Actually, it was finished back in September, but I have been slack updating the blog.
I was happy with the overall build.
A few things to note.
The internal 3 speed hub that was with the original bike was a little too far gone for me to get into a working shape so I opted for the easy way out and replaced the wheels with a Taylor Wheels with Shimano Alfine 8-speed hub with the front wheel also housing a dynamo hub. I opted for a brooks Flyer saddle and I made the leather handlebar grips myself.
All in all, it was a pleasant build that went together as smoothly as the ride itself.
Complete Parts Breakdown
Dia GRAND COMPE CLASSICO Crank 46t x 165mm Track Fixed Gear Bike Crankset & Bottom Bracket
Velo Orange Tourist Handle Bars
Fixed Road Bike Bicycle Quill Stem 25.4mm X 150mm 22.2mm 1'' Alumimum 60 Deg
VP-H732 JIS Road Bike headset 1" threaded 27.0mm crown race
Taylor Wheels 28inch bike wheel set Shimano Alfine hub dynamo 8-speed
Schwalbe Tube Road 700 x 18-28c Presta Valve 40mm x 2
Schwalbe Tyre Hybrid Delta Cruiser White Wall 700 x 28
Shimano Nexus CN-NX10 Chain 1/2x1/8 114 Link
Dia Compe Center pull brakes(long reach) with front rack combo
I'm always looking for new ride opportunities and sometimes, they come
around when you least expect it.
New ride option, so excited!
I had a leisurely ride around the Sydney International Regatta centre with
my family and on the way home, just for the thrill of it; I put on the GPS to
get us home. As luck would have it, the GPS took the most direct route home
which happened to be through some lovely scenic country roads. As I'm driving,
I'm thinking something along these lines
“This is a great road for cycling; I would love to ride here. I wonder where
we join the main road again" and so on and so forth.
My question was soon answered as I saw a familiar sign, the Castlereagh
Nature Reserve. You can read about that adventure and watch the video here. MTB through Castlereagh Nature Reserve
All that stood in my way and a great bike ride was the road works happening
on Richmond Rd.
So after a little miscommunication and literally a 5 minute, quick
get out of bed, jump in the shower, grab a coffee and toast, brush my teeth,
and I'm on the bike we were off. :-)
Our trip started on the very familiar M7 cycleway, we headed due west until
the Richmond Rd exit. There has been some very extensive road works along
Richmond Rd so we thought we would see how far we got until roadwork prohibited
us from going safely further. It looks like the construction company actually
got this right. A shared pedestrian/cycleway runs along the length of the
roadwork, making for a safe trip out. Once you run out of cycleway, you a have
a nice decent sized shoulder all the way to our next turnoff.
Speaking of turnoffs, you have a choice. If you are on a decent sized wheel
and tyre combo, you can take Llandilo exit and ride for approx. 2.5 Km until
you see the Castlereigh Nature reserve sign or the alternative is to ride up to the next major intersection at "The
Northern Road" and omit the nature reserve altogether.
Right tyres means fun detours
Patrich rides Conti TourRIDE 42mm on his Bad Boy and I ride Schwalbe Marathon Plus 45mm. Both did and excellent job with the quicksand.
If you take the Castlereagh Park option i.e. Llandilo Rd, keep your
eyes out for the Nature Reserve sign as you can easily miss it.
Easily missed Llandilo Rd Entry to Castlereagh
Head due west on the firetrail and this will take you to the Northern Road
entry.
Castlereagh Nature Reserve
A note on the Castlereagh Nature Reserve.
The firetrail that runs through the park gets really boggy and wet after heavy rains. The trail can still be wet and feel like quicksand even after several days of good weather. So be warned and prepared.
Once out of the nature reserve, cross Northern Road and continue
through to Whitegates Rd. Quiet roads, respectful drivers (at least on our
outing) and wildlife for the next dozen or so kilometres make you feel like you
are miles away from Sydney.
Northern Rd Entry to Castlereagh Nature Reserve
At the end of Whitegates Rd, hang a left onto Londonderry Rd, and then take
the next right onto Boscobel Rd. Another lovely peaceful few
kilometres ensue.
So nice being on the road
When you get to the Nutt Rd Intersection, another cross-country option
awaits you. A firetrail runs through the bushland that will take you out
to Firetrail Rd.
Nice rock bed for the MTB
This firetrail is comprised of different dirt to what you find in
Castlereagh. It is very sandy and although not wet like quicksand, you do find
your back wheel sliding out on the sand making for a very exciting little trip.
Also, be aware that pretty much all Australian bush roads have their share of
snakes and this firetrail is no exception as Patrich nearly ran over a little
brown snake.
"What's that SNNNNNNAAAAAAAKKKKEEEE!"
