Finding a new route

I moved office today. I have lost count of how many times I have moved. One symptom of all this moving is that I gave up on business cards years ago. I had my last one printed in about 1999, and haven't bothered to get new ones since. No one seems to care - after all, this isn't Japan.

Moving these days is easy - I have stuff-all crap in my office, so the total move consisted of my PC and a notepad that went into my briefcase. That was it. No files, photos, books, plaques etc. I travel light.

The hardest part is finding a new place to have breakfast. One thing about riding is that I can never eat before riding to work. If it was flat all the way, I wouldn't have a problem. But my ride is not, and there are at least three hills that would generate much vomit if I ate too soon before riding. And I am buggered if I am getting up at 5am to eat, then sit around until 6.30am to ride. I wake up, I dress, I go. I get to work, I shower, I eat, I do some work.

The first few weeks after any move are beset by the constant quest for a good breakfast. It has to be good and cheap and tasty, and the staff have to be nice. If any cafe served good bircher muesli, I'd eat that every morning, but the only place that ever did that was in Melbourne, and it closed years ago. The next choice is to find somewhere that does something with bacon and/or eggs that is not too greasy. A good omelette. A nice bacon and egg roll. Poached eggs and bacon on good toast.

Another thing is that it has to be close to the office - no point in walking 10 minutes each way to have a feed. It has to be a minute or two from the lifts.

Apart from that, I also have to find a new route through town. The Sydney CBD is a mass of one way streets and nasty little hills, so the trick is to find a route that is reasonably flat and has no nasty traffic spots. I define a nasty traffic spot as one where the cars are moving faster than I am. At the moment, even though my route goes up George St, I can keep up with or go faster than cars and buses because of the congestion along that part of George St. However, once you go past Town Hall, the road opens up and the traffic speed picks up and suddenly you have impatient cars up your bum and the risks amplify. Cars tend to be nice to bikes if the bikes can keep up, which means being able to belt along at 35-45 kmh over some stretches.

My first week in the new office will be spent trying a different route each day until I find the best one, or a selection of routes, with each one being better at certain times of the day. When I lived on the north shore, I had a few routes once I got off the Harbour Bridge, and the one I took each day depended entirely on what time I got up. Traffic speeds and densities change remarkably within a short space of time in the CBD, and bikes are much more flexible than cars as we can cut across footpaths or up alleys or even the wrong way up a one way street, so you are not stuck with one route like cars. You pick your route to suit the conditions.

It's no different really to driving a truck through the CBD. There are some places where you do not want to take a truck in the CBD - roads that are too narrow or corners that are too sharp to get around, kerbs in the wrong place, overhanging awnings etc. A smart truck driver will have his no-go zones, and will pick a route that avoids them. Bikes have to do the same.

The last thing I have to find is a good iced coffee. My current cafe does a really good iced latte, and I am quite addicted to it. They also give me plenty of ice, which is crucial. Bugger it - it isn't that far to walk if it all goes pear shaped at the new office.