I've had to visit a physio once a week or so for the last few weeks, so I have been cycling to the physio from work and hoping that my bike doesn't get nicked whilst I am getting kneaded. After the physio, I take the long way home, since my physio tells me that part of my recovery regime is riding. Unless you know the area, describing my route home is a waste of time, but one highlight is that it takes me under the Gladesville Bridge. The bridge was built in the 1950's, and is a typical concrete monstrosity of its era. I still like going under it, as even concrete monsters have a certain beauty about them.
In all honesty, I just want to climb up the support works. It's a big concrete arch, and it looks shallow enough to be able to climb up it with a good pair of grippy shoes. Doing that kind of stuff these days is enough to get you shot as a potential terrorist, so I doubt many people do it anymore. But it's nice to dream.
The only nasty thing about the ride is the bit that takes me to the bridge, plus a bit of stupidity on the other side.
The Council in their wisdom has decided to mark out a bike lane along a street that runs parallel with Victoria Road. Victoria Road is an immensely busy arterial - one of the main roads in Sydney. I hope I never end up on it on my bike. I much prefer the back street.
There is just one problem - the back street has a road surface that would put the Paris to Dakar rally conditions to shame. And of course the worst bits of surface are right where they have marked the bike lane, so I never ride in it. It's a bit bloody stupid really. The council can say that they have created another 500 metres of bike path for the cost of a few tins of paint, but the whole thing is just a lie.
Fucking local government. What more can I say?
Once I get under the bridge, I meander around the water for a bit before rejoining the road. Once again, the council has built a path that for cyclists, is a path to nowhere.
There is a bit of an artform to building cycle paths. With pedestrians, it's easy. You can build a totally shoddy goat track and people can still walk on it. It doesn't matter if bits are missing - pedestrians will find their way around any obstacles.
Now that I own a pram, I know that it is not so easy when pushing a pram. Suddenly those rocks and stairs and lumpy bits and missing wheelchair ramps become big obstacles. A pedestrian with a pram is nowhere as manouverable as one without. Sounds obvious, but it doesn't stop stupid bloody council planners and council workers from building paths that could only have been laid by complete dickheads.
With a bike, you take it up a notch as you are travelling a lot faster. My top speed pushing a pram is 6 km/h, and that is fast for most pram walkers. Yes, some people run with prams, but they are a minority.
On the flat, I rarely drop below 25 km/h unless there is a really nasty headwind. Cruising speed is around 30 km/h. Fast cruise is 35 km/h. Really hiking along is 45 km/h, and flat out with tailwind is 50 km/h.
Suddenly stairs and potholes and rocks and low hanging branches and other obstacles become enormous problems. A pedestrian going 6 km/h can come to a complete stop in one step. A cyclist at 35 km/h on skinny tyres takes.... I have no idea how long to pull up. Too bloody long is the simple answer, and at that speed, any obstacle is likely to result in a crash.
A cyclist is also as likely to get off their bike and push it as a motorist is as likely to get out of their car and push it. I know that sounds silly, but it is part of the psychology of riding a road bike. Mountain bikers might be used to dismounting, but the only time I dismount is at the end of the ride, or when I have to carry my bike up a set of stairs. Apart from that, I dismount for no one or nothing.
Which leads me to stupid councils. Once I get past the Gladesville Bridge, I am on a path that was not designed with bikes in mind. For starters, there is no way to get onto it from the road - no wheelchair ramp. The only way onto it is to either jump the kerb and cross some grass, or to go into a driveway and cross a nature strip, hoping that no punctures occur on the way across. At the far end, there is a wheelchair ramp, but it is not designed for a speedy exit onto the road. I think the safest way to get onto a road is to do so as quickly as possible, like merging lanes when you join a freeway. Slow traffic is a menace, and so are slow bikes. Of course the ramp has been located in such a way to slow you to an utter crawl.
I wish I could control a concrete truck and crew for a few weeks. The fun I'd have.
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