Tag: Brompton

The Four Spring Lake ride was the “special” ride of the week.  Most other kilometers were gained riding to Bishopsbourne and the Deloraine Friday ride.

Just a few “top-up” rides occurred on Sunday when I rode them on K’s Bike E recumbent. K & D came up to Longford and stayed in the caravan park in their new  caravan on a shake-down trip.  The rather lengthy Bike E was brought up lying on the bed in the van.  Luckily an old blanket was under it as the rather lengthy chain left a bit of oil decorating it.  On Sunday it looked like rain and we thought it would be best to get the bike under cover as it had been kicked off the bed the previous evening and stood in the corner outside for making a mess.

The plan was to put it in my garage and so I walked down to the caravan park on Sunday morning to pick it up.  I pushed it out of the park, away from prying eyes and then took off.  After my wobbly attempts at Huonville I was expecting another round of difficult “take offs” but things went quite well.  I could have started in the caravan park after all and not looked a complete novice!  The recumbent feels very strange after a “normal” bike and, when pedalling, it doesn’t feel very lively.  I used, I think, 4 of the gears on the derailleur but didn’t try to change gear in the hub (it is a 3 (hub) x 7 (derailleur) SRAM gearing system).  Steering the device is odd because you can’t lean into turns in the same way as on a “normal”.  On a tight turn you have to use the trick of flicking the steering the opposite way to the way you want to go and use the “fall” in the other direction to go into the turn.  Or, if that doesn’t work, panic brake, put your feet down, lift the bike off the ground and turn until it points the right way and then pedal on – but that’s not a cool look.

On Sunday afternoon I played with the gearing and found the hub gears do actually select gears 1, 2 and 3.  Gear 1 – the lowest – can only be used if you keep the twist grip changer hard on the low position – probably due to slackness in the cable.  There is no more adjustment at the twist-grip end so this will take a little bit of work to sort out. More of a test ride showed that, when used with the lowest hub gear setting, low on the derailleur results in a lot of pedal twiddling or, in cycling terms, a very high cadence – so hill climbing on the bike should be possible.  That’s good because it would be an awkward lump of a thing to push up a hill.

K and I plan to spend a morning with the Bike E tomorrow (Monday) and see if the working of the gears can be improved.  Then it goes back to bed for the journey south to Huonville.

And so another week in cycling draws to an end ………..

Totals for week :

Total for week :  109 k            Total for year :  1,492 k  

Vivente :   81 k                          Brompton :   17 k                    Bike E : 11 k

 

 

Yep – done it again.  The CLC2018 ride gave me a good start, the Friday River Road run helped and the rest was ridden on the Brommie.

On Saturday I decided to trial what seemed to be a new bike track between Perth and Breadalbane.  There have been major roadworks here for the past 2 years or so building a dual carriageway link as part of the upgrades happening to the Midland Highway.  The old road was not used and it appears that as part of the works a bike path has been installed alongside the old highway.  The connection out of Perth requires a ride along the Midland Highway until a right hand turn is reached – hopefully the Council will develop a riding path to get cyclists to the old road safely.

The initial part of the old highway runs in a cutting blasted out of rock.  There is not enough room for a cycleway until you are through that bit – but once through there it is.

I have practiced my YouTube skills a bit and have a video I created this morning.  You can see it Here.

At the end of the vid there is a shot of a sign to Gibbets Hill.  There is a bit of history here as written up in Wikipedia :  

In 1837, five years after the practice ceased in England, the body of John McKay was gibbetted near the spot where he murdered Joseph Wilson near Perth.  There was great outcry, but the body was not removed until an acquaintance of Wilson passed the spot and horrified by the spectacle of McKay’s rotting corpse, pleaded with the authorities to remove it.  The location is still marked by a sign reading, “Gibbet Hill” on the right when heading to Launceston. This was the last case of gibbeting in a British colony.

I cycled up Gibbet Hill Rise hoping to find a sign or the gibbet or anything further about this.  Nothing.  The road had a number of nice, neat lifestyle houses on lifestyle blocks a far cry from a rotting corpse.  Please note I do not say “Lifestyle” with a sneer like some do.  I am happy for people to develop a more relaxed lifestyle – I know we enjoyed it when on a lifestyle block in the bush in the Huon Valley.  After keeping goats and ducks and managing veggies and fruit I am now quite content do veggies only on a much smaller scale!!

The clocks go back (I think it is) tonight as we come off summertime.  It will be a bit of a relief as it is dark in the mornings and the sun comes up late.  This means early morning rides are out due to squinty drivers finding it hard to see a cyclist.  What will next week bring?

Totals for week :

Total for week :  103 k            Total for year :  1,383 k

Vivente :   72 k                          Brompton :   31 k