Riding downunder

[David Kirk]

So Gingah,

What is it like to ride in the southern hemisphere? How are the road manners with drivers? What were the roads like where you were? Weather?

Inquiring minds want to know.

dave

[Keith A]

More importantly, what direction does the water swirl down the toilet bowl?

[Ken Robb]

my second hand report from friends who rode in New Zealand: wonderful scenery, wonderful people, considerate drivers. The only negative was they found lots of the roads were what we call "chipseal" so there was a lot of road buzz while riding "racing" type tires. I would guess that one of your bikes with 32-35mm tires would be the hot set-up.

[fiamme red]

http://www.blayleys.com/articles/newzealand/index.htm

[Ginger]

Australia... Let's see...
Looking over your right shoulder at traffic is really weird.
Cars coming at you at an intersection in the near lane from the right is weird. (I always look both ways, so it wasn't a "problem" just weird.)

Darrell kept me mostly out of traffic and on bike paths for the morning rides, I think he was worried that I'd switch sides of the street out of habit and there were a few times that I had to think twice about immediate action. Although the little bit I did ride on-road, the drivers were just as courteous as they are here in the D (so that's not saying a lot...is it...) so traffic surfing was a similar experience but backwards.

The roads were better than Detroit. I'd put them in the same realm as better roads in North Carolina (similar lack of shoulder in some areas). With the terraplane I don't pay much attention to road surface. I thought overall, they were fairly smooth.

But unlike the D, they have hills. And, like most places that don't have a freeze thaw issue, they seemed to like to put their streets straight up the hills...like North Carolina. I was a bit intimidated by that the first day or so, but on the bike, it isn't so bad.

They have some strange constructions in the shoulder of the road that were a bit unnerving for me because they blended in to the pavement...if a driveway curb was seriously uphill of the road, they had these rather abrupt partial ramps up to the driveway from the road with a slice through them for the gutter...the ramps were the same color as the pavement and the slice for the gutter was 4- 6" wide...I think those were the only road structures that caused me much concern. I think I've seen those in the US...but I can't remember where.

Just considering traffic loading on the roads, in general, it seemed that traffic patterns in Brisbane suck car wise. It is a growing city, and I guess growing pains are to be expected. That said, I loved the pedestrian/cycle bridge in the city.

There seemed to be quite a few people commuting by bike and we did see one "weekly group morning ride" type group. Australian cyclists are very good at matching their gear. :p I saw quite a bit of carbon fiber in their rides. I'm not much of a gear geek so for me to notice at all, there has to be quite a bit of it around.

That said, I did not see a single Serotta while I was there (about the only bike I actually recognize when I see it on the road...)

Oddly, I didn't take my camera with me on the bike although I usually always have it with me...so the only pics of the Kirk in Oz are photos of Darrell taking a test ride after the put it together. (I'll post one up later)

Weather: It's their fall. The days were shorter and the temperatures cooler than what I left in Detroit. (when I came back to Detroit, it went cold again...go figure)

I didn't examine which way the water swirled the toilets. Sorry.
I did notice that water conservation is in full force there.

[BBB]

Out of interest, the motorist who stopped in front of the bunch in Sydney last week is scheduled to appear in court next week...for failing to provide his details following the accident. The actual cause is still being investigated by the cops.

[Louis]

What is it like to ride in the southern hemisphere? How are the road manners with drivers? What were the roads like where you were? Weather?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Thinking of moving the Frameworks down under? ;)

[3chordwonder]

David, if you're thinking of coming to Australia or NZ on a riding holiday, best thing would be to do the usual thing - ask some riders local to the specific area(s) you'll be visiting, they'll tell you which roads/riding routes are the most velo friendly.

Pretty sure it's like a US state somewhere in the middle of the bike friendly/bike unfriendly scale.

[rustychisel]

I'm pretty sure it's a really big place and conditions vary. :beer:

[andy mac]

north hotter. south colder.

jan summer. july winter.

anywhere from sydney up is pretty mild all year esp compared with your neck of the woods.

mainland aust is roughly the same size as mainland USA so there's lots of variation.

cycling is pretty popular now - just heard the world's are coming to melb in a few years.

if you are a little more specific as to what you are looking for i bet a number of us could help you out. if you want a place to crash in sydney for a few days we live on a topless surf beach!

:beer:

andy