Rode the Waverley Express

[ghostgum]

A couple of nights ago I got told about a group of cyclist who ride into the city from Mt Waverley. This morning I met up with them and joined the "Waverley Express". I was told they averaged 30km/h. Fortunately today the average was 28km/h, and I only just kept up. I wouldn't have achieved that a couple of weeks ago. The new Blade bike with skinny tyres helped as well (instead of the MTB). It was interesting riding in a group - I'm a beginner at this. They were well behaved, left good clearance as they passed pedestrians, verbally called out to people being passed but didn't use bells. Each time they slowed down for a hazard, they sped up faster than I could, so I kept ending up 10m off the back and having to pedal hard to catch up. I got better towards the end as I anticipated the acceleration. Journey was about 5 minutes faster than on my own, and about 2km/h faster than my best trip (averaged over my whole journey, not just the bit I rode with them). I'll take an easy ride home tonight.

Somebody at work asked me if they were taking turns at the front. I was working so hard at the back I didn't notice

 

[flyingdutch]

careful with that one GG

riding in a group on shared paths can be frawt™ with danger. just ask Bleve

'Commuter Olympics' can be very tempting but can go wrong really easy. their experience will hopefully amke up for this and communication is obviously the key. good to get a workout tho

lookin forward tocheckin out yer Blade8, btw...

 

[Bleve]

flyingdutch wrote:
> careful with that one GG
>
> riding in a group on shared paths can be frawt™ with danger. just ask
> Bleve

heh! I wasn't riding in a group, just a pair, and I was *trashed*
after training and not looking where I was going. I could blame low
sugar, exhaustion etc, but I was just not paying attention. *that's*
what gets you hurt!

blindly followng a wheel .. *doh*

 

[flyingdutch]

flyingdutch wrote:
> careful with that one GG
>
> riding in a group on shared paths can be frawt™ with danger. just ask
> Bleve

heh! I wasn't riding in a group, just a pair, and I was *trashed*
after training and not looking where I was going. I could blame low
sugar, exhaustion etc, but I was just not paying attention. *that's*
what gets you hurt!

blindly followng a wheel .. *doh*

zigackly! if someone with your bunch experience can do it, the carnage many 'commuter olympians' can cause is all too common

Saw a pearler this morning on Koonung trail, leaving tunnel under EastFwy, northern side.
Guy about 20m ahead come sout into light. lefthand curve in path outside of tuneel. Eeediot comin other way decides a racing line is appropriate thru this corner heading towards darkness of tunnel entrance, sees oncoming cyclsit far too late. panics, locks up brakes, freezes and only 'just' collides softly with concrete wall on his left after over-correcting for his own stoopidity

On a brighter note, bad bump in wierd bitumen 2m section of concrete path about 100m west of tunnel has been patched (admittedly harfarsed) so no more bunnyhop needed to avoid bumpsadrome™

 

[ghostgum]

'Commuter Olympics' can be very tempting but can go wrong really easy. their experience will hopefully amke up for this and communication is obviously the key. good to get a workout tho

lookin forward tocheckin out yer Blade8, btw...

I wouldn't class these guys as "Commuter Olympics". They weren't going that fast and were being careful around cars, people and obstacles. The biggest danger is the pedestrian or dog who jumps in front of the first rider... I'm not the olympian type myself

I'm hoping to get along to see the Faren collection, so maybe we'll meet there. Otherwise I can ride down to your work at lunchtime, or meet you on the Yarra path one evening.

 

[Euan]

ghostgum wrote:

> I'm hoping to get along to see the Faren collection

Don't hope, do! Seriously it's a fantastic collection and worth
relegating just about any other commitment you can think of to a distant
second.

Even free Goat. Of any quantity.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\<,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)

 

[cfsmtb]

Ever done the northerns suburbs Upfield Cannonball Run™?

 

[peterlip]

A couple of nights ago I got told about a group of cyclist who ride into the city from Mt Waverley. This morning I met up with them and joined the "Waverley Express". I was told they averaged 30km/h. Fortunately today the average was 28km/h, and I only just kept up. I wouldn't have achieved that a couple of weeks ago. The new Blade bike with skinny tyres helped as well (instead of the MTB). It was interesting riding in a group - I'm a beginner at this. They were well behaved, left good clearance as they passed pedestrians, verbally called out to people being passed but didn't use bells. Each time they slowed down for a hazard, they sped up faster than I could, so I kept ending up 10m off the back and having to pedal hard to catch up. I got better towards the end as I anticipated the acceleration. Journey was about 5 minutes faster than on my own, and about 2km/h faster than my best trip (averaged over my whole journey, not just the bit I rode with them). I'll take an easy ride home tonight.

