Give us our day, our daily exercise

This morning was a great morning for a spin around the suburb. The thermometer was down around 20, a tiny bit of rain was sprinkling down and I was out of bed early enough to do a long ride into work without risking arriving later than normal.

It was pretty bloody dark though. I took this photo without a flash and look what I got - a blig blur of the bloke coming towards me. Not a bad shot if you ask me - an interesting effect.



This bloke neatly demonstrated the big difference between a road bike like mine and a kind of hybrid commuter. This bloke is younger, leaner and fitter looking, yet I tore past him on the way home. The big difference was the downhill section of the Anzac Bridge - he could barely do 35 kmh going down a steep hill with a tailwind (due to the lower gearing of these bikes, fatter tyres, smaller diameter wheels and all that) whereas I blasted past him doing 50. And I wasn't cranking it out at full throttle either - but he was spinning his cranks like mad in top gear.



Blasting down the hills provides the momentum to shoot up the next hill with the minimum of effort. A quick blast down the Anzac Bridge hill on the way home means that I hardly have to pedal on the uphill section that terminates at a sharp right hander, which has to be taken at low speed. I blast down the hill, then coast up the other side, allowing my speed to bleed off until I hit the corner. If I get it right, no brakes are required when taking the right-hander.

The worst thing is getting stuck behind some slow moving numpty on the way up the hill, and having to brake whilst coasting uphill and then pedal to reach the top.

Here are some fit looking critters out on the Bay. There have been lots of rowers out on the water of late. Either I am getting up at the right time of day now to catch them, or rowing is getting more popular.



The Bay would have to be a fantastic spot to row around. I hope these people know how lucky they are.