day like today.

On Friday, another exchange of viewpoints with a van driver at that intersection at the bottom of Parker street – almost a re-run of a previous encounter a few weeks back. Van wants to turn right, cyclists heading straight across Whitehall street. Cyclists have right of way. Van believes it has right of way. Vigorous hand signaling from Van driver. It’s a nasty intersection that one, and one which I will avoid in future.

Tally for week

288 k
Rained on: light sprinkling Tuesday am and pm.
Nearish miss: right turning van failing to give way.
Punctures: none
Paintstripping head winds: 3, Tuesday night ,Thursday morning, Friday night.
$ spent on bike stuff: None.

Red lights, hard ground

I rode three days this week. A funeral to attend on Thursday and a meeting in Bendigo on Friday always meant a short commuting week, but as it turned out, three days was all I could have done. Fine weather like on Monday and Tuesday seems to bring more people onto the bike paths - both cyclists and pedestrians - and the level of excitement goes up correspondingly. Riding home Tuesday night, towards the city, about opposite Melbourne High on the Yarra Trail, I was pottering along on my side, with a group of pedestrians heading towards me on their side. Next thing I became aware that a cyclist is heading straight towards me, passing the pedestrians. Rapid application of brakes and some evasive action all round, plus an exchange of some expletives ensued, but no harm done on this occasion, except perhaps to the pedestrians' estimation of cyclists.

On Wednesday, after a frazzling day, I headed off home with rain threatening. On the Yarra trail, my pannier decided to give up the ghost - its one of those panniers that converts to a backpack, by means of a panel that zips on over the backpack straps. Zip totally clackered. Dang. Stop, convert to back pack. Start again. Rain starts. Stop, put on rain coat. Ride along north bank of Yarra. My timing seems totally off this night, and I miss every light change. Interminable traffic lights seem to be taking forever. Steamy in rain coat, back pack uncomfortable, mood fraying.

Next bit is a bit foggy, and as riding through red lights is a traffic offense which can incur a hefty fine in the state of Victoria, my account below may or may not be accurate. I know I rode past the Mission for Seamen to the lights across Docklands Highway at the intersection with Batmans Hill Drive. I might or might not thought that the lights were going green for the traffic coming out of Batmans Hill drive and so I could head across, even though the pedestrian lights were red facing me. And I might or might not have found myself half way across 5 lanes of impatient traffic on a wet melbourne night when the lights they were facing turned green. Cleared lanes one, two and three. Lady in a four wheel drive in lane four didn't see me, because she didn't expect an idiot on a bicycle riding across the traffic . Front wheel of my bike might or might not have collided with fender of said four wheel drive and with considerable velocity I might or might not have hit the road. Prospect of getting hit by another car made me bounce up again very quickly and I managed to get to the central traffic island, and reassure lady in the car that I was fine (My sincere apologies to her for what happened - I'm sure it didn't improve her evening either. Terribly sorry)

A few cyclists rode past like I was invisible. A pedestrian who'd seen what had happened came up and asked if I needed any help - special thanks to her.
My bike's front wheel had a significant buckle but was still ridable with the front brake slackened right off. I'd just about wrenched the brake hoods off the handle bars, but apart from that the bike was still ridable. I'd landed on my right arm, deep cut and grazes just below the elbow, and my right leg hurt. I felt sort of shakey and shocked. But way the worst thing was that I couldn't believe that I'd been so stupid. I'd never think of running a red light in a car, I'm a law abiding middle aged LIBRARIAN for god's sake, but for no particularly good reason I'd risked serious injury or death for a few seconds off my commute time, because it was raining, because I was tired and in a bad mood.

As I was wobbled slowly home I had plenty of time to berate myself, in between feeling increasingly sore and sorry. I got hit by a car that went through a red light 21 years ago - (still using the same bike today) - and, though this was a less serious encounter in terms of velocity, the ground this time was as hard or harder, and that feeling like every muscle in your body has been wrenched a bit was all too familiar.

Salters Cycles retrued the wheel beautifully for $20. I've got some spectacular side-plate sized bruises turning a ripe shade of greeny purple now. Hopefully the whole experience has been sufficient to teach me not to be so dumb in the future. Not ever.

Tally for the week:

170 kms
Rain: Wednesday night
Near misses: one
Hits: one
Punctures: none
$ spent on bike stuff: $20 to fix the buckle in the front wheel

A quiet week, middle-class inner-urbanites

A quiet week on the commuting front. I had all day meetings in town three days this week, so I only got to ride Monday and Tuesday. I'm going to call this week "recovery", not slacking off, which I suspect is a more accurate description. I used public transport the other days, which reminded me why I like the bike. Public transport was smelly, noisy and over-crowded, and actually more tiring than my usual 56k round trip on the bike.