Somebody at work asked me if they were taking turns at the front. I was working so hard at the back I didn't notice

Just out of curiosity, when are where to this lot start from? What route do they take?

 

[Bleve]

flyingdutch wrote:
> Bleve Wrote:
> > flyingdutch wrote:
> > > careful with that one GG
> > >
> > > riding in a group on shared paths can be frawt™ with danger. just
> > ask
> > > Bleve
> >
> > heh! I wasn't riding in a group, just a pair, and I was *trashed*
> > after training and not looking where I was going. I could blame low
> > sugar, exhaustion etc, but I was just not paying attention. *that's*
> > what gets you hurt!
> >
> > blindly followng a wheel .. *doh*
>
> zigackly! if someone with your bunch experience can do it, the carnage
> many 'commuter olympians' can cause is all too common

heh

> Saw a pearler this morning on Koonung trail, leaving tunnel under
> EastFwy, northern side.
> Guy about 20m ahead come sout into light. lefthand curve in path
> outside of tuneel. Eeediot comin other way decides a racing line is
> appropriate thru this corner heading towards darkness of tunnel
> entrance, sees oncoming cyclsit far too late. panics, locks up brakes,
> freezes and only 'just' collides softly with concrete wall on his left
> after over-correcting for his own stoopidity

That's always a hairy corner .. wise to be quite cautious around it.


>
> On a brighter note, bad bump in wierd bitumen 2m section of concrete
> path about 100m west of tunnel has been patched (admittedly harfarsed)
> so no more bunnyhop needed to avoid bumpsadrome™

The Hawthorn velodrone is starting to crease already Speaking of
half arsed ...

 

[TimC]

On 2006-04-12, Bleve (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> flyingdutch wrote:
>> On a brighter note, bad bump in wierd bitumen 2m section of concrete
>> path about 100m west of tunnel has been patched (admittedly harfarsed)
>> so no more bunnyhop needed to avoid bumpsadrome™
>
> The Hawthorn velodrone is starting to crease already Speaking of
> half arsed ...

It was always going to do that. It's not like it's on a road quality
substrate.


Does this mean I have missed out on my chance to ride it while
baby-bottom smooth? I *still* haven't been around there with a bike
not in commuter gear.

--
TimC
"The application did not fail successfully because of an error"

 

[Bleve]

TimC wrote:
> On 2006-04-12, Bleve (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> > flyingdutch wrote:
> >> On a brighter note, bad bump in wierd bitumen 2m section of concrete
> >> path about 100m west of tunnel has been patched (admittedly harfarsed)
> >> so no more bunnyhop needed to avoid bumpsadrome™
> >
> > The Hawthorn velodrone is starting to crease already Speaking of
> > half arsed ...
>
> It was always going to do that. It's not like it's on a road quality
> substrate.

It's on cracked bitumen, NFI as to what's under that. shame is it's
only been 2 months or so.

>
>
> Does this mean I have missed out on my chance to ride it while
> baby-bottom smooth? I *still* haven't been around there with a bike
> not in commuter gear.

There's other velodrones.

 

[ghostgum]

Just out of curiosity, when are where to this lot start from? What route do they take?

I'd rather not give all the details. This was the first time I joined them, and I don't think the group should be any bigger. 3-4 would be Ok, there were 6-8 that morning (6 at the start, 8 by Yarra path). I'd prefer not to encourage it to get bigger.

However, the route is Windsor Ave Mt Waverley, Railway Pde Sth Jordanville, Power Ave, Warrigal Rd, Victory Boulevard, past Alamein station, through to Albion Rd (don't remember details), down High St, then Gardiners Ck Path. Note that this misses most of those pesky Gardiners Ck right angle bridges.

 

[flyingdutch]

I'd rather not give all the details. This was the first time I joined them, and I don't think the group should be any bigger. 3-4 would be Ok, there were 6-8 that morning (6 at the start, 8 by Yarra path). I'd prefer not to encourage it to get bigger.

However, the route is Windsor Ave Mt Waverley, Railway Pde Sth Jordanville, Power Ave, Warrigal Rd, Victory Boulevard, past Alamein station, through to Albion Rd (don't remember details), down High St, then Gardiners Ck Path. Note that this misses most of those pesky Gardiners Ck right angle bridges.

'CommuterBUS' perhaps?

these run in Syd ASFAIK. know of others?

