Commuting Sydney’s donkey trails

Dailybike.com reader Craig Williams will use any excuse to go for a ride, even commuting to work through Australia’s worst traffic, searing heat, pouring rain, or perhaps all three at once. It’s not however, the most challenging aspect of riding to work, as Craig explains, that’s left for the barrage of pot holes, loose gravel and metal grates…

For most people the 6 am alarm on a Monday morning is the painful beginning of another five grinding days at work. It also signifies the unavoidable commute in peak hour traffic or on overcrowded unreliable public transport. Like most, for me this alarm awakens the senses from their deep recess of the weekend. But unlike most, I look forward to the commute in peak hour traffic.

Whether you’re a weekend rider or a daily commuter, the many joys of riding a motorcycle include the sense of being free of the shackles that hold back the flow of traffic. You pick your line through the maze of metal like surfing down the line of a wave or carving down the powdered slopes of a mountain. The greater the gridlock, the faster you can slide your way through. A red light ahead is an invitation to step up to the front of the line and when you arrive, there is usually a fellow rider waiting for a chat. For the daily motorcycle commuter, peak hour traffic transforms from an unavoidable mind wreck into another excuse to go for a ride.

“But for those of us who can, riding a motorcycle to work would have to be the best option”

I can halve the time it takes me to commute by car from Sydney’s Northern Beaches to the CBD by riding in each day. This doesn’t mean I need to take risks, break laws or even use aggression. I can do this by riding in a safe and responsible manner. It was a similar time saving when I lived in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne and commuted to the CBD. It’s hard to understand why more people don’t join the fast lane.

There have been several initiatives in most states to encourage people to arrive at their daily grind in ways other than in their private car. Understandably it’s just not practical for a lot of people to search out an alternative. But for those of us who can, riding a motorcycle to work would have to be the best option.

But it’s not without its drawbacks: we don’t mind the forty degree days in summer, the chilling mornings in winter or even the unexpected downpours throughout the year. These are all part of the joys of motorcycling. What takes away the joy and creates challenge is the poor quality of the roads. Having had the ‘luxury’ of being a regular on Melbourne’s roads, I’m still constantly astounded by the quality of Sydney’s roads;  they make some third world donkey trails look like Phillip Island.

While it’s unreasonable for us to expect our corridors to the city to be comparable to the pristine tarmac of a race track, the bone jarring maze of surface patchwork interrupted by pothole after pothole makes the trip to work about as relaxing as racing a MotoGP bike on a motocross track. I don’t get upset by small imperfections in the roads surface, what I’m referring to are basketball-sized holes that I’m surprised one of our riding friends hasn’t tumbled straight into, never to be seen again.

Half-arsed attempts to fix the imperfections more often than not exacerbate the problem; when a pot hole appears, instead of replacing the section of the road to ensure a permanent solution, they just throw some dirt and tar into the ditch and pat it down. After the first downpour, the hole reappears and is surrounded by loose gravel so when you suddenly brake or swerve to miss the new crater, you have the added challenge of finding grip.

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Tags: Australia, Commuting, loose gravel, metal grates, pot holes, Sydney

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