Interesting article in today's Age "Cyclists on the rise, but does this mean fewer cars?" which reported an increase from the 2001 to the 2006 census in the number of people reporting they rode to work on census day - from 1% in 2001 to 1.3% in 2006. The article quoted extensively one Melbourne University transport planner, Dr Paul Mees, whose reported view was that the increase in cycling to work had come almost exclusively from "middle-class inner-urbanites."

"If they used to walk or take public transport there is no environmental benefit" Dr Mees is reported to have said.

As the average distance reported in the article is 12.5 kilometres, my hunch is that Dr Mees is off beam on the walking at least - can't see too many of those middle-class urbanites walking 25 kilometres a day to work and back. But indeed, many of them could have been taking public transport, which as anyone who uses public transport at peak times knows, is at or beyond capacity. So all those people cycling are actually making space for more people to take public transport, and leave their cars at home.

Dr Mees also points out that the increase is "a blip compared with 1951 when 10% of trips to work were made by bike", and he concludes that "if all ( Melbourne 2030: getting cars off the road) has done is get people who used to walk or take a tram on a bicycle then it has failed terribly.

If my experience is any guide, people who commute also use the bike for other things that they might once have used a car for - take the half a ton of metal a couple of k down to the shops to return the dvd or pick up a litre of milk. Reducing those trips can't be a bad thing.

I'd be happy if my superannuation increased 30%, and it somehow seems counter-intuitive to be lamenting a similar increase in cycle commuters, where-ever they come from. Could be wishful thinking, but my guess is that the more people use bikes for transport, that will encourage more people still to use bikes for transport. The commuters will encounter on a daily basis the shortcomings of the road infrastructure, and some will keep hammering away at the relevant councils to improve that infrastructure, which will make a more propitious environment for more cyclists. Who knows, maybe even the commonwealth government might wake up that supporting cycling infrastructure could make sense on a whole lot of levels. The commuters will encourage their friends and work colleagues to think about cycling as a viable alternative, not as some weird fringe cult. When people do try commuting, like on ride to work day, they will see lots of other people doing exactly the same thing. There is real potential for a virtuous spiral there, which we should be celebrating and encouraging, not bucketing.

Not that collectively we could not be doing a whole lot more, particularly for groups who are under represented in cycling - something like the CTC Cycling Champions program that has just got lottery funding in the UK might be a nice idea. But at the end of the day, I think the core is 1) developing safe road infrastructure for cycle transport, 2) removing some of the incentives for people to buy and drive cars (stop dumb things like salary packaging for cars or carparking!) , and 3) developing some incentives for workplaces to provide adequately for cyclists.

Pity the Age couldn't have cast round a bit more widely for responses on this one.

Anyway, Tally for the week:

120 K (its a recovery week, ok?)
Rain: none on the commutes - Anne and I got soaked Friday night on a quick ride down to the shops where we thought we would only be a few minutes and who needs a coat?
Near misses: none
Punctures: none
$ spent on bike stuff: none

Cyclist power maybe, an accident, who cares about the icecaps, Warbuton rail trail take 2.

Its school holidays in Melbourne, and after extolling the beauties and delights of the Lilydale Warburton rail trail to the family, we decided that we would try it together on the weekend. So I booked a day's leave for Friday, and a park cabin at the Warburton Caravan Park, and I had something to look forward to.

The short week's commuting was memorable for a number of things, some good, some not so good. Monday it rained on and off coming home. The dangerous gravel detours along the front of the Waterfront City Project in Footscray road have been replaced by concrete temporary path, which is an improvement, though still suboptimal. The developers, Hansen Yunken Pty Ltd, were requested by Melbourne City Council to improve the quality of the path after the council received complaints from cyclists (including this one) - which goes to show that it can be worth writing to the relevant council on issues which
impact on your cycling and which are within their area of responsibility. What remains to be seen is how disruptive to the bike path the new developments will be - having more car traffic cutting across the path without some form of traffic control is a recipe for a future disaster, though I can't say the prospect of more traffic lights along the bike path fills me with great joy either.

The consequences of lack of adequate traffic control were underlined for me on Tuesday morning by a tableau glimpsed as I rode down Moreland Street heading up to Footscray Road. Most cycle commuters fight their way across Whitehall Street which can be fairly hair raising, head down Parker Street, then cut across Moreland Street onto the shared bike-footpath via the drive way into an industrial estate. This maneouver can be quite challenging, as coming towards you there is a lot of heavy traffic coming off Footscray Road, you need to watch for the occasional traffic coming from behind, and there is always the prospect of traffic coming out of the industrial estate -
which I suspect is what had happened Tuesday morning. There on the grass face down was a cyclist,
with two worried looking people, one holding the fallen cyclist's bike and another on a mobile phone, probably calling an ambulance. My guess is that he had hit or
had been hit by a van coming out of the industrial estate.

