West End to Shaw Park

Riders: Jacqui W, Celia and Cara
Distance: 44.6km!!!!!


This was the route today - well the bit north of Northey Street:

 I really hate these self portraits! Anyway this is us just after point 18 on the map at the entrance to Kedron Brook bikeway.

We looked at the whole ride in 3 parts: the first being from West End to Enoggera Creek, the second being the back streets of the Northern Suburbs and the third being along Kedron Brook Bikeway.

Eagle eyes amongst you will notice a little detour from the original plan right at the end. I was glad we did that as we were able to sit and have our snacks at a nice little duck pond in Shaw/Mercer Park.

The ride itself was easier than I anticipated. I guess thinking about it for so long, I'd built it up in my mind to be bigger than it was so this was a real relief. Also, being quite cool and overcast was a bonus. We probably didn't really head off till 6.10 and arrived at the entrance to Kedron Brook an hour later. It was a good ride. The street section is well signposted and it's good fun checking out the houses and gardens which all seem to be massive compared to West End. There are some hills but the good thing is that most of them are on the way there. The bikeway is relatively flat and the scenery is great. Loads of wildlife and greenery AND a territorial magpie. Celia was out in front when a rider passed us coming from the other way and he warned me and Jacqui about the magpie so I sort of suggested we allow Celia to keep the lead heheh. Sure enough she managed to keep the magpie occupied while we rode along behind in relative comfort. When I eventually came clean and fessed up, I agreed to be the guinea pig on the way home but there was no sign of any magpies at all. Oh well!

Sadly we missed Kirsty, Michelle and Cate who were riding to Northey Street. There was a vague plan to hook up with them at Northey Street for a coffee but our timings were out.

We made it to Northey Street by about 9am and had coffee and Celia did some shopping. Nice looking ciabatta and some organic lamb. Home by 10am.

Cate's big ride in Cleveland today:

Check it out! Cate's been busy this morning.

From Cate:

I liked the adventure of heading out into this only vaguely known place, picturesque for most of the ride-- lots of maggies out, hot and dry and hard to find the way around - empathized with your first Indooroopilly trial - lost, checking maps, hot, time getting on etc and went through my water but Yeah I'm am still standing to tell the tale and starving... and feel a great sense of achievement because I cracked the 30km milestone!!!!

Fab.

Kirsty's triumphant return

Here are some pics from yesterday's ride - all looking very smiley and lovely!
Bron and Emma:

Kirsty:

Michelle:

Try this!

This morning I headed off from school (complete with sunscreen and shoulders covered this time) towards the Go Between Bridge and cycled our usual path towards the Green Bridge but instead of turning right onto the bridge I kept going and joined up with our Indooroopilly Bridge route. It seemed easier and faster going this way round! I don't know if that was because I knew where I was going but I was faster as well. I found a bike path that we missed which ran alongside one of the roads - Highland Terrace I think. The whole route took me 1 hour 45mins. The bike path leading from the Corso to Gladstone Road really took it out of me, though! It's a short-ish one but it is steep. Managed to stay on but was breathing very heavily by the time I reached the top. Definitely a good one for hill practice! Gladstone road getting easier.

Thanks to Katina for the cheer she gave me from her car at the top of Ganges Street. I flew down the hill feeling like Wonder Woman!

31.51kms - a very nice practice for Sunday morning for the ride up to Kedron Brook. If you are keen for that one, contact me by Saturday. I'm thinking about leaving at 6am just cos I'll probably be awake but if you want to come and 6am is just too horrible to contemplate, let me know! Kirsty is thinking of a Northey Street ride on Sunday morning including coffee at the market so if you take that option, I may see you there on my way back.

Ride number... what is this, like 10?

Riders: Bron, Cara, Cate and Celia
Thumbs down to: Jacqui's noisy neighbours keeping her up half the night so she couldn't make it. Boo!
Route: Indro river loop (see map on the post below) which is about 25km with a nice selection of hills. I decided to postpone my marathon till next week. It was good to cement this route in my mind, too.


Well the 6.30am start is definitely a good idea. We managed to beat the heat and I found this ride much more palatable than when I did it on Thursday starting around 7.45am. Also I had nice company and I didn't keep getting lost and my chain didn't come off so it was much more fun!

Cate faced her hill demons and conquered them, getting up Gladstone no problem at all, having already gone up Dornoch and the rolling hills of the esplanade in St. Lucia. Celia threw caution to the wind tackling the route with wild abandon despite not having ridden up Dornoch for years AND having an iffy knee. It seemed to hold up so fingers crossed it will stay that way!

We stopped at Jacaranda park on the Corso to take some pictures with my toy lenses that I have got for my phone. The jacarandas are blooming loverly right now...

After that, it was the through Yeronga, Tennyson, Graceville and over the Indooroopilly Bridge. Just after the bridge there is a cafe that Celia was eyeing off longingly but Bron kept us going. No rest for the wicked! Through the back of Indooroopilly and into St. Lucia we went, going past the St. Lucia golf club and then along the esplanade for a nice set of hills hehehe WE LOVE HILLS repeat it often.
Then over the Green bridge and the final push up Gladstone which was a piece of cake for all of us, I reckon, despite being passed by plenty of men with well shaved calves... maybe that's what was slowing me down I haven't shaved my legs for a while I'd probably fly up that hill with smoother legs.

