My slowest commute

DeF said:

Bloody fantastic, it makes you feel alive. I feel sorry for
the poor saps who have to drive every day.

Fascinating ain't it? A small change of routine, due to the weather conditions, leaves you feeling invigorated. 😉 Just having a peruse of the Perth BoM site, there's certainly a few weather warnings out today, hopefully the wind will be at your back for the evening push home.

DeF d.farrow@your_finger.murdoch.edu.au said:

site, the heavens opened and stayed that way until I got
to UWA, completely soaked.

Bloody fantastic, it makes you feel alive. I feel sorry for
the poor saps who have to drive every day.

It's amazing that. I remember when I was a regular cager, I used to see
cyclists battling the wind and rain and think, 'poor sods'. Now, as I
battled the wind and rain this morning in Perth (actually, mostly a fun
fun tail wind for me 🙂 ) I look at cars idling in traffic and think
'poor sods'.

--
..dt

"DeF" <d.farrow@your_finger.murdoch.edu.au> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm working at UWA at the moment and cycle there from
Murdoch most mornings. This morning, the weather was
not good. Strong, blustery NW (ie headwind most of the
way), and squally rain. Took me 50 minutes this morning
rather than the usual 40. High point for me was the waves
breaking over the path along the freeway showering me with
salty water. The head wind had me doing around 22kph, *slower*
than the traffic snarled cars - not good.

I got a brief respite from the wind and rain as I turned under
the Narrows Bridge but then I turned into the teeth of the
Norwester as I headed to UWA. As I passed the Old Brewery
site, the heavens opened and stayed that way until I got
to UWA, completely soaked.

Bloody fantastic, it makes you feel alive. I feel sorry for
the poor saps who have to drive every day.

DeF.

I raced on both Saturday and Sunday in a very strong southerly wind, and had
rain on both days.
Saturday there was only a small amount of rain, but on Sunday it rained
heavy for a large % of the race.

On Saturday I rode on the front for about 90% of the race as no one wanted
to take turns as I was going too fast for the two remaining riders that
could hang on.
At the end of the race I was clean and had very little dirt on me, the
remaining two guys that were sitting on my wheel were covered in black dirt,
as we race near a coal loader in Newcastle.

And on Sunday in B grade invitational race with the Newcastle Veterans club,
I got a little dirtier as I was the weaker of three riders in a break away
that started 9 km into a 42 km race.
I was doing turns on the front this time as I was not strong enough to ride
at the pace they wanted to go at for very long on the front, the first 2
laps of the break away my legs were screaming from the hard ride the day
before and I was just barely holding on a few times.
I ended up getting stronger as the race went on as the soreness subsided,
and was able to stay on the front for a little longer, and even had a decent
sprint at the end when I led the other two guys out so they could take 1st
and 2nd place in front of me.
The guy that got 2nd was quite weak at the end and I had to slow down quite
a lot so he could roll past me to take 2nd place, it turned out that if I
had got 2nd or better I would be put up to A grade as I got 2nd the week
before in a 3 person break away also ( want to stay in B grade until there
is a race with some good prize money and take the win ).
We were doing between 36 km/h and 40 km/h into the head wind and from 48 to
55 km/h with a tail wind that was not quite directly from behind.

By the end of the race we were over 3 km ahead of the pack, we finished rode
about 300 m down the road slowly and turned and rode back to the club house
and got off our bikes before we could see them coming around the corner.
I think we totally destroyed and demoralised them as they appeared totally
broken by the end of the race, and quite a few of them did not finish the
race.

I ended up riding 156 km in total on sunday, as I ride the 25 km to the
race, then the 42 km of racing then I did a few loops of the hills around
Newcastle then back home for a change of wheels (thanks to a nasty punture
that cut my brand new racing tyre) and some dry clothes and some lunch, then
a ride out west of Lake Maquarie up some nice little hills to finish the day
off 😉

Ohh the joy's of cycling :P

DeF said:

I'm working at UWA at the moment and cycle there from
Murdoch most mornings. This morning, the weather was
not good. Strong, blustery NW (ie headwind most of the
way), and squally rain. Took me 50 minutes this morning
rather than the usual 40. High point for me was the waves
breaking over the path along the freeway showering me with
salty water. The head wind had me doing around 22kph, *slower*
than the traffic snarled cars - not good.

I got a brief respite from the wind and rain as I turned under
the Narrows Bridge but then I turned into the teeth of the
Norwester as I headed to UWA. As I passed the Old Brewery
site, the heavens opened and stayed that way until I got
to UWA, completely soaked.

Bloody fantastic, it makes you feel alive. I feel sorry for
the poor saps who have to drive every day.

DeF.

Yeah, but if the wind stays that way you should get a nice ride home...

--
BrettS

In aus.bicycle on Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:31:11 +0800

Brett Shortland brett_the_vet@optusnetdotnetdotau said:

Yeah, but if the wind stays that way you should get a nice ride home...

Oh come on. As if that ever happens!

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone said:

In aus.bicycle on Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:31:11 +0800

Brett Shortland brett_the_vet@optusnetdotnetdotau said:

Yeah, but if the wind stays that way you should get a nice ride home...

Oh come on. As if that ever happens!

Zebee

Certainly not in Perth where for many months of the year,
a morning Easterly will turn into a howling Sou'westerly
(the "Fremantle Doctor"😉 by midday. This necessitates a
careful choice of home location compared with work.