Tuesday I used the road bike I bought on ebay a year or so ago, instead of my faithful steel framed bike which I've been riding for more than 30 years. Though its faster, the road bike is a lot less comfortable, and its tyres aren't so good either - got a puncture before I got to the city.
On the steel frame bike I carry a long pump, but on the road bike I just had one of those mini pump things, which are fine as ballast but fairly useless I find as implements for putting air in tyres. Managed to get about 60 psi in before my eyes started to pop out. The bright idea struck me that I could stop at Abbotsford cycles on the way and put some more air in with a decent pump, rather than risking blowing more blood vessels trying with the mini pump. So I rode very conservatively to Richmond. When I got there I figured as I didn't have a spare tube for the rest of the ride, it would make sense to get another. And I remembered that I'd blown a 27 x 1.25 tube on the weekend so I might as well get one of those. Then I had a good look at the tyre that had punctured, and thought it was looking pretty shabby, and when would I get a better opportunity to get a replacement. Then I remembered I was going to do the Warburton trail on the weekend with the tandem, and that I really did need a new rack as the existing one was tied with wire, and wobbling round in alarming fashion. So, for a person who entered the shop with the intention of getting some air, I left having spent $80.

I was doing some research on salary sacrifice during the week and discovered that you can in effect get a tax break for buying a car, get a tax break for carparking fees, and claim as a tax deduction milage under a wide variety of flimsy pretexts. You cannot however get the same tax advantage for buying a bicycle, nor for a yearly public transport ticket, nor can you claim anything for mileage or wear and tear on a bicycle which you could be using in precisely the same way that you could claim a mileage allowance on for a car. Which leads me to conclude that collectively we haven't even begun to get serious about reducing green house gases or making our city more liveable. Bye bye polar icecaps. Any party that proposes tax deductability for bike stuff gets my vote.

Friday dawned with ominous line squalls sweeping over us, and an apocalyptic weather forecast, strong wind warnings, rain, hail and snow down to 900 metres. How high above sea level is warburton? Took the dogs out early for a walk and we all came home sodden, to find the family with long faces about the trip. We'd paid for the accommodation, and the sky did brighten a bit, so we figured we'd give it a go. Good old public transport got us comfortably to Lilydale - its fantastic outside peak period - and we were on the trail by a bit after 11.00. About half way up the hill to Mt Evelyn I realised that the rest of the family weren't quite as bike fit as I thought they were. Lots of complaining, especially from Vincent, from whom, as he was on the back of the tandem, I couldn't escape. Still, we got over the hill ok, with me saying "its only a kilometre to the top" most of the way. Restoring muffins, coffee and milkshakes at Cog Cafe as well as the long down hill raised collective spirits, and we even got some patches of sun. Even on a bad weather day the trail is still beautiful, but behind us the sky was becoming blacker as another storm front approached.

A few k outside Woori Yallock the rain hit us and we sheltered under a line of fir trees surrounded by black cattle, who from the bellowing they were making weren't any happier about it than we were. Wind was whistling through and Vincent was starting to turn blue, so when the rain eased a bit we set off again for a quick dash to the Woori Yallock Bakery, home of the spahgetti bolognese pie, which sounds disgusting but kids seem to like them. We plugged on damply with Vincent saying things like "This is the worst holiday ever". Started raining again as we got near Warburton, then hail. Anne vanished into the IGL store to stock up on alcohol. By the time we got to the cabin, the cycling troupe was on the verge of mutiny about the prospect of riding back along the trail the next day, so I figured time for plan b. Thanks once again to the wonders of public transport, I was able to walk up to the bus stop a hundred metres from the caravan park, catch a bus back to lilydale, and be back home in about 3 hours. Got the car, and drove back to Warburton by 11.00. Next morning, we managed to fit two bikes and the tandem less its wheels on the back of the car, and after a lovely breakfast in The Good Food Room, drove back home. Despite the weather and the bail out, it was fun. The kids are great company despite the complaining and its nice to do things as a family, nice to have them where they can't escape into their various pursuits. But family rides are sure a different proposition to heading off by yourself.

Tally for the week:

246 k
Rain: Monday night ride home, plus multiple drenching Friday.
Near misses: none
Puncture: one
$ spent on bike stuff: $80

Headwinds, magpies, and an absence of bungey cord

Lilydale Warburton Rail Trail

A windy cycling week in Melbourne. A group from work met up on Sunday to ride the Federation trail, from Millers Road in North Altona down to the Werribee river. Getting to the starting point up Millers Road, about 6 k from where I live, nearly finished me off, but we had a nice tail wind to Werribee, and of course a stiff head wind all the way back. The surface of the path is much improved, but still a few rough patches to fix.

