The Bicyclists

Statistics: 34 km average speed 18.4 km/hr top speed 46.8 km/hr (not all of us did that) coffees: 1 each at $4.50 Calories allegedly consumed: 700 THE RIDE The enthusiasm was there. On Saturday the 6th January 2018 up came the texts and the conglomerate of bike riders poked their heads above the barricades, Les Miserable style, and momentum continued right to the 9am start time, from RYCT the following day. Larkey was birthdaying and happy about it getting a new dog (dogs are possessions, not like people: since slavery was abolished, you can't own a 'person'). So having a new dog is the closest a person can get to owning a living thing with some empathy, pathos and humility, also potentially aggression. Reggie: in training Remembering the "see who loves you most, your wife or your dog: put them both in the boot of the car for 4 hours, and see which one is happy to see you when you let them out".  But anyone who thinks that is pejorative, it works...

Lunchtime from BMB to Moonah, bike track Average speed 21.2km/hr Max 36.9km/hr Time: 37.54 minutes Distance 13.39km Perceptions: cool day to start, but warmed up with exertion. solid wind on the nose on return leg. Aim: 93kg down to 88kg then re-assess appropriate 'platform'. Assistance: bike ride at lunchtime whenever work and other engagements permit, try for 40 minutes, and thus reduce food by accident at the same time. PK 9th Nov 2017 1420hrs ... Lunchtime from BMB to Taroona, highway Average speed 21.9km/hr Max 50.0km/hr ! Time: 49.31 minutes Distance 18.1km Perceptions: Warm day with exertion. solid wind on the nose on they way out and assistance on the way back. 50km/hr near lower Sandy Bay shops after sweeping bend. Comment: 4 day in a row. Good for a Friday to avoid lunch etc. Shoes hurt. Need assessment of best stirrups. Back to work. Feeling fine. PK 10th Nov 2017 1400 hrs ....... Sunday from RYCT to Mona Porter and Kimber Porter suffer...

Well, readers, here we are back from the edge of the known world. Since your correspondent's return, there have been mid week bike rides by those who have the life in order (ie non-workers) at 9am on Wednesday, and we have had two Sunday trips. On those, I can report. Last Sunday 29th October 2017 at 9am S Porter, J Fitzgibbon, P Kimber and guest artiste Mark Quinane heads from the RYCT. The weather was hot and a 'stiff' breeze on the nose. Mona for coffee the plan. Kimber, after 6 weeks of ongoing dining and refreshments, was pulling against the bit. Quinane was apparently a regular and strong rider.  The Fitz was measuring his heartbeat and constraining his natural interest to sprint. S Porter kept the pace. So it was a good fast ride to Mona, and enjoyable sit in the sun for coffee before the ride back. The wind "up the cloaquer" was a great aid on return, with speeds in the 40's regularly clocked. The town was buzzing around the wharf, with one ...

It's actually quite nice when you get there. As long as you don't stray from the main streets. It reminded me of Lima. Armed guards surrounding the Presidential Palace, warnings not to go a block away from the centre city. Hide your luggage deep inside your zoot suit. Brown's River this morning. A beautiful day. The feminisation of Australian men? Does 'recognising' or 'supporting' - so called 'marriage equality' mean we must become feminised? My Dad used to say "I don't mind homosexuality, as long as you don't thrust it down my [his] throat". And that is a fair comment for the time. We have had sooo much political correctness and 'social change' advanced upon us, that we no longer can have easy resort to a concept of who we are. That's not a bad thing, in a time of change. Don't mysogynise me: this isn't my opinion. Time of change? We will look back on this if we are permitted, if President Tro...

Facts and figures: Larkey, Fitz and Kimber - no Porter. Others, sporadicism. A very good average speed of 18.7km/hr. We normally find that difficult. I think the mid week rides for those without daytime jobs is proving very beneficial to the overall stamina and drive. Discussion about how best to set the gears to keep the legs moving, as opposed to how to get the feet back in the clips after stopping for a rest - very positive developments. Maximum speed 48km/hr - down from the top of the Bonnet. Still wet patches in the inside corners, threatening to spill a rider should the tread slip away underneath. Discussion of ice, a realistic concern, even by 1030hrs. Time from Nixon St to Bonnet and back, ignoring the stopping - 1hr 13min. Good. Everything over 40 minutes is worth twice the time before it. Tell that to Dr Who. Distance: 22.9 km.  I don't know if that is a lot or a little. I guess 30km would be desirable and under and hour and half. As I understand the mid-week ...

Cascades ride – also a personal journey, with literary allusions, like a wanker So we beat [ride] on, boats [bikes] against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. With a confused notion of the route to take from the RYCT – was it to be via King Street, Churchill Road, Derwent Boulevard, or some other road of Porter’s dissolving memory? – we four lit out for Cascades territory on what, for me, was to be a ride in remembrance of things past. Contemplating the gradient, endpoint and main road traffic ahead, I comforted myself with a corruption of Emma’s words: ‘Distance [and heart strain] is nothing if one has a motive’. I think she meant from Hartfield to Box Hill; can’t see her on a Malvern Star. So, with Porter ready to go (pret a porter?), Larkey astride the bluebird of happiness, Phil’s legs aKimbo and unpunnable me, we headed up King Street. First memory blast: 98 King Street, where my flatmate hurled drunken racist abuse from the garden to the Chin...

What style of writing is appropriate for this?  Third person omniscient? Or the 'opinion editorial', the questioning and clarifying, or the dictatorial? Ralph Vaughan Williams as a young man. A bit grumpy that day. His mother had tried to comb out the cow lick in his hair My thoughts (there, I've settled it by making personal, 1st person).... Or He woke up in the morning, all around the city men were stirring. Stirring to join the compelling earthly desire to .....[whatever it might be] Or Mix it up and confuse the reader? The 3rd person gives an impression of authority. The 1st person requires consideration of the affection for and bias of the writer. See what I've done there? Gave authority to my own statement by delivering it in the 3rd person. Compare: " I believe that 3rd person delivery is more powerful" . That, of course, invites those who agree to do so more violently (in the positive sense) and those who disagree to attack on the groun...