Once, in November last year, I rode from Murdoch to
Rockingham with the wind on my back (avg speed near 36kph
for about 35km). Did a few hours there and headed back to
Murdoch. The wind had shifted 180 degrees (that's pi radians
to any mathematicians out there) and I did the same speed
back to Murdoch. I was sitting on 45kph along Stock Road.
Fantastic. Never been like that before or since.

Prognosis for today is good though, still blowing NW at
around 20knots (gusting to 30knots). It's going to be such
fun sailing (literally?) past the cars on the South Eastern
"Free"way.

DeF.

BTW For upto date wind info in Perth (and some other places),
check out www.seabreeze.com.au It's aimed at sailboarders but
it's pretty good.

dtmeister said:

Quoted message said:

Bloody fantastic, it makes you feel alive. I feel sorry for
the poor saps who have to drive every day.

It's amazing that. I remember when I was a regular cager, I used to see
cyclists battling the wind and rain and think, 'poor sods'. Now, as I
battled the wind and rain this morning in Perth (actually, mostly a fun
fun tail wind for me 🙂 ) I look at cars idling in traffic and think
'poor sods'.

Yep, great feeling innit? Sometimes I get so fired up, I think of
chucking a mono just to show the cagers how much fun I'm having. Then I
remember seeing, as a schoolboy, an older lad try a mono in a deep
puddle and falling in. I can even remember the guy's name - Tim Cox. So
I leave my monos for where no one can see me!

Donga

Boostland said:

Quoted message said:

I ended up getting stronger as the race went on as the soreness subsided,

and was able to stay on the front for a little longer, and even had a decent
sprint at the end when I led the other two guys out so they could take 1st
and 2nd place in front of me.
The guy that got 2nd was quite weak at the end and I had to slow down quite
a lot so he could roll past me to take 2nd place, it turned out that if I
had got 2nd or better I would be put up to A grade as I got 2nd the week
before in a 3 person break away also ( want to stay in B grade until there
is a race with some good prize money and take the win ).

Sandbagger! ;^P

Tony F

DeF said:

Certainly not in Perth where for many months of the year,
a morning Easterly will turn into a howling Sou'westerly
(the "Fremantle Doctor"😉 by midday. This necessitates a
careful choice of home location compared with work.

My first 200 km day was from Balga to Mandurah in the morning then back in
the avo. Tailwind both ways. Still felt pretty legless the next day on the
ride to work.

Theo

Zebee Johnstone said:

In aus.bicycle on Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:31:11 +0800

Brett Shortland brett_the_vet@optusnetdotnetdotau said:

Yeah, but if the wind stays that way you should get a nice ride home...

Oh come on. As if that ever happens!

In Perth, this is the time of the year that it does. Storms generally
roll in from the north-west. Riding home in a southerly direction on a
stormy winter day usually causes big smiles. At least it did for me
during the 2 years I did that commute. Summer is when the big wind
shifts happen.

Speaking of wind. I moved to Leschenault only to have a tornado fly
through my property early yesterday morning. Can anyone recommend a
good chainsaw?

--
BrettS

Theo Bekkers said:

DeF said:

Certainly not in Perth where for many months of the year,
a morning Easterly will turn into a howling Sou'westerly
(the "Fremantle Doctor"😉 by midday. This necessitates a
careful choice of home location compared with work.

My first 200 km day was from Balga to Mandurah in the morning then back in
the avo. Tailwind both ways. Still felt pretty legless the next day on the
ride to work.

'cheat' ;-)

--
BrettS

On 2006-08-08, BrettS (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Zebee Johnstone said:

In aus.bicycle on Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:31:11 +0800

Brett Shortland brett_the_vet@optusnetdotnetdotau said:

Yeah, but if the wind stays that way you should get a nice ride home...

Oh come on. As if that ever happens!

In Perth, this is the time of the year that it does.

Melb too. It must be August.

Quoted message said:

Storms generally
roll in from the north-west. Riding home in a southerly direction on a
stormy winter day usually causes big smiles. At least it did for me
during the 2 years I did that commute. Summer is when the big wind
shifts happen.

This morning was a bit windy here. Just looked at my wind-o-meter,
and it was only 35km/h. Felt worse than that. Also a headwind
whichever way I turned. Turn 180 degrees to roll to our side door,
and headwind. Walk outside same door to go to shower, headwind. Walk
back from shower, headwind. One of the gusts damn well stopped me in
my tracks on my way to work. Another threatened to blow me off teh
balcony upstairs.

Quoted message said:

Speaking of wind. I moved to Leschenault only to have a tornado fly
through my property early yesterday morning. Can anyone recommend a
good chainsaw?

Take a look at the weather I'll have to face at my new place:

http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~rmn/tornado.htm

Stupid climate change. This year had the "coldest May on record,
about 6 degrees below average".

--
TimC
The gedanken experiment failed. I couldn't reproduce the results -- TimC

TimC said:

On 2006-08-08, BrettS (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Speaking of wind. I moved to Leschenault only to have a tornado fly
through my property early yesterday morning. Can anyone recommend a
good chainsaw?

Take a look at the weather I'll have to face at my new place:

http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~rmn/tornado.htm

Stupid climate change. This year had the "coldest May on record,
about 6 degrees below average".

Alright, you've shown me yours, now I'll show you mine... ;-)

No speccy pictures of the buildup, but the aftermath is a bit more
devastating

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/gallery/0,21592,5006821-5005386,00.html

--
BrettS

TimC said:

Stupid climate change. This year had the "coldest May on record,
about 6 degrees below average".

We were on track for the hottest July ever recorded. Not sure if we made it or not but it was gonna be damn close.

hippy
"smokin'!"