A mixed bag for the week's commuting. A beautiful evening on Monday, a head wind strong enough to send me veering off the road Wednesday morning, and find myself grinding along putting in maximum effort and getting about 14 km per hour. I was plugging away down Footscray Road, drafting behind a fellow OC (that's "Older Cyclist" - we're the ones with unfashionable bicycles and cycling garb) when his pannier decided to detach itself from his bike. My front wheel missed it by a millimetre or less, back wheel somehow hit it and bike bounced sideways in an exciting fashion. Definitely woke me up, that one. Having lost a pannier myself - though not with anyone following close behind, I now make a point of using a bungey cord as an additional fastening device - a good practice which I'd commend to all us OC's who use panniers - and everyone else for that matter. Anyway, Wednesday was one of those days with the morning northerly headwind followed by the south westerly headwind home. Got home, had dinner, said I'd just have a little lie down, and passed out about 8.15 pm. I was knackered. On the basis that I was planning to do an Audax 100K ride on Saturday, I declared Thursday a recovery day, and Friday I figured I was "Tapering" and caught the train both days. I had to wrestle with an underlying feeling of guilt, but thanks to the catholic education system I'm used to that.

Saturday I caught the train from here at 6.44 am (just after being swooped by a magpie) to be at Lilydale by 8.30 for the Warburton Connexions ride. First part along the Rail trail to Warburton, second part a choice of either up to the top of Donna Buang (one and a half hours climbing at least) or an undulating jaunt beside the Yarra river up to McMahon's creek. I chose the later, which as I managed to have a puncture, and blow one of my replacement tubes after having replaced everything, was probably a wise choice in retrospect. The weather was perfect, interesting people to talk to, absolutely beautiful country, lovely towns - all in all a great experience, apart from the puncture and yet another magpie swooping. The ride cue sheet says for 41.4 K "There was a magpie here last week - watch out!" I happened to glance at the cue sheet, then at my odometer, just as that distance came up, and like clockwork, "whoosh" there was the magpie. I hate being swooped. Hard not take it personally.

All in all, with wind, falling panniers, malicious magpies and exploding tubes, it was an interesting week.

Tally for the week:

349 Kilometres
Rain: light sprinkle on Wednesday
Near misses:one close encounter with a pannier
Punctures: one and one blown tube
$ spent on bike stuff: none, but it was a struggle. Surely I need one of those nifty cue sheet holders from Abbotsford Cycles ? And a nice rack top bag?

Spring ...

I had forgotten, but this week a few of the key characteristics of Spring became evident to me again - compared to winter, its warmer, its windier and it can be wet.
I rode in three days this week. One day was a school concert for my daughter, and I actually drove the car in. Next day I had an all day meeting in town - if there was a place to get a shower and lock the bike, I would have ridden. What we need is a cycle hub in the city with showers and secure bike parking. Missing riding two days, my leg muscles couldn't quite believe their luck. I noticed that I was as hungry as if I was riding 60 k a day - some sort of time lag as if my body was still sending out the message for more food, even though I wasn't doing anything to need it. I guess that's how people who ride a lot and then stop can wind up looking like mortadella sausages. Also found myself getting distinctly scratchy and edgy - definitely missing those endorphins. Great, now I'm a cycle commuting addict.

I managed not to spend any money on bike related gear this week, which is a first. More important, and far more difficult, I managed to maintain a calm and benevolent regard for my fellow persons - motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. Towards the weather gods, I was not so charitable. Had the experience of riding into a blustery northerly all the way to work on Monday, then, by home time and the arrival of a cold front, into a blustery south westerly all the way home. Rained quite heavily on Tuesday morning. Thanks to the old plastic bags on the feet trick, my shoes and socks stayed dry and my feet toasty. My rain jacket is fine in all respects except for one - it doesn't actually keep out rain. I arrived a bit damp. Didn't get to leave work on Tuesday till after 8, and putting on a still damp rain jacket and tshirt for the ride home in the dark took a bit of will power, but once I got going, it was lovely - super quiet and very peaceful. Friday coming home was again into the teeth of a blustery wind.

All in all though I feel like I've got the routine and the equipment together to commute safely and consistently.

Tally for the week:

220 Kilometers.
Rained on: two out of three days - great for the garden
Near misses: None
Punctures: None.
$ on Bike stuff: None

Did it again ...

I had Friday off work this week, but commuted faithfully the four preceding days. The odometer which the family gave me for Fathers Day stopped working Thursday night. It was a "Fluid" brand, and I found it neither well designed nor well constructed. The odometer itself kept popping out of the docking part on the handlebars, and must have suffered one too many impacts with the road surface.

I've become hooked on having a working odometer - the KM per hour readout encourages me to put in a bit more effort when, as often happens, I have a tendency to drift off. So, this morning, went to my friendly local bike shop (Salters Cycles in Altona Meadows) and bought a Sigma BC 906 which set me back, after deducting my Bicycle Victoria discount, the sum of $40.50. So I suppose I made a loss of $12.90 this week compared to public transport. But I got a nice new bike computer. Very nice piece of design I thought - way the easiest bike computer to install that I've come across. My goal, though, is to actually get through a week without spending any money on the bike.

