Action in the South

Yes, we headed south. Dragged the caravan down to Cambridge, just outside Hobart with the main purpose of visiting friends. There was also a little cycling.

First ride.

A short trip from the caravan park to the shops. We had forgotten to bring milk. It’s a trip worth mentioning though for a couple of reasons. The first being that the road between park and shop has recently been by-passed. It is now like riding on a quiet country lane.

The second is that the shop in question was famous in Australia for a while. It was the Fish and Chip shop that Reggie owned with her husband. Reggie? I hear you ask. Wikipedia tells us:

Regina “Reggie” Bird was a contestant and winner of Big Brother 2003 Australia. Small in stature with an unusual nasal intonation, she earned public admiration with her down-to-earth charm, strong work ethic, and naivety. Wikipedia

You can imagine! I have never watched Big Brother but nobody in Tas could miss Reggie as she was plastered over all the media for months. During and for quite a while after the program aired.

The shop has now been upgraded and has good covid protection measures in place. Importantly it also has milk.

Ride 2.

We drove down to Huonville for a visit with Ken and Diane. No visit could go without a ride so I packed the Brompton.

It was good weather and so Ken and I took off for a short explore of the countryside around Ranelagh. I enjoyed riding Brompton, an activity I don’t do enough of these days. Ken was worrying though as I was going so slowly. When compared to his mightily motored trike that is.

NAIDOC 2020 invites all Australians to embrace the true history of this country – a history which dates back thousands of generations. This is a basic fact often “forgotten” or ignored. Thank you for the invitation, it’s important we realise the history of this land didn’t start in 1788. I feel that, gradually, the idea is getting though.

Back to the ride. After a while we hit a road junction. Turning right would be out to the highway while left would take us along a bit more tarmac and then onto dirt. Brompton is not at it’s best on gravel – so we turned back.

Ride 3

We then dug the Bike E out of Ken’s bike shed. This is not an E-bike. Back in the late 1990’s when it was developed, the E (I think) stood for Evolution. Ken offered it to me some time ago and I declined. Since then the idea of a two-wheel long wheelbase recumbent has grown and I decided to try it out. All went OK. Except for the woman who probably wet herself laughing so much at the sight of me on the bike. Bloody Cheek!!

Ken decided not to ride it when a twang in his shoulder while getting on warned him off and, after some discussion, ownership of the bike passed to me. It did visit Longford back in 2018 at which time I worked on it until it descended Wilmore’s Lane safely. Then I handed it back to Ken but it hasn’t been ridden much recently.

Well, it did after the front wheel was removed. The long frame of the bike makes it hard to carry. Still – it’s in there and not riding up against Brompton!

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After 3 days of visiting and renewing our links to the south, we towed the van back to Longford. Although we have plastered the windows with For Sale signs we had nobody interested in buying the caravan. We will continue to use it this summer until someone notices the signs and offers us money. No urgency.

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Bike E Day 1

On Day 1 I just wanted to check how the Bike E runs as on the Huonville ride I had trouble changing gears via the 3-speed hub.

First off, get the front wheel back in place. To get it out I took out a brake block to make room for the tyre to get past. The wheel went back in OK and the brake block was refitted. A simple test of spinning the front wheel showed the brakes were pretty solidly on. Brake block out and refitted properly = all OK.

The tyres were very soft – they were pumped up. The shock absorber air pressure was checked. Too low for me so that was pumped up too. Then off down the driveway. My goodness it feels odd!

Time for a short trip round to Colin’s house to show off the addition to the Cullimore bicycle collection. Interestingly all 3 hub gears were now available – perhaps I was pressing too hard on the first ride. Also accessible were all 7 derailleur gears – a full house. There is also a very annoying rattle and I couldn’t work out what it is. At first I thought it was the front mudguard which flaps about almost into a blur. It wasn’t that though. Time will tell what it is.

Bike E Day 2

I also cleaned the chain and the gear cogs. It’s a long chain! After a re-oil it is quieter – or maybe that’s just in my imagination. I tried lowering the handlebars but had to move them back as my knees hit my hands! In the longer term I will be replacing the current handlebars as they are at exactly the wrong angle for my arthritic hands.

So, all in all the Bike E is in good riding condition, ready to test me out with non-electric cycling.

And now, the video

A last comment from the trip :

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“I don’t need an inspirational quote I need coffee.”

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Til next time ……………….