jeremy.id.au

It was a nice sunny 18˚C in Melbourne today. We’ve had warmer in the last couple of weeks, none the less, it is the first day of spring and what better way to celebrate than spending some time in the outdoors. A lot of people were out walking their dogs, others kicking soccer balls around at the local park and I happened to be out on my bike.

Riding along, enjoying the fresh (well most likely polluted) city air, when suddenly I was hit from behind by a terrorising magpie. Normally it is rather trivial matter being swooped while cycling; more of a nuisance that is. Bike helmets may not do much to protect cyclists from the menace of cars (some say they actually create more danger), though they usually prove quite effective in the defence against swooping magpies in the springtime. This time, however, the magpie bypassed the defence of my helmet by going for the back of my neck, attacking at the weakest point of contact.

Fortunately, however, I got off lightly. Although it hurt for a while, it left no signs of damage. Some people describe the experience of magpies more accurately as this:

‘Trivial and humorous’ is definitely not how many people now regard aggressive magpies. For them, the advent of spring is a time of daily terror and anguish, of real fear and th ever-present feeling of imminent danger.

Well I certainly won’t take this extreme and to me they are still something more of a nuisance… though they certainly seem to be increasing their terrorism tactics. The worst day I had for bird attacks on my bike was actually way back in September 2000 when I got swooped several in one day. Fortunately they all attacked on the helmet that day, rather than my neck.

Yesterday, me and Daniel caught up again to go riding. We decided on the Dandenongs again, ignoring the fact that the forecast said few showers. We couldn’t go on the weekend because the train line is closed again between Box Hill and Ringwood and I couldn’t go Monday, so Friday it had to be. This time we decided tot ake the train out there to do more riding in the hills, tossingup whether to start on the Belgrave line or the Lilydale line. The fact that the train wound up in Lilydale was the deciding factor.

At this point I had initially planned to take the Warbuton Trail to Mount Evelyn. Though we got a little lost around Mt. Lilydale College. The old reservation disappears into the school and things don’t always work out as the Melway would lead you to believe. The map showed a small track of reserve behind the school, though it didn’t lead onto the bike trail so obviously as shown in the Melway. Instead we wound up in a paddock and battled blackberries and a barbed fence to get back out onto the bike trail. Had we followed the school boundry more, I think we would have been alright.

None the less, once we got back onto the trail, the ride out to Mount Evelyn was fairly nice; 8km into the ride we arrived at Mt. Evelyn, where decided to stop for lunch. The choice was between a bakery and a cafe. Given that the bakery wasn’t as flash looking as the one we’ve stopped at in The Basin and that most of the people appeared to be at the cafe, we opted for the cafe. At this point it was already 2pm as we had started out late. I had a steak sandwich which was fairly good.

However, over lunch the rain really started to set in and at some points the Dandenongs were completely invisible. It was starting to rain lightly when we had arrived, though we had hoped it would pass while we were there. Instead, it was at it’s worst when we were ready to live and go off on our ride. It has to be remembered that showers in the rest of Melbourne will no doubt fall as heavy rain around the Dandenongs as the clouds dump their loud. To make matters worse, I thought I had packed a spray jacket, only to realise I had nothing to keep dry at all. To much disappointment, at this point it became obvious that we were going to have to head back. So we immediately sprinted back to Lilydale, at no less than 30kph for most of the way (it was downhill though on a very soft grade) I was peddling along at 40kph for a large part as I was trying to stay warm.

It was still raining when we got back to Lilydale and I was drenched when we got to the station. The was a train on the platform with 2 minutes to departure so we boarded immediately. Some strange character came through and demanded that I move my bike. My immediate reaction was what is this smart alec thinking? There’s plenty of space to get past!

