Tuesday photos

Slept in a bit this morning - normally, this starts happening at the end of the week when I'm absolutely toasted after 4 days of back and forth. Must be the cold & flu tablets I took before  hitting the sack. The sun had been up for too long to get a properly spectacular morning shot.

Lots of rowers out this morning though, and as the tide was right up, they were closer to the banks than usual - I even managed to get a half descent photo of a couple of crews.

It was cold enough this morning to require a jacket and leg warmers - although I shed the jacket after a few miles. I won't be wearing the leg warmers in the morning - left the bloody things hanging up at work. After 6 months of not wearing them, I'm not in the habit of packing them for the trip home. I needed the leg warmers - even though I got up late, it was still only 12 degrees when I left home.

I worked a bit later than usual today, so I got a few dusky photos on the way home.

But here's a morning shot, just to mix things up. The skinny bugger on the right is blasting past us two hubbards.

Chasing the tram on the way home.

A recumbent - haven't seen one of these in ages. A very rare sight on the commute. More come out on the weekends though.

For some reason, the camera went all macro on me for this shot - although it's a wipe out of a photo, it does have some artistic merit.

Night time riding - the chip on the camera is so good as sucking in light, it makes almost complete darkness look like the sun is still partly up.

Another macro photo - my fingers must be wandering all over the camera when I turn it on. Must do better tomorrow.

Monday photos

Far out, it was frosty this morning - a brisk 13 degrees. OK, compared to winter, that's warm - but it's the shock of the drop from 20 degrees a few weeks ago that's getting to me. Rather than a gentle decline of a degree every few days, the mercury just seems to have plummeted overnight. I'll be searching for the leg warmers if this keeps up. It was total luck that I got the sign in the above photo. The water was really still this morning - what caught my eye was that patch of reflected light way out in the Bay (looks better when blown up).

A couple of blokes making a meal of the last hill coming out of Lilyfield. There's two types of cyclists on this rise - those that are puffing and panting and grinding away like it's Everest, and those that blast up it like it's actually a downslope. I flip flop between the two - legs were fresh this morning, so I snapped these two and whisked past without stopping to draw breath. By Friday, I'll be plodding in a much lower gear.

Someone been shopping from Vogue magazine? That carry bag on the back was quite a piece of work. And check out the basket on the front.

This bloke had a triathlon tag on the back of his bike - wonder if he did the event on the weekend? If so, he backed up really well; he was flying on the trip home. And he looked about 15 years older than me!

The emptiness of this scene caught my eye - until the weekend, HMAS Adelaide was parked at this dock. You can read more about the delays in scuttling it as a dive wreck here.  Alternatively, if you prefer the ABC version, you can read about Aboriginal whale callers here.

Monday photos

It's certainly getting cooler and wetter - although I am tempted to put on another layer in the morning, I'm avoiding it because I'm still sweating like a navvy when I get over the ANZAC Bridge. A few hills taken at speed will do that to you. Obviously, not everyone else feels the same way about it.

Things you don't often see in bike lanes - a street sweeper. Nice to know all the broken glass and other crap that ends up in these lanes gets cleaned up occasionally.

I bet she reads Vogue. A lot.

It's too dark to take photos in the morning, so an afternoon shot will have to do.

Friday photos

Left even earlier than usual this morning, and it was dark. So dark, I couldn't see the pot holes - thankfully, I know exactly where every one of them is. But it was so dark, the camera couldn't take a photo properly without a tripod. And I don't carry one of them with me.

Some people really puff and strain to get up them hills. I thought this poor woman was going to rupture something. Bikes like this are a great idea where it's flat, but the ramp up to the ANZAC Bridge from the city end is anything but flat. Taking this photo was bloody hard - you need both hands on the bars to provide as much leverage as possible when laying down the power to get up the ramp, and I had to slow down, take the photo, stow the camera and then power off again. Not going to try this again if I can help it.

I can't get over how skinny some blokes are. He's about half my width.

Thursday photos

What day is it? Thursday? I'm losing track of time - half asleep tonight. Quite stuffed. These early morning starts are catching up with me.

No photos of The Bay lately - it's been too dark, cloudy and gloomy on my arrival to warrant a photo. All you'd see is grey on grey on grey. Sometimes that can be interesting, but not this week.

