Bicycles aint Cheap

My weekend away was a bit of a disaster in one way, first up the saddle broke. That I guess was the bad news, the good news was that it broke right outside a bicycle shop that was open. That was AUD$40



Then on the trip back, the bike shifted off its mounting a couple of inches and the tyre was placed at the cars exhaust, it melted the tyre and the the tube. That was $AUD50




And finally with all the downhilling, I thought it best to replace the front pads, and that cost AUD$15





In fact, I have been trying to work out the running cost of a bike. Over a five year period and say 40,000 Km, my guess is something like this.

Item	Quantity	Cost
Tyres Tubes Chains Cluster Locks/chains	6 (1 front, 5 rear) say 6 5 @ $20 1 @ $50	$240 $ 30 $100 $ 50 $130
Repair items spokes Bottom bracket Pump	Glue etc 30 off 1 off 1 off	$ 20 $ 30 $ 50 $ 40
Insurance Computers Lights Batteries	Through Club say 1 say 1 head and 1 tail say 4 NiMH	$400 (5 years) $ 40 $ 60 $ 10
Clothing Unnecessary Junk	Mainly shirts Coffee etc	$200 $200
Total		$1500

That's $300 a year, and I haven't added the capital cost of the bike in there, say another $100 per year, that makes it $400 pa or about five cents/Km.

Still cheaper than a car I guess

The Gong Ride - The real thing

A very early 4:30 am start, breakfast etc and off to the Railway station for the trip to Sydney for those doing the 90 Km ride, or Heathcote, for those doing the 56 Km ride (Me). I was tempted to do the 90 Km ride, but on the train trip up, the wind was blowing, not only from the south, but also blowing the bush almost horozontial. The cowardice in came out :-).


The start at Heathcote was delayed for some unknown emergency, but we got away into the wind and past Waterfall into the national park where the trees and mountains kept the wind at bay. Exiting the park led us into the wind and from then on it was a real struggle.



Here is a photo of the rather famous Seacliff Bridge. It looked just like that with the wind and rain and I heard that some just simply walked it out of fear of being blown into the wild Pacific Ocean! On a day like that Sunday (5 Nov 06), there was little to encourage you to take the time out to appreciate the engineering feat.

The last 15 Km was well and truely in the open so it was just a matter of dropping a few cogs, head down and keep on pedalling. The finish line was a great sight and the 56 Km took me 4 hours 30 minutes to ride, so it was pretty slow. Some of the Sydney riders started to lap us 20 odd Km from the end, so they were *very* strong riders.

Here I am with a very low number for this 25th anniversary ride.

The Gong Ride - Day One

Arrived Woolongong Saturday Morning just in time to join a ride around the foreshores and past the steel mills till some 28Km later we arrived at The Nan Tien Temple and monastery complex located in Wollongong. This was an extremely interesting site to visit and it is very well maintained. Well worth the ride. A short 10 Km ride home, a rest and got ready for the evening meal, or feast.

It was held at The Illawarra Master Builders Club, just a short walk from our accommadation at the YHA. Eat what you like and as much as you like. This is the second time I have been there and on both visits, the food has been spot on. Great stuff.

Then it was back home to the YHA to get ready for a real early start Sunday morning.