Riding this week was held back by windy conditions. Once the wind speed hits the 40-50kph strength, cycling into it is not good. Nor is a 45 kph cross-wind. Riding it as a tailwind is bloody brilliant but not enough not make up for the rest !
Unfortunately most of our rides are loops so you get one leg into the wind, two legs as crosswinds and one ‘smiling’ leg. A planned overnight camp ride to Ross has been cancelled due to wind and overnight temps predicted to be 3°C at 3am. We are not hardy cycle/campers!
Base Camping
Our base camping gear is quite large and we didn’t fancy loading the 2 metre / 25k bag on the roof racks – so we have bought a trailer. Well, the trailer will have multiple purposes but being able to carry our camping gear is an important one.
We picked it up on Saturday morning and it towed nicely back to Longford. Weather permitting we will have a ‘shake-down’ trip next weekend. The weather is supposed to warm up by then and Brompton may get an outing.
Riding
As previously indicated, cycling was limited this week. I did manage a Bishopsbourne trip on Monday and then a couple of rides out past Woolmer’s to the Highway and back.
The Woolmer’s rides. The first was on the trike and the second on the Bike E. One purpose was to ride the hill from the Macquarie River bridge up past Woolmer’s to test the Bike E gearing for hill climbing. While not a long hill, it is quite steep.
All went well.
As I neared the Midland Highway (turning back point) I noticed a contrail! Yes, planes are flying again. As our States open the borders, people are once more flying places. Last week I met a couple of cyclists from Byron Bay in NSW who were busy touring Tasmania.
I reported in a previous post about these signs. This is a new one that seems to have had a flight of hard shelled bugs (dung beetles?) fly into it. Surely no-one has shotgunned it !
So, no long rides this week and a cancelled S36O to Ross. What will next week hold? My goal of 4,500 kilometres for the year is looking shaky.
‘Til next time …………
Tony's Tasmanian Cycling Blog 
Glad the Bike-E went well – does it ride stiff compared to your other bikes? I think I might feel like I was riding along a structural beam? Hope the windy and wet weather recedes a bit so you can get out on some camping and cycling trips. The past couple days in the low 20s have felt wonderful after the really hot days the past couple weeks here. At this stage, the weather shows some potential for an overnight ride next weekend – hope your forecast is similar!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The suspension helps! I get double vision off bad chip seal less on Bikey than on the trike.
LikeLike
Mmmm, Heartlands sounds like real estate marketing. I expect someone that enjoys The Quiet Life resenting being exposed to the real estate prices pandemic spreading out from Sydney. Just a thought, sorry to lower the tone.
LikeLiked by 1 person