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cycling

Your first day cycling? Is going to suck. No matter how active you are or aren't, if you haven't cycled in years, your legs are going to feel like jelly after a surprisingly short distance. 
Don't let this stop you. Be patient. Ease into it, and in no time you'll be amazed how far you can go. 
You got this <3

Things I learned while getting into cycling 2;

Having a bike that fits you is more important than having a pretty and fast one. 
Cause if it hurts to ride, you won't want to. And riding an "ugly" bike while pain free is so much more important than looking cool, cause people in pain don't look cool. Sorry🤷

Things I learned whole getting into cycling 1;

morning ride should be fun✨️🍃💨

Hello gorgeous ladys who wants to go for a ride

Not dead dead hot, only mostly dead hot. 
Only thing that would make this day better is biking with some friends, and riding to a little hole in the wall place for brunch.

Heat wave finally started calming down

I rode through the woods to go shopping and back. On the way back a cloud with hundreds of horseflies was chasing me, while I rode over cobbles with potholes. We also have concrete panel roads here that sometimes have shifted to hight differences that sometimes match corner stones. I remember I had the same problem there with a hardtail and when I tried to outrun the horseflies I lost my Ortlieb Quickdrop panniers every 50m. So why on earth are full suspension travel bikes so rare? They give safety, they save your gear and your spine. And at least, when I make them, they are reliable.
I fortunately got the 2001 Riese&Müller Delite (Now it's only available as e-bike.) at a lower price as it would cost to build a frame on my own, which I do - sometimes for me, sometimes for sale. I've put in a fork of my own production. Thus the lowrider benefits from the suspension too.

Full suspension saved my groceries today.

Today, I cycled for about 21km and walked about 2km when I reached the Shelly Cove trail as it was too steep for me to successfully bike it. I also found the terrain a bit too treacherous for me to feel safe biking it. This makes this trip my longest trip so far. Was a wonderful trip; the weather was clearer than forecast, as the forecast gave it a medium chance of rain.

23km journey to Shelly Cove and back

On the bike

Cycling time

Today, I cycled to Cape Pallarenda Conservation Park, which is over 10km from my home. I got a great view of the beach there and created a video of it. I enjoyed the ride, too. Lots of natural beauty there and en route.

Cape Pallarenda Conservation Park

I went cycling again today. This time I went to The Strand, continued to and past Anzac Memorial Park and oddly found myself biking towards a casino before I turned around (odd given I have never gambled in my life). Then I cycled back (going past The Strand again) until I cycled into Soroptimist Park and then went to Jezzine Barracks. Eventually I reached a point in which I couldn't bring my bike, so I walked until I reached Kissing Point. 

The first two photos are of Anzac Memorial Park. The next four are of the beach and sea at The Strand. The next five were taken along Kissing Point Board Walk in Jezzine Barracks. The last eight were taken at Kissing Point Fortification. 

If you are wondering where the place names in my city, Townsville, come from well Anzac is an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Jezzine is the name of a town in southern Lebanon where the 31st Battalion fought in WWII. "Strand" is Dutch and German for "beach". "Soroptimist Park" is named for Soroptimist International, an organization for advancing women's rights. As for the name "Kissing Point", I do not know the source of that name as my preferred sources do not actually address this.

Bike ride to The Strand, Anzac Memorial Park and Jezzine Barracks

Bit of a lazy sunday with shifting weather. 
Qick test ride with new tires between the rain showers 😅
Tour de france later on 😊

Activity of the day

Not even my bruised arm from last week's crash. I had to go out, to feel the breeze and see the woods

40°C couldn't stop me

☁️☁️

Cycling started as a fitness goal, but it's become one of the best things I do for my mental health. There's something about being out on the road, away from screens and noise, that helps me reset and come back feeling more like myself.

Not chasing records, just a little more peace of mind with every ride.

Clearing my head.

Around March, I started walking on the advice of my therapist. After about a month of this, I gave up on it, as my feet and ankles became intolerably achy and sore. I could stand my feet being a bit sore immediately after a walk, but the pain persisted for days, even when I cut back the walking distance substantially. 

So I thought I'd try cycling, even though the last time I had cycled was in 2003 and my bike back then had training wheels. My therapist agreed it'd be a good alternative, partly because one fear my therapist was helping me with was a fear of driving and cycling is definitely closer to driving than walking.

So I started cycling in May, and gradually increased my distances until I could manage cycling ~19km. This caused my legs and knees to become intolerably sore, so added in extra breaks to let my legs recuperate. I found this wasn't enough though; as if I waited until my legs felt fully better, I'd be waiting for a week and my legs would seem to be largely back to square one in terms of strength. So I decided to take ibuprofen and paracetamol to take the edge of the discomfort and maybe allow me to have a schedule like this: a long ride on day 1, a shorter ride on day 2 and a rest on day 3 and repeat. This sort of worked, but over time the pain in my knees seems to have grown and now they are painful whenever I put weight on them even after several days break. 

Another issue with cycling is that I still feel rather unstable on my bike, even though I do have training wheels. If a road shoulder I'm on is sufficiently steep, I fear falling off my bike just from riding on this road shoulder. Likewise, if the road shoulder is sufficiently bumpy, I fear the same thing. I also fear losing control due to these conditions and maybe coming into the path of a moving car and ending up pushing up daisies. 