Nice Road
At the end of the firetrail, you exit on to Firetrail Rd. From here you can
turn left or right to join Hinxman or Devlin Rd respectfully. If you take
Devlin Rd, you have a nice little ride on Post Office Road. Postoffice Road
joins Castlereagh Rd for the last stretch.
Thing A and Thing B
Castlereagh road has a nice smooth shoulder for most of the way until our
turn off on Old Castlereagh Rd. There is a short section, approx. 200m where
the shoulder is quite narrow so have your lights ready and wear nice fluoro colours.
Old Castlereagh Rd sees limited traffic so it's a nice little run to the
Regatta centre. At the Regatta centre, take a nice leisurely lap around the
lake, stop for a picnic lunch or snack at one of the covered shelters and get
ready for the ride home.
The Sydney International Regatta Centre
See you next time
The ride itself is as flat as a tack as you can see from the ride elevation chart. However, all that flat terrain does come at a price as you are literally always turning the pedals.
Sometimes you need to treat your cycling like a good relationship. That is,
do something out of the ordinary in order to motivate you, excite you and
keep things fun and interesting.
I woke up this morning after having heard heavy rain falling all night
prepared to have a cosy day with a cup of coffee and a good book.
However, somewhere in the middle of my shower, I started thinking it would
be nice to go out for a bike ride. I got dried up, and took a quick look at the
weather forecast for the next 7 days. Not good, rain, rain and more rain.
Forecast not looking great
"Well, that does it, I've got no choice darling wife, I am going out
for a bike ride."
"You're crazy, it's pouring out there."
"So it is, so it is.
Nice and wet
And with that, I pumped up the tires, put on my trusty aldi rain
cheater thingamabob and headed out to do a quick 30km on the trusty steed.
Check out that roman nose
I must say, there is something to be said about riding in adverse
conditions, for some reason, the harder the riding conditions, the bigger
the smile gets on my face.
Not rose-tinted glasses, these are the rain-tinted variety
It was fun seeing the world through rain tinted glasses and the
frogs along the M7 cycle way were in a great singing voice.
To
top it all off, I only saw two other cyclist for the whole duration
so I had the M7 cycleway virtually to myself.
Mine, all mine!
What a great day to be alive.
That's a lot of water!
Here's a good new year resolution, come hell or high water, rain
or shine, take that bike out and enjoy it no matter what the
weather throws at you this year.
Sometimes, you have to do what you have to do. That means spending quality time with the family, putting in the hard yards at work, and to keep it all together, you need to do things for yourself. For me, there is no better "me" time then time on the bike. So with Easter on the horizon, and surmounting pressure coming at me from all directions, my mind started longing for a nice quiet country ride to keep the demons at bay.
So with the loving support of my wife, and some gracious time off from work, I started to plan a weekend ride out to St Albans.
I had been thinking about this trip for a while and given the typical Easter holiday weather, the old Italian weather saying "Marzo e' Pazzo" is quite adequate (although it should be Aprile e' Pazzo, but you get the drift).
So with that in mind, I literally picked a date ad-hoc based on the radar for two days and off I was.
The first part of the trip to the Sackville Ferry I have previously blogged as part of my Tour of the Hawkesbury day ride. So please check out that post for additional photos. I took a small diversion to the historic St John's Church at Wilberforce. This was my first time here and definitely worth the small detour.
St John's Church - Wilberforce
Lovely!
For this trip, I decided to follow the Hawkesbury River along River Rd. I have done this part of the trip several times but the views are always worth it and it's such a lovely piece of road that keeps you wanting more and more. The road conditions are superb, there are a few sections of gravel, but they are well kept and very short, less that a 100 meters or so. To be honest, I didn't even notice the gravel sections on the Schwalbe Marathon Plus 40mm tires. Traffic is next to none, I think I was passed by less then 10 cars for the whole trip from River Rd to St Albans.
River Rd, just one of the many beautiful views along the way
Roads are nice and quiet
Rusty old truck
Telephone coverage for the trip is limited and patchy. Coming up to Wisemans Ferry you do get some coverage so it's worthwhile using this opportunity to call in and give a progress update to loved ones.
Telephone coverage is limited, one of the few spots that had coverage
I took the Webb Creek Ferry crossing at Wisemans Ferry to continue on to St Albans via St Albans Road. Do remember that scheduled maintenance occurs on the Ferries along the Hawkesbury (1st Wednesday of each month) so please check the official website for maintenance times to avoid disappointment.
Webb Creek Ferry Crossing
Webb Creek Ferry
By this stage of the trip, I was feeling very relaxed. My calorie intake was good, my fluids even better and my mental state was shrugging off the cares of the world and I really began soaking in the experience.
St Albans road is undulating and scenic, well maintained and quiet. So quiet that the only vehicle that overtook me on that section of road (early afternoon) was another fellow cyclist on a road bike who had driven to Webb Creek ferry crossing and was doing a 40km look to St Albans an back. What a great idea for a weekend morning ride on the carbon bikes.
