The New and the Old

Sandra wrote a short post on cycling routes for her blog. She mentioned her tendency for taking the same routes on her rides. I do remind her of other routes, forgetting that most of us do the same things for one reason, or another.

Yesterday, we took a mixed route, I wanted to discover some of her routes but wanted to take her away from the traffic, which seems not to bother her as much. We left home fairly late because of the rain in the morning, and decided on a two to three hour ride to Redcliffe and back (my program said 3 h). Why not? It was the EKKA holiday and we had no infants to get show bags for.

It is nice to be able to do rides like that and discover new roads and stop at new places.

During the ride, we met Kim and her slightly loaded touring bike. She looked as she had to be somewhere, in some kind of a hurry. Sandra overtook her but I couldn't help myself in saying "G'day!" and engaging in a brief conversation.

- Nice bike! Doing some touring?
- It's OK, your bike is cool! Going to Redcliffe.
- Nice! Where did you start?
- I am staying in Brissie with friends, I came from Melbourne.
- !?!
- It's nice and warm here.

I am glad we weren't training or in a bunch ride and had time to stop and have a chat to Kim, who found her love for cycling when commuting to work while in London. On her way back home, she decided to come to Australia and visit friends but she chose to fly to Melbourne, buy a bike and ride to their place, here in Brisbane.

She saw Sydney but she loved Byron and wanted to ride to Alice Springs but her friends weren't going to let her. She wasn't convinced but she trusted them.

We had to keep going. I told Sandra that the new Hornibrook bridge was finished. That made her happy, she loves new things and she never liked the old one. I did but that was going to be something new for both of us.

The Old Hornibrook bridge is a bit iconic and has been used by riders for years. It is the nicest way to come back from a ride around the Bay and it has also been part of the famous Zupps ride for many years (at least for the 4 or 5 years I've been doing it).

In one side we have a smooth ride on a brand new (quite sterile looking I think) bridge and on the other side we have a bumpy ride on a full of character, soon to be destroyed old bridge.

So, what bridge are we going to take for now?