PERTH SETUP - STEP 3 - GET COMMUTING

STEP 3 - GET COMMUTING
I have located myself (with the grace of my sis and bro in law) at Cottesloe (really roughing it over here) and after some interrogations - found the bike track that runs alongside the railway line from Freemantle to the City. Ill just zoom newcomers into the right part of Aussie...



So here are the main commute tracks below


One goes to HQ Central at St Georges Terrace and the other to the Belmont Office.


This is a great track - twists and turns, up and downs, good corners, smooth surface and good views all the way in. A most pleasant experience that gets one into town in about 30 minutes - which is about 12 kilometers. The Belmont trip adds another 30 minutes each way.


The Gordonson, with its steel frame, 32 spoke steel wheels , and 27 inch tyres (about a size 35 normal 700 tyre [as opposed to a 23]) just glides over these surfaces - so route and machine are well matched.

PERTH SETUP - STEP 2 - GET THE FASHION GEAR

[top of Jacobs ladder, Kings Park]
PERTH SETUP - STEP 2 - GET THE FASHION GEAR
Of course, there is a need to arrange clothing in some fashion - my view is - the bike is old, i'm old - i dont have any sense of fashion - lycra is defintely not going to work here - I might get confused with some try hard wanna be speed merchant or iron man triatherlete - so the wazza de jure fashion is board shorts with the brightest hawaii five oh shirt. Nephew Tim found me a 20 year old helmet (big kaylite and plastic bone dome) The whole effect is finished off with some Paris Hilton sunnies and some old fart leather gloves. Now Im good to go !!
[Kings Park-near the big dipper to the CBD]
Fashion styling has been getting tweaked over the weeks - arm warmers for the coolness they caller brrrwinter here, plus the Paris Hilton sunnies have gone overboard somehow (probably the biggest crisis i have had to deal with over here) and i am now wearing safety glasses which is way too serious - so may have to get some hand offs from the lovely daughter


[Cafe Conference - at one of Subiaco's versions of Kikko]

PERTH SETUP - STEP 1 - ARRANGE THE TRED

[Some pictures of the beloved Gordonson, Subiaco]

Well first thing was to get a bike. A task speedily arranged by Nephew Tim. I now own ($20) an ex hard rubbish "Gordonson" (made in Perth - so totally suitable) ... Silver paint job, 20 years old - so now I have a headset shifter gearbox offering 10 gears - the big chainring is too big for me - so its really a 5 speed. (There is still no oil on the big ring - so i dont get any grease tatoos). [Our Subiaco Pit Stop]

Steel Wheels were rusty - so added some oil to get some adjust on the spike nipples and a wirebrush to banish the red - they now look smashingly shiny. Tyres were still good, tubes still good, so then added some layers of rim tape (black electrical tape - 3 laps per rim) - so wheels were good. I also got an extra set of free wheels (with large spoke flanges) for improved maintainability and availability, so riding is always a possibility!!

[Swan River,Riviersonderend Ride]
...Then got some BMX style SPD pedals, put some more bar tape down, rubbed off the odd bit of frame rust rust, a few strips of highly reflective tape (actually sisalation tape out of the stationary cupboard) for the stays, forks and chain guard - and hey presto - one bike - a ready to go commuting machine.

[Kings Park, KP Ride Circuit]

This bike is really great - UBER comfortable, glides over everything with the big roubaix style tyres, steel is solid but springy on the hard edges, and no wobbles when fanging down St Georges Terrace or going down Kings Park. Only issue is hitting the gear levers when off the saddle.

HOW TO GET SET UP FOR RIDING IN PERTH

Greetings - When I got my Perth assignment I thought I would get some bike commuting in place to keep a bit fit - but actually riding in Perth is a whole ton of fun - so I thought I would create a blog to share some of Perths unique cycling features.

[View from Kings Park at 6am]

This will mainly be pictorial with smatterings of text (assumption : 1 picture = 1,000 words [hence max efficiency in data input and data processing]

[View along Swan river - 5 km east of CBD]

SO - How may one go about riding in Perth? .... There are many ways. Here is mine ....

HOW TO GET SET UP FOR RIDING IN PERTH (The Wazza Way Anyway)
There are 6 key steps :-
STEP 1 - ARRANGE THE TRED
STEP 2 - GET THE FASHION GEAR
STEP 3 - GET COMMUTING
STEP 4 - FIND THE MAIN ROUTES
STEP 5 - FIND A SUITABLE VENDOR
STEP 6 - PROCURE RIDING PARTNER

(to be continued)