Quick Delivery and a Tumble

It was starting to look like I was running out of things to do when the postman saved the day with a combined delivery from China.  Compared with earlier deliveries this was rather quick as the orders were only placed at the end of June.

 

Clockwise from bottom right.

• An aluminium set square
• Replacement bike brake sensor
• One metre of 6mm clear tube for bleeding the bike rear hub
• A 150mm syringe for the same purpose.

The syringe came with a very thin hose.  Too thin to fit on the syringe!  It might prove useful for a future project.   I already have a similar sized syringe which I use to empty the oil catch can on the 4WD.  With two syringes I can use one as a “dirty” syringe to remove the old oil and a “clean” syringe for the new oil.

Monday was a fine day and I decided on a long bike ride.  Approximately halfway around the route I passed Ascot Marina on the upper reach of the Swan River.

Some nice boats and equally luxurious looking apartments and townhouses. 

On the other side of the complex were chimneys and what looked to be pottery kilns.

This is all that remains of the Ascot Brick Works established in 1910, initially producing pottery before converting to clay pipes and roof tiles.  It closed in the early 1980’s and is now a historic site. 

The area is also home to Ascot Racecourse.  No sign of Queen Elizabeth, but then she didn’t attend Ascot this year. 

Several kilometres later the path took me over some wetlands and through trees via a timber decked footbridge which had a couple of doglegs.  This is where I erred in my judgement ignoring the sign for cyclists to dismount.  With no pedestrians present I decided to ride across.  The timber decking was very slippery after all the recent rain and shade from the overhanging branches.  Both wheels went out from underneath me at the first dogleg.  I had a choice of falling clear and colliding with the bridge steel posts and railing or going under the bike.  The latter seemed to be the lesser painful option.

It took several seconds to extract myself from under the bike before giving myself the once over for damage.  I’ve discovered my body no longer bounces and I’ve also become a genuine “Little Aussie Bleeder”.  For years I’ve been accused of being thick skinned.  That has obviously changed!  The bleeding was likely encouraged by the blood thinners I take.  Fortunately the bike was undamaged. 

I could have cut the ride short and cycled directly home but decided to continue on crossing the Swan River for a second time to reach Guildford. 

St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Stirling Square, Guildford

From Guildford I cycled north to Ellenbrook before heading home down the Tonkin Principal Shared Path (PsP).  Distance covered was 69.4km

The subsequent shower on my return home revealed that in addition the the previously identified cuts and grazes I had a few bruises.  Lesson learned!