About every month I try to ride my Ibis Ripley to work. It’s a bit of an effort cos work is 60 kilometres from home. Sadly, there is not a single track or fire trail or rail trail I can take but fortunately there is a quiet back road.

The route takes me from Kariong on the NSW Central Coast to Wahroonga on Sydney’s North Shore. Commuters traverse the Pacific Highway M1 (formerly known as the F3) freeway daily. It gets pretty congested with cars and trucks. Tensions can sometimes rise between dodgy drivers and road rage inclined drivers so I think it best I don’t upset anyone by overtaking them on my beautiful black and green Ibis. Just one of the reasons I choose to ride on The Old Pacific Highway.

Pre freeway days it was the only route between Sydney and the Central Coast but now a days its a quiet back water road used exclusively by cyclists, motor bike enthusiasts and sports car drivers. It’s windy, tree shaded undulating curves make it far more enticing than the shorter freeway route. Over the first 40 ks of the ride I encountered 4 cars, 2 trucks, 1 local school bus, 5 road cyclists, 2 motor cyclist, 1 raptor, 1 wallaby and a young lyre bird.

Part way up the long 10 km climb from the Hawkbury River I stopped to add air to my tyres. I was sweating a bit from the ride so took off my helmet, back pack and gloves while I gulped down some water and added a bit of potential speed to the back tyre. Then I was on my way again.

The last15 ks is through suburbia and it being peak hour you’ve gotta keep your wits about you. When a police car overtook me I hoped he hadn’t seen me sneak through those red traffic lights a bit further back, as some naughty bike riders may be prone to do. I discounted the possibility of him booking me for doing 60 down the steep hill in a 50 zone – that would be over the top.

I safely made it to work, feeling great, but work was frantic from the moment I walked in the door. I tossed off my back pack and got stuck into it. Some 15 minutes later a work colleague walked in and, seeing my bike proudly parked in the work area, commented that he had seen me riding in. “Yeah” he said, “I said to my wife as we were driving in, ‘look at that cyclist riding in the traffic without a helmet’ then I realised it was you!”

At his comment I took stock. Sure enough, I had my backpack and my gloves but there no helmet to be seen. It dawned on me: after 22 kms of riding without it, I now realised I had left my helmet by the side of the road when I stopped to inflate my tyre! Egads, you must be joking! “No Officer, no joke” and thankfully the policeman either hadn’t noticed or didn’t care, leaving me with the $115 it cost me to replace my Fox Flux Stealth Matt Black helmet. ( I did go back to the spot late in the afternoon but someone had already spotted and bagged my 6 month old pre loved helmet – perhaps one of the 5 road cyclists!).

[Oh, by the way, if you happen to be reading this and it was YOU who found the helmet, just be aware that I harbour a gazillion knits in my hair and suffer from a very severe, rare & fatal skin disease that is very very VERY contagious. Leave a comment on my blog if you’d like me to relieve you of my non fumigatable stack hat!]

At least my head was still screwed on (for what its worth!) That said, I have to admit it was a very pleasant ride. The Ripley loved it. I had swapped out the 32 tooth front ring of the XX1 for a 34 tooth one. This was the first real ride with the 34 so I was keen to get a feel for how much difference it would make on the long flat and down hill sections. It certainly did give me more pedalling scope before I was “free wheeling” i.e. pedalling flat out but not making any difference to your speed. Pedalling still made a difference at 40 kph with the 34 tooth compared to say 35 with the 32.

You can get 36 and 38 tooth front rings for the XX1 and I had always thought I would never go that far – I’ve read that the Ripley suspension is set up for maximum efficiency with the 32 and 34 rings. However, as I rode this ride I realised the suspension has very little impact on a road ride. With a 36 or 38 ring you’d be flying down the hills and while there is plenty of climbing on this route, the hills are not sharp enough for you to miss the lowest gears.

Earlier in the week I bought a couple of new tyres for the bike – both Specialised, one the Ground Control the other the Fast Track. The Ground Control is a beefier tyre with bigger knobs than the Fast Track, the later being fast rolling on smooth surfaces. I had put the Ground Control on the back and tried it out on a few dirt tracks and was very happy with its grippiness in loose surfaces. Late the night before todays ride I knew I should swap to the Fast Track but they being set up tubeless I was tempted not to make the effort. I was so glad I did – the Fast Track really does roll along very very well on the road and is very long wearing.

All up, a most pleasant ride that ended up more expensive than I planned. What did I learn?

1. It’s worth taking the time to set up your bike properly for the long ride

2. After stopping on a ride, always do a visual sweep of the area before heading off again

3. Always employ the “tap n go” technique – tap your head with one hand and rub you tummy with the other as you mount you’re bike. (The tap will confirm the presence of a helmet, the rub … well, its an old coordination skill from childhood)

[Average speed was 25.8 over the 60 kilometres My previous best, from memory, was just a smidge under 25 so I believe the 34 tooth cog made a significant difference]

(5 Dec 14, 26.3 kph, religiously had Gel before ride and half hourly during the ride, little air in rear shock as forgot to refill it after deflating it to measure chain length!)