Day 34 …

OK … so I should probably give up on the counting of the days that I have been here but hey, it gives me some way of marking the things that happen …

Well I finally got out on the bike after all the issues that had come along to do with getting to me. The day was nice enough. The sun was out, the breeze from the west was there but wasn’t too bad to deal with and I had just about everything that I had ordered from the bike shop. Life was good

I headed out to the west along Canterbury Road oddly enough towards Canterbury. The arms were naked so it was a little cool on them to start with but after the first few Kim’s it was ok. Not sure if this is because my arms warmed up or lost all feeling in them. Either way it was comfortable enough. The road a was a little rough in spots but hey we all know what it is like on NSW roads, and in particular the roads around the back of West Dapto!!!

The traffic wasn’t too bad though so it was good just to move along the road comfortably and get use to the bike. It didn’t seem to handle too badly and my legs seemed to be doing ok too. They remembered to keep going around so that was a good sign. Now you have to remember that I haven’t really ridden a bike much of late and so when I come to hills it kind of gives me a burning sensation in the thighs but once of the top of it was ok. Even standing up out of the saddle caused a strange sensation. And after a few Kim’s, I realised this as there was a incline of about 1m in 100m!! Ok so that isn’t a good sign if there is anything larger than that for me to climb along the roads that I will be going and have no idea of!!

As I went down a descent reaching 55km an hour (yes, I know not that fast) I said to myself that I wasn’t going to be coming back this way as it would hurt my legs too much!! This was reinforced as I climber out of the little valley I was in. Now I think it was hurting for two reasons. 1 – I hadn’t been riding too much and 2 – I had bad gear selection exaggerated by the cluster that I had. But I made it over the top and continued along my way.

After a bit I turned to the south along the Thanet Way and then West along West Canterbury Rd Yes … it is the same road it has just looped around a bit. this was good as it meant that the wind was mostly behind me so I was pleased about that. As I rode past the Ken International Airport though I was even more appreaciative as it meant that I got past the naroow stretch of road a lot quicker and thus avoided issues with the traffic. Had to find another way around the airport next time.

All thi way I had basically been following the road signs to places that I had marked as turning positions but the actual roads to follow was a different story. On the way into Ramsgate, I saw this turn and thought ok that is where I have to go so I took it … WRONG!!! I ended up down on the coast which wasn’t too bad and went through the main part of town. All was good and at this stage didn’t really think much of it. Until I came to a dead end and the only real way out was to go up a smallish hill … nothing bigger that the ‘Y’ on the Illawarra Course really but it burned the thighs once more.

A few turns and I was roughly back on track before being confronted by another hill … this time it was little worse than the ‘Y’ … more like well … it was worse anyway. So I struggled over the top and then after asking myself why I was doing this got back to riding along the road that I was hoping was heading in the right direction. The scenery wasn’t too bad so that was making it enjoyable enough which is one of the good things about riding, you get to see most of the scenery.

I had some how staggered in the right direction and found (unknowingly) the road home to Margate – St Peters / Dane Court Rd. The catch is that it meant being exposed again to the Westerly wind as I crossed the paddocks of green and go over the slight rise that was there.

Now for most of the trip I was telling myself that I should get some black cleats for the shoes so that I didn’t have soo much movement in my foot on the pedals. What I should have done wwwwwwwaaaaaaayyyyyyy earlier was to stop and check my cleats. Yes that is right, my cleat was loose and that was why my foot was moving so much. Now, loose is one thing, but when I checked, I was actually missing a screw for the cleat!! I was there when I started so that meant I was down a screw on the cleat. Now funnily enough, once I got the cleat tight, I seamed to be able to go up the hills just a little bit better … yes it still hurt but it was better.

So the trip wasn’t too bad overall, the bike was good the roads weren’t too bad and I made it back home. What more could you ask for. The total for the trip was just over 30Klm’s.

Notes to self …..

• Make sure that you tighten cleats properly so your foot doesn’t move when riding and the screws don’t fall out.

• Know what gear your in going up hills – it makes life a little easier

• Change cluster one day to 12-21