 

[TimC]

On 2006-04-12, ghostgum (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>
> peterlip Wrote:
>> Just out of curiosity, when are where to this lot start from? What route
>> do they take?
>
> I'd rather not give all the details. This was the first time I joined
> them, and I don't think the group should be any bigger. 3-4 would be
> Ok, there were 6-8 that morning (6 at the start, 8 by Yarra path). I'd
> prefer not to encourage it to get bigger.
>
> However, the route is Windsor Ave Mt Waverley, Railway Pde Sth
> Jordanville, Power Ave, Warrigal Rd, Victory Boulevard, past Alamein

Oooh, you go past my house. I'll be sure to run along beside you and
poor water over your heads on a hot day, if I happen to be up early
enough.

--
TimC
It typically takes 25-30 gallons of petrol/diesel to fully-consume an
average-sized body under ideal conditions. That I am conversant with
this level of detail should serve as an indication of why the wise man
does not ask me questions about MS-Windows. --Tanuki on ASR

 

[Friday]

TimC wrote:
> On 2006-04-12, ghostgum (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>
>>peterlip Wrote:
>>
>>>Just out of curiosity, when are where to this lot start from? What route
>>>do they take?
>>
>>I'd rather not give all the details. This was the first time I joined
>>them, and I don't think the group should be any bigger. 3-4 would be
>>Ok, there were 6-8 that morning (6 at the start, 8 by Yarra path). I'd
>>prefer not to encourage it to get bigger.
>>
>>However, the route is Windsor Ave Mt Waverley, Railway Pde Sth
>>Jordanville, Power Ave, Warrigal Rd, Victory Boulevard, past Alamein
>
>
> Oooh, you go past my house. I'll be sure to run along beside you and
> poor water over your heads on a hot day, if I happen to be up early
> enough.
>
And don't forget to paint his name in big white letters on the road.
(Also don't wave your handbag to close to him in case it catches his
handlebar and brings him down.

 

[JayWoo]

... then Gardiners Ck Path. Note that this misses most of those pesky Gardiners Ck right angle bridges.

Fark I hate commutin' under the M1 on that bridge thingie section. Over the last month or so I've changed from Brunswick Velo to Hawthorn Velo for my after work tootle on the SS. I'm just waiting for the day when some knob-head Commuter, thinking he's late for the rebirth of Christ, pulls out from behind the wheel he's suckin' & straight into me. I reckon it comes close to happening very 2nd time I use this section. It gives me the geebies every time I ride it.

 

[ritcho]

Fark I hate commutin' under the M1 on that bridge thingie section. Over the last month or so I've changed from Brunswick Velo to Hawthorn Velo for my after work tootle on the SS. I'm just waiting for the day when some knob-head Commuter, thinking he's late for the rebirth of Christ, pulls out from behind the wheel he's suckin' & straight into me. I reckon it comes close to happening very 2nd time I use this section. It gives me the geebies every time I ride it.

My early impressions of cycling in Melbourne is that facilities on and off road are far superior to Sydney (though it means Sydney cyclists are harder ). I can't see how anyone could safely wheelsuck on many of the off-road paths along creeks and rivers though... they're going to find brakes applied heavily and without warning if they try it on me!

Ritch

PS. This is also the first time I've seen "heebie-geebies" abbreviated!

 

[Euan]

ritcho wrote:

> My early impressions of cycling in Melbourne is that facilities on and
> off road are far superior to Sydney (though it means Sydney cyclists
> are harder ). I can't see how anyone could safely wheelsuck on many
> of the off-road paths along creeks and rivers though... they're going
> to find brakes applied heavily and without warning if they try it on
> me!

Generally I don't wheel suck when commuting, it's certainly not
something I'd do on a bike path but then you'll rarely find me on a bike
path.

If I'm uncomfortable with how close someone is to my rear wheel I
gradually decrease my speed to something ridiculously slow. I find
that's safer than un-predictable braking.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\<,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)

 

[peterlip]

I'd rather not give all the details. This was the first time I joined them, and I don't think the group should be any bigger. 3-4 would be Ok, there were 6-8 that morning (6 at the start, 8 by Yarra path). I'd prefer not to encourage it to get bigger.

However, the route is Windsor Ave Mt Waverley, Railway Pde Sth Jordanville, Power Ave, Warrigal Rd, Victory Boulevard, past Alamein station, through to Albion Rd (don't remember details), down High St, then Gardiners Ck Path. Note that this misses most of those pesky Gardiners Ck right angle bridges.

My curiosity is more because I ride Rowville to Hawthorn, usually twice a week, and on average I will see one other bike going in the same direction. That's 33km, or 80(ish) minutes, and only one other cyclist. Its nice to think that there are others out there.