Riding beneath the Gateway Bridge

Great Brisbane Bike Ride 2016

Yesterday was the primary event in Bicycle Queensland's Bike Week - the Grest Brisbane Bike Ride a giant bike ride with over 2,000 participants. Riders can choose between 40, 75 and 110km routes. They close off or partially close dozens of roads that are normally choked with traffic. Traffic light signals switch to flashing amber in the city and an army of volunteers and police give cyclists as much help as they can. There was a bit of a bottle neck at the Moggill Ferry as hundreds of riders arrived and the ferry man said he could only take 60 people at a time.

It was about an hour and a quarter between the two photos. That's the ferry with the cars on it. Luckily for us, the 40km ride on the other side of the river had a lot less hills than the preceding 70kms!

Practice practice practice

This Sunday is the start of Bike Week in Queensland. The flagship event is the Great Brisbane Bike Ride which includes cycling up Mount Coot-tha. OK, it's less of a mountain and more of a 2.5km hill so we're not talking Tour De France or anything but it's challenge enough for your average everyday cyclist. This week there have been lots of cyclists squeezing in some last minute practice each morning. The light here at this time of year is beautiful and all you can smell is eucalyptus forest and all you can hear are birds and the sound of your own gasping and wheezing. Sublime.

Reward

Yesterday morning's fog draped over the city as seen from the lookout at Mt. Coot-tha. It would have been a better shot if I had been bothered to lug my SLR up the hill but it was hard enough on the bike without it. This was taken with my phone camera. Pretty lovely anyway and a nice reward for getting out of bed at the crack of dawn and hoisting myself up the hill.

The River Loop

There are thousands of cyclists in Brisbane. It has the perfect climate for it. The majority of Brisbane's cyclists choose cycling for fitness but the level of cycling commuters would probably shoot right up if it was safer to ride in and out of the city. Each candidate for the recent mayoral elections promised better cycling infrastructure but unsurprisingly that's all quietened down now that the elections are over.

One of the most well-trodden bike routes is called the River Loop and snakes around dedicated bikeways and streets on a 30-40km course (depending which bridge you cross) roughly following the river. If you live on one of these streets and are up before 7am, you will know all about it either from the whizz of bikes flying past at high speed or the seemingly too-loud conversations about bike cadence or how the stock prices in Woolies are looking.

Having said that, it's a great ride. If you can't beat em....

Look. No Gears. RRrrrr.

There's a bit of a fashion for gearless bikes here in Brisbane at the moment which is odd/masochistic as there are plenty of hills in this neck of the woods.

Morning Shadows

Being from a part of the world where you learn to make the most of every drop of warm weather, I still find it a bit unnatural and wasteful to join in with the widespread glee that summer is over for another year. Having said that, autumn is a beautiful part of the year to be in Brisbane. The humidity lifts, the clouds disappear and we get glorious sunshine during the day with cool enough nights to (almost) pull a cover over you.

Today's picture was taken yesterday morning on my way to work at about 7.45. The Mount Coot-tha lookout was mobbed with cyclists who had finished their morning climb and were looking at a downhill stretch all the way home.

Bikeway Cautions

The Bicentenial Bikeway around North Quay urging cyclists to be careful and S L O W. They should put these warnings on the roads around where I live.

It's all downhill from here...

Cyclists regroup after the uphill slog, preparing to tear down Dornoch terrace in a peloton, the wind zipping past their Lycra-clad bodies and hairless legs. What is it with men of a certain age and lycra? Is it just Brisbane?

Pit Stop

Two things that really struck me about Brisbane when I first moved here was the amount of cyclists and the amount of coffee shops. Supplying one with the other is Aberto's Shot, an Italian espresso bar in West End on one of Brisbane's well-worn bike routes.
Motorists in the area should be wary of edgy, caffeine-fuelled pelotons steaming down Montague Road at about 50kph.

P.S. Does the picture look familiar? It's a fair cop, guv.... I shamelessly stole this idea from Eric of Paris Daily Photo fame. See his "through the spokes" shot from April 15th here. Thanks Eric!