I pointed out that the back wheel was as far back as it could go and that he had at least half a metre to get through. Though he pointed at Daniel’s bike which was leaning across one of the doorways (the one not being used for the platform at that station). I told him that this would just block off the doorway to which he he had no answer. A girl then walked in and wanted to go through so he stepped aside to let her through. She got past without any trouble. Yet he still went back to demanding that I move my bike. At this point a bunch of high school students that had been watching were really starting to take amusement. He finally said “Okay, would you like to delay this train by 10 minutes?” and pulled out a massive walkie talkie thing. I then realised that he was probably the train driver, though unidentifiable as a Connex employee in the jacket he was wearing. I moved the damn bike anyway and as he had just got past I said to him “You could have got past easily anyway” (not even in a nasty way). He turned around and asked if i would like to wait for the police to show up, so I said that they wouldn’t waste their time. He walked off in a huff, the high school students were really amused by that point and commenting on what a prick he was. Some of them joked about it when they later got off, “the fucking bike’s in the way”, when they had already walked past it. Maybe he had been having a bad day, but that’s no way for Connex employees to treat passengers (had he asked nicely in the first place, there would have been no problem).

The rain was already clearing up as we approached Ringwood so we decided to get off there and ride the last bit back to Box Hill, having not done so much riding. We ended up doing almost 30km when we got back. It didn’t really feel like that much. We looked back at the Dandenongs when we were half way back it was evident that it had stopped raining. Oh well.

Yesterday morning I awoke to find tradies left, right and centre working on stuff in the house. A dust storm was brewing in the kitchen, the smell of paint was wafting through from the back room and plants that had been freshly planted on the weekend were being squashed as a brick retaining wall in the front yard was being bagged. Breakfast at home was not an option and while maccas breaky was over (yeah a slept in a little), fortunately I was able to get a bacon and egg focaccia from a local café (beats a maccas breaky anyway). So I ended up having take away breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Today was a little better, as I had devised a plan to have breaky at home this morning by having everything ready the night before. Although they were still doing work on the kitchen benches, they weren’t using the electric belt sanders anymore. A heap of other work was still being done, such as painting of the front door and some work on the front of the house. I decided not to hang around in it for another day and rode my bike into TAFE despite the 30 degree heat. Yes, despite the 20km in each direction, it was a good excuse to fit in a bike ride and get away from other menial tasks that need to be done around the house. Only because I was going to TAFE. That’s about the only reason I would cycle commute, to get somewhere and to fit in a bike ride at the same time. It’s the second time I’ve ridden into TAFE too, and quite a nice ride as a good portion of Box Hill to Brunswick can be done on bike paths. Being in at TAFE, I ended up having take away lunch again and the kitchen *still* wasn’t finished today so take away dinner as well. Hopefully it’ll be done by tomorrow.

In other news, I have been keeping the riding up. Did another trip out to the Dandenongs about two weeks ago, riding from Box Hill to Ringwood (because the train line was closed), train to Boronia, then we rode to Olinda via The Basin then down to Emerald via Monbulk before riding back to Belgrave. Then finally had to ride the stint from Ringwood to Box Hill again, bringing the total to almost 70km of riding for that day. Also did 55km of riding from Daniel’s place last weekend, from Montmorency - Plenty - Diamond Creek - Research - Warrandyte then back to Montmorency. A few photos (though not many) have been uploaded to gallery and flickr.

It seems to be Blue Tongue season as well. The other day while riding through Fairfield Park, only 5km (crows flight) from the city, I spotted what I had at first thought was a rather large lizard. I soon realised it might may have been a Blue Tongue, and after waiting around for a few minutes I was able to confirm that it was indeed. Unfortunately I didn’t have the camera on me that time.

Short of turning this into a cycling blog, though todays riding was something that had to be written up. Once again we started out from Box Hill and headed through the suburbs of Blackburn, Nunawading and Mitcham. At Vermont, we once again joined the Dandenong Creek trail, though this time, instead of heading south, we continued east.

Passing through the suburbs of Heathmont, Bayswater and Boronia, the trial is reasonable though nothing overly special. It’s when you hit The Basin that things really start to change. As you can see in the photo below.