I should be clear and say that not all road shoulders I go on are like this; for instance, Cape Pallarenda Road is one road I ride on and the road shoulder going out to Cape Pallarenda is actually quite flat and pleasant to ride on. But a sizeable chunk of my usual ride has a perilous road shoulder. In fact, even Cape Pallarenda Road's other road shoulder (the one leading back to Rowes Bay) is quite bumpy. Given the speed limit on this road is 80km/hr, it is also one where the risk of getting killed if I do lose control seems substantially higher. 

There is a footpath along this road though, so naturally you might suggest using it. But it isn't a lot better for a novice cyclist like myself. As while the footpath is safer, sure, it is also filled with these bridges and inclines that lead up to them and declines that lead down from them. The bridges take one over the roots of these massive trees, I think. I find that the inclines leading up to these bridges really take it out of me. The footpath also has more inclines beyond this and it bends a lot. The road shoulders by comparison are fairly flat (aside from smaller bumps in it) and straight. 

Naturally, you might suggest using a bike lane. I usually do when they're an option but the path I usually ride only has a bike lane for, at most, 5% of the way, I'd say. For instance, if I ride out to Shelly Beach, the only bike lane I have the luxury of using I think is this one in Pallarenda. It is an interesting bike lane as while you do see bike lane symbols on the road in places, it isn't filled with the usual green paint used to indicate a bike lane and the bike lane is essentially just a road shoulder anyway. This road shoulder is actually one that is a little steep, too. When I'm on it, I often feel the need to shift my weight to the right to ensure my bike doesn't topple over due to the steepness of this road shoulder.

My fear of being whacked while cycling is so intense, that I think it has contributed to calluses forming on my left hand. I'm left handed and my left hand is the main one I used to grip the handlebar and I grip it really hard due to my fear of getting hurt. Before you ask, I do wear fingerless gloves and have plastic grips on my handlebars.

I am well aware this post may seem quite ignorant to many more experienced cyclists, but I need some advice on how I can persist with this habit. I am genuinely trying. So please do have some mercy on me if this post sounds rather stupid.

Is my experience of cycling unusual?

Hi 🙃🚴

Relax 🌞

🚲🌞

Enjoying the summer 🌞🌤️🚴🏻‍♂️

After work...

Today, I cycled to and along The Strand, Townsville's most popular strip of beach. It is in the opposite direction to where I normally ride. Here are some photos I took there.

14km ride to and along The Strand

Yesterday too much wine.
Todays hangover cure 35km just to get the pizza I like with beautiful scenery ♡

🥲

Just saying!

Cycling on a tree trunk😱🫣😤

Bikepacking  ✨

Today, I cycled to Cape Pallarenda Conservation Park and hiked to Shelly Beach again. I also returned up Shelly Beach trail and ascended a bit further into the mountain to see if I could get some better views. I achieved a maximum altitude of 38 metres above sea level, at least according to Google Fit. Shelly Beach trail has a maximum altitude of about 22 metres. I turned around after achieving this altitude, despite greater heights being possible, as I was running out of sunlight for my return trip. I hope you enjoy the photos I took. 

Next time I am contemplating hiking the Many Peaks track which would take me to Mount Marlow's summit. It is meant to take 3 hours, so I am not sure such a journey would be worthwhile, especially since it is apparently very steep.

Had a ride out to a local pond this evening, hoping it would be a little cooler that just sitting in the house.
It's a pond that my youngest niece and I found a few weeks ago, not too far from mine, whilst on a bike ride.
She wanted this to be our secret because it was so pretty, and not tell her older sister where it is... at least, not yet.

This evening, I just wanted somewhere to help quiet my mind.
It's getting harder and harder to keep the noise from outside out, but sitting by this pond, watching the swans and Dragonflies and listening to the bird song definitely helped a little.

I even felt at peace enough to take a few selfie (and it didn't break my camera either)

Secret Pond

Aproveitando o nascer do sol..,🚲🪽🍂🍃☀️

Taking advantage of the sunrise..,🚲🪽🍂🍃☀️

This is how a good day should start

How's everyone doing?

Sad Hill

i love riding bike, u go nyoooom and flies hit u in the face sometime but also fresh air and u go really fast :D

Today, I rode approximately 19.5km. I rode along the beach for much of the journey. I did so when the outside temperature was 27 to 28°C and the Sun was shining bright, but at least I got some decent photos.

19.5km bike ride

I went for a 10.5km bike ride today and I think the photos I took today were even better than on Thursday.

Cycling photos

Hi everybody. This is  part of my ride today in Naples.

IGPSPORT BSC200S GPS. I'm thinking of getting myself a budget cyclo computer, found this one for a decent price.

Cycling Community

Things I learned while getting into cycling 2;

Things I learned whole getting into cycling 1;

morning ride should be fun✨️🍃💨

Hello gorgeous ladys who wants to go for a ride

Heat wave finally started calming down

Full suspension saved my groceries today.

Cycling adventures

While cycling

After cycling in the hot 🥵 weather (edited)

Cycling 🚴

Cycling

You haven't lived until you've ridden a bike at night