So... do you like the new look? It's a work in progress to match our new team name, the WEST END WONDER WOMEN! Thanks to Bron for the suggestion. It came up as we were discussing team colours and the conversation blossomed when we put two and two together... why not have Wonder Woman themed riding clothes? All comments and suggestions on this welcome. Let's design something that really stands out and is fun. If anyone comes across a supplier that will let you design your own jersey/shorts/skirt?? let me know. I have only seen one in Europe which charges a fortune.

That's it for now. Kirsty's back in the country today HOORAY! Keep pedaling, ladies and remember that WE LOVE HILLS !

Indro/St Lucia loop

So this was my route this morning. It was about 25km and it took me 2 whole hours because I took a couple of wrong turns and had to keep checking my phone to work out where I was... and my chain came off. And it was boiling and I wasn't wearing any sunscreen. Man, it was a tough morning!

Still, it was good to finally check out this route as it joins up with the other river loop we have been doing. Now that I know the way, I am expecting my time to go down! There are a couple of biggish hills including one in St. Lucia  that I am looking to see if I can avoid by taking another road.

Points of interest along the way are Jacque and Doug's turn-off (and I saw them both today in a nearby park) and a park called Jacaranda Park which is totally surrounded by blooming jacarandas (photo needed next time we go), the Pat Rafter arena and the Indooroopilly Bridge (see below).

Indooroopilly Bridge today.

I'm not riding tomorrow as I'm helping with swimming at school. But I'm still keen to tackle the big one on Sunday. I"m even thinking 6am as it's going to be really hot. Let me know if you are interested in coming or I will assume that you aren't (Sorry Michelle about this morning!)

Have fun tomorrow!

The hills are alive...

... with the sound of heavy traffic... but that didn't stop Bron and I owning Gladstone Road this morning YEAHHHHH!!!!

The Jacarandas By The Story Bridge Are Blooming

Yahoo!! Looking fab, you lot!

Photos by Michelle.

Who wants to try a big one?

I will be away this weekend but I am thinking BIG for the following weekend.

This is the whole route I want to do on Sunday 21st October. It's following a track north to a place called Shaw Park and then coming back the same way. 6.30am start or even earlier if anyone is keen for a reasonable finish before it gets too hot...

It is starting out doing the Northey Street route but hanging left after you cross Breakfast Creek. There are then a few back streets to get through...

They eventually lead you to the Kedron Brook bikeway:

One on the bikeway it's fairly straightforward:

Stopping at Shaw Park just cos the mileage there and back is 26 miles which is our very first marathon! (42.5 km)

Ride number.... 9?

There are lots of little rides happening that I can't really number all of them so I'm just going to number the official sunday rides. These are now starting at 7.30. Even that was pushing it this morning as far as the heat went PHEW what a scorcher!

So this morning's riders: Bron, Myself and Michelle whose phone had switched to daylight saving and thought she had missed the ride - luckily she realized she had an hour up her sleeve.

The route: From the CityCat stop to Northey Street Market and back.

My plan: to log into the Map My Ride phone app and check out the map Cate had posted. The annoying thing was my phone didn't want to play that game and kept reloading the map every time I tried to zoom in so we decided to just wing it.

Down the river and over Kurilpa Bridge, straight through the fancy new law courts and across the road to the tunnel that leads to the nice little hill none of us were expecting oooh lovely. There was a signpost which said Ennoggera Bikeway and that was about the only one we saw after that. Then through Roma St. Parklands completely missing the bike path turnoff and up another hill till we reached the start of Gregory Terrace. We flew along there, passing Victoria Park on our left then hung a left at Bowen Bridge Road with no bike lane. We headed straight down there until we came to the inner city bypass where there was a bike track which lead straight across the creek there and over to the Northey St. farm which was directly in front of us. It was a quick ride but we decided that there must be a better bike route for the way back as we had used too many roads. We had our eyes open a bit better this time and managed to find the path that took us back through Victoria Park and then Roma St Parklands. Definitely need to do this one again. It took us just over an hour - maybe 1 hour 15mins.

This is the whole route - 11.18miles which is about 18kms. Below is a zoomed in version of the northern part:

The path heads north from Northey St as well so that can be a good way of extending this route. There's a couple of good hills  in this one. Well worth a look!

Some pics from the ride...

That's me sporting my new anti swooping cable-ties. Bloody magpie went for me the other day.

At the new law courts - they've got eyes everywhere!

Somewhere between Herston Road and Gregory Terrace

I am giving up self portraits.

New Wheels in the Wet

I went out by myself this morning and did this route. It took me about 1.5 hours with 2 stops. Around 17km. Still breathing heavily at the top of Dornoch. New for me was Park Road, the SE freeway bikeway that joins you back onto the Kangaroo Point bikeway, leaving the bikeway at Thornton St. Ferry stop which will take you straight up to the underpass and on to the eastern side of the Story Bridge. It started raining around the Botanical Gardens and didn't stop till I got home. I went all the way down Montague Road because there were no cars at all it was great! Well... apart from the driving rain in my face. Tires fared well. Didn't think I was going to slip once. Soaking wet by the time I got home, though. That warm shower was bliss!