two wheel adventures

Long Weekend Trip

2010-04-28T02:32:00.000-07:00

Now that I have the solar charger and UHF installed and working, and Phil has his new Rohloff Hub fitted we thought it would be a good idea to get out on the road and test all these new toys.

We have mapped a route using Google Maps. Starting at Kingaroy on Saturday we plan to head to the Bunya Mountains National Park for camp that night. Sunday we will ride to Boondooma Lake and camp the night before returning to Kingaroy on Monday. The ride is about 300km.

Now that Phil has the helmet camera gear we should be able to get some interesting videos onto the blog.

Fingers crossed for good luck and good weather!

View Labour Day Long Weekend Ride in a larger map

The ExtraWheel Trailer and Solar Panels

2010-04-13T04:02:00.000-07:00

I have been keeping busy over the past week constructing a frame to sit on top of the Extra Wheel trailer. Spent most of Saturday in Phil's workshop creating the frame from 10mm aluminium tubing. It will provided a platform for the solar panel, battery and control gear. Still working on a mount for the UHF aerial at the moment.

The frame is hose clamped to the trailer. I have designed the panel and the control gear so that it can be removed from the rack if needed (possibly for the trip over to WA). Hopefully with the panel so far from the bike there will be little or no shadow cast from my back whilst in the saddle.

The setup includes
- 12V, 10W mono-crystalline PV panel
- 12V, 6A charge regulator a
- 2 x 2.2Ah Sealed Lead Acid Batteries
- 12V cigarette lighter socket
- in-line fuse holder (5A)

Proposed Route for WA Tour

2010-03-22T03:07:00.001-07:00

Here it is, Phil has been busy at the office sketching the un-official plan for the WA tour in July. The route is 2,966km long. The map is interactive so you can zoom in and out and change between map, satellite and terrain views.

View Proposed Perth to Broome Cycle in a larger map

Mt Coot-tha Challenge

2010-03-22T02:06:00.000-07:00

Woke up early Sunday morning and headed to Grey St, South Brisbane for the start of the Mt Coot-tha challenge. It was a bit different cycling through the city at 5am on a weekend, gutters were full of the remains from the night before and the only cars on the road were taxis and those carrying bikes to the ride.

The ride was alot more hilly than I had anticipated. Although I had ridden up Mt Coot-tha 3 times in the previous week to prepare for it, I was a little excited with moment and decided to go flat out. Was rather impressed with a 11 minute climb up the mountain.

The ride continued on around St Lucia University and followed the Brisbane River on the western and southern sides before returning to South Brisbane for lunch and a festival of all things bikes!! Got love it!!

Back at work today was a bit of a struggle, legs quite sore and stiff so decided to give the bike a rest this afternoon and spent some time looking over a few blogs, www.eatsleepsurf.com.au, some interesting touring videos from local lads.

Have a great week,
JB

G'day

2010-03-17T03:44:00.000-07:00

Hey, hope your doing well and glad that you got here safe and well.

I have setup this blog as an online journal to record the training and preparation for the ride Philipp and myself are planning to do from Perth to Broome in July 2010.

Over the coming months hopefully this blog will develop into something a little more interesting than what you currently read. The blog will be updated every now and then so you guys can see photos, videos, location maps, FAQ's and helmet cam action from the training rides and the WA tour.

Looking forward to this Sunday's Great Brisbane Bike Ride, an 80km Brisbane tour which will see a few thousand cyclists travel under the Brisbane River through the recently opened Clem7 tunnel.