Stretch the legs, mind the bus

The weekend passed without a tandem ride due to injury, schedules and other family commitments. I did however go for a reccy ride at the Little River Rail Trail and decided that there are currently too many bugs to be fun - especially on the front of a tandem. The bugs were amazing, they were thick, hovered above the trail (and only above the trail) and went on for miles and miles. I only managed 5km before it was game over and back to the car. Another couple of people were on the trail at the same time, and turned back at about the same point too. I'm not doing that trail on a tandem until those bugs sod off for good!

I went from there to have a quick scout of the Bowenvale Traverse on the Port Hills, with a tandem in mind. Well... maybe after a few laps of McLeans before I tandem up there, otherwise we'll be having a crack at off-piste extreme downhill tandem mountain biking. If we survived, I may never be forgiven, or allowed on the front again.

So tonight we finally hit the road for a leg stretching ride. I mapped a path that was exactly 20km each way, from Logans house to North Beach then down Marine Parade to South Brighton, and used it as an exercise in cadence, duration, and also to check the accuracy of the cycle computer I had just installed. (Yes, I know I could have just measured the circumference of the wheel, but where is the fun in that?) It only took 45mins to knock the 20km off. A quick adjust of the computer (5% downwards, hybrid tyres, not knobbly beasts) and we turned to head back. Why does the trip back always seem to go quicker? Could it be the tailwind? Well, no, because it seemed like a headwind the entire time. Whatever the reason (Logan says it was downhill on the way back, calculated at a descent of approx 300mm over a distance of 4km) we were home in record time. 90 minutes for 40km. Not bad at all. Only one close call with a bus, but then what is a road ride without a tinge of terror as the drivers of tons of steel try and turn you into roadkill.

Thanks to the new computer, I can say we can managed to cruise at 30kph, and at the end of the 40km had an average of about 27.5kph, and we were not even trying very hard! Obviously we'll lose some speed on the softer surfaces, and the uphills. We haven't done any hill climbs yet.  I hate hills with a passion, and I have this horrible feeling we are going to descend them at high speeds too! One weekend we'll do the Summit Road, see if we can do an up and a down and survive. Hmm... Dyers Pass... Evans Pass.... Rapaki Track... which is least likely to make me squeal like a girlie?