When leaving Sydney in January, I had 37kg’s of excessive luggage. All of it made it to Mt Hagen with me and I did not pay a cent for any excessive luggage, that’s another story in itself. But 15kg’s of that was a big bike box containing my mountain bike. I was looking forward to getting back into riding up here, but at the time I did not know how frequent it would be.
1. Trevor and I surviving the ride home in the wet
My first full week back at work I started riding to work three days a week with another Engineer (Trevor - who is training for the world’s toughest mountain bike race, the Croc Trophy, I am not sure if ill enter). The roads here are really not that great for riding. There is the crazy driving that goes about, there’s the condition of the roads, the people, alot of glass and debris to name a few. Also the fact that we are riding between 5000-6000 ft above sea level and can’t forget the different smells. I have not ridden constantly since high school and starting here was not easy, but several weeks later it is a lot easier and I feel quite confident on the bike. But it can be mentally tough, especially riding the long way home on a Friday afternoon. The ride from home to work is roughly 11 km’s and going a long way can be between 18km to 30km’s.
At first it was quite hard riding, because majority of the riding here is up hill. But there are the conditions that I talked about. Whether I am running or riding I like to get into a rhythm and work with that and that requires concentration. I found this really hard at first because you have cars and trucks to look out for on the road, especially when they overtake another car coming towards you. But some vehicles here emit more exhaust than a semi trailer. Also you have the road to look out for and you have people reacting to you riding in many different ways. The first week was like riding in a professional bike race on the way home, people everywhere shouting, cheering or yelling out. Also the weather, it has been raining here for four weeks now without it really clearing. Riding in rain or after rain gets the bike and myself covered in mud. And of course you have the pain you are in from riding. But after a week or so, it has become all normal for me.
The people here are quite friendly towards you, especially in the morning. But it is normally in the afternoon there is alot more people about and there are a few that aren’t so friendly. You get all sorts of things yelled out at you, a guy yelling out oi or swearing (sometimes drunk) to ‘hey sexy’ from some young women. Riding along roads in the middle of nowhere is always fun and you see some really nice scenery. With this you are riding past village to village. People’s reaction are always surprised to see you, some people go crazy (whiteman! whiteman!). When we starting riding people couldn’t believe seeing two white men riding mountain bikes on the highway yet alone along a village road. Despite every third world country in the Asia Pacific region (I could be mistaken) majority of people ride bikes or scooters, that isn’t the case in PNG.
2. Passing through out bush
There are loads of stories from riding here, but ill just share two quickly. The first one is riding along one of the back ways home after working back one afternoon. It is quite a steep up and down road. We are riding along and start to hear a group of dogs barking. Before we know it they appear from the bushes, they are mangy undomesticated dogs. They run into the middle of the road, giving us nowhere to go. Trevor is in front of me and just manages to navigate around them at 30 km/h, but they start chasing him. They are running so fast they can’t bite and after 500m they stop chasing. The next time through there I try a different tactic and charge straight at them barking. But this only stops one of them, the others are right at my foot at my pedal. I am travelling downhill and then it becomes uphill and I maintain my speed up this hill to lose them. Again they are running so fast they can’t bite. So this section of the ride is known as sprint training. We have discussed numerous ways of dealing with these dogs, but I can’t make any comments about that. The only thing I’m afraid of is hitting one at 30km/h, which I have done before.
The other story is riding home in the rain one afternoon. I have ridden a lot over the years and never had a puncture. But this ride home in the rain I got my first puncture. We pull aside on the highway and some people gather around to watch us quickly change the tube in the tyre. In all places there is not that much around, there is a little shack next to us. And all that is inside is an air compressor, saving me the effort of using my little pump. Off again and before long I get another puncture, the second one. I used up my last spare tube and we were off again. We made it home safely up the long climb home and beat our slowest time home and amazed they we haven’t had more punctures.
So riding here has been really interesting, but really good at the same time. It has given me something that I enjoy to do and my fitness is probably the best it has been for a very long time. Despite the conditions being so different to what I have experienced in the past, it is a great place to do it.
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:06 am
Looks like a lot of fun, good to see that you’ve found something to replace the gym. I’ll be praying for your safety with all the dogs on the road.
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March 3rd, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Man…I’ve noticed that its been a while since you’ve given us a update. Nice to see those photos of ya! What did you do for ya birthday?
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