EOM June 2022 – EOFY

In Australia the end of financial year is 30th June. Gone are the days that the EOFY meant lots of work for me. A long time ago I worked for an American company is Sydney and the company EOFY was 31 Dec – which pretty much determined we worked over the Christmas/New Year holiday period. Then we had the Oz EOY to worry about. Thankfully retirement now means very little change to doing not much at all, so I can keep calm !!

So far Winter hasn’t been too bad. Freezing starts have changed to cloud-free or almost cloud-free days by midday and the sun thus released is quite warming. Creeping into double digit °C anyway. There has also been a lack of wind most days which helps with the chill factor when riding.

There have also been some extremely windy days as you will see.

On the days with poor riding conditions I have been learning something new. 3D printing.

Sue was sceptical – “What ARE you going to do with it?” Answer – stuff for the bikes of course !!

That’s it for now. I have to work out how to replace the existing block of wood holding the PAS sensor on Ernie – something for July.

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A transformation for Ernie

As suggested in the May report, I also worked on Ernie. I wanted to move the battery from the rear of the bike to the middle of the frame. This would free the rear up for carrying stuff.

Ernie went off the road for a week while I slowly planned and executed the changeover. In the process I learnt how to use a RivNut tool and installed RivNuts in the correct position so the battery could be mounted forward of the seat. The wiring from the battery needed some work and I soldered up some mini Anderson plugs to handle the new positioning.

I was unable to replace the motor controller within the frame though – I have no idea how Phil managed to do that in the first place. The controller now sits in a bag attached to the seat. This is not ideal. I did print a box to hold it but then wondered if boxing it up would be a bad idea in the summer – air circulation to cool the electrics v waterproofing. So, for now, a small bag is the answer and no riding in the rain.

NB: While having the suspension arm disconnected I took the opportunity to print a couple of spacers to assist with positioning it. Somehow the original spacers went missing when the motor was fitted. (These spacers were my first 3D printed parts for the bikes.)

Riding in June

The above ride was a test for the new Ernie. All went well. We are at the Bracknell park by the Liffey River after a day of wind. There is a fallen tree there – ripped out of the ground by the gales.

This was a 4°C morning and quite thick fog. I stopped to take the next picture.

To take the picture I had to take off my overgloves and then woollen mitts in order to handle the camera, then return hands to the mitts with Chinese hand warmers inside, helping to keep fingers operational. I stood there wondering “why am I doing this? The fog is really too thick up here”. I cycled on a little further to see what the conditions were higher up, rounded a bend and found the sun warming the road through a clearing fog. By the time I had cycled to Bishopsbourne and returned past this point the fog had gone and the temperature had risen to a balmy 9°C.

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Another day, neighbour Pete and I had a ride out to Panshanger.

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All up I managed to cycle my target kilometers for June and am a fair way ahead for the annual target. Which is probably a good thing as the next week or two will probably be light on cycling with a visit south about to happen.

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I organised another Bicycle Network recumbent ride for late in June. It wasn’t over-subscribed seeing as I was the only starter! Colin has a crook hip, Rob was busy elsewhere and no newcomers showed interest.

So off I went to Blackwood Creek, Cressy and back to Bishopsbourne on me tod. Up the hill to Blackwood Creek I saw several areas of damage caused by recent storms.

Maybe some nearby trees had been removed leaving these open to the winds. Eucalypts are shallow rooted and, when the soil is moist, they get blown over with circular “dish” that holds the roots pulled out the ground. Here about 80% of the trees were blown clean out of the ground while the other 20% had snapped the trunk at around the 5-10 metre mark.

After Blackwood Creek I found a Banana in the road! B1 or B2? No identification marks !!

Here is a video showing some of the ride. I may look a little rotund – well the 4 layers of clothing including a thick woollen jumper probably explain most of that.

What’s up for July?

Bluey the Greenspeed Magnum is getting gifts bestowed on it. More next month provided the Supply Chain gurus help us out.

’til next time ………………………