How's Maidei surviving the Australian summer?
How's Maidei surviving the Australian summer?
I handed Maidei off to Pinkbikes over the weekend. I have a feeling they're headed for shadier riding areas than the beach! :cool:
Max
OK, so Maxxxie and I had our Maidei handover this weekend. She is weathering the weather well and seems none the worse for wear for her adventures so far.
But I must make comment on the weirdness of it all. You see, Maxxxie sent me a PM to let me know we were ready for a handover and we pondered whether we could arrange a meet up or whether she should just slip Maidei in the post to me. We decided on a meet up to handover, as I figured, "What are the chances of many TE'ers actually meeting in person outside the USA? Probably not too common."
So we settled on a rendezvous point (a lovely spot on the foreshore at Shorncliffe) and Max gave me the details - will be on a blue Cannondale Synapse and wearing this year's Cycle Queensland jersey.
This is where it got weird.:eek: You see, Cycle Queensland is a 9 day cycle tour around Queensland, which attracts 1500-odd people all up. I was also on this tour this year, riding it on a tandem with my DD.
I remembered that I had chatted to a gal on a blue Synapse one day when we had both stopped for lunch in some farmer's paddock in the middle of nowhere. I had asked her about how she was enjoying her Synpase, because I will be handing my roadie down to DD before there is too much more growing, and I was interested in the various options.
So I sent a PM back to her to ask whether perhaps she was the same gal. OMG - she was! So how weird is it that you can meet somebody on a webforum from halfway around the world, and then find that you have actually met before, and also find out that you live one suburb away??!:confused::eek:
Oh - and here is the photo of the successful handoff...:)
Love stories of good karma and chance like this!! And Maidei helped you 2 meet again.
Great to see! :)
Love the irony! And the pic...........keep us posted on her adventures.
Way cool! Funny how these things happen....
Off topic non cycling story...Many years ago I did a Lions club exchange to Japan. My host family took me up to Tokyo n region for a lookie see...well, who should be at the Mejijingu shrine...A high school friend...
Funky...
Very cool! Tailwinds, Madei!
I can't tell you how much that made me laugh!!! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by pinkbikes
Pleasure to meet you again, Pinkbikes. Give me a hoy if you'd like to go for a ride sometime. :)
Max
Thanks Max - we'll have to catch up for a ride one morning.
So, I had great plans of taking Maidei for a jaunt in the forests of Bunya and Ironbark on the weekend. We have a regular Sunday afternoon ride called the Bunya Sunday Afternoon Cruise (BSAC) which I figured would be about the right pace for a social outing for Maidei.:)
It was the last one prior to Christmas and so would be festive, people with tinsel etc. I was going to get another ride out of my Santa jersey, and hand out little Santa chockies...
Unfortunately, it became pretty clear at about 10am that the afternoon was going to be a complete fizzer. The black clouds rolled in, the thunder rolled and the lightning fizzed. It poured rain fit to bust for ages and there was NO WAY I was going out in that by choice!:eek:
So I guess Maidei will have to wait a few more days before she can have a ride in the forest. Instead she'll have to laze around and socialise with our families over Christmas, gaze upon the turkey and baked ham, and enjoy Christmas Oz-style in the heat. But then she'd be used to the heat.:D
I would have gone out!!:eek::eek::eek:
LOL, I could have wrapped her in cling wrap!!
Ummm Cyclegoddess....you might want to pay attention to the weather forecasts around the country....There was a weather warning for the Brisbane region... I heard the word "flooding"...in an ABC news report..
Awwwww, now she's gonna get a tiny see-through rain jackets. :p ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by cylegoddess
http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodLG_1030005.html
I might have forgotten to mention it was moutain biking and just how much mud would have been involved. I probably could have wrapped Maidei in wrap, but what about me? (Good name for a song!) I just wasn't up for the surgical extraction of mud from my every orifice.:eek: Not to mention the bike's every orifice!:eek:
Actually the ride got canned because it is just too dangerous in the forest with the lightning and trees falling etc.:(
'I just wasn't up for the surgical extraction of mud from my every orifice. Not to mention the bike's every orifice!'
Oh that goes so well with the little scared face icon!!
Yikes! Its not Canberra , is it?!!
Flooding.....wow.
And it's STILL #$*()&^$% RAINING!:mad:
At the rate I'm going it will be a picture of her nose pressed up against the window looking at the rain!:o
LMAO! I managed to get out for a 40Km ride out to Nudgee and back on xmas day. It's been raining ever-bloody-since, and all I wanna do is get out and ride, dammit! I need another 120Km under my belt and I'll have reached 4000Km for the year - twice my original goal of 2000Km. RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY.. please come back after I've done my 120Km, OK????Quote:
Originally Posted by pinkbikes
Max
Hi, pinkbikes finally managed to get me out for a ride!:) New Years day dawned a little overcast, and with a few sun showers, but stayed mostly fine. So pinkbikes and her friend Splicegirl decided to ride up South Boundary track towards Mt Nebo.
Both of them had been off their MTBs for a little while due to an accident each, so thought a nice big firetrail climb would be a nice way to show me some dirt sights.
