Velomobile Media Tart

So I was invited to talk about Velomobiles on our local radio station!

You can listen from about 1.18.00 https://www.abc.net.au/radio/brisbane/programs/afternoons/afternoons/10498548?fbclid=IwAR00i9UmxpXMvt0XfXDqFlvFy2vGnsXysta3FekUVijxVerTJ92FIo9A9uE

They also did a short video as well!

https://www.facebook.com/abcinbrisbane/videos/209228019974750/UzpfSTY2ODUyMTcwNzozMDYwNjExMjk0OTk0MTQ6MTA6MDoxNTQ5MDA3OTk5OjE3NTMzODE2OTYzMDc1MDI2OTc/

60th Birthday bike tour- Windsor to Gosford NSW

As I am turning 60 in December this year, it was suggested by my son, Jeff and his wife, Yas, that Jeff and I should do a mini bike tour- what a great idea. It transpired that the most mutually convenient time for both of us was in late October, so a definite date was set, I drove down to Sydney and we were all ready to start the ride on Saturday October 27th.

Day 1 Windsor to Wisemans Ferry-52km

As it was a short day, we visited a farmers market in an Inner West Sydney suburb to have a coffee and the market's famous Egg and Bacon roll prior to setting off. On return it was time to saddle up for the ride to Redfern Station for the transport leg to Windsor by train, good timing meant we only had a 10 wait for the train. After a relaxing trip we arrived in Windsor about 12.30pm.

We started straight away and found the first few km quite heavy with traffic and noticeably warmer than we had been anticipating. Enroute to the Sackville ferry crossing, a decent headwind had sprung up. After riding for about 20min we came across the Tractor 828 cafe, so it seemed a good time to stop for lunch and rehydrate!

Continuing on it was only a short distance to the Sackville ferry, again there was quite a bit of traffic, however we realised that once across the river and letting the cars off our ferry go, we had about 15 minutes of car free riding, before the next wave of cars from the next ferry trip passed. This worked out well as by now it was very hot, so the pattern became ride for 15 min, stop for a drink and let the cars pass, ride for 15 min and so on. After a quite steep climb out of Sackville we turned onto River Road, from here we hardly saw a car until reaching Wisemans Ferry.

The first part of the River Rd was a fantastic white knuckled descent to the banks of the Hawkesbury River, lots of recent rain in the area meant the paddocks were very green and lush with fat happy cattle. River Rd was a series of flat riverside riding and short sharp climbs and descents as the road followed the river for the next 30km or so. Wonderful vistas of the river and the sandstone cliffs were only offset by the noisy speedboats and jetskis, however they were fairly isolated and we enjoyed the shady portions of the road with the background calls of numerous bellbirds.

In the parts that were not in shade, it was quite torrid in the heat, which was upwards of 30C and we consumed litres of water. Fortuitously a small shop appeared and we bought some Gatorade and had a long rest in the shade on some soft green grass.

The road continued with the river on one side  and the sandstone cliffs, sometimes overhanging on our right. By the time we had reached Wisemans Ferry, we were done in and very happy to call it a day at our prebooked accomodation at the hotel.

   After settling in, we went for a pre dinner walk down to the river and the ferry site. The area has quite an interesting history, on the other side of the river is the Dharug National Park, including the navigable Old Great North Road, which was built by convicts in leg irons. More details here https; www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/walking-tracks/old-great-north-road-world-heritage-walk  

Returning to the pub for dinner, we dined, had a few beers, watched the live band (who were quite good), observed the 60 or more hotted up cars parading at speed down the main street. The owners seemed to mostly P platers ( no judgement!), some came to the pub for a meal, others just socialised in a paddock down near the river, then they all took off again heading for home I presume.

Day 2 Wisemans Ferry to The Entrance 92km

We awoke of Sunday to light drizzle and wet roads, so we elected to retire to the local cafe to have a Tobys Estate coffee to start the day. By the time we had finished, the rain had stopped and fortunately we didn't see any more for the rest of the day. It remained overcast and in the high teens in temps, which was a blessing as today included the 10km climb of Mangrove mountain.

We went down to the ferry to cross the Hawkesbury River, this ferry and the one at Sackville are funded by the state government and operate 24 hours a day.The Sackville ferry has a few hours off on Wednesdays for maintenance, but the Wiseman ferry is continuous as there is a spare ferry when maintenance is required, it is a great service.  We had a snack at the National Park gate (see above photo) then headed off for Spencer, where there is a great cafe where we would have brunch.

