A nice light post to get the year started…

Riding home yesterday the freeway bike path was pleasantly free of freeloaders, but it did present me with a couple of unexpected hazards. Coming onto the Narrows Bridge I had seen a yellow-clad cyclist approaching at what looked like a good speed. I tried to swallow my ego and accept that he might catch me as I ground my way up to the crest into the prevailing south-easterly, but as I coasted into the off-ramps S-bend I glanced back and saw that he hadn’t gained as much ground as I expected. Consequently it came as a surprise when a flash of yellow on what appeared to be a clunky mountain bike cruised past me a little way down the path, with a fast-pedaling commuter on a hybrid in tow. It all seemed a bit strange as I was moving along nicely despite the headwind, but everything became clear when I noticed the large battery on his carrier and realised that his performance was electromagnetically enhanced.

Dignity and common-sense prevented me from tagging along, but the pair had barely pulled away when they began to slow down, gently at first then so abruptly that I was in danger of riding up their back wheels. I sat back for a bit but then took off when one too many decelerations endangered my spokes again. I have no idea what prompted this erratic behaviour - perhaps his battery told him he was going to have to pedal some of the way to make it home.

Coming through Thompkin Park I encountered an even stranger hazard. Straddling the opposite side of the bike path on a terminated crash-course with the river was a small land-yacht surrounded by a group of teenage boys. They weren’t paying much attention to traffic on the path and were about to pull the wind-machine back across it when I “Oi’d!” them to ensure safe passage. I can only be thankful they weren’t busy crashing when I passed…