2009-09-17 -37 145

The Place

On a suburban street in Narre Warren North.

Expedition

Felix Dance

I’m not sure why I decided to do this one – it was a work night, a fair way off and one of the wettest nights for a long while.

I set off after work and it was still raining, but also still light so not so bad. In fact the tree-lined eastern suburbs were quite picturesque in the rain.

However, soon after reaching the Princes Highway I got a flat tyre. This was annoying but not a disaster as I knew I had a spare… only I didn’t! Not even a puncture repair kit. In despair I tried to decide between giving up or taking the train there and then walking.

Suddenly I looked up: there in front of me across the street was a bike shop! …But it was closed.

I crossed the street towards it and noticed that despite it being well after 6 and the doors being closed there was still someone inside. I waved and made the universal symbol for a flat tyre and miraculously the guy let me in. I’d clearly accrued some luck quote. I decided to play it safe and bought two tubes but refused the offer to have my tube replaced for me (a refusal I would be soon regretting as I hunted for the leak in the rain using a flooded gutter to search for the bubbles – since I could not find the leak I spent the rest of the ride in terror of getting another one).

After a couple of hours of riding through the gradually thinning traffic (and a bonus tail wind) I crossed the freeway and entered the exclusive grove of Riflebird Avenue. I was so cold by this stage that I thought my toes had punched through my socks – but when I took my shoes off at the hashpoint I found that they had just gone completely numb.

Having taken a few choice pics I was on my way – much more directly this time as I chose to trust Google Maps rather than my totally wacked sense of direction. This allowed me to miss the train by 10 seconds rather than 10 minutes. My luck quota had just run out.

The half hour wait and then the hour long train ride home were made bearable by means of three potato cakes and a Heinlein book. My luck quota even seemed to get back in the black for the fluketastic traffic lights on the ride from the station.

Time of departure – 5:30pm
Time of geohash – 8:15pm
Time of return – 10:00pm.

Here's a map of my route. Total distance = 55 km (including 5 kms to get home from the station).