Rate your fear factor..
Bloody magpies!
I rode to my hairdresser friend's place today (for a haircut). She's maybe about 4km from here. Nice day, plus it was in line with the pact I made to myself about choosing to ride instead of drive where possible.
The route took me by the school, and, silly me, I'd forgotten about the current Magpie Factor. Alison has been complaining about it for a few weeks but, heartless mother that I am, I've tended to dismiss it a bit. "Make a choice then Alison.. either ride to school and cope with the mapgpies swooping, or catch the bus for the duration of magpie swooping season. It will probably be nearly over by next term, anyway." Despite having actually been pecked once (on the helmet), she keeps opting for magpies over bus, and makes elaborate plans to meet up with other kids who walk or ride, so they can run the gauntlet of the magpies together. And they devise strategies, like holding a stick up on top of their heads. (I have no idea why that helps, but apparently it does.) The territory is right on the boundary of the school, and extends into school, and, as I discovered, a few hundred metres up the road as well. I gather the magpies have been razzed up a bit too, by stupid boys (being boys) throwing rocks at them, so they are possibly even more evangelical about protecting their nests than they might normally be.
I was past the school gate, and the stand of trees, when suddenly I heard flapping, and felt the swoop. I kept pedalling, waving one hand above my head, as I weaved crazily over the road (much to the amusement of passing motorists I daresay - I bet they wished they had a video camera - potential Australia's Funniest Home Video material (though only if I'd crashed I guess.) With the sun behind me, I could see the shadow of my head, and the shadow of the bird, and it was pretty determined I'll give it that. And it looked pretty close too! I didn't think it could really get at my head, but, hey, I didn't really want it to peck my good helmet either.
It's a bit hard to then contemplate returning via the same place. Chicken? Who me? Yup. I did have an alternative though, but not an attractive option. I could take the long way home, going out on the highway for a few km, in the 100km/hr section that I've sworn not to do, because of a) the speed of the passing traffic, and b) the narrowness of the shoulder on that section of highway.
Hmmm.. Magpies vs Pacific Hwy traffic. Swooping magpies? Swooshing trucks. Decisions. Decisions.
I'll take the highway.
It wasn't as bad as I expected... though fortune favoured brave old me this time because I wasn't passed by a B-double on the narrowest bit of shoulder. Glad I was on the MTB because I caught a few of those reflectors, and the shoulder was pretty rough and gravelly.
It extended my ride to 10.5 km, which still isn't terrific, but it was 35 mins of riding time - certainly better than nothing.
[And, yes, I'm going to post about every bloody kilometre that I manage to drag my butt over, because I want it all credited to the 'Tracey is working on her bike riding AND general exercise' ledger.']
I rode to my hairdresser friend's place today (for a haircut). She's maybe about 4km from here. Nice day, plus it was in line with the pact I made to myself about choosing to ride instead of drive where possible.
The route took me by the school, and, silly me, I'd forgotten about the current Magpie Factor. Alison has been complaining about it for a few weeks but, heartless mother that I am, I've tended to dismiss it a bit. "Make a choice then Alison.. either ride to school and cope with the mapgpies swooping, or catch the bus for the duration of magpie swooping season. It will probably be nearly over by next term, anyway." Despite having actually been pecked once (on the helmet), she keeps opting for magpies over bus, and makes elaborate plans to meet up with other kids who walk or ride, so they can run the gauntlet of the magpies together. And they devise strategies, like holding a stick up on top of their heads. (I have no idea why that helps, but apparently it does.) The territory is right on the boundary of the school, and extends into school, and, as I discovered, a few hundred metres up the road as well. I gather the magpies have been razzed up a bit too, by stupid boys (being boys) throwing rocks at them, so they are possibly even more evangelical about protecting their nests than they might normally be.
I was past the school gate, and the stand of trees, when suddenly I heard flapping, and felt the swoop. I kept pedalling, waving one hand above my head, as I weaved crazily over the road (much to the amusement of passing motorists I daresay - I bet they wished they had a video camera - potential Australia's Funniest Home Video material (though only if I'd crashed I guess.) With the sun behind me, I could see the shadow of my head, and the shadow of the bird, and it was pretty determined I'll give it that. And it looked pretty close too! I didn't think it could really get at my head, but, hey, I didn't really want it to peck my good helmet either.
It's a bit hard to then contemplate returning via the same place. Chicken? Who me? Yup. I did have an alternative though, but not an attractive option. I could take the long way home, going out on the highway for a few km, in the 100km/hr section that I've sworn not to do, because of a) the speed of the passing traffic, and b) the narrowness of the shoulder on that section of highway.
Hmmm.. Magpies vs Pacific Hwy traffic. Swooping magpies? Swooshing trucks. Decisions. Decisions.
I'll take the highway.
It wasn't as bad as I expected... though fortune favoured brave old me this time because I wasn't passed by a B-double on the narrowest bit of shoulder. Glad I was on the MTB because I caught a few of those reflectors, and the shoulder was pretty rough and gravelly.
It extended my ride to 10.5 km, which still isn't terrific, but it was 35 mins of riding time - certainly better than nothing.
[And, yes, I'm going to post about every bloody kilometre that I manage to drag my butt over, because I want it all credited to the 'Tracey is working on her bike riding AND general exercise' ledger.']
Labels: magpies, solo training
posted by Tracey at 1:43 pm
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