nicolaoutdoors » cycling

French Island

nicola — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 08:00:01 +0000

Sometime in mid-summer, sick of days too hot to climb and even too hot to go to the beach, we decided to take our bikes on the ferry across to French Island. We planned to cycle around the island and stay at Tortoise Head Lodge, which is only a few hundred metres from where the ferry docks. The location is idyllic – the beaches are deserted and this quiet, together with the fact that mangroves still exist, lend the impression that you are days from the city, rather than an hours drive and a ten minute ferry ride.

We didn’t manage to ride around the island as the roads are really bad (deep – 10-15cm – corrugations interspaced with sand) but we rode far enough to find new views. There were also narrow, flowing paths though the trees behind the sand that were fun to ride.

Tortoise Head Lodge was pretty fun too – much more of a homestay than a hotel. But good food and heaps of local knowledge.

By the time we came home, it felt like we’d been away for a week, which is as much as you can ask of a weekend!

How not to kill cyclists

nicola — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 09:22:45 +0000

This week in Victoria, one cyclist died and two are in intensive care with head injuries after collisions with cars.

These videos from the Cycling Promotion Fund were all filmed within a few blocks of my house. The actor drivers seems to be infinitely more careful that the real drivers. It’s all very well showing them to cyclists but motorists also need to be reminded of how dangerous their behavior is.

1. Look before you open your door. Car doors are lethal weapons.

2. Open your eyes and learn the rules. And, no, yelling that cyclists don’t pay road tax does not alter the rules.

Injured

nicola — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 02:46:50 +0000

the shoulder, I fell on to, reached a fever-pitch of pain on Tuesday. I had really limited movement of my left arm. I consulted with physiotherapists and got x-rays etc. etc. and there is no fracture. It seems that it is most likely that (and I quote Ross’s brother Ian, who is one of the physios I spoke to) “the tendons of the rotator cuff muscles and the synovial membranes (bursa) that line them have been badly bruised and have become progressively more swollen and inflamed since the injury. These structures all pass through the tiny space between the head of the humerus and the overlying acromion (lateral end of the the scapula on the point of your shoulder). These bruised and inflamed tissues will be squeezed each time you try to raise your arm”.

I think it is now getting better. I can move my arm a tiny bit more each day… And the other bruises and things have settled down so I can at least get some exercise by walking around a bit; until last night, I hadn’t moved except from chair to bed all this week.

So it wasn’t quite as minor a fall as I thought when it happened, but it’s not a big injury either. Hopefully it will all be healed and gone in a week or so. In the meantime I can work but not much else. Certainly no climbing. Or running. Or swimming. *yawn*