This area is very popular with motor cyclists and we would have had at least 60 or 70 pass us in large groups as we cycled towards Spencer. Once again, it was quite undulating but the hills were not as bad as those on day 1, the cooler weather made all the difference for riding comfort. it was a very picturesque run to Spencer.

On arrival, there were many motorcyclists partaking of coffee and food. The owner told us that its the motorbikes and riders that keep his business viable. We lounged around with an iced coffee and a serve of scones, jam and cream trying to carbo load as the start of the climb was only a few km up the road. The shop owner took photos of all the bikes, including ours and regaled us with stories about how 'exclusive' Spencer was before it's charms became known to the wider world.

And so to the climb of Mangrove Mountain. I had been dreading this as it looks quite difficult on the elevation profile and I am no climber! It is over 10km long and has variable gradients, mostly 4-7% and occasional steep pitches of up to 12%. The initial couple of km is quite steep, then it is a bit easier for the last half. I found the secret was not to look at my speed and just concentrate on getting into a rhythm in an appropriate gear. I tend to be fixated on my speed when climbing, resulting in me blowing up, but this strategy of spinning a low gear worked and we only had 2 short breaks on the way to the top.

Reaching the top, there is a general store- some salty hot chips and a coke were consumed to fuel us for the remaining ride to the The Entrance on the coast. We had assumed it was all down hill from her, but we were wrong. There was another 14km of undulating roads (read- lots of uphill) before the really steep downhill of Dog Trap Rd, we both reached over 60 kph down this part of the ride before levelling out into suburbia and flat roads of Ourimbah and Fountaindale on the Central Coast. The last 8km or so was on the bike track on the shores of Lake Macquarie and was a stress free arrival to The Entrance.

The Entrance, that weekend, was hosting Chromefest, another car/ hot rod/ petrol head celebration! While the previous nights car activities were with the P platers, today's was the gray haired set! But there were some great restorations of old Holdens, Yank Tanks and custom Hot Rods to be seen. We rode to a viewing area overlooking the surf and ocean, took photos and felt that it was almost the equivalent of dipping our tyres into the sea to signify the epicness of our day!

A false start with accomodation had us tentatively booked into a hotel in the city centre, but with nowhere to safely store the bikes and only having shared bathroom facilities, we decided to splurge on a motel room a bit further out of town. After resting, showering and lots of horizontal time, we went to a well reviewed Indian restaurant for dinner.....was good!

Day 3 The Entrance to Gosford, train to Sydney

And so the last day, the Central Coast is suburban and built up and heavily trafficked, but we hoped our route would keep us out of the busier areas until reaching Gosford. 

We set off from the motel back into the city centre for breakfast and coffee at a quiet little cafe. We then headed to the coast and headed towards Gosford, trying stay as close to the water as possible. It was very pleasant riding to Shelley Beach, then a killer but rewarding climb to the lookout at Crackneck.

From here it became a highway run into Gosford. There was a good shoulder most of the way and it was mostly flattish until about 8km out of Gosford.

Two things I have learnt about Gosford;

1. Gosford drivers are generally crappy,

2. Gosford is incredibly hilly!

We did survive however, the last few km were as expected, an endurance test- fast cars, thin or no shoulder but did include one incredible downhill! We arrived at the station to find maybe my forebears had been there before.

Fortuitously, again, we had arrived at the station with 20 min to spare, before catching an express train back to Sydney. Within 1.5 hours of leaving Gosford, 3 hours after marvelling at the views from Crackneck- we were back at Central Station, Sydney.

We had made it- 177km, one big climb, wonderful scenery, wonderful company and what a great way to celebrate a 60th Birthday!

Mango Velomobile reborn!

I was relating a tale about my Mango to fellow velo riders last weekend- they thought it might be of interest to readers.

Not long after I got the Mango in 2013, I, along with the other 2 Mango owners in Brisbane at the time, entered the Brisbane- Gold Coast ride. On the return of that 190km outing, one of the Mango drivers alerted me to the fact that my rear wheel was wobbling side to side.

After checking things out, it became obvious that the nut securing the rear axle was very, very loose. I tightened it up as tight as I could get it and continued on my way, checking it's tightness regularly. (Note, the axle is single sided, secured by a nut on the LHS only)

No further problems were evident with the rear axle bolt for the next 4 years! 

