It’s been an odd week on the bike.

I returned from my trip to New York at 7am. All I could think of on the trip home was that I’d have to get my bike fixed before work starts on Monday. Joy.

I pfaffed around for a while waiting for the bike shop to open and then pretty much rang them right around 9am sharing my newest issues with Mister Electro Bikes. I told him I was a bit jet lagged and that I would treasure a few hours sleep before getting on the bike and he said that was cool. So I crashed for a bit then hopped on the bike to the Gabba.

I tell ya what! Nothing like a bit of a bike ride to get rid of jet lag! It felt wonderful and I slept like a baby that night.

One problem with my bike was that a major bolt fell out and the second one my friend put in didn’t hold. The second problem was that some cables had come adrift from their casing. These cables link the battery to the motor mechanism so they’re kind of important, so I was having a bit of a stress before leaving the country.

“It’s an easy fix! No worries at all,” said Mister Electro Bikes. So that’s pretty much what happened. I hung around for 20 minutes while the bike was fixed and I left with a fixed bicycle. So I love Sheldon again now.

It’s been a great (albeit odd) week for riding. I discovered that cyclists and pedestrians are more communicative after 8pm. Maybe it’s alcohol? I was returning from a function, not over the limit, but certainly relaxed. I dinged my bell overtaking one dude along the South Bank promenade and he said ‘hello’ which was unexpected and gave me a bit of a giggle. And then about 10 minutes later we met again at some lights and the cute boy said ‘How was your day?’. Because I’m completely socially inept I said ‘Yeah not bad’ and sped off when Mister Walk Sign came alight.

Another 15 minutes on, a man with a pram and I pulled up at a curb at the same time. He greeted me and, as he pulled the baby away from the side of the curb, said ‘I don’t trust the 4 wheels’. We gas-bagged for a bit and then he said ‘Travel Safe Sister’.

TRAVEL SAFE SISTER.

This has stuck with me all week, particularly when cars are silly heads and fellow cyclists do weird things.

Just this afternoon I was cycling along Annerley Rd, minding my own business. A car pulling out from a side street pulled out in front of me. That’s fine. He had plenty of time. The car behind him, when I continued cycling along, stopped and stalled on his hill when he saw me. This angered the driver tremendously and, when he pulled out behind me, he was yelling and carrying on and did the finger at me after he passed. This was the oddest behaviour. I’m guessing he was actually a tad embarrassed or angry that he stalled. It was certainly nothing I did. I had right of way and was simply cycling along. Am I meant to stop to let cars on side streets through? Errrr. no. Ergo, odd.

Yesterday morning’s ride was lovely but annoying at one point when two blokes decided to overtake me on a hill on a cycle path. That is completely fine except the fact that I’m on an electric bicycle which means that I don’t end up as pooped when reaching the top of the hill whereas they’ve just put an insane amount of effort into overtaking me. I’m left with heaps of energy left to burn. This resulted in them both slowing down right in front of me after the hill bit finished! So they were pooped and I was stuck going REALLY slowly behind them. IMOH (Intimidating Men on Hills) isn’t something I do everyday, so I could’ve kicked their arses on the hill but I didn’t feel like it. Neither of them seemed to be super hard core cycling types. Grrr. I’m thinking that, for them, they either (a) saw a big bootied girl ahead of them and figured they better overtake or their egos might not cope or (b) they have an inbuilt psychology that says you have to be at the front of the pack or (c) they don’t know their own fitness level and were both genuinely stuffed at the end and inconsiderate of the person behind them who wasn’t. Honestly, I really don’t get it. Don’t overtake someone on a hill and then slow down once you’ve overtaken them!! Grrr.

A friend of mine just bought a reflective cycle vest that says ‘Relax’ on the back. I think I’m pretty chilled on the bike (e.g. I don’t get all twitchy at traffic lights when I just miss a change), but I wouldn’t mind it if the ‘Relax’ philosophy became the norm on the road.

For a start, this wouldn’t happen:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8365828/bus-driver-acquitted-after-punching-cyclist

However, this might still happen: A magpie got me yesterday morning at Tarringindi. I tried to explain to the bugger that it’s the end of the damn season but it just wouldn’t discuss it rationally!

Travel Safe Sisters, Brothers.