Spring Cycle 2012

The Pascual Family Riding Team

It was like a prayer answered, if ever those things are real, that I received an email that night from Bicycle NSW which was doing an email blitz to all former and current members. This year’s Spring Cycle registration was about to end. All the while I though the event was already over. They have introduced a short ride of 15K from North Sydney to Pyrmont, called the City Ride. The Classic Ride is a 55K ride all the way to the Olympic Park in Homebush.

That afternoon we rode at least 11K – so a 15K is very achievable without much preparation. I was very glad that Celine and Jessica said yes when I pitched the idea – but Jeanne was a bit uninterested. With a bit of persuasion she caved and I registered all of us for the ride.

We have one problem – we only have 3 bikes, I sold my old bike to a friend when I upgraded. Luckily, he was just too happy to lend it to us for the ride. To test all bikes, we arranged to go for a ride the following weekend at Parramatta Park.

Early Starters

When we got to the St. Leonards Park for the start, Celine was concerned about how the handle bars of the ‘borrowed’ bike was sitting. So we lined up for the bike mechanic of the event. Standing in the queue was starting to agitate me but I had to control myself – I want Celine and Jessica to enjoy the day and not be put off with their dad turning psycho. Good thing Celine is naturally patient and calm – even if the queue for the mechanic was slow. There was an inconsiderate old hack who’s keeping the polite mechanic with his lame shop talk whilst there’s a long line of cyclist wanting some last minute adjustments. Jessica and her mum was also patiently waiting for us at the starting line.

Approaching the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Enjoying the Ride

Anyway the ride went on and were off at 8:30am. The ride is more scenic than previous years, passing through the Sydney Botanical Gardens instead of The Rocks. It shows more of the city, the ride is now becoming so popular, visitors from other state/country are joining it. There was a contingent of 110 Malaysian riders. The other feature of the ride was the variety of bikes used. They said there were just 20 uni-cyclist but there must have been more since there was always six near us.

Waiting for Mum

After the Ride

The ride was not without problems. Celine’s front brakes keeps popping out – very dangerous as it means she’ll have no front brakes. I noticed it and fixed it, only to pop-out again for two more times. The third time it happened, I’ve already given up trying to repair it when two roving bike mechanic volunteers came to the rescue. They have the tools to set the breaks and crimped the brake clamps to prevent it from popping out again. They made sure that the rest of the ride was safe and we were very very thankful.

It was a short ride but it was just right. After lingering a bit at the Pyrmont finish line, we cycled towards Darling Harbour and had lunch. Then we cycled to the Central Station and caught a train back to St. Leonards where I parked the car. And just to add a bit more to our day, we drove to Darlinghurst for some ice cream to eat on the street and to take home.

We were all knackered when we got home, and after putting the bike away – we all had a nap. Pretty soon, it was time for Celine to drive back to Lithgow for another work week. Jeanne was not particularly keen to cook dinner and so the 3 of us went to the nearby tavern to have a light dinner. And that’s how our Spring Cycle 2012 went.