Back on my Bicycle

⏱️ 02:17 total (1:40 actual) ⇄28.9km ⌀17.2km/h ↗109m ↘?m At last, the weather was cool enough to go for a bike ride at a reasonable hour. I stopped early on at the still new park along the river for coffee and a bun to fortify me. There was a gaggle of cyclists already there, mostly MAMILs, and I was dead chuffed when one came over and asked if he could lift my bike. “Complimenti,” he said, then beckoned his friend over to guess how much it weighs. His friend was more interested in the suicide levers, not to mention the rim brakes, and then both repaired to their tricked out gravel bikes and rode off into town. Off I went, along my usual southerly route. It was all very familiar; the miscanthus and other grasses creeping slowly onto the cycle path, the sweet medicine of the eucalyptus trees, the feral cat encampments, the old horse stables. Some changes too, mostly the sharp smell lingering over the bits of scrub that had burned over the summer. The climb back home wasn’t as difficult…