Category: Ride

Today I rode the Juvie again and confronted my failings from the first trip.

In a nutshell it was good. I coped with most of the “difficult” stuff far more easily, and even managed the boardwalk 4 times out of 4 (last time I messed it up 3 times out of 3). The corner that follows the boardwalk I find really tricky, but I managed to get around it perfectly once.

I gave the slalom a go too, it went well until time 3rd time, when the back wheel detached during a moment of over-hard braking. A kind fellow rode over to help me diagnose and fix the issue. He said he had seen front wheels detach but never a back wheel!

Anyhow, I went around again without much incident and was pretty happy with how it went.

Pretty sweet on the way down. I cruised on the way up, but took the footpath. I totally could have done it without stopping, but I had to avoid a speeding skateboarder, and I nearly came a cropper in the same narrow area as last time. I need to do the ride at a quiet time on the road to prove to myself I can do it. But overall I was happy with my progress today.

Following advice to pedal slowly in an easy gear I nailed the longest hill climb so far, all on asphalt. It was about 650 metres. I did it twice and was pleased with my progress, I absolutely believed I would have been able to do it a third time.

It felt like this climb ‘clicked’, but I know I need so much more practice.

Brooklyn hill to my place is about a 1.5km climb, so this was good preparation. The traffic on the hill will make things much harder of course. The work ride is about 3km, half of which is the climb.

Thursday was commute #2. It was raining hard as I got ready to leave but eased off by the time I started to ride. The roads were quiet – I was out the door by 6:50am and was at work just after 7am.

Overall it was a good wee ride.

The ride home was also OK. It was busy – building up to peak time, and it was warm. I decided to ride through Central Park, up the central asphalt path. I stopped toward the top but was happy with my progress. 28 minutes again, but I know this will get faster.

Emerging from the park opposite the Malaysian Embassy, the path to the intersection with Owhiro Road wasn’t very steep at all – which surprised me.

I feel I’m getting closer to being able to ride up the hill on the road.

Today was a milestone for me, the first commute to and from work.

9 minutes there, 30 minutes back up the hill in the evening. About 20 minutes were getting up the hill. I believe that in a month or two I should have the trip home down to 20 minutes.

The journey up was a slog and involved a number of stops. It’s currently 0-3 to the hill, but I intend to reverse that. My aim is to get up without stopping within a month.

Overall I’m pretty happy with my progress so far.

Julian, my work bike mentor, tweaked the placement of the brake lever and gear shifter, they are much more comfortable now.

Great ride this morning. I rode to the National Library in somewhat busy traffic to get a new library card and borrow a book. I was cautious but not physically frightened by the traffic the way I had been on my initial rides.

The wind was about 30km/h too, which was a new experience for me in the city, having only dealt with wind along the quiet coastal trails.

The ride back was good until the base of Central Park. I make it up a reasonable way until my first stop, but from then on it was so steep I stopped several times. My hill start technique was well tested. I ultimately had to walk a lot further than I had hoped.

But I’m determined to get better at it.

It was also the first time using the bike lock at the library. I had separation anxiety!

Following the advice of the wonderful bikethere.org.nz I decided to test out the commute route at a quiet time of day (around 9am on Wellington Anniversary Monday).

I was surprised at how well it went overall. I got to the office in 11 minutes (all downhill of course), and there was very little traffic on the road. As I still can’t really signal while riding I was glad for the lack of traffic.

The downhill section did have me a little worried about the brakes, but I was pretty careful to reduce speed and then allow speed to build up before braking again. I had been doing a little reading and was careful to avoid dragging the brakes (or keeping them on most of the way down).

The ride back took much longer, nearly 30 minutes to go 3km. It took me ten minutes to get to the gates of Central Park, by way of the Victoria Street cycle Lane. It took another 18 minutes to get up the mighty Brooklyn Hill to home, which I figure was slower than I can walk it if I’m really powering up the hill. I needed three stops, the first was unintentional as I was on the footpath and struck the railing at a very narrow point. The other two were out of total knackeredness.

Anyhow, I made it, and was pretty pleased and relieved.

I am not ready for peak time traffic yet, but I’ll keep trying the ride until I feel more confident and able to get up the hill, and in the process hope to improve my road skills with traffic.

I had a fantastic ride out to Pencarrow lighthouse. There was a mild southerly which I rode into on the way out, and of course had it at my back on the return, which made the whole thing even more pleasant.

It took me about 30 minutes to ride out from the carpark with no stops, and 23 minutes to ride back, so the breeze was really doing its thing.

My wrists did get a little sore, but nothing like last time I rode out on what was my first “long” ride. I was able to rest them a few times on the way back with the wind behind me – I was in top gear almost all the way back – and the micro break did help.

It was also the first time with a backpack. I was carrying the brand new Camelbak Mule LR 15 from Burkes Cycles in Kilbirnie. I have to say it was great. Very comfortable, I really didn’t notice I was wearing it. It was pretty light, it had 3 litres of water, a pump and puncture kit, a few nut bars, and a waterproof jacket. I was expecting my back to get pretty sweaty, but I was wearing a base layer and mid layer that probably wicked away much of the unpleasantness. But I’d certainly recommend the M.U.L.E. as it also fits a 13″ Macbook Pro so I intend to use it when I start commuting.

I finished another early morning mini road ride, about 20 minutes, and about half way to the south coast from our place. I stopped on the way up to stretch, but other than that coped fairly well with the shallow ascent.

Key things:

• I locked in the suspension which made it a lot less wobbly when vehicles went past.
• I was nowhere near as freaked out this time!
• Many cars and large trucks went past and I felt far more confident.
• Overall I was way more relaxed and almost happy to be out there!

Avoiding the traffic is a great way to get confidence up.

A very short ride from my place up the hill – only a few minutes. My goal tomorrow will be to continue up the pedestrian access to the monument – which is much steeper than the road. I’ve ridden this once before and I had to stop about two-thirds of the way, whereas this time I made it to the end of the road, so I count that as an achievement.

I was also pleased with that I was on the road again but not as nervous – to be fair the roads off the main road here are quiet on a Tuesday evening so that made a big difference, I don’t think I was passed by a car once. All good experience though.