Unfortunately PB has been sick with a cold since Christmas night, so she ended up off the bike a walking a few times while she coughed her lungs up, but since I was a passenger and didn't have to walk too, I was ok with that!:D
I got a nice picture sitting by a log with my bike, and another trying out one of the big bikes! Another was a nice shot of the Australian bush with me leaning against the base of a "blackboy" tree. The bush was looking lovely and green after all the recent rain. It had recently been burned out, and before that devastated by storm damage mid-last year and the Christmas before.
And lastly, I got to sit by the pool and recover from my morning's adventure...
Happy New Year Maidei! Looks nice and warm where you are.
If Maidei would like to see the International Motor Speedway in Indianapolis when her journeys bring her to the US I would be happy to escort her - and we have some other very cool things that she might like to see - though we can't compete with those lovely Australian beaches!
Since we get so many close-up shots of Maidei, kind of forget how small she and her bike are.
I must mention that grass trees (aka Blackboy bushes) are really really annoying when mtn biking...The stem stumps (?) are unfriendly & not fun to run into :mad: :eek: :(
They're on every trail here in WA. Pea gravel & grass trees make such a nice couple :rolleyes:
PB decided to take me on another ride on Sunday morning. This was to be the "urban Brisbane" experience.
PB, her DD, and another couple and their DD met at the Goodwill Bridge for a circuit of inner Brisbane by bikeway (sort of a 11yo-friendly version of a River Loop). This route crossed the Goodwill Bridge (an inner city bike and pedestrian bridge across the Brisbane River) and turned right to follow the river around the city botanic gardens, along the city boardwalk to Story Bridge, and along the floating walkway to a nice cafe at the end of New Farm Park for iced coffee/chocolates. If only PB had taken a picture of me there we'd have been happy, but she was saving me for the "money shot" back at Southbank Parklands by the inner city beach at the lagoon.:(
We rode back the way we came, but continued on to the newest inner city pedestrian and cycle bridge, the Kurilpa Bridge, which takes you across the river into the forecourt of the Gallery of Modern art (known as the GOMA - sort of like Gomer Pyle but not so poorly acted!). From there we headed back along to Southbank Parklands and the humans indulged in a dip in the lagoon.
http://www.visitsouthbank.com.au/att...bank_parklands
This link gives an idea of what the Southbank Parkland brings to the centre of the city in Brisbane.
Anyway, I was cooling my heels, waiting for them to finish their dip and take that money shot, when all of a sudden there was thunder, lightning and the skies opened with a pounding summer storm. We headed for cover but all of us got wet - even I got a little damp in my ziplock bag! I'm all dry now - although I never did get that money shot by the lagoon at Southbank!:(
So now PB has decided that the weather here is cursed and it is time for me to move on over to the "land of the long white cloud" and visit MillieNZ for some terrific riding on New Zealand's northern isle. So tomorrow I'll be on my way.
So it's goodbye to sunny (?) Queensland and Australia and off to new adventures....
Awwwww, PB, that sucks! If it's any consolation, I feel your pain. The BOM reckons this weekend might be a little sunnier!
Max
Ummm...she might not see the sun in NZ either...:rolleyes: Then again...Auckland weather might surprise me...
Oh - I'm really hoping so!:) I plan to reintroduce myself to some single track dirt at Daisy Hill this weekend if the weather behaves.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxxxie
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazycanuck
She'll see sun :) ........... but she'll probably be blown off her bike :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Mnz...will you take Maidei to Woodhill or to da beach..ahhhhh :D
is Maidei ever going to cross the international date line? or the Equator for that matter?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Biciclista
Good point !
After a whirl'wind' trip round Auckland's Woodhill forest & a trip to the beach , she is going down to 'windy' Wellington to visit Pip.... I don't go to Hawaii until end of February, so we'll need to post her on her way to the northern hemipshere....... but to whom do we send her ???? :)
You could certainly start on the west coast of the USA after Hawaii, there are scads of us here in Western Washington, more than one of us with close links to Oregon and California...
MillieNZ, there is another TE member who lives in Maui. I met her last year when we vacationed in Maui. She is aware of Maidei's journey. At this time, she is in Bali until around Feb.
Don't know if she is checking her email regularily while in Bali.
Mimi, maybe it might be better Maidie starts in California after NZ/Hawaii. Northwest coast weather would be better after Feb./March ..in case some of us cycle long distances in relay.
Just a thought. Anyway, Maidei could be passed around in Vancouver area/VAncouver Island area after north Washington area?
We need to make a blog for Maidei. It will be easier to follow and post pics, no?
What about Singapore?? :cool:
Ok, so during Maidei's adventures in Brisbane area with Maxxie and pinkbikes, now enroute to MillieNZ: what is the distance she would have travelled by the time she reached MillieNZ?Quote:
Originally Posted by shootingstar
Last mileage was 4,450 kms.
I made a blog http://maideibike.wordpress.com/
it's essentially empty. Anyone of you can join it, and post your pictures. I will happily share administrative stuff too.
IM me or write to the blog.
Someday depending on when and where she's on the west coast I bet a hand off to Norway could be done :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Biciclista
Post to this thread when the blog is updated? I suppose I could subscribe to it...
Mela, subscribe and join !
So it appears that one has to subscribe to blog, Mimi in order to post photos and a story/Maidie ride report?
Of course we can comment on blog entries/articles which doesn't require subscribing to the blog.
so subscribe! it's easy and free!