All over the road.

That’s what I was when crossing the Illawarra Road last week.

Why’s that then? I hear you ask. Well ….

Imagine the scene. The Illawarra Road is busy and was widened recently just after it leaves the Longford Roundabout. It now encompasses truck parking space on both sides of the road when heading towards the Bass Highway. To assist truckers access to Longford there is a new foot crossing near the roundabout. I was using the crossing to get to a new pathway connecting the truck stop to Tannery Road in order to cycle to Bishopsbourne Road without using the highway. I waited for a gap in the traffic, pushed the bike out aiming for the centre island when the bike suddenly surged forward, cut across in front of me and we fell in a heap. Thinking about it after, I believe that I twisted the throttle as I pushed and, even though the PAS setting was 0 (no power), the throttle still works!!

I picked up the bike, hopped about a bit on a now sore knee and got to the other side. Luckily there was still no traffic – unusual on this busy road. Lessons learnt:

1. actually turn the power completely off before tackling similar situations; and

2. think about permanently disconnecting the throttle.

I cycled on, the gears were working OK – maybe a bit rattly on changing but a little adjustment and, apart from a now stiffening knee, all was OK.

A couple of days later, once the knee had improved enough to ride again, I noticed the gears were playing up more than I expected. Pete down the road has a bike stand so I arranged a time to use it. By the time I got there I had ridden another 2 rides and the gears were bad. Top gear would not engage and when changing to bottom the chain was sometimes thrown off the cassette and against the wheel. As I prepared to visit Pete I had a proper look and saw there was some damage on the derailleur case and more on the cover for the power cable into the hub. Ah – the fall had done some damage and I guess continued riding had accentuated the problem.

Anyway Pete immediately spotted that the derailleur was bent – something I hadn’t seen – hence gear changing problems. The derailleur setup is more sophisticated than on my trike as it has a sacrificial link to the frame and this is what had bent. I was extremely lucky to have got Pete involved as he has a tool to straighten a bent derailleur link! He had eyed up the Parktool to do the job some months ago and it was $200 – so he made his own. It works well. We, well, Pete with me providing bike stand support, managed to straighten the link without snapping it. Now the gears are perfect. It’s great to know engineers. Thanks Pete.

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For reasons linked to a) the fall and b) the cold winds of winter, both my knees are playing up. My plan for this week is to daily ride a small loop, just 15-16 kilometres, to try and bring them back to good order without too much stress.

The Route of the “Short Loop”

A couple of comments re this short ride. Firstly it’s not exactly climb free with a max grade of 6.6% according to Ride with GPS.

It uses the new short pathway to Tannery Road recently installed by the Council. When I first started using Tannery Road back in 2010, access was discouraged and fences were in place to stop people doing a loop walk to the South Esk river – or accessing Tannery Road. The fence would be cut almost as soon as a new piece was erected so, after many years, the Council has bowed to the inevitable. I’m glad as it means people like me can easily cycle parallel to the Illawarra Road up to the junction with Bishopsbourne Road missing dealing with speedsters and trucks on the highway.

Previously there was a low single beam boomgate on Tannery Road. This was to stop vehicles getting into the picnic area by the South Esk over winter. I believe to prevent ‘fun’ on the grass with cars donutting and/or getting bogged . Back in the day I could simply lift my bike over the gate or, with the trike, push it under. Then the new gate was erected and it was harder for cyclists to get around/over/under. I like to think that my raising this as an issue at the Bicycle Committee meeting last year went some little way in getting cycle access added as can be seen above.

I feel much more comfortable riding the improved route out of Longford.

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I have ridden the “Short Loop” a couple of times recently and have been picking up cans and plastic bottles for recycling. Each time I ride it there is a fresh “crop” to harvest.

Bottle and Can Recycling

The Tasmanian recycling scheme came to fruition in May this year. I collected a few cans and then Mrs C and I went looking for the recycling machine. To work it needs yet another App on the phone. That sorted, the machine scanned my barcode, allowed me access and swallowed everything I threw in it. Then paid me money!! Much better than putting the stuff in our home recycling bin.

It was a simple process. The lady next to us was going backwards and forwards to her car getting ever more boxes of cans. After one trip she assured us she wasn’t an alcoholic (it was mostly beer cans) but rather she acts as a central site for people to leave cans and the money goes to charity. How good is that?

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The weather here is cool. I can gauge the temperature outside by the level of early morning ice in the birdbaths. A slight layer on top = 0 to -1°C. More ice but not completely frozen = -1 to -2°C while a fully frozen bath means -3°C or worse. This, being the middle of winter, has so far provided a slight ice layer most days. Unfortunately thicker ice is coming so I am glad I am currently riding shorter distances.

The icy and foggy weather means we have been thinking about longer Spring and Summer rides and, just maybe, there will be a chance to cycle a large new chunk of the NW Coastal Trail in October. I was tempted to refit wheels to the now-retired bicycle camper for this trip but no, I don’t think so. Although it travelled well the set-up is long thus a bit ungainly. The extra weight involved is also a consideration thinking extra battery draw. I feel it really needs a 750 watt motor (illegal in Tasmania) and a big battery to pull it along. Instead I will check out my tents and see if either remains serviceable.

The other pre-Spring/Summer item to be researched is an e-bike rack to fit on the car. Hopefully a decision will be made soon and a rack in use soon after the car is fixed.

Oh it’s fun banishing the winter blues by planning rides for the warmer weather.

’til next time ………………………….