The week's commuting was very pleasant. A couple of lovely crisp mornings, with the sun rising over the frosty grass - thank heavens for long fingered gloves - and not a lot of wind.

I'm striving to maintain the sort of peaceful glow I get from the first 6 km or so of my ride - the bit along quiet roads and bike path - across the whole journey. I'll have to keep working at it - the busier it gets, and the more traffic I encounter, inevitably something will send my blood pressure into the red zone: that van that sped past about an inch from my shoulder, the oncoming cyclists who pass pedestrians on their side and force me onto the very margin of the path, the turning car sitting right on my tail as I turn as well, the girl opening her car door oblivious of how hard I had to break not to collect her ... But that's my other goal - to get through a week without getting too pissed off about anything.

My new regime is to take one Friday off a month and do something nice. My wife took the day as well, and after an early appointment taking our son to the Children's Hospital - a very good place to count your blessings I always find - we set off on the tandem to ride to Yarraville for lunch and to see the film The Flying Scotsman, the story of Graeme Obree who held the one hour cycling record. Worth seeing I thought. Today pottering around, taking the dogs for a run, going to the bike shop, the nursery, the local shops, we put in around another 20 k.

Tally for the week:

Don't know exactly, thanks to dead odometer. At least 250 kms
Rained on: not a drop. Things are getting mighty dry here.
Near miss with car: nearish anyway - Car door on Burwood Road, stopped with a bit to spare but got the heart pumping. The girl who opened the door was quite surprised to see me - "Oh, hello" she said cheerfully, and sauntered off.
Near miss with another bicycle: none
Punctures: none

Another week another dollar

Another week's commuting over. On Monday night, after a torrid day at work and leaving late, I discovered my rear tire was flat as I was about to set off home. Got the rear wheel off, took out the tube and pumped some air into it - I like to know where a puncture has occurred so I can give the tube a good going over at that spot. But I couldn't track it, and the paranoid thought came to me that someone had just let the tire down. Turned out they hadn't, just an old patch given way creating a very slow leak, but the thought didn't improve my mood. I put my spare tube in, put the wheel back on, pumped it up ... and caught the hissing sound of air escaping. I've been carrying the spare tube round for quite a while, and when I checked later, I found that the valve and the rubber of the tube had parted company. I confess, at that point, I gave up and caught the train home. $2.76 for Mr Connex.

Horrible trip it was too - one train was extraordinarily filthy, and some unfortunate teenager who had just broken up with her boyfriend spent the whole trip sobbing loudly on a friend's shoulder - no fun for her, but not much fun for anyone else in the carriage either. Reminded me of one of the great benefits of riding a bike to work - I can hear myself think - I'm not trapped listening to other people's conversations, other people's leaking earphones, other people's mobile calls. When I got home, I put yet another tube on, put the wheel back, pumped it up, and could not believe my eyes when that was flat as a tack ten minutes later. Checked the tire but couldn't find any cause for the last tube to be holed. Patched that tube and the original, fitted one, pumped it up, and at last had a tire with air in it.

Next day I bought two new tubes - $18.00. So for the week I saved about $7. Feeling fitter - or was it a tail wind on Tuesday? Certainly was a headwind Friday - quite gusty at times both going to work and coming back. Very glad to get home Friday night. All in all, though, I'm finding this a sustainable exercise, and very good for both my mental and physical sense of well being. And I get to think bicycle type thoughts as I potter along. Another good thing is that I get most of the cycling bug out of my system during the week, and I'm putting in more time at home in the garden and round the house, rather than disappearing for long bike rides, which certainly helps build up the brownie points on the home front.



Tally for the week:

256 kms
Rained on: a bit once on Friday
Near miss with car: a van on Whitehall street, turning right into Parker Street, yelled "watch where you're going" at a group of us crossing the street, ignoring the fact that we had right of way. Didn't come near collision really, but the sense of injustice rankled for a while. I guess he didn't see us, and its a bad intersection.
Near miss with another bicycle: none - must be getting better at anticipating.
Punctures: 2+1 dead tube!

I knew roundabouts were bad news

The last few weeks I've had two closeish interactions with motorists at roundabouts failing to 
give way.  Pursuing another local bee in my bonnet - the unexplained removal of the hoop bike parking racks in Pier street in Altona (anyone know why they have been removed, btw?) I stumbled over and read with much interest the Hobsons Bay Strategic Bicycle Plan.  Fascinating and sobering reading.  The map of where the accidents have happened - lots of blood red spots indicating accident locations  on the map of our local area - certainly makes you think
as you ride along the same roads.  I found the analysis of the bicycle accidents causing injury or death in my local area (5 years up to 2001) particularly attention grabbing.  Large number of crashes between 6-8 am - the cycle commuter rush from our neck of the woods - and most common age group 30-39 - commuters again?  

