Tweed Coast Treadly

Well what could you say? The event, to me was a quite over-rated affair.

A number of standouts being..

• Totally unco-ordinated
• Losing a bike rider less than 5kms from the start!
• No signs or signallers at critical intersections.

these were for the ride itself, which featured for me at least a couple of brushes with Eastern Brown Snakes and a 2 foot Goanna although NO Magpies! Also a long slog against an ever increasing NE headwind on the return ride (25-40 km/hr) with no shelter by anything resembling hills!

The Event, at which I lasted 10 minutes, was also, as classified by me, as…

• General feeling about the event - “A big group hug, with indifference to outsiders”.
• Lacking general information for “Guests“ (ie upon arrival, which was done in drips and drabs by the riders of Route #4 because of the lost rider [who was found safe and well riding with the leader], there was no marshaling areas etc)
• The person on the registration desk at the end was more interested in talking to their BUG mates than providing any pertinent information, even when queried!
• There was far too limited secure/safe parking
• Everything seemed disjointed and chaotic.
• Rider leaders etc were more interested in BUG fundraising by way of a raffel than the actual Bike2Bruns event.
• If you didn’t want to join their BUG then and there you were conveyed a pleasant feeling of irrelevance with a casual air of indifference. (ie left standing there with the same “You are dismissed” feeling you get after receiving a tongue lashing from a headmaster.)

All up a nice enough very FLAT 60 kilometer ride spoilt slightly by the addition of a lot of unnecessary crap. It will be quite a while before I bother to undertake another group ride such as this.

After doin’ a Google about Bike Week NSW  I came upon only one fairly local location that seems to be doing something about it, I found nothing available in the Tweed Shire. I’ve read details of routes and timetable available at both www.byronbug.org.au and www.brunswickheads.org.au

I have phoned and registered myself for the “BIKES TO BRUNS” - Sunday September 28th. Just to see what an organised ride is like, Organised by BSBUG with the Brunswick Chamber of Commerce.
Planning is well advanced,  they still require more ride leaders for this fun event - please contact NickBowden on 0427 620 711 or MikeWall can be contacted for registrations and Information regarding the Billinudgel - Route (4) on 0413779223

Route #4 8:45am, Departs the Pocket via Ocean Shores (16km) but riders, I have been informed, can join at various stages along the Route, registering early will reduce unnecessary enroute delays. They invisage the ride to be SLOW paced as there will be riders of all ages and abilities! For anyone interested….

Route #4 Start -> Pocket, Billinudgel, South Golden Beach, New Brighton, Ocean Shores, Bruns; Total Distance of 16km (there is a hill! ie getting through Ocean Shores to the Brunswick River Bridge, with the Estimated Times of…

8:45am   - Junction Pocket Road & Middle Pocket Road
9:00am   - Billinudgel Shop
9:20am   - South Golden Beach Shop
9:30am   - New Brighton Shop
9:40am   - Ocean Shores Shopping Centre
10:00am - Brunswick Heads

Therefore an avg speed of ~12km/hr

You will need to make your own way home.Remembering that if you ride the Wooyung <–> Golden Beach Track you will probably have to contend with the head wind the whole way home along the Wooyung to Pottsville Coast Road! Be forewarned and take plenty of water!

I might be riding my ElwooodSE 2007 for the last time as my main bike before I get my 2009 Cypress, Hopefully!! But might consider riding the old Royce Union depends on the wind and if I feel like a low tide Beach ride on the way home. But 16kms along the beach exposed to a howling North Easterly would not be fun! Nor would it be good for the bike!

Just a lot of images from Google Maps to try to Find the way

Just got back from a late job at Suffolk Park, just South of Byron Bay, and my God! the number of Ninjas riding into, around and out of the town center was astounding (maybe a little strong!) but still very surprising seeing the number of cyclists riding, mainly the bike paths, without lights and/or helmets some with a manditory slab tucked under one arm, on a Monday night!.

To add to the surprise as I was just about to reach the 80k/h zone there was a member of the local constabulary booking a Car Driver. Obviously they do not enforce the bike ridng rules as stringently in the Bay!