Earlier this year, I broke a spoke on the rear wheel, in true Sods law manner, it was on the freewheel side. I am quite happy repairing spokes, so I tried to remove the freewheel without success. Off to Ridgeway Cycles, who after working on it for over an hour were able to get the freewheel off. To everyone's amazement the freewheel had been loctited on! WTF!

Anyway, in their endeavours, the Ridgeway boys also found the bearings needed replacing, so I got them to do that work as well.

With the wheel at home, I re- installed it and while tightening the axle nut, I found when I tightened it up as before, the rear wheel didn't spin all that freely. I eased back on the tension and found that the wheel spun best when the axle nut was finger tight!

Thinking about this overnight, I decided to loctite the hell out of the nut, tighten it to obtain the best spin without side to side play, mark the position of the nut with Tippex so that I could tell if it moved and consult the Velo Guru, Harry Lieben of SinnerBikes in the Netherlands.

Before I got anything back from Harry, I took the Mango out for a test ride after the recommended Loctite curing period, to see how it rolls.....wow, it was a completely different machine, faster, easier to pedal, better up hill..... a revelation!

By now Harry had replied, it seems my problem had become only a recently observed issue with some other velos. The rear wheel has an aluminium spacer between the bearings. Under load, as in very tightly done up axle nuts, the spacer compresses. Then the bearings take too much load, hence why mine were stuffed! SinnerBikes are now in the process of making a stainless steel spacer for the rear wheel.

So for the last 4 years I have been effectively riding with 'a brake on'.

Ever since my loctiting the nut, I have been setting PRs left, right and centre! It is a pleasure to ride, moreso now that the 'brake' is off!!

Audax Midnight Century Ride in a Velomobile

26th/ 27th November 2016.

This was my second Audax ride and on paper it looked ideal terrain for a velomobile, why not give it a go? I convinced fellow velo rider David E and recumbent endurance/ Audax rider Melvyn Y to come along and share the fun….or pain.

Velomobiles are fast, sleek and fun to ride, they are also 30kg in weight, I am at the wrong end of 50s, fat and not all that fit- can you see the problems here!

We duly arrived at the start point on a cloudy, humid night and prepared the velos for the trip, we passed the lighting check, showed off our toys, met many new people and hoping I had the legs to make the distance.

On the dot of midnight we were off and straight into an uphill gradient straight away, cresting the top we sped downhill passing many riders but not realising the left turn was imminent, big braking effort, but we ended up on the wrong side of the road feeling very silly. Sedately we advanced against a couple of oncoming cars and finally changed to the correct side of the road- things were off to a great start.

Finally got into a nice rhythm, off the highway around the back of Amberley RAAF base headed for Rosewood. The cloud cover was clearing, it was very dark and the Milky Way was right overhead! In little groups of bright lights we made our way toward Grandchester and the climb up the Grandchester range.

Velomobiles weigh 30kg and on rolling hills they are fine, the momentum gained on the flat or downhill can carry you up and over the next rise with minimal speed loss, however on long hills you gear down and slug it out!

And so it was up the Grandchester Range, I was pretty much in granny gear straight away. David E being much fitter and younger, drew ahead of me and Melvyn Y is just a machine! Any other rider who I had zoomed past now had their revenge as I toiled upwards between 5-8kph! Another positive attribute of recumbent bikes is that you can look up at the scenery. To distract myself from the pain, I spent a large part of the climb looking up at the stars, amazed at the clarity away from the lights of the city. I even saw a shooting star.

All good things come to an end and I finally crested the top and began the descent into Laidley, speed built up rapidly and I had to brake regularly to keep the speed at a point that wallaby or wildlife avoidance would be an option! Melvyn was waiting at the turn to Forest Hill and said he could hear the rumble of the velo coming a long way away- cool!!

There were some light fog banks from here and at one point the road dropped a bit and the bottom of the fog layer was sitting about 30cm above my head, this appealed to my aviation bent and it was just like descending out of cloud in my personal Spitfire.

Shortly after we arrived at the first Control at Forest Hill and refueled and rehydrated with a wonderful spread provided by Mark and Vaughan. The next leg to Fernvale was described by Melvyn as being “very recumbent friendly” and he was not wrong- it was a joy!