The bit that really caught my eye was the graph on Traffic Control and the commentary:

"A significantly higher proportion of cyclist crashes in Hobsons Bay occurred at roundabouts
compared to that of all road users in Hobsons Bay and the Melbourne Statistical District average for cyclists. This is likely to be due to the higher than average number of roundabouts on main routes through Hobsons Bay and the fact that cyclists are not well suited to this form of traffic
control."  (p. 30)

Well that's good to know that we are not suited to roundabouts.  A better way to have put it might have been "this form of traffic control is not well suited to cyclists".  

Further into the report, it notes

"A review of bicycle casualty accidents at roundabouts revealed that 70% were right angle
crashes where a cyclist on a roundabout was struck by an entering motor vehicle.
Accordingly, bicycle riders would benefit from an alternative treatment where bicycles can
be kept off the road carriageway at a roundabout." p. 58


I've been wrestling - fruitlessly so far - with VICROAD's Crashstats to see if I can get an update on Hobsons Bay roundabout accidents  from 2001 to now.  Be interesting to see if the next 5 years, after the Strategic Plan, have made 
any difference.  I can't say I can see any sign of "alternative treatment".     The plan suggests a sort of bike path round the outside of the roundabout, which would require the cyclist to give way to everyone coming and going which in the world we are in I doubt will work.  
Most commuter cyclists and the lycra brigade would ignore that sort of set up.  

Hmmmm.  No easy solution that I can see.  Rob's idea of changing driver liability to require motorists to prove they were not in the wrong in a
collision with a cyclistis appealing.  

But the frequency of accidents at roundabouts indicates its something wrong in 
the underlying infrastructure, in the basic design, as well as in the attitude of the people behind
the steering wheels.

Anyway, I for one am adjusting my route to avoid roundabouts wherever possible from now on, and I'm twice as careful going into them.   And I'm going to follow vote4cycling's advice and write to my local member to encourage the commonwealth 
to put some $ into local government for improving cycling infrastructure.

Economic of bike commuting #2, roundabouts, better dorky than dead

Rode every day for another week.  Once again, I deprived Connex, who run the train system here in Melbourne, of $27.00.   Coming home last night though, my front light became increasingly feeble, so down to the supermarket for a set of rechargable AAA batteries - $21.95.   A small cash  net profit for the week then.  Of course the benefits are not only financial - 
I'm feeling a bit fitter and enjoying life more, which of course is priceless.

I've found a slightly shorter route for part of the trip, - a bit more on road but a bit faster too - so the total for this week 295 kilometres.   Added to last week's 318, I've ridden near the equivalent of Paris to Brest.  Took me two weeks to do it though.  How people do it in 25 hours straight or less, I have no idea.

Had another incident with a car not giving way at a roundabout - from which I've come to suspect that maybe there is a visibility issue.  From behind, car headlights pick out all the reflective bits and pieces on coat, bike, ankles, shoes, bag etc.  At a roundabout, the headlights aren't actually pointing at you, so maybe they just don't see us?

Whatever, I've adopted a philosophy of better dorky than dead - so I've got a light cable tied to my helmet, and a sort of reflective, flashing sash thing that I was given as a gift and had never used before.  I figured it wasn't much use sitting in a box so now I ride along emitting an errie green light.  Hopefully the car drivers are too busy laughing to run me over.

Tally for the week Monday to Friday:
Distance: 295 kilometres
Rained on: not at all - absolutely beautiful weather, a bit nippy in the mornings but.
Near miss with car: one - another roundabout.  hmmm.
Near miss with another bicycle: some guy heading towards me decided to pass another cyclist on the yarra trail on the narrow ramp leading down to the pontoon as I was heading up it.  Scared the heck out of me - don't know what he thought about it.

This morning

Can't say I was that keen to get out the door this morning. But soon as I got round the corner,  I was glad I'd made it.

The economics of bike commuting - a week's experience

Well I managed to ride to work and back every day this week.  I would have tallied over 300 k on the odometer for the week, but the poor old computer didn't like the rain tonight and gave up the ghost.  

One thing people say about commuting by bicycle is that it saves you money.  I suppose it might if you keep at it, though I tend to find that either I buy bicycle stuff which cancels out any theoretical savings, or things break.  This week I saved on the usual weekly ticket - round $27.00 - but I bought one of those dinky helmet mirrors for - you guessed it - $27.00.  So I was breaking even till the bike computer went west.   

