What’s this all about? .. read on.
But not the main roads!
It took three rides to ride all roads in Longford but, why do this at all? Well, early in the week the wind was from the south, cold and strong. I didn’t have much spare time. I thought it wouldn’t take long to ride the roads, it would be something interesting to do and would get me out on the bike while minimising riding in the wind.
It actually took a bit longer than I expected ! The above map is a composite of 3 days ride reporting in Ride with GPS. It was not easy to get 3 maps into Affinity Photo and match them up; I did an OK job but not a good one. At the top of the map it seems to show I didn’t ride quite a few roads. This is because they are either industrial estate roads or gravel roads on farms; access without “biosecurity” is verboten.
Day 1 saw me ride the top portion. Each day I visited areas of Longford I hadn’t been to before. Day 1 included an industrial access road and a large new housing development.
New signs in the park leading to the boat ramp. Very narrow signs. The information on them is good but I don’t want to ride into one.
Day 2 and I headed out of town a bit. Cressy Road (the yellow road) was busy, the wind was blowing towards the centre of the road and I decided I would not ride it. You can see on the map where I got to Cressy Road and turned around.
Branches that hung out over the roadway have been taken off in recent years. Thank you to the owners of Longford House.
After Day 2 the winds died down a bit and Colin and I took a ride out to Bishopsbourne.
We passed a paddock growing (we think) Barley. As China is currently blocking barley imports from Australia I hope the growers have another market.
Day 3 – Longford Roads (Cont)
The weather was now getting quite summery. It felt hot after the cool southern winds we experienced early in the week.
I will return and use the what3words app to position the grate and then show the image to the Council.
Pictured are a few of the goats in the paddock – there are a lot more but they wouldn’t get together for the photo shoot. I like goats so always have a look as I go past. Certainly didn’t see any when we lived in Paddington (Sydney). This lot would not look up – too busy eating.
A split billet of wood c/w a hinge, folded up and stuffed into a large stump.
It’s a Cache for GeoCachers ! Inside was a strip of paper and a tiny pencil to record our finding.
Wash-up. Riding all Longford roads was an interesting exercise taking us past upmarket housing, horse stabling, a school bus contractor’s bus collection, “ordinary” housing (like mine), old Georgian housing (small), old Georgian housing (large) and social housing areas. Most people smiled and waved or said hello. One car obviously thought we were in his way, the driver leaning on the horn a bit.
I rode 2 of the days on Bike E (bikey?) and had a bit of practise at low speed riding and turning. It’s the turning tightly I still have trouble with. Not so much now but every now and again I get off to turn, walking the bike round. It’s the long wheelbase that’s the problem – not me !
To end the week I was up early on Sunday and decided to take Bikey to Bishopsbourne. A lovely morning with no traffic, sunshine and lots of birds out to watch. No pictures because I was just enjoying the day. After a while I felt that my hips weren’t working right and realised that the effort pushing to climb the hills in Wilmore’s Lane had actually shifted the seat back. A stop and a reposition of the seat made things OK again. I shall have to keep and eye on that.
On this ride I spotted my first snake for the season. A short, thin one basking by the roadside. It turned and wiggled away on my approach.
The annual total kilometres ridden heads towards 4,500. Will I get there? Possibly as we are planning an S36O ride to Ross next week.
’til next time ……….
Tony's Tasmanian Cycling Blog 
good to seee the bikey being used. went for a quiet sunday ride on revive after reading on the net some revive riders felt they were slipping forward on the seat and they raised the nose of the seat. i tried the same slight improvement and i will raise it more with washers. this horizontal angle is the only thing on the bike that is not adjustable.next week i hope to have the small chainwheel on by huon bikes i could do it but the angle is not good for me even sitting. im thinking of making a ramp on plastic boxes to raise the bike .
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Good to hear you are out on the bike Ken. Little steps …..
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Good idea, nice challenge. Why is there always a driver who takes it upon themself to pick on cyclists? My firat ride on my touring bike, about a month ago I’d just rescued a joey among roadkill, handed it over to a very happy wildlife rescue person. Warm fuzzies all round. Cycling home on a high, straight stretch of road, one car, good visibility and the driver decides to see how close (and fast) he could go to me. I literally stopped breathing in shock. Eejit.
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