Hill seekers

 

Lake Burley Griffin was sparkling during our weekend in Canberra. 

Perfect weather for cycling as the temperature hovered around 17 C during the middle of the day with no wind.  The autumn leaves were still putting on a glorious show of colour against the clearest blue sky.  The only downside for the whole weekend was experienced by THE Coach. 

Yes, that's THE Coach changing not one, but two flat tyres, one per day.  Two rides in Canberra - about 45kms over the weekend - not so far, especially not in comparison to those cycling bloggers from New York, but at least we found some hills, thanks to Tim. 

We also found a gem of a cafe on the terrace of the National Library where we enjoyed lunch on Sunday. Thanks Sue and Tim for a great weekend of chatting, eating and cycling.  We'll be back before you know it.

Made our final payment for the cycling trip and have received the train tickets from Paris to Souillac.  There's no backing out now so I must keep hill seeking this week.

Cycling in Canberra

The coach kindly agreed to take me on a short cycling intensive weekend to Canberra. It was a great break and most enjoyable cycling as there were very few places where we needed to cycle on the road. We stopped in at Floriade, the National Gallery and the War Memorial so made the most of staying in Tim's flat and its central location.

Luckily we managed two rides even though the weather was overcast, as is evident in the photo. The rain held off so there were no real dramas, although we suffered one swooping magpie attack. As I waved madly to fend off the bird, I thought thank goodness there aren't magpies in France! Only managed to clock up 25 kms and 18kms. The longer ride was a little hilly so I felt it in my legs the next day. Coach reminded me that as Iwas in a 'solo ride deficit ' I wasn't entitled to a coffee stop reward - got to earn his company!

Back home today for my first day of the October holidays. No riding today but hopefully the chilly, wet weather will improve and I'll be on my bike for a few solo rides over this week. Monica sent through a great article about cycling in France where the following cycling company was recommended. http://www.cyclomundo.com/

Looks like a very comprehensive site so I'll need to explore the many options and will post some more plans during this break.