Week went like this:  Monday full of resolve - no worries.  Tuesday - bit tired and stiff, but steely determination stiffled the persuasive voices that whispered "catch the train ... its really not so bad being crushed ".  Wednesday feeling rather sorry for myself, but ok once I got going.  Coming home a low point, tired, hungry, late, cold.  Thursday a real struggle to get going but again, once out the door, that early dawn world is so beautiful that the transition till the muscles and the body warms up passes almost without noticing.  Friday, actually not too bad at all.  Maybe crashed through a pain barrier or two there.  Got rained on for most of the way home but arrived home a bit damp but feeling pretty good all in all.

Tally for the week Monday to Friday:  
Distance:  305 kilometres
Rained on: twice
Near miss with car: one - not my fault -   see "I'm big you're little" post
Near miss with another bicycle: one - probably my fault - just didn't see the guy on the pavement along King street as I crossed the road at the lights, and I wasn't expecting him to be there.  Dammed hard to see, those cyclists.  

I'm big you're small get out of my way - a policy issue?

Now the weather is picking up I feel like there is no excuse for not riding to work. Well, for me its a 60k round trip, from Altona to Hawthorn and back, so my usual excuses are: its too far, I'm too busy, I'm too tired, I don't feel like it. But I figure if I take public transport it takes an hour each way at least, and if I ride it takes me about an hour an a half, so really its only one hour extra each day.

Whatever, last night, about 6.30, at a well lit round-about intersection near Williamstown, a car from my left, who should have given way to me, decided not to. I make it a rule to establish eye contact with cars in that situation, and no question he saw me. I've got good lights, reflective thingeys on my ankles, I'm wearing regulation fluro. He saw me, but I think he thought, "I'm big, you are little, get out of my way", and drove straight through. The adrenaline surge got me the rest of the way home, and hey, I managed to get out of the way. I try to avoid the cyclist paranoia about cars, but sometimes ....

Makes you think. A friend has recently returned from Finland, and has been telling me about the wonders of Finnish bike paths - wide, clearly marked, lots of them, and as a result lots of people use them. From the

FINNISH ROAD ADMINISTRATION site you can get an idea of what they are doing:

Some 4,945 kilometres of cycling lanes and pedestrian ways have been constructed along highways and the network has in recent years expanded by about 100-200 kilometres annually.


Special attention is paid to the quality of these lanes to ensure maximum riding comfort and to make cycling more attractive. Finland has a total of 16,000 kilometres of bicycle and pedestrian ways.

Cycling is an important means of transport both in terms of mobility and exercise; consequently, cycling lanes are termed the country's most important venue for physical exercise. In addition, biking is heavily endorsed in the Ministry's programme on cycling 2001, setting the goal of doubling bicycle traffic by the year 2020.

Hard not to contrast that with the piece in The Age on Saturday:

"Despite evidence that cycling was a far cheaper and faster alternative, the State Government's investment in transport infrastructure was still skewed towards the provision of roads and public transport.

The Department of Infrastructure spent more than $450 million on public transport franchises in 2004-05 and $289 million on arterial road networks. Less than $10 million was committed to bike routes. As a result, Melbourne has about 30,000 kilometres of roads, 380 kilometres of train line, 500 kilometres of tram tracks and only 1500 kilometres of bike paths."

Election coming up - I wonder if there is a Fedral bike infrastructure funding scheme coming from any of the major parties? Instead of throwing money at filters that don't work, and advertisements that just waste our tax dollars, treat us like idiots and annoy the heck out of everyone, why not do something useful?

4 trails - Gardiners Creek, Outer Circle, Main Yarra, Capital City

Living in the Western suburbs of Melbourne, most of the bike paths of Melbourne are a fair way away, and we don't get to try them out unless we make an effort.  Never been on the Outer Circle Anniversary trail, so this Sunday we thought we'd fix that.  

We took the tandem, got one of those great Sunday Saver tickets, and caught the train to Gardiner Station.   Along Gardiner's Creek path till a path with a sign Anniversary trail 2.5 Km appeared.  Headed off along this, which turned into a gravel path, which then split into multiple paths with no signage as to which was the one to follow.  Grrrr.   Signage on Melbourne bike paths can be pretty dismal in my experience, but I suppose it adds to the sense of adventure. The one we chose ended abruptly, so we ground up hill through the leafy suburbia till we hit the trail.

  


Ride a tandem through this?

The number of intersecting roads and totally un-navigable obstructions for tandems on this trail made us realise how lucky we are over in the west - our trail builders seem to assume that if you are silly enough to ride onto a road then its your problem - which makes for much less getting on and getting off.  

There are some lovely bits of the trail, through the cuttings of the former train line.  We took a thermos and sandwiches and enjoyed them mightily in a nice little park near Burke Road.
Across High Street, the trail goes through some nicely landscaped 
plantings of Australian native shrubs and trees, till it crosses the Eastern Freeway.  

