We rode the Spring Cycle today, it was a great day out, sunshine, lots of people and the sites of Sydney. The day started at 5am with an 8km ride to Liverpool train station, we made it just in time for the special train for allocated for all the riders today. We got off at North Sydney station and rode up to St Leonards Park. From there the ride began, winding our way across the Habour Bridge, through the idealic riverside neighbourhoods of Brays Bay, Canada Bay, Five Dock, Rhodes and a few others I forgot.

I wasn’t sure how my legs would cope with the distance since I haven’t been riding regularly for a few months. About 30km into the ride and right at the bottom of the steepest road section of the ride, I developed cramps in both my quad muscles and couldn’t straighten my legs. I had to sit out for 5 minutes and stretch on the side of the road. I had to take it a bit slower after that. I think my bike is too heavy for me, its about 3-4 times heavier than an alloy bike of the same size, my legs have to work harder for every pedal after about an hour riding.

The ride was fun though, I covered the whole 50km course in 2 hours and 52 minutes. Full respect to those Tour De France guys who do hundreds of kilometres day in day out. Maurice, Dennis and I decided against riding home from Olympic Park, which was another 35km. We opted to catch the train back to Liverpool and ride the 8km home. Going to do it again next year and try to do better my time, hopefully with a new bike. Bicycle Australia photos here.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 at 5:52 pm and is filed under Happenings, Imagery.