26.42km / 1:53:27 / 324m / 25.0°C
A windy northerly, so off up to the north with the intention of getting a tailwind home. Mostly worked out that way. Box Hill area was a bit of a challenge, all the big apartment towers funnel gusty blasts around in all directions, on a Saturday afternoon the food smells are enticing and the people are everywhere! Then it was down along the Koornung creek trail, one swoop – err, by a small leafy branch the fell out of a tree & clonked my helmet – and head south from Hays Paddock to wend my way back to Deepdene. From there it was onto the Anniversary trail and head home.
One small problem. Slowed to about 14km/hr as I came up behind two women walking dogs, one dog way out in front on one of those useless 5m extender-leads. Was watching the dog & not the owner, had rung my bell, had pulled over to the far right of the path and slowed right down. She was deep in conversation and hadn’t noticed, then leapt to the right, slammed her shoulder into my ribs and down I went. Foot didn’t come out of the cleat, grazed my knee on the concrete, winded myself, and seem to have stabbed myself with my own brake lever. Took a while to get back up with her all over me apologising profusely and saying “oh, I thought you’d go past on the left” and “oh no, you’re bleeding”. Couldn’t even be bothered saying anything, just picked myself up and got back on, gingerly rode off the rest of the way
One good part after that. Stopped for a restorative ale at Wines on Poath and ran into a local acquaintance I haven’t seen for months – turns out he’s moved a few suburbs away now. Amusingly, three or four people saw my bleeding leg & stiff walk and were all concerned, “what happened?” When I said it involved a dog on a bike path they all went quiet, they all had their dogs with them in the bar
Maybe 1361 is the limit, we’ll see if I can go for a gentle pedal tomorrow…
Clear sky, 25°C, Feels like 24°C, Humidity 36%, Wind 7m/s from NW - by Klimat.app
My 1361st day in a row riding a bike; the last 6 days of 2019, my and all of 2021, 2022 and 2023 so far…
Garmin / Strava / ridewithgps
