After a few morning set-backs with flat tyres, fat tyres and bike bars we set off on our first day's ride back on the Mawson Trail
Day 1: Athelstone to Birdwood (take II)
So 7am in a light rain, my nosy neighbour helped me fit my new bike rack properly, with the key ingredient of a few extra washers from a shed full of nuts, bolts and washers that might come in handy one day.
Graham, Pete and Sally and I met at Gorge Road and crammed two bikes onto the bike rack, and the remaining two bikes in the back of the station wagon. Bay to Birdwood traffic aside (good planning!) we drove to the start of today's ride in Birdwood. Like
last time I did this section, it was decided that it would be best to do it backwards.
Stopped for lunch in Lobethal, and after a spinach and ricotta roll that was fresh, last Wednesday, and waiting for our vegie or chicken burgers to be made with all the bikies food, we tackled the steep hills after Lobethal. Lots of pushing bikes up hills, I think there was some discovering that ppl weren't quite as fit as they thought. I recall how much pushing my bike up hills I did last time with Alex, and was very happy with how I could pretty much ride up every hill now, even if I needed little breaks on the way up.
With a fat tyre, not quite sure what happened there, I ride my bike to and from work several times a week yet it's out on a trail that the tyre wall seemed to fail. A fat lumpy tyre made for some hard riding...
Due to the uncertainty of whether we would be riding or not (sick child), we set off a little late. Despite thoughts to the otherwise, today's ride was easier than the last one and we achieved a faster average speed. Lots of sunny moments amid the warm humid day, interspersed with some cool winds. We cut the end of the ride 10km short, opting instead to ride 5km back along the main bitumen road into Tanunda.