St Albans Rd
I need to do this on my carbon road bike!
As I was approaching St Albans, my mind kept wondering to the Settlers Arms Inn and a nice big lunch. It always make me smile when this happens, it's normally a sign that my body has had enough of gels, energy bars, Gatorade, apple juice, orange juice, fruit, more gels and more of all of the above and just needs some good old fashioned food. For some reason, this also coincided with some major leg cramps, this is unusual for me, but I guess I was probably losing more salts than I was putting back in. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I was riding against a headwind most of the day, honestly. So when the St Albans sign comes up, I take a quick happy snap, do a little victory dance and ride over to the pub for lunch.
We're here!
The Settlers Arms Inn St Albans
1836
Exactly what I envisioned and tasty too!
After a well earned lunch, I decided to do a little sight seeing around town. St Albans is a hidden pearl in what is the oyster capital of NSW, what a terrible analogy, but I hope you get the meaning, this is truly a wonderful scenic little town. I could easily adapt to this kind of lifestyle. The Macdonald River runs through the town so I decided to take a little stroll.
On the banks of the Macdonald River
The St Albans Bridge
The Settlers Arms Inn, nice stop for lunch.
I was originally planning to camp out for the night, but 'Marzo e' Pazzo' kept playing on my head and I really didn't feel like getting caught out in the rain and sleeping on a wet ground. So I took the soft way out and stayed at the St Albans Court house. What a lovely old place this is, full of character, and the host Ken welcomes you like an old friend.
St Albans Courthouse - my home for the night
And I had it all to myself
The old courthouse acted as a gaol and courthouse and being heritage listed, the old iron doors have been retained giving great character to your stay.
Old iron doors
The home is well maintained, clean and really makes you feel like you have stepped back in a time where life was simpler and law enforcement no laughing matter. Everything you need for a memorable romantic weekend, friends get together for a social gathering or showing the kids why our galaxy is called the milky way (Thanks for the tip Ken, the star gazing was definitely a highlight) is in abundance.
Outdoor area, well equipped.
Informal Dining?
Two separate bathrooms in what were the cells.. cool!
Watch out for the trolls in the old well...
Fire places in just about every room, great for a Winter romantic getaway
Outdoor fire pit
So memorable
After a warm shower, I took a walk down to the pub for a quick beer and walk around the river. I noticed that the Great North Walk trail runs through here, it must be one of the few sections of the walk that I had not done in the past. I think camping may also be permissible here (across from the pub) as I spotted a few extinguished camp fires. If you know this to be the case, please comment below.
Macdonald River at dusk
G+ does this to photos sometimes (shrug)
Inspiration for a future painting?
Great North road Convict trail
Around St Albans
After my casual stroll, I came back to the old courthouse for some R&R. I must admit, being in the old courthouse and gaol, your mind does wonder back to those old days and thoughts of ghosts creep into your mind. A care free shrug of the soldiers ends that line of thinking and you settle in for a wonderful nights sleep. One funny thing I noticed was the presence of a little frog (a Stoney Creek frog??) in the kitchen. I didn't think much about it until I started reading my book in bed and was startled by this jumping object in my peripheral vision. I quickly put two and two together and figured it was my old friend the frog. I let him be and I heard him three of four times in the night taking mighty leaps in my bedroom.
Dusk at the courthouse
Bike resting for the night - note the iron doors to the bathrooms
My company for the night
I set my alarm for 6:00am but I slept so soundly that by the time the cock crowed (literally) at 4:40am I was ready to go. After a shower, yes 'Psycho' images had to be shrugged away quickly, I helped myself to some bacon and eggs, some cereal, yogurt and a cup of coffee and I was ready to hit the road home.
Lower Macdonald
St Josephs Guest house?
I took my time getting home and stopped several times soaking in the wonderful views along the way. The bacon and egg must have done their job too because cramps stayed away for the whole trip home.
Ah, serenity now.
Outlaw!
Lovely spot for morning tea
And another, you can never have too many fluids on a long day
All in all, I had a wonderful two days on the saddle and mission accomplished. I feel relaxed and will have some fond memories to see me through the challenges of everyday life.
Some statistics
The Route
Day One
Distance – 93.15km
Avg Heart Rate – 144
Max Heart Rate – 178
Elevation Gain – 1038m
Elevation Loss – 1078m
Time – 6:29:49
Moving time – 5:32:56
Avg Moving Speed – 16.8km/h
Day Two Distance – 92.22km Avg Heart Rate – 122 Max Heart Rate – 155 Elevation Gain – 1069m Elevation Loss – 1028m Time – 7:06:06 Moving time – 5:50:56 Avg Moving Speed – 15.8km/h
