News and Events

Keep up to date with the latest news and events of Modular Bikes.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Buckley's Ride 2017

Graham S. at the start

My trike at the start.

On the ferry
Hi

The 215k Audax Buckley's ride was a few days ago now and I am just about back to normal with sleep and sore muscles.

Last Sunday started off quite warm and even though I got up for the "Round the Bay in a Day" ride quite early it was hot enough to be riding in a short sleeved shirt.  I arrived in plenty of time at the Albert Park start point, and Graham Signiorini came up from Williamstown to see me off.  We had a chat, he will soon be heading down to Tasmania for the wooden boat show in the boat which he crews.  Nice work if you can get it!

There was a bit of a diversion off the standard route due to bridge works but otherwise riding was pretty good until near a right hand turn a few k out of Williamstown when a few of the tightly packed riders came down.  There were no serious injuries but the group split up a bit.  A few ks further on, there was another accident, this time Heather came down and broke a collar bone on a new section of bike track.  Everything was sorted out quite quickly, an ambulance was called and it was organised through Stephen Rowland's Little River checkpoint for Heather's bike to be picked up.  Most of the rest of the way to Geelong I stayed in touch with Helen Lew-Ton and Stephanie. 

In Geelong I stopped and took on drinks (petrol stations here have Obesity Specials on multiple bottles of sugary soft drinks.  In this case it was 2 1.25 litre bottles of lemonade for $4.00) and kept going.  In Leopold, an Ozhpv acquaintance, Simon Watt flagged me down and we had a chat.  Soon after I had one of the worst incidents of the ride, a combination of sunshine, sweat and sunscreen got in my eyes and I had to squint to see and rub my eyes a bit, take my sunglasses off and wait for it all to go away, which it did eventually. 

 A bit further on I spoke to Dieter who was in the ride and he mentioned the 1pm ferry.  That was about 15k from the Queenscliffe ferry terminal and I used my $2.80 cheapo watch and the road signs giving the distance to Queenscliffe to realise I could make the ferry if I fanged it.  So fang it I did, even on the slightly torturous uphills.  In the end catching the ferry was really up to luck, I arrived at the boat at about 1:05 and was the last one on the boat and Dieter who was about a k behind didn't make it.

There were a few other Audaxers on the ferry, and I was able to relax a bit and consume some of the food and drink I had in the trike during the ferry trip.  On the Sorrento side I did a few bike adjustments, changing the handlebar position and moving the seat up toward the cranks a bit.  That sorted It was off to Melbourne, a lazy 95k or so away.

Progress was pretty good with a tailwind most of the way, and often I was faster than the clogged-up coastal holiday traffic.  I had rests at Dromana, Mornington (refuelled there with Turkish Delights and 2 for $6.00 obesity special 1.25 litre cokes)  and then Mordialloc.

Eventually I got in close to 7pm, not too bad all things considered.  Dieter came in 15 minutes later, "very knackered" or words to that effect. The last time I did the ride I got in at 6pm but there were slightly fewer delays that time.   Once again next year?  Not sure!

A few lessons learnt.

Training helps.
Sunburn can be a problem, its worth having cream and arm and leg covers available to use.  With a combination of these, I avoided sunburn this time.
Fizzy, sweet, salty drinks seem to agree with my digestion and they don't force me to pee too often.  This all helps when long distance cycling.

All for now, regards

Steve Nurse

Monday, January 9, 2017

Buckley's Prelude 2017

During training on ....

the great ocean road.

Hydration system raw materials.

Almost Finished

Actually Finished
Hi

A few weeks ago I bumped into Helen Lew-Ton who said she was doing Buckley's ride (Around the Bay in A Day) and I decided to do it again this year.

 I have been on holiday near Airey's Inlet on Victoria's Great Ocean Road and did some training for the ride, mostly to Lorne and back, about 40k with some hills, taking about 2 hours.  The day before Buckley's was hot and I spent it putting a water tank into my bike, riding around a bit, checking spare tubes and getting a pre-ride puncture.  Then it was early to bed for me, the alarm set for 5:10.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Stationery Cycle

New Year's Day: I had spent part of New Year's eve making the side panels, by fixing some cloth to some plywood cutouts with Nalclips from Officeworks and other assorted stationery items.


Port Melbourne stop, L to R are Gary, Robert, Graeme, Neil

Back home, I tried the bike out attached to this excercise machine.  Stationary Trike.

Hi

My first post for the year!  Today I finished attaching some panels to my trike and took it off for a test ride to St Kilda and back, where Robert Waryszak's Be-Spon ride was starting.  I pulled up next to Alan Ball on the way there, and we could see the ride participants ahead of us, we were slightly late and they had just left St. Kilda pier.

Anyway we caught up with them, and regrouped at Port Melbourne.  I spent the next leg of the trip chatting to Gary who is a retired librarian.  He had worked at Swinburne Uni and he knew one or two people I know there.  Spoke to Grahan Signiorini at the next stop, and found out he is doing Buckley's ride (Around the Bay in a Day) with me next week. Soon after that, I pootled home.

Regards

Steve Nurse