At this point we had already riden 20km so we stopped for lunch at a bakery at The Basin shops. The chilli pie I had was very tasty, quite a decent little bakery actually. After lunch we commenced our climb up along Mountain Highway. This road actually has quite a gentle grade, I recall reading somewhere that it’s approximately a 1 in 8 gradient. So I didn’t even have to do it in my lowest gear, completing the 7.5km climb to Sassasfras in no more than 40-45 minutes (without stopping). It was quite a peaceful ride with hardly any traffic, perhaps partly because everyone was home watching the Grand Final.

We continued along the Mt. Dandenong Tourist Rd to Olinda. This road had a little more traffic on it and we still had some climbing to do. Despite eating a banana back at Sassafras, I felt like a sugar fix. Though to my disgrace there is not a single bakery in Olinda, the place is obviously far too up market. None the less, we had a very nice descent down to the Mount Dandenong township where I was able to find a bakery. I was a little bit offput by the fact that their food was all wrapped in plastic, still the mint slice I had was quite nice. While sitting outside the bakery I noticed where the road was going up to the Mt. Dandenong “Sky High” lookout which we had almost gone straight past.

We had a little more climbing to do once again before we did reach the lookout, at 633 metres above sea level. Unfortunately the views were rather hazy (see below). Still we had an awesome descent back down to Kalorama, reaching 66kph myself. The views across to Silvan were much clearer.

The descent down to Montrose was rather disappointing. It may have been steeper than Mountain Highway though it wasn’t steep enough that we could gain some decent speed. At almost 50km we decided to take the train home. It didn’t seem that far into Mooroolbark, unfortunately getting there as we just missed a train! Fortunately it was only 20 minutes to the next one (as opposed to half an hour during the week).

We ended the ride at 54km total distance and an average speed of 16.6km/h. Not bad when it includes a mountain climb!

P.S. I promise to write about something that isn’t cycling real soon.

It’s been another mostly uneventful week. I have kept up the riding, bringing the total to 130km in the last fortnight. Though the best day of riding was Monday, where I did 45km to Jells Park and back, along with Daniel, a mate from my last TAFE course.

We set out from Box Hill at approximately midday, heading east along the creek to Blackburn Lake. After leaving the Blackburn Lake Sanctuary we mostly cut through side streets to get through Nunawading and Mitchem and then onto Heatherdale Road (which amazingly has bike lanes on it). We then headed south, joining Dandenong Creek in Vermont, which takes you through Koomba Park, a regional park which somewhat resembles the Yarra Flats park near Heidelberg. We then went along a track behind the Whitehorse Recycling and Waste centre where we stopped at a fairly unusual looking lookout tower, although most of the view was obscured by trees. We then continued along Dandenong Creek to Shepherds Bush.

The bird life around Shepherds Bush (and probably all along Dandenong Creek) was truly amazing. As we came in past the sporting ovals there was a large flock of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and I also spotted Galahs, Willie Wagtails, Blue Wrens, Rosellas and many other species.

Arriving at Jells Park some time after 1pm having riden over 20km, we rode around the lake (where there were also Pelicans and other wetland birds), before stopping for lunch at the restaurant. While waiting for lunch I used the WiFi feature in my new phone to check up on the weather as it was one of those days where it just seemed like it wanted to rain. Though after looking at the radar we were satisfied that any showers that were around would be insignificant. As it turns out we didn’t get hit by any rain at all.

After lunch (approx 2:30pm) we had another 20km of riding to do in order to return to Box Hill. We left Jells Park through Wheelers Hill, following the Scotchmans Creek trail. Although at this point it is more of a bike route with no remote possibility of any creek nearby with the number of hills we had to climb. There were some moderately steep climbs in there as well through the Wheelers Hill area (hence the name I suppose). The route through the side streets, however, was very well sign posted; until we got to a new housing development near the Monash Freeway that is, requiring use of the Melway to get to the start of the actual Scotchmans Creek trail.

