I met Bob[1] a couple of weeks ago. I picked him up from Tin Can Alley
with the blessing of Bikesoiler, since then we've had some fun together.
Bob needs a bit of motivation and I can't do it myself so first I had to
get Rocky[2] in shape. Off came the Larsen TT's and on went the Conti
Contacts. A bell, newly procured from BSC, was added and Rocky was all
set. I swear he was sulking but it's all to the greater good (secret
CABC training....damn! Fscked up and let the cat out the the bag again).
Me, Rocky and Bob have been out three times now. The first time was a
bit of an adventure; it's pitch black when I leave for work in the
morning and although Bob merrily waves a yellow flag I was uncomfortable
about the lights on Rocky being a good metre or so out from the rear end
of Bob; well frankly I thought poor Bob was a bit vulnerable so it was
(shock, gasp horror) on to the shared path for me.
You know what? I've a lot more respect for people who ride shared paths
habitually. It's so much more challenging. All those uncontrolled
intersections, all those occasions where you have to rejoin the road
albeit briefly. Brrrrrr! Not good.
Eventually got on to Nepean and I was comfortable enough with the level
of illumination to take to the road again. The journey in to work was
pretty much like any other journey, a bit slower but very comfortable.
Bob and Rocky got along famously which made me happy.
The journey home was a complicated affair. Intrigued by my off-road
adventure in the morning I decided to go home along the bike path along
the beach. Just me, Rocky and Bob on a leisurely romp home :-)
Leisurely my butt! Much like my experience along Centre Dandenong Road,
the trip along the bike path was much harder than the trip along the
road. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained :-)
With off-road paths being a total pain in the bum I decided that until I
could adequately protect Bob's derrière I wasn't taking him out again.
Sorry Bob, but that ass needs lit up.
After the Olinda ride we went to Bike Life and picked up an LED flasher
and a set of Tioga lights (very funky they are.) w00t :-)
So Monday morning with Bob sufficiently illuminated off we trotted
sticking to the roads this time. Much better. The three of us rolled
along quite nicely together and there's nothing much of note to talk
about the ride in.
At work a couple of 19" rack mount units needed to be taken from one
side of the city to the other, as well as a few other assorted odds and
ends. With Trek and the Mr and Mrs Ortleib this wouldn't be achievable,
but Rocky and Bob jumped at the chance. ``We're built to haul stuff you
know,'' they told me.
OK.
Not much to comment on that either. True to their word Rocky and Bob
faithfully carried the gear from one side of the city to the other with
nary a wobble. Impressive stuff.
Today the usual ride in, got a comment from one cyclist that I had an
interesting extension; guess he's not used to threesomes. Oh well :-)
At work an urgent job needs doing tomorrow. What's new? When
everything's urgent, that means everything shares the same level of
importance so defaults to normal in my book.
But no, this was really urgent, super urgent and the stuff we need for
the morning is in East Burwood. I'm the only one who can possibly save
the day! Can we do it guys? ``Course we can'' cry Rocky and Bob.
So off we went to East Burwood. Up Toorak Road, Burwood Highway with
all its rolling hills. People, stopped, people stared. Guess
threesomes are more uncommon than I thought.
The three of us might be able to carry stuff, but that doesn't mean we
go fast. The art of spin is not confined to politics, I really did have
to spin Rocky who in turn coaxed Bob along the way. The going at times
was slow but there was never a point where we felt that we weren't
getting anywhere.
Got to East Burwood and loaded up the ever accommodating Bob with
another 10kg of assorted stuff and headed home. Nothing much of note to
talk about there either.
OK, serious mode. I've borrowed Bikesoiler's Bob Yak trailer and I'm
falling in love with it. The idea started when some mad Macedonian who
has a penchant for seeing how close he can get to Royalty coaxed me in
to the CABC. That means serious time in Rocky (Rocky Mountain ETSX-50,
dual suspension mountain bike) and Rocky's a weekend bike.
Unfortunately my job means I need to be able to cart a lot of stuff
around and the panniers on the Trek normally cope with that.
The Bob trailer handles like a dream when riding. It does provoke the
occasional comment and I swear that drivers are taking *much* longer to
overtake me. To date the heaviest load I've carried is in the order of
20kgs or so.
Riding along I also think it's real good PR. Here's me, smile on my
face with legs spinning around transporting quite a bit of stuff and
enjoying it.
Bob does have his downsides. When Rocky's not on hand to guide him it
can be tricky hauling Bob around. Bob's not really designed as a hand
held trailer and it shows. It also puts the mockers on multi-modal
transport I think; getting Rocky and Bob on to a train but turning them
around in that confined space would be an issue.
Now I've just got to persuade the CFO that a bike trailer is a really
useful thing and we absolutely must have one of our own.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\<,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)