Ride Number 3 (Finally!)

Attendees: Celia and Myself

There was a chill in the air this morning but definitely not as cold as it was this time two weeks ago. Once again it was cloudless and glorious along the river actually I didn't do too much noticing of rowers and birds and such - I think we might have been nattering  too much. Then over the Go Between nice and smoothly and left onto the Centenary Bikeway heading towards Toowong. We picked up speed along there but still managed to keep chatting all the way to Regatta where we stopped for a sip of water and a couple of snaps...

Back on the bikeway and it was a straight run all the way from Toowong to the Goodwill Bridge. It really is so easy to ride a bike around here; the bikeway is so smooth.The smell of coffee was wafting over us as we crossed the bridge and it was tempting to stop and have one there but the plan was to go to the VW van so we pushed on through.

And it was worth it, I think, so we could check out the van, the Tai Chi going on in the background and the free mini gingerbread man you got with your coffee. mmmmmmmgorgeous.

Wait... are those lycra bike shorts I'm wearing??? >shudder< Yes it's not pretty but actually, I have to admit, pretty good for riding in. I got them cheapo cheapo on the internet. It's a bit weird. They've got some padding going on there which takes a bit of getting used to - it's a bit like wearing a nappy - but in the end I was thankful for when Celia mentioned her aching bottom and mine was still ok.

 It was an easy ride back and we chatted about how some of our routes should have some hills in them. We had discussed a possible hill circuit. Then Celia suggested we tag it on to the end of our ride today seeing as we were feeling so good!

So: starting at the CityCat stop you go up Hoogley and Ganges Streets. You turn left onto Hardgrave Road and ride down to Granville Street. Right onto Granville Street, waving at Cate's place, right onto Boundary Street, up the hill and down again almost to the river, right onto Ryan street for the sting in the tail which is a small hill and then easy ride back to the CityCat stop. As we get better we can change Granville for Bristol or Whynot Streets.

Final Route:

11.53 miles which is about 18.5kms

I recommend that little hill circuit.... give it a go during the week some time. It's short and sharp but I guarantee you it will get easier each time you do it. I reckon if we can each aim to do that circuit once during the week at some point then we can save our Sunday ride for the longer, flatter stuff.

x x x