We then only followed the creek for just over a kilometre before turning off at Valley Reserve. We then cut through Mount Waverley, stopping briefly at a small park between High Street Road and Highbury. We then crossed over Highbury Road before hitting the backstreets of Bennettswood then across Burwood Highway before taking a short path towards Station Street. We took a few more back streets through Box Hill South and we were finally home (sometime after 4pm).

We had just completed 45km (averaging 16.4km per an hour; not including any stopping time), without riding on a single main road, riding all the way from Box Hill to Wheelers Hill and back in a loop, all along side streets and bike paths.

Edit: I’ve made a map of the route we did that is now available through Bikely (excluding some diversions where we got lost, etc).

Well it must be spring. Not least because the weather has been getting warmer, though the daffodils have been out (and have mostly died off already), birds have been swooping my head while I’ve been out cycling, while some birds have also been nesting right outside our kitchen window (though I think that may have been the mother bird that flew into the kitchen window at great impact and died today).

Today I didn’t make it to TAFE and it was a nice 21˚C so I ended up out riding my bike instead. Had the bike paths to myself just about, while I cruised along at an average speed of 20km/hr for 28km. Not bad after a winter of practically no riding.

We’ve had a good few days of decent weather, about 20°C each day. It doesn’t end here either, it’ll be 21° tomorrow and warming up to 23° during the week. None the less, this afternoon instead of letting the day waste away into nothing I decided to go for another bike ride. It’s the first ride I’ve done for a while since having the sniffles put me off for a while. I clocked up almost 34km riding alongside the railway line to Hawthorn then ducking down Kooyongkoot Road, along the Yarra up to Dights Falls, before taking the Outer Circle back down to Whitehorse Road which I finally road along to return home.

Other stuff that’s been going on lately include Barnaby Joyce crossing the floor in the Senate during the week to vote with the ALP and minor parties this week (the first time it’s happened in 19 years). It is always reassuring to know that despite the Libs/Nats having control over both house of parliament that some form of democracy remains. Hopefully he’ll block some of the crazy upcoming legislation from getting through.

Another interesting thing that I saw on the 7.30 Report the other night was that they almost have propagation of the Wollemi Pine to a level where they’ll be able to sell it to people around the world. I remember seeing something about the Wollemi Pine on TV almost ten years ago, though the amazing thing is that it was believed to be extinct for 200 million years until an adventurer/rock climber came across a grove growing in a secluded canyon in the Wollemi National Park, just out of Sydney. Another freaky thing is that out of all groves found in the wild, the tree showed absolutely no genetic diversity.

The weather couldn’t have been better today, so decided to use the opportunity to go for a bike ride. Just did the usual, rode up Whitehorse Rd then took the Anniversary trail (former outer circle railway line). Then I took the Yarra trail and kinda cheated by taking the train home. It’s the first time I’ve done this since the weather got colder. The train was noticeably cosy for a Sunday service that only runs every 20 minutes. People must actually go out on Sundays, if only the State Government knew this!

Also took some photos while I was out. Though it is a bit tricky trying to ride a bike and take photos at the same time.

What a busy week and a half it has been! I should start with the weekend of the 29th/30th November. It was the planning weekend for the Public Transport Users Association. Ironically it was held as far away from public transport as possible, out near Seymour! So up we went the night before so a few (five) of us could get good sleep. The rest arrived the next day. Was an interesting weekend none the less, we discovered that burs had evolved so that when explorer socks came along 10,000 years later they’d all collect in them (either that or they were designed to annoy the hell out of kangaroos!). Luckily I wasn’t the one wearing them though.

The proceeding Tuesday I had an interview at RMIT. Not sure how I went though I’ll have to see when my results come out in Janurary. Spent the rest of that day in the PTUA office (well several hours). Nothing too exciting!

To fill the gaps I’ve been cycling a little, as well as to keep fit. Well guess the next big event will be the release of VCE results on Monday, lets see how well I didn’t do. Followed by that, Christmas!

Well spring has sprung, which is just as well since we’re just about at the equinox! Could have been a little warmer today, 18 degrees, still was a nice day for bike riding.