More bike riding

I’ve managed a few more bike rides lately and found the cycle pathways are now pretty extensive around here. My rides have been focused on the new section of highway but I decided to check how far the path went in the opposite direction. I didn’t know if it had been extended very far because last time I tried to go that way months ago, there was an abrupt end just past Malaga (neighboring suburb). Well, now the pathway goes on quite a distance. I don’t know exactly how far but once I managed to get almost as far as where my client that I support as a carer lives. I think I can get there but just made a slightly wrong turn along the way and ended up coming back closer to home. I eventually used a map app to find my way back to the highway to get home and it was fine.

This week I went riding for what I intended to be a much shorter ride. I started late due to a delay caused by forgetting something at the store. So my time was limited before it got dark. Anyway, I started out and just past the ramp onto the highway, I noticed a few cars along the side of the road and a few people climbing the hill and doing something. I thought maybe people were getting together to do something on the fly. I don’t know what but it was an odd thing to see. As I rode closer to my turning around point, I saw fire vehicles and then ambulances coming from the direction I was heading. I just knew it was related to what I saw and when I did get back there, a whole bunch of emergency vehicles were there and something was happening up on the hill and a vehicle was blocking the pathway. I still don’t know quite what happened there as no news stories have appeared. I did see some sort of pop up tent sort of thing when I passed by the first time but nothing has appeared to explain it even though it blocked traffic quite a bit at the time.

The next day I went riding back in the same direction and the tent thing was gone and I realised there was a broken fence there now. I don’t recall it being broken before but maybe it was. I wonder if a vehicle went off the road and up the hill…it’s a long way off the road though, so that doesn’t really answer my questions. Hopefully I will find out more in the next few days in the community paper or somewhere similar.

Anyway, that next bike ride turned out to be my longest ever ride. I went into Ellenbrook and stopped at the shopping center to get a drink or two. It was a warm day but I wasn’t overly hot, just a bit dehydrated. I did have my water bottle but wanted to save that for the return trip. I got a couple drinks and took one with me in my backpack/purse and still had most of my water. I went back out and rode a bit further from home before turning around. This was a big mistake because my left knee started hurting and there was considerable uphill riding. My newish bike is good with hills and has more gears than my old one but it was still hard-going and I wish I hadn’t gone any further out. I mainly was hoping to get a good view of the hills out that way but it didn’t quite work in my favor that time. The lighting just wasn’t right. I was relying more on my right leg to pedal but it wasn’t enough to take pressure off the left knee. The ride back too heaps more time than it should have and I ended up getting off the bike and walking up the last hill towards the overpass of the new roads because I just couldn’t pedal any harder. Once to the top there it was a fairly easy ride and I just had to deal with a slightly darker area once off the main pathways. It’s not dark exactly just not as well lit as the pathway was. That only lasted a few minutes as the distance to our house from there is only a kilometer.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to further exploration of the local bike paths and hopefully finding a way into Perth. I think it’s quite possible for me to get into the city within an hour given the right pathway. The way I’d tried before has always been slow going due stoplights and less convenient paths so these new ones might make it a much better journey.