Danya and I rode to Church Point and back today, in a figure 8. I rode over to his place to meet him at 7am, and we went through Lilyfield to the Bridge and up the coast from Manly to Mona Vale. Then we scooted up McCarrs Creek Road and back via Mona Vale Road and the Pacific Highway to my place. It took almost 6:20 for just over 95km; we arrived home at 3pm – the remaining time was spent eating wonderful pies at Collaroy, having some meusli bars at Terrey Hills and a milkshake at St Leonards.
I feel a bit stuffed but should recuperate after a good night’s sleep. Bobbie came back from the Blue Mountains on Sunday and is telling me all sorts of horror stories about the section through Lapstone in particular, and the road work that is going on further out. Certainly, if a vehicle goes out of control in that first section, you’re trapped between it and a concrete wall; and the shoulder isn’t wide. The Cycle Australia website advocates going through Lapstone itself, but that means riding up a fire trail from the Hawkesbury. My reaction was to look at Mitchells Pass, but that appears to be one-way out of the mountains, or the Old Bathurst Road. The website doesn’t mention that for some unknown reason. Maybe it’s too steep for casual visitors.
The one issue the site mentions that Bobbie didn’t, is the god-awful bridge over the Hawkesbury. There’s no way you’d ride over that! Looking at it in Street View shows just how narrow and busy it is. Why the hell hasn’t it been replaced? It’s obviously such a bottleneck and blackspot, and I’ll have to use the footpath for certain.
Bobbie and Deb (I’m going to be staying at Des and Deb’s new place) are conspiring to talk me out of riding up, as Deb is in Sydney and going back to the mountains on Wednesday. The suggestion is that I get a lift up there and ride back, once I see first hand what the conditions are. It’s a tempting thought.
Thinking of the temperatures you’ll be riding in, I thought you’d like to consider: I’ve been wearing what we like to call a ‘technical base layer;’ a sweatshirt; a thin merino layer; a double-layered second sweatshirt; a wind/rainproof shell layer; two pairs of socks; two pairs of gloves, and a thin merino beanie under the helmet. And I don’t sweat under all that while I’m riding. Oh, and wrap-around glasses to keep the wind out of my eyes so I don’t tear up and can still see in the wind. The toes and fingers still tend to get a bit numb, though. Enjoy the warmth.
Bobbie noted that I was a bit sunburnt at the back of the head, near where the helmet support rests. All in all, though, the temperature wasn’t that bad. It was a bit warm by the time we hit the coast at Manly, but not overbearing. We could see clouds in the west at Collaroy, and were under them from Church Point to about Chatswood; it actually was spitting (only a few drops) around St Ives. The news last night had the top temperature at Terrey Hills as 27, IIRC.
By the time we hit Chatswood, I was feeling a bit buggered, and we stopped for a milkshake and muffin at the Orleans cafe at St. Leonards. It was nice to just coast home from there.
I went to bed with a bit of a headache – heat induced, of course. Getting the fluids consumption just right is always tricky, and I might have underdone it, for all that I was constantly having small sips and finishing bottles when we stopped. I went through 600ml between home and Collaroy and a litre and a bit between there and St. Leonards.
This morning I woke up with a sore neck and a bit stiff in the lower back and still headachey. Given the projected temperatures, I decided that cowardice was the better option, and decided not to go out today. From discussions with Deb and Bobbie last night, I’m still riding tomorrow (up the Bathurst Road) – there’s also a southerly change predicted that should drop City temperatures to 24 or thereabouts on Wednesday, with the chance of showers.
If it gets too warm out west, there’s still the option of the train – I’ll see how I go.