Last of the ride pics

Homeward bound, I thought I could hear voices and the whirr-whirr-whirr of gears and chains behind me, and lo and behold, this pair eventually overtook me. I stayed on their tails for a while, but not too long - they were moving fairly rapidly, and were much better at taking tight bends than me (amazing how much time you can lose taking a corner on a bike).


Sign on post - stop shark fin exports. That took me to the Nature Conservation Council, and this policy on bush fires, which I will comment on later.


Happy families - dad with tackers.


When I went past this grassy knoll in the morning, there was a stream of bikes coming down the hill. The grass is just long enough to hide a gunman, erm, cover them up to their waists, and it looked pretty cool. I was too slow to get the camera out to show them zipping down through the long grass, so I had to get this slightly lamer shot on the way home.


Yes, some cyclists can be complete wallys. As I came up behind this pair, the bloke in front was showing his girlfriend how Grand Prix drivers keep their tyres warm during slow periods by rapidly weaving from one side of the road to the other. And that of course prevented me from overtaking. He finally got the message when his girlfriend yelled at him to stop being a dick, and through I went.


Mr Zippy. This guy had about 50 times as many grey hairs as me, but he went ripping past me in a fashion that I could just not ignore. I had to catch him and hang onto his tail until we parted company - which probably explains why my thighs are currently twanging from exhaustion. Sheesh, I hate old, fast bastards.


Shadows not so long after 3 hours in the saddle.


I don't always get those action shots quite right - another family out for a spin beside the water. Just after this, I got to race a Jetcat going towards the city - and I beat it of course.


Bike parking at the Armory Cafe. I thought about dropping in for a feed, but there were at least a dozen people queueing for a table, so I gave it a miss. Very popular feeding trough for cyclists on the weekend.


A bike hire place just next door - they have tandem bikes and everything. I've never spotted this place before - must only open on weekends.


And a final shot of.... I am not sure what. I think I was photographing the happy looking families coming down the hill from the car park on their bikes. It's a great place to drive to, park, and then take the kids and bikes for a zoom around the park.


After all this, I went home, blogged for an hour and then slept for 3 more. The kids managed to break the bed this morning whilst I was out riding, and I was too knackered to do anything about it, so I had my afternoon napped stretched sideways across the bed. Not recommended.

That takes me to just shy of 150km over 5 days, with 2 more days in this riding week to go. Will I make 200km? Will my legs collapse underneath me when I get out of bed in the morning, and I need a two day break? Stay tuned.