A bit bleak out there waiting for the interminable traffic lights while 
the cars whoosh past, along the freeway, off the exits, over the bridge.  So many of them, so few of us.    We followed the signs to the Main Yarra trail, which meant that we rolled down a steep hill, went under the bridge, then had to schlep the tandem up the steps on the other side.  Smart money would be to go directly across the road, but nothing to suggest that.

Headed round the Yarra Boulevard - again getting moderately confused by the signage.  A sign saying "Main Yarra Trail - Fairfield" looked very tempting, especially as it was down hill, but we debated for a while and decided to continue on the Boulevard.  We were rewarded by passing through a small flock of Black Cockatoos.   Lots of screeching and swooping. Got passed by groups of people on mountain bikes with damp streaks of mud up their backs.  Looked uncomfortable but I'm sure they were having fun.   

Crossed the bridge over the Yarra onto the Capital City Trail in Abbotsford.  Rotten stairs again - they definitely aren't designed for Tandems - we had to practically carry the old thing down the stairs as the cranks would crunch onto the concrete at each landing otherwise.

Had a coffee and reviving muffin at the Collingwood Childrens Farm, then continued along the 
Capital City Trail round the back of Carlton and Parkville, past the back of the Zoo - ah, the heady pungent whiff of exotic animal urine -  till Kensington, where we sprinted over the hill and down to South Kensington station just in time to catch our train home.  All up the trip took a bit over 4 hours.

Its great that our bike paths are there, and there should be more of them.   A ride like today shows how great they can be, but also that there is plenty of work still to do.

Geelong Queenscliff Rail Trail

Last week, we persuaded the kids to go stay with Grandma, Grandma to have the kids stay over, and Grandma and the kids to stop by and feed the dogs.   We both arranged to take Friday off work, booked a VLINE ticket to South Geelong (you can check the timetables online but you need to actually go to a station to book) and a room in a nice old B&B in Queenscliff (Maytone), and that was about it.

Friday morning,  got the kids off to school, patted the dogs goodbye, put a change of clothes in the panniers, then onto the tandem and off to Footscray station.  

By 11.oo we were at South Geelong station. The Rail Trail is about one kilometre further, along Carr street, which is on the opposite side of railway line from the platform.  The start of the Rail Trail is well signposted, and once you're on it, little navigation is 
required.  Sufficient maps are available from the Railtrails Australia, and there is a Bikely map that lets you print out a detailed cue sheet if you are really keen to know elevation and distance between roads.
 
The weather forcast for Friday was for rain and possible hail.  We seemed to have a tail wind most of Friday, and started off in sunshine.  The trail has chicanes at every intersection, probably to discourage trail bike riders, and to stop cyclists flinging themselves under passing motor vehicles.  They might be navigable on a single bike, but on the tandem, we had to stop at each one,  Anne would have to get off,  sometimes lift the rear of the tandem round 
to squeeze through,  then cross the road, repeat the performance at the chicane on the other 
side, then ride on to the next intersection.  The novelty of this procedure wears off fairly quickly.

The overall distance is around 32 kilometres.   Drysdale is located neatly halfway between Geelong and Queenscliff.  We headed down the Geelong-Portarlington road - the road before the Drysdale station - into Drysdale township.   We timed our arrival with a major downpour, so retired to a cafe (Confessions) for a great lunch and a pot of tea. 

By the time we'd restored the inner cyclists, the rain had passed.  We found our way back onto 
the trail, via Princess street.

The scenery gets prettier from Drysdale on, and more rural.  One unique aspect of the Bellarine Rail Trail is that it actually does have a railway line, and a functioning one at that.  As we cycled we could hear the sound of a train whistle, and sure enough, there was the Bellarine Peninsula Railway works train, with a couple of chaps clearing fallen trees from beside the tracks. 

A bit further on, and we could feel the air temperature dropping and a ragged squall line of cloud approaching.  A railway bridge over a creek looked like the best shelter at quick notice, so we propped down there till the storm passed.  

After the storm had passed we put on rain pants as the path now resembled a creek and the tandem has no mudguards. (Not yet.  Next enhancement!)  We picked our way through the puddles down Marcus Hill into Queenscliff. 
Some fantastic views from here.

We got to Queenscliff round 3.00, and found a public convenience where we could clean up a bit, as we were worried that our accommodation would faint at the sight of two mud splattered sodden guests.   We need not have worried - they were used to cyclists.  A very relaxed welcome awaited us, and a garage for the tandem for the night as well.  

Dinner in the pub (fantastic seafood paella and pasta - perfect cyclist food), a bottle of red, a very sound night's sleep, a terrific breakfast next morning, and we were on the road again by 9.30 am.   

The trail had dried out overnight, and no rain, so we retraced the route, 
following our bike tyre marks back to just miss a train.  A pleasant wait in the sun reading the Saturday papers, a 55 minute train trip, and we were back home by 3.00, feeling like we'd had holiday