Road Kill

Finally got out on the roadie today and went for a 30km blat down to the beach and back. I haven't gone for a recreational cycle in nearly a year - had to give it a good wipe down to remove the dust and reinflate the tyres after taking it off the wall. I wasn't going to lycra it up but the shy-shorts I have these days come down to my fucking knees (longs?) and it was way too hot to wear those. Ran like new though, it's an awesome bike to ride.

Overall I can't say the experience was particularly enjoyable however - several cars cut me off and a pair of fuckwits (having a race?) nearly took me out through a roundabout on seaview road next to the grange hotel. I always hate that stretch and the fuckwit grange council obviously just hates bikes - they haven't changed it in years so I think i'll just avoid going down that way ever again - grange and henly are nice beaches but all the facilities and vendors are completely anti-cyclist so they can all just go and get fucked. I had to cut it short anyway due to a "natural break" required from a bit too much home-made hot-sauce on my dinner last night which was getting a bit painful. And somehow the racing saddle manages to find the only boney bits of my arse as well so 1.5 hours in 34 degree heat was enough of a re-intro trip after such a long break from it.

At least as a bonus I chanced on a homebrew shop that had a capping bell for champagne bottles - something i've been looking for for a while (not that i really need it, i have a ton of glass longnecks, but champagne bottles are much stronger). Yesterday I finally bottled off the last brew (nearly 2 weeks late - but it was still good, i ended up drinking over 4 litres straight out of the wart - it's quite decent but too warm) and started another one. Unfortunately all I have left from last year is 1 super-hot chilli beer (actually i had a half-bottle of one of those last night, maybe that was the cause of the natural break requirement) and a few stout/porter-like things which are a bit heavy for this weather - so after i finish this lime cordial and soda I'm going to have to find something else to drink today.

I really need to get back into regular cycling but it's not going to happen unless I can find some route that is safe and enjoyable and not too boring to do it on. That's a big part of why I've been so slack at it since coming back from Perth (and all my cycling mates moved interstate or os). Chances are this is the just another last ride for another 6 months, but time will tell ...

Update: Sunday I went to see a friend at Taperoo and he took his young family down to the beach. Apart from a couple of spots that isn't such a bad ride so maybe I can do the Outer Harbour loop - it's about 90 minutes on a good day. Even though one road is a bit truck laden there's plenty of room. Given the weather this week I had thought of hitting the beach a couple of times but today it was already 41 by 10:30 - and a burning northerly wind - so I might not be going anywhere after the washing machine is delivered. Monday I went for a loop through the city and around about to buy a washing machine and do a bit of shopping and that was pretty much the limit - I seemed to catch every red light and waiting in the full sun on newly laid ashphalt on a still day really takes it out of you. The LCD panel on my speedo even started to turn black so hell only knows how hot it was out on the road. And it's warming up tomorrow ;-)

Update: Well this has now become very strange weather. 40+ in summer is as common as sheep shit around here but it ended up hitting 45.1 at 2pm which is a bit on the extreme side even for here (i believe it may be a record for Kent Town). And now thunderstorms are coming? They are looking to miss me, but if they hit it'll turn the place into a sauna. Just saw a nice fork of lightning about 18 seconds away (~6km). Time for beer and a light-show?

Update: Only 4th hottest day on record after all.