Category: Apr-Jun 2016

4,000 for 40 – June Ride 1 – Day 2

4,000 for 40 – June Ride 1 – Day 2

E Sharp

Holbrook – Jindera via Morven

Monday June 13, 2016, 50 miles (80 km) – Total so far: 1,692 miles (2,723 km)

Last night, the breaking news was of a mass shooting in Orlando at a gay nightclub. My heart sunk. One of my friends from Americorps days had just flown to Orlando two days previous with her wife and their family. I saw the pics of them on the plane on facebook. Surely, they wouldn’t have been at that club. It was a family vacation. But, of course, their girls are teenagers, so they would have no issues looking after themselves if my friend and her wife wanted a night out. They are very active in the LGBTIQ community in their hometown and like to support it elsewhere, too. But, surely, there’s no way they would just happen to be at that nightclub on vacation.

But, still, the very remote possibility is in the back of my mind all day today. I’m heartbroken for all of my LGBTIQ and Muslim friends who will feel more vulnerable going forward. Such sadness. (I will get home later to find out that my friend was not at the club and is safe but shocked.) Read more →

4,000 for 40 – June 2016 Goal Summary

E Sharp

To make my goal of riding 4,000 miles this year, with 4,000 kilometres within that being loaded touring…

I need to ride 350 miles each month, including 350 kilometres of touring: 350 miles/kms x 12 months = 4200 miles/kms

So for June I rode:
June Unloaded Miles: 261 miles
June Loaded Miles: 95 miles (153 kms)
June Total Miles Ridden: 356 miles

Year to Date Unloaded: 612 miles
Year to Date Loaded: 1692 miles (2723 kms)
Year to Date Total Miles: 2304 miles

June had rain on 19 of the first 24 days and rain on 22 days of the month. Of course, our rain is often drizzle and scattered showers. We don’t get too much all-day rain. Still, I feel good to have gotten in 356 miles in this month in between showers.

So most of our miles this month came as day rides, and I really had to kick it up a notch the final weekend (riding 40+ miles each day four days in a row) to get the miles in for the month. July and August have similar weather to June, so we’ll see what we can do through the rest of winter.

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I’ve passed this road many times – today is the day to ride it. We rode at least 12 new roads or road sections in June – not too bad.
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Even though it was a pretty wet month, we still rode a lot of dirt and gravel. Luckily, this was the worst it ever got.
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Looking down the floodplain of Billabong Creek. The creeks are flowing nicely again. Aaaaaahhhhh…. winter!
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We picked up a bunch of new roads this day – all dirt/gravel – and went three hours without seeing a car as we cruised up and down the gentle hills.
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The wheat is in! All the new crops are turning the landscape green again.