225km brevet

[fthills]

It was meant to be a 200 km brevet and I was doing 18km/hr average but in the last 40km I missed a turn and ended up doing 25 km more than intended . As chance would have it when I realised my mistake there was a cafe by the roadside with all sorts of goodies on offer. I made the decision to abandon the brevet and savour the chocolate eclairs instead. Good decision.

The ride on garmin connect:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/225705921

And some pics:

The route covers 3 ferry rides = 20minutes roughly of crossing /waiting time

 

[John Tolhurst]

What a glorious spot!
One of

What a glorious spot!

One of the challenges of a brevet, eh, keeping on the course. Nice place to end up.

 

[Eric Winn]

How is the traffic on the

How is the traffic on the bridge on the Pacific Hwy across the Hawkesbury River? And along the rest of your route?

I noticed when following your route in your Garmin track that Google seems to take greater care with their satellite imagery. Using Bing there were section with heavy cloud cover but when I toggled to Google those same sections were very clear.

In your photos above, are you on a soft road shoulder for Wisemans Ferry Rd or River Rd or is part of your route unpaved? From the satellite imagery, it looks like parts of River Rd may be gravel or less than ideal pavement but the imagery is pretty poor in a lot of places.

What size and kind of tires do you have fitted in those pictures? Have you ridden your Vendetta on a lot of different road surfaces? How does it handle on different surfaces?

I'm guessing your eclair rescue was at the Windsor Ice Cream Cafe off the roundabout down George St at Baker?

Looks like a fun ride. How much do the ferries cost?



-Eric

 

[fthills]

The scenery on this ride is

The scenery on this ride is magnificent. 3 weeks ago we did a similar ride but in a clockwise direction .

The traffic over the whole route is negligible. We're fortunate in that the first 40 km are part of the old pacific highway . Some years ago a freeway was built which runs parallel to the old highway , so cyclists, motorcycles and sightseers in cars taking the old road face very little traffic. The main danger even on weekends is the occasional Double b truck which service several of the stone quarries in the area.

For some strange reason on the southern side of the river there are 4 or five stretches of unpaved road. None of them are longer than 200 metres and most are around 50 m . It would be very easy to pave ,but somehow I don't think its going to happen.

The V has no trouble with gravel on flat ground and descents provided speed is modified. But on a couple of those unpaved rises , I estimate 5% gradient , I lost traction from the front wheel. And had to walk.

There is indeed a cafe on the corner ,whose name I don't know but on the satellite view is on the corner of baker and george st. .i can also recommend their meat pies. Can the google view be magnified to show the V parked against the wall there ???

The ferries are free and at least one of them operates 24 hrs a day ( the Berowra one) . I crossed that one at about 8 pm .

If ever a visitor came to Sydney and wanted to do a scenic ride , this one would be my pick.

 

[fthills]

I forgot to answer the bit

I forgot to answer the bit about which tyres I use. Slicks front and rear , pumped this time to 100 psi . Last time , similar route , I had them up to 120 but the very coarse chipseal made it uncomfortable. 100 psi was better.

 

[Eric Winn]

How about the tire width? Are

How about the tire width? Are those 28s?

-Eric

 

[fthills]

25 at the back, 28 at the

25 at the back, 28 at the front.

No science in that choice. I just went with what I had at the time I was building the bike and had limited time to prepare for an earlier series of rides.

I've been reading here and there that wider tyres might be best for randonneuring but the local bike shops just carry stuff mainly for out and out mountainbikers or roadies who rarely seem to venture beyond 25mm. Ideally I would like to try 32mm back and front.

 

[fthills]

It is a glorious spot., John.

It is a glorious spot., John. There are so many views onto the river just like the pics above, that one is spoilt for choice. What is even more incredible is that as the crow flies we ar probably no more than 60km from the centre of Sydney. Yet on both weekends of the rides , with perfect weather there were very few people about ( read cars ) particularly on the western side of Wiseman's ferry on the south bank of the river. The garmin plot doesn't show the small elevation changes well. Its hard to say but where those pics were taken its probably 20m above the river but the GPS plot shows that part of the track to be almost at water level. But I think the total climb of around 3000m is probably pretty accurate.

 

[psychling]

No headrest

If in fact you don't have a headrest ... I'm full of questions.

 

[fthills]

Hi Dan,
Headrests and I just

Hi Dan,

Headrests and I just don't seem to marry well. I've tried , small , large, neck , base of head, commercial , DIY but I can't find one that makes me comfortable . On the other hand the shoulder support feels really good . The shoulder support gives the seat the hourglass appearance at the top. I should take a photo from behind with me sitting in the seat to illustrate what it does.

 

[Eric Winn]

Now ride it again with

Now ride it again with the Rohloff and give us a comparison report ...grin...

 

[fthills]

good idea, I'm waiting for

good idea, I'm waiting for some handlebar parts to arrive . I'd like to mount the shifter so that its in a similar position to where the brifters are now then its off for some test rides.

 

[Charles.Plager]

I should take a photo from

I should take a photo from behind with me sitting in the seat to illustrate what it does.

(And post it too, right? )