Wednesday 17 March 2010

Australia Day 2 - Wednesday 17th March


An early start. Well, I want to get into the habit of early to bed early to rise. So a 7am depart for a 4 hour ride. It didn't seem very light before that and I do have all day. The graphic above shows the route. Basically I followed the Ironman route out then ignored the dog leg and continued down to Lauriton and round to Camden Head. From there carried on down the coast to the point where the tarmac ran out then headed back. Took a left to go up Bonney View Drive because I figured that would take me to a viewing point. Alas it didn't so back down to Pacific / Ocean Drive to then turn left up the Ironman bike course dog leg. I hadn't turned right up here on the way out because I didn't want to turn right across the traffic, there was some about and it was moving quickly. Once at the dog leg turn around it was simply a case of following the bike course back to base. So looking at the profile for the last 30k you get a good feel for how the course undulates. Ignore the values on the right. I'm not 150m below sea level, that's just the watch having the wrong level programed into it, but the ascents and descents are fairly accurate, so I can expect something in the region of 1400m of climbing on race day. The climbs are short and sharp and on the way back before turning into Davey Drive needs a gear lower than 39x19. Must remember that. Bike seemed to work okay. Getting use to being on the aero bars which is good, as that was the point for this ride today. Back still aches after being in them for a while, but at least I can move once I've got off the bike. We'll see how we get on come the 28th.

Slowly getting the hang of Australian road signs. Generally it's straight forward enough and mostly the same as being at home. But as usual you get some country variations. In Ireland for example you get "Yield" signs on junctions rather than "Give Way" signs. Here you get "entering traffic" rather than warnings of "emerging traffic". The one that had more going for a while though was "Refugee Island". I figured it was a sign for a location such as "Pelican Island" or "Flynn's Beach" but I kept seeing them in different places. Have worked out now that they are refering to the traffic islands in the middle of the road where pedestrians can cross. Never thought of a pedestrian in the middle of the road as a refugee before.

An early start has some benefits. It means I finish early. Had a leisurely lunch. Fancied steak and went to the only steak house open at lunchtime. The menu was confusing. What's wrong with picking the cut of meat you want, telling them how you want it cooked, what sauce and what accompaniments? They'd branded everything up like cocktails with thier housenames for everthing. "A sirloin sir, yes you'll need the New York. Oh, you want it rare, in that case you'll need the Washington. Oh, with a peper sauce in case it will be the ....". You get the gist.

Then in the afternoon, a visit to the local Koala Hospital. Koala's are all over the place here, but being nocturnal you don't get to seem them. But with 3pm being feeding time for those about to be released meant I saw a few. Took the opportunity to tag along with a guided tour and hear some stories.

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