An American Cyclist in Sydney
Thinking to outrun the traffic, I left a few minutes before dawn. I didn’t witness much of the sunrise because I was in the bowels of the city, but it was still nice to be out in the dawn air. There was less traffic but there were still a lot of busses. I’d really like to meet the never-rode-a-bicycle nitwit who decided that bicycles and busses could share lanes here in Sydney. It’s true that sometimes I get a good stretch where the lane is all mine, but often enough a bus pulls into my way and those suckers are way, way, WAY bigger than me!
I found my way to Centennial park with only about four near-death experiences at intersections. Once on the park grounds I felt as though I had entered the holy land. Here they all were, the bicyclists. Beautiful paved bicycle lanes and no cars at all. Absolutely beautiful park with every kind of park-like activity you can imagine. Dogs and people and horses and bicycles and runners and a yoga class and a track club and a rugby team and … everything. I took the cirucuit three times. I used endomondo (an application I loaded onto my blackberry to track my rides, distance, speed, etc.) but I did a lot of things wrong. I’m not sure it counted distance where I went around the same circle three times. Then it got turned off in my bag – I don’t have any kind of mount for my phone – and the map shows a crow-flies route which is not much like the route I took. So – it says I went 17 km, which would be about 11 miles. I routinely ride 16 miles and I'm pretty sure I rode more than 11 today. I guess I’ll never know but I reckon it was .. oh 14.
On the way back I tried a different route and it was actually much better. A few places with actual bike lanes. Less busses in the bus lanes. The commuter cyclists were out so that felt reassuring. Still, every intersection is like a game of chicken with people in their cars.
As I pulled around to the final lap, from the outside of the opera house, when the buildings opened up to the dock a new and interesting site met my gaze! The Queen Elizabeth, docked right here at Circular Quay. It is huge and sort of shocking to see it there. I took pictures but I used the regular camera and I can’t upload that until I get home.
Off to the conference!
I found my way to Centennial park with only about four near-death experiences at intersections. Once on the park grounds I felt as though I had entered the holy land. Here they all were, the bicyclists. Beautiful paved bicycle lanes and no cars at all. Absolutely beautiful park with every kind of park-like activity you can imagine. Dogs and people and horses and bicycles and runners and a yoga class and a track club and a rugby team and … everything. I took the cirucuit three times. I used endomondo (an application I loaded onto my blackberry to track my rides, distance, speed, etc.) but I did a lot of things wrong. I’m not sure it counted distance where I went around the same circle three times. Then it got turned off in my bag – I don’t have any kind of mount for my phone – and the map shows a crow-flies route which is not much like the route I took. So – it says I went 17 km, which would be about 11 miles. I routinely ride 16 miles and I'm pretty sure I rode more than 11 today. I guess I’ll never know but I reckon it was .. oh 14.
On the way back I tried a different route and it was actually much better. A few places with actual bike lanes. Less busses in the bus lanes. The commuter cyclists were out so that felt reassuring. Still, every intersection is like a game of chicken with people in their cars.
As I pulled around to the final lap, from the outside of the opera house, when the buildings opened up to the dock a new and interesting site met my gaze! The Queen Elizabeth, docked right here at Circular Quay. It is huge and sort of shocking to see it there. I took pictures but I used the regular camera and I can’t upload that until I get home.
Off to the conference!
