February 1 - The Ride In

Actually a fairly uneventful ride in, apart from one incident with the 254 bus , at the right turn into Burns Bay Road at the 7-11 there. He scooted up, obviously thought he might get to the right turn lane before I did, realised that there were people waiting at the stop on the left, so cut across the road to the left lane and stopped in front of me. There was, of course, a long line of traffic behind him which meant I came to a stop as well. Nice.

Monday, Jan 30 - the ride home

Traffic-wise the ride was pretty quiet. Highlights included:
- the young lady in the Hyundai Excel who, when trapped in the left hand lane behind buses, put her blinker on, half went for a gap, and then stopped dead, gave up and froze. I nearly ran into the back of her, the car behind me nearly ran into me, and so on.
- the family of five at the Hunter's Hills shop who crossed the road, and not one of them bothered to look if something was coming. Dad realised at the last moment and pulled up the three kids, who ranged from around 8 to 13 or so - not Mum, though, she scarpered on regardless.

Monday, January 30

Highlights of the ride in this morning included:
- coming up Burns Bay Rd, approaching the Penrose Street intersection. the elderly gentleman, accompanied by the best warning that HRT can help women you ever saw, helpfully suggest I should ride on the footpath. This is the same footpath he and whoever it was he was walking with were completely blocking. His comb-over, tailored shorts and walk socks only strengthened his argument.
- opposite Len Wallis Hi Fi in Lane Cove, a smart fellow in a white Corolla sedan found it necessary to cruise past me and then stop, with his left hand blinker on, 20 metres in front of me. Cyclists love it when motorists do that.
- dickhead of the morning, however, goes to the fellow in the bronze Ford Laser just around the corner from the previous incident. If you know Burns Bay Road and where it goes through the back of Lane Cove (past the supermarket), you'll remember where the road cuts a right-angle to the left around the post office, with the pedestrian crossing in the middle of the corner. I got passed by a fellow apparently in his pyjamas on a fairly powerful motorbike, and it was him I was watching as we turned into the corner - only to find our lane pretty well blocked by the aforementioned bronze Laser who was attempting a U-Turn across double white lines around a blind corner. He, of course, propped, and so frantically waived a cyclist and motorcyclist who were initially bewildered, and then angry. Nice work.