Last Ride for 2021

Our summer garden. Sue is upset about the weeds fired up by the watering but I think there’re hard to see against the non-weeds – so no worries.

To cycling : with a forecast of 32°C today I set out early(ish) for a standard Bishopsbourne ride for New Years Eve.

It’s great that finally we are warming up. There is no humidity as yet and so cycling into the low 30s is fine. The only issue is – we still have high winds – but then the winds also blow away the flies. Life is all swings and roundabouts in’it?

The bike chosen for the ride was Ernie. The temporary wooden fixings for the PAS are still working although the motor does cut out every now and again for a few revolutions of the pedals. I have checked the wiring and kept a lookout while riding but cannot pick a set of circumstances that cause the hesitation. We haven’t come to a full stop yet so I will continue riding, accepting the commas and colons (full or semi) punctuating the ride.

Before setting out I cable-tied Sesame St Ernie to Bike E Ernie to take him for a ride. I also sun screened and covered up as much as possible – the UV is labelled “EXTREME” by the weather forecaster.

That done, we set off. As I turned into Wilmore’s Lane the first thing I noticed was just how much the paddocks have dried out. The past two weeks have been windy and dry and sunny – so everything has browned off. Indeed in Tasmania the next two days are covered by a total fire ban – dry vegetation, high winds, high temperature, low humidity is all a bad mix.

The second thing I noticed were two riders halfway up the first hill. Time for a test. Could I catch them up using high power levels?

In a word – NO.

I did chase them, managing to stay about the same distance behind all the way to the junction with Bishopsbourne Road. The unknown riders put up a creditable performance climbing the hills into the headwind. Once again I found that riding faster with high assist levels automatically makes you put in more effort to complement the power from the motor. Even so, I couldn’t catch up and was fair out of breath topping the last hill.

The bike display was a bit annoying on the next stretch. The sun was behind me and it reflected off the display into my eyes. This has happened before and I now remembered I had better fix it! Once we moved forward a bit and the suns angle changed, I could see the temperature was displaying as 28°C. Then 30, then 29 then 28 again. OK, somewhere around 28 then. Nice.

Not many cyclists out and about but plenty of farmers and equipment. Also some tourists now we have opened the borders. As usual some responded to a wave while others looked away, ignoring or just not seeing the cyclist.

At the turnaround point I really enjoyed the lack of wind noise as the wind became a tailwind. Once the air stops blasting past the helmet and ears, riding is really quiet. It was certainly warmer without the air cooling but still very nice.

I stopped at the Bishopsbourne Sports Ground just to have a stretch. The Bike E has a pad at the bottom of the seat and it does promote “Recumbutt”. An interesting phenomena – a minute or two off the bike relieves the symptoms but riding on makes it worse.

It was here that Ernie pointed out “Hey – Yes I have a good view BUT” – now he couldn’t get off and have a look around. I guess cable ties must be replaced with a better way in 2022.

There was only one camper van in the park and no kids at all in the playground. Everyone else is at the beach?

The ride back was a delight. For most of the time the wind was either directly behind or quartering nicely. Riding at 25kph it was either not possible to feel the wind, while the occasional gust pushed from behind suggesting a wind speed of 30kph ish in the gusts. During the ride down the first Wilmores Lane hill the wind was directly behind. With no effort at all 52kph was reached – much faster than recent descents of this hill on the trike with its canopy air brake (another swing/roundabout).

So, that’s it. Ride over, 2021 over and 2022 opens up for more adventures. The warmer weather has really helped my sore shoulders (arthritis) so that will be good for the Edge of the World ride.

’til next time ……………………..