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Episode 1: Bike Ride

Episode 1: Bike Ride
In this episode we join Jasmine as she rides down a mountain trail.

Transcript

Today we join Jasmine as she rides down a mountain trail.

Today we're cycling down Mt Lofty.

The friends I have with me today are friends that I met at uni. One of them cycles a lot.

The other two, they don't usually cycle.

We start at the summit of Mt Lofty and then we ride all the way down through Cleland Conservation Park and finish off in Adelaide.

'Finish off' in Adelaide. Finish off, like finish up is just another way of saying finish. You can finish off or finish up a meal or a chore, but you would only say Jasmine has 'finished off' getting ready by putting on a helmet:

Downhill, almost all the way.

That's good news.

Almost.

Almost.

Almost, not all.

Just one little climb.

As Jasmine says, almost means not all, but most. Most of the way is downhill.

There's just a few things I probably ought to tell you…

He 'ought to' tell them. Something you 'ought to' do is something you should do or are obliged to do.

There's just a few things I probably ought to tell you. Okay. Hydraulic disc brakes are really good, because they work really, really well. That does mean you have to be careful because they work really, really well.

Notice that he repeats 'really' to emphasise how well the brakes work.

The bike will stop very quickly, and you might not. Okay?

I can realise you sort of have to control the brakes and make sure you don't brake too quickly

You 'make sure' that you don't use the brake too much. Here, to 'make sure' means to be aware or be careful. Another way of using 'make sure' is to say that you have checked that something works. Jasmine could 'make sure' that the brakes work. So what happens if you brake too quickly?

I can realise you sort of have to control the brakes to make sure you don't brake too quickly and then you will lose your balance.

Losing your balance is falling over.

I like the outdoors but I guess sometimes life just gets busy and you're caught up with assignments and school and I don't get to spend a lot of time in the outdoors.

She said she gets 'caught up with' assignments. To be caught up is to be involved. You can say that you are 'caught up in' or 'caught up with' work or study.

We're running this as a bit of a test case to demonstrate that cycling can work in the parks, as long as it's done, you know, carefully and in a controlled manner.

'We're running this as a bit of a test case' - they're showing that bikes can be used in the parks without causing damage.

Has anyone spotted the koalas?

To 'spot' something is to find it.

I think it was the first time all of us had done something like this and there were some accidents on the way. I think almost all of us fell off our bikes and one of us got the tyre punctured.

Notice that she uses the past tense of fall, fell:

Today was awesome. I'm glad that I only fell off once, and I managed to, you know, manoeuvre through the parts that were sort of a bit more tricky and I'm looking forward to my next mountain biking experience.

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