First frost I’ve seen so far this year! Normally I’m not out of bed early enough, but today it was back on norky bike to get to work. Cold and misty along the river, with the fog rising up off the water, then frost along the creek through Hawthorn. I could feel the temperature rise as the path climbed from the creek up to Glenferrie road.

This evening, curiosity got the better of me so I went for a ride to see just how bad North Road is for cycling along. There’s been a campaign for quite some time by Monash cyclists to get a bike lane built along the road, to encourage more students and staff to either ride to Monash uni, or to catch the train to Huntingdale and ride from there.

Riding at dusk, in the cold, in rush hour traffic is probably not the best time to visit any major road! From the university back to Huntingdale it didn’t seem anywhere near as bad as some narrow roads I’ve ridden on, the kerbside lane is fairly wide. Nobody swerved at me, hooted at me, or threw anything at me, so it’s not as bad as some of the rides I’ve been on in Oakleigh and Clayton! The main problem is the speed and noise of the traffic. Maybe enforcing the speed limit would help! Crossing the mighty Dandenong Road/North Road intersection is another matter, you seem to be confronted by acres of asphalt, and the twelve seconds of green light seem very short while you’re doing it!