Around the Bay
Writing by Sheridan on Monday, 19 of October , 2009 at 6:43 am
After working all year and sitting through a full complement of exams, there’s nothing more relaxing than a leisurely cycle down (or up) the coast with a few thousand others, is there? That’s what I decided to do anyhow. The ride actually can take on a few formats, be it a 250km marathon or a more reasonable 100km jaunt. I opted for the 100km, which is probably enough for me, although it’s just the day after and whilst I am a bit weary, I’m not sore, nor do I have any muscular aches. Yet. Then again, I wasn’t really going for it since it’s not a race and I was looking for an enjoyable day, not 2 weeks of recovery.
A few things struck me during the day (not literally). One was that cycling seems to be a man’s sport. I didn’t see many other women. There were the few here and there, all riding along on their own. It’s kind of lonely. But then again, if the guys were around I imagine they’d want to turn it into a competition. Oddly, they are mysteriously absent from the ‘cleaning up the kitchen’ and ‘wiping down the stovetop’ competitions. I suppose I wouldn’t enter a contest I couldn’t win either. So cyclists are generally male. This was also evident by the lack of queue when I went to the toilet. You’d think with an event of this magnitude (15-16 thousand in total) that there’d be a massive snake-like queue for the ladies. There wasn’t. I walked right past the 12-deep queue of men and into the toilets. It was phenomenal. It’s worth taking part in male-dominated sport for this alone. Awesome.
Another thing that occurred to me (since I had a lot of time to myself to think) was that I found myself comparing my bike with everyone who went past. Is this natural? I mean, I’m no fool – I realise that a good bike does not make a good cyclist any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. Yet I was unable to stop the comparing. And I don’t think it was only me. Perhaps I am easily fooled into believing that something good-looking is actually good. Studies show that at an elite level equipment is sometimes the difference between winning and losing. I guess having nice things makes average people feel extraordinary. The theory works with nice shoes, anyway. Consequently I will need a new bike shortly to make up for my lack of riding ability.
Other aspects of interest include the scenery. I should really be an ambassador for Victoria and talk of the calm waters of Sorrento and the gentle slopes along the way, etc. But I cannot. I was bored by the scenery, which is a very good thing in cycling because it means there are probably no hills. Maybe it’s hard to be overcome with the natural beauty of the land when it is littered with so much fluorescent man-made fibre. To be honest, I found the riding in and around the city much more exciting. Might be the adrenaline rush from darting in and out between moving vehicles that has something to do with it. It’s also a bit of variety – you get to steer and brake and stuff. I even turned my light on for a while there. And, to top it all off, on the way home I was going for it (fully) up a steep embankment and yelling encouragement (to myself, very loudly) and I failed to see the other, more professionally-behaved cyclist coming the other way. He got a bit of a laugh out of it anyway. Just goes to show – you can still have a nice bike and be a complete idiot.
In other unrelated news, I have finished my exams and expect the results to be quite good. Don’t let me down, university. I woke up this morning and was forced to just lay there since I had nothing else to do. I felt so common. I quickly need to fill the abyss before I become complacent. I have been toying with the idea of resuming dance classes of some kind. This will probably happen.
I am also enjoying using the shredder at work. Nothing soothes me more than feeding documents into it’s jaws. But that’s a story for another time. I’m off to water my tomatoes.
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