Australian Motorcyclist — December 2017

(Martin Jones) #1

SKIMPING AT THE


BEACH...OUCH!


CLASSICMORRIS


WORDS LESTER MORRIS


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AVE YOU EVER been to
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premier beachside suburbs? If
you have you will probably have made
a mental note that it has to be the
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steeper in places than that American
city. Not only are there hills everywhere
you look, but they are also really, really
steep indeed, particularly the main
drag which drops nigh unto a vertical
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zooms down into the very bowels of
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To the west lies the popular beach,
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small roads, laneways and streets which
intersect with the main drag from the
East are similarly steep in the extreme.
This is probably the reason why
there is not one pushbike to be seen
anywhere, for nobody this side of
a serious competitor in the Tour de
France could ever hope to be able to
ride a bike anywhere in the suburb.
Unless, of course, that person might
habitually like to coast downhill at
very high speed.

Were that the case, one wonders
how that odd person would be able
to climb back uphill again, because to
walk (safely) up any of the very steep
gradients which abound, one needs
to be leaning forward at a measurable
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over backwards and then cartwheeling
(or at least rolling) all the way down to
the bottom of the hill again. And as
for wheeling a pushbike uphill at the
same time as climbing to the top again?
Forget it!
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full day in the middle of a stinking hot
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