What gets me is how many cyclists ride around in this Stygian gloom without benefit of lights or reflective clothing. They do their best to dress like Ninjas - which is fine if you're trying to sneak up on someone to assassinate them, but pretty silly when you're doing your best to avoid being smeared by a car.

Single speed bikes were two-a-penny this week. These blokes really go for the minimalist look. It's a nice ethic to have, but I still think it would be sensible to attach a light fore and aft when riding before sun up. They also have the funniest looking handlebars -really odd shapes. I'm sure they're great on a track, but not so sure they're that comfortable on a daily commute. Ah well, it takes all sorts.

Friday photos

Seen in Martin Place at lunch today - he was doing this with pencil, not chalk. He got my $2 coin, whilst the beggar standing behind me got nada.

Furious overtaking manoeuvres on the bridge this morning. Medium speed people overtaking slow people, with faster bikes ripping past everyone.

One of the fast buggers. One thing I've noticed about the really skinny blokes is that their shoulders are narrower than their handlebars. Mine are way, way broader than mine - I have to push about double the frontage through the air as these blokes.

Monday photos

Tradesman in a ute getting a ticket from a cop - there is justice in this world. Tradesmen in utes, along with men in white vans, are a cyclists worst enemies. I just wish the cop had said, "Sir, are you in a hurry?" If he responded in the affirmative, she should have shot all his tyres out and finished with, "Not any more".

This bloke was thin and keen. Not often that a bloke on a bike with fat tyres goes over the bridge as fast as this fellow - he just stood up at the start and pumped the whole way over.

A one man road rocket. I snapped a photo of this bloke as he went past, and then he was gone. Whoosh. Then again, he's about half as wide as me - less wind resistance.

Tuesday photos

It's a nice time of the year to be up and about reasonably early - it's not too hot, not too cold and not too windy or wet. It's not perfect, but it's nice enough. It beats being frozen, cooked, blown sideways off the bike or pelted with hail. I'm thankful for it being pretty good.

Ah, what is it about single speeders? This bloke tried to do a track stand at the red light, but discovered he couldn't do it, so he rode around in small circles trying to stay upright. He ended up on the footpath. Why didn't he just stop and put his foot down?

Interesting bike - it had a belt drive rather than a chain. It was like a fan belt, but with lumpy cams on it for grip. Very quiet.

And now for something a bit more colourful.

And here's a line of bikes going across the bridge - there were lots more than I could capture in one photo. Good weather brings out the two wheelers in droves.

Someday photos

Crikey, whaddaya ya know? Another batch of photos from sometime in the not so distant past. I must have been up early that morning, as the Boot Camp nutters were doing their thing on the oval.

I didn't bother to stop for this bloke as he looked like he had everything required to fix a flat. Not a good place to get one - there's no room to spread your tyre changing stuff around.

This bloke looked like he was about 70, and still going strong.

My pet hate - why is it that Sydney Council will happily put up a rabbit for the Chinese year of the rabbit, but won't put up anything even vaguely Christian for Christmas?

Thursday photos

I'll be blowed, I just found a few days worth of photos that I forgot to post. These aren't from Thursday by the way - it's just to differentiate them from Friday's lot.

A bloke fishing along the Bay Run. Don't see that too often. As the land around parts of it is reclaimed industrial something or other, that water is probably full of fish with nine eyeballs.

I'm not getting up earlier - the sun is getting up later.

I saw this bloke in the orange vest a few times - what was odd about him is that he is riding in a blue business shirt. I could never do that. Even though I wear all the air breathing lycra stuff, by the time I get to work, I have sweat dripping off my arms and pouring down my face. One good thing about this photo is the amount of room the passing ute is giving us - notice how far out he is from the white line. I like it when drivers give you plenty of room.

I stupidly went fast and caught up to this rubbish truck - getting a lung full of that was not pleasant. Almost heaved up my breakfast.

No, the bridge is not about to fall down. That's just me taking a photo whilst trying to pant up a hill as fast as possible.

A couple of hubbards, there for the taking.

It hasn't been cold, but this lady was well rugged up - woollen top, thick long fingered gloves etc etc. Some people feel the cold. Not me - too much insulation.

A sucker for punishment - not only did he play tennis in the hot afternoon sun, he rode to and from his game. Some people are just too fit and active.