We set off with full stomachs and before long crossed the highway headed towards Lake Wivenhoe. Another aspect of Velomobiles is, although slow to accelerate, once at cruising speed, it is relatively easy to keep it going. In fact you can stop pedalling for 20-30 seconds and really not lose too much speed. David, Melvyn and myself rode as a group after breaking away from about 5 others, we were able to ride comfortably between 30-32kph most of the time. I was guilty of weaving on the road here and there, it was due to me conducting more astronomical observations overhead, a truly beautiful night.

In the last 15 or so kilometres to Fernvale, there were some rises in the road followed by the most magnificent downgrades, 1-2%  to the dam wall, the last being 2-3 km long, this was pure joy and this is velomobile terrain par excellance! We arrived at Fernvale to another excellent feed, 106 km complete.

I was feeling pretty weary by now and as we set off back to Ipswich, I was wondering if the legs would last. By now it was well and truly daylight and the views were lovely, overcast, so it wouldn’t heat up too quickly. I had been told of one last decent hill to climb and secretly started planning on recovery schemes that involved David and my trailer.

My legs did feel toast, I found it hard to keep up a reasonable pace, any upgrade hurt and I coasted as much as I possibly could. Melvyn, ever the protector, stayed with me or nearby, it was appreciated and I worried I was holding him back. We arrived at the foot of an impressive climb, Melvyn said “I don’t think this is the climb”, my heart sank. Back into granny gear, wondering if i would ever make the top. Melvyn receded into the distance, having to maintain his minimum balancing speed, which is higher than 3 wheeled affairs!

Turns out this was the hill, Tallagalla Hill, and a strange thing happened about ⅔ of the way to the top. I felt my energy returning, my legs were in a good rhythm and before long I crested the top, paused to take a photo of the beautiful vista back to the Wivenhoe Valley, then commenced the descent, which everyone had said was a goody!

Wow, a great descent it was, I glimpsed 81kph on the Garmin during the nanosecond I looked at it, all attention was on the road and controlling the velo. Melvyn was way ahead, but I saw him in the distance approaching a small rise, I caught and passed him like he was standing still, my momentum carried me over the top of the rise at over 60kph, no point losing this speed advantage so I kept on going opening the gap on Melvyn, through the village of Walloon and onward to Ipswich. This road was lovely to ride, nice shoulders, nice undulations- ideal velo territory!

Back into the suburbs of Ipswich, the legs are starting to get heavy again, especially with the number of hills thrown in the last few kilometres! Ever since Fernvale, David had ridden ahead with another group, he stayed with them to the end of the ride, waving the flag for the velomobiles! Melvyn caught and left me here and apparently due to a run of good green light changes, caught and beat David and his group to the finish as well.

And it was done, 160km, cards signed, 7.30am beer, shower and hearty breakfast….what’s not to like about the Midnight Century Ride.

So how did the velomobile go? I was very happy with the ride, I was always going to be slow up the hills, that was a given, but the terrain was ideal. The flats were great and the downhills just fantastic. Velos are so stable that it was like being on rails coming down hills. Better fitness would have helped, pushing around 30kg does accrue fatigue over time.

From a ‘recumbent in general’ point of view, after 160km I had tired legs, my neck, bum, wrists and shoulders were fine, no other body aches at all. I'd happily climb hills at 5kph for that!!

HPV Grasshopper

I have now acquired a HPV Grasshopper and I rode this in the recent 200km Audax ride- it and I both made it!

The Grasshopper is my first 2 wheeled recumbent, it is built solidly on 20in wheels with front and rear suspension. Extremely comfortable to ride and only really took a week or two to get the hang of it. I only came off 3 times, all while starting.

It is faster that the trike and tourer on the flat, probably a touch slower that the tourer uphill, but very slippery downhill. On the Audax ride it got up to 75 kph down Mt Alford before I started worrying about blown tyres etc.

It will make a great touring bike, I seem to have touring covered as I could choose any of my bikes except the e-bike, all I need to do is actually do some touring!

Fassifern Folly Audax Ride 200km.

Here is a report from "Checkpoint" Magazine on my first Audax ride, 200km through the beautiful Fassifern Valley and Scenic Rim area.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a935lmzgs681ly5/The-Folly-Report.pdf?dl=0

Great Victorian Bike Ride on a recumbent trike 2014

A write up of my recent ride in the Great Vic Bike Ride can be found here;

http://www.brisbanecyclist.com/profiles/blogs/great-victorian-bike-ride-on-a-recumbent-trike-2014?xg_source=activity