Advertisement
Published: February 3rd 2005
2005/02 Entry 1
Well, i'm not sure how i should be updating this blog, but i've written stuff in my journal that i may as well just type into here - it'll save me having to think about what i did again, plus in case my journal gets stolen or something......hopefully it's not too long winded for you, and if there are any spelling mistakes, it's because i'm rushing it - or i have no idea, anyway.....here comes day 1 !!!
DAY 1 : Orange --> Trunkey Creek
ODO = 79km, DST = 79km, MAX = 51km/h
Well, there was a huge rush in the morning trying to get everything sorted out. By 11am i had everything checked off and it actually all fit into my panniers - even the food esky seemed to work out ok.
The next half hour was very sad as i said goodbye to Lisa. I finally hopped on the bike and waved goodbye - which wasn't the smartest of things to do because i'd never ridden a bike with front panniers before and as i waved i started swerving all over the place.
I eventually straightened out and headed off.
There was a slight tail wind into
Blayney. THe bike and myself arrived feeling good - this is easier than i thought. I had a banana sandwich lunch, refilled the water bottles and headed out of Blayney - there's not much to see in Blayney, especially on a Sunday.
It was about 3pm at this stage and i finally met some hills. The old 1-1 gear ratio (easiest) was put into frequent use as i lugged my 16kg bike + 25kg load (unofficial) up the hills.
The first 25km out of Blayney were pretty draining and i soon put out visions of making it to Abercrombie caves by today. I made it to
Trunkey creek by about 6:30pm. Then i put my bike against a pole and i went for a sleep on the grass for an hour.
Upon awakening i found a good camping spot on an oval - i'm not sure what the oval was for, the closest thing i can think of is a racecourse, because in the morning i awoke to a horse running around the oval pulling a guy in a little two wheeled cart.
Anyway, that night i got to
bed at around 10:30pm, hopefully i can get to bed earlier next time.
DAY 2 : Trunkey Creek --> Binda
ODO = 151.4km, DST = 66.6km, MAX = 71km/h
After waking up at 7:30am i spent the next 3hours fiddling around - changing my seat position, putting some duct tape on the seat to keep it together and just repacking everything into my panniers to that it made sense.
After finally leaving i felt a little sore, i think i pushed myself too hard the first day. It was pretty much all uphill to the
Abercrombie caves and so when i got there i didn't really feel like going downhill another 5k's just to come back up it again - i'll see more caves when i'm more fit😉
The downhill from Abercrombie was awesome, mostly unsealed. Although, i was already beginning to dread the large downhills, because they usually meant that i was about to climb a big uphill. I had to stop more often than I would have expected, my energy just seemed to be drained.
I eventually made it into
Tuena where the locals sitting ouside of the pub were placing bets
as to what country I was from as I approached them.
"Oh, you're an aussie then!" "We thought you must have been a yank or something" "We don't see many Aussie riders - they're usually a bit smarter" HaHa they laughed, just being a little cheeky😊
They stocked me up with water and told me of what lied ahead..."Oh, it's all flat from here to Crookwell" said one of the guy's. They sat silent for a couple of seconds before bursting out with laughter...i groaned..."no, you've got a few steep ones that's for sure"....If anything most motorists usually underestimate how hilly a place is, for them to say what they said could only be bad.
And it was. 5min out of Tuena and I was walking my bike up a hill - must have taken me 20mins. Added to this was the fact that everytime I tried to change into 1-1 on my gears the chain would shoot past the last (biggest) rear cog and jam up. It'd then take me a few minutes trying to extricate the bloody thing.
There weren't many trees to hide under so as soon as i found a little patch I
plonked myself down and had a rest. I did this a couple of more times - there was a very nice sleeping spot under a pine tree. I was 40km into the day and absolutely knackered. I was seriously thinking of camping right there under the pine tree. But i pushed off again at around 4:30pm, sun still blazing down.
The next 10km were pretty torturous - more walking. Even fairly small hills were too much. Stupid summer😊)...yeh yeh, you told me so....get back to work;P
I said to myself "If i see any more big hills that's it, no more riding for today." I was fortunate though, because the next 15km were flat or downhill and i flew along.
I only had 1 bottle of water left as i arrived in
Binda and i was just hoping it'd be a bigger place than i thought. I was again very lucky as the general store (the only shop in town) was just closing (7pm) and i managed to wrap my hands around a bottle of
passionfruit pasito....oohhh yeh!!
I camped at the back of the tennis courts, got bitten by a few mozzies, had dinner, then
had a sleep - nice and muggy weather - doh!
DAY 3 : Binda --> Goulburn
ODO = TBA, DST = about 70km, MAX = TBAkm/h
Again I was feeling very tired in the morning. I didn't have the best of sleeps. I didn't take off until 11am so i was a bit annoyed with myself - i *should* be leaving by 8am at the latest. As it was the sun was blazing once again. I was just going to make it to Crookwell then see how i felt.
Then i met someone who is probably the most strange/amazing/warped/nice person i've ever met. Her name was
Christina. She/he is a 47 year old
transvestite . I met her pushing her bike up the opposite side of the road. The reason she was pushing the bike was not because she didn't look fit (she wasn't) but because she was hauling 2 trailers with a combined weight of
300kg. You'll have to see the photos. There was the dog up the front, the foldup chair, fishing gear, 3weeks of food,
10 litres of water, car stereo with big speakers blasting the radio at her and everything else - the trailers themselves looked like they weight 40kilos each. The pink dress and red nail polish on finger and toe nails was a nice touch aswell. She's been riding for 14months from Darwin, down the centre then cutting across to where she is now, 6000km so far.
She still smokes and rides with thongs. She said in all seriousness "the people in Crookwell" think us cyclists are a strange lot". Hmmm, yeh, no kidding.... I felt sorry for her as I thought about where I had come from and where she too would have to walk her bike + 300kg! I warned her of what was to come and we said goodbye. It had taken her 4hours to do the last 10km from
Crookwell and would probably take her 3more to do the next 10km to Binda (where she's going to camp).
I managed to do the next 10k's in an hour or so, had a rest, then a huge lunch - roast beef and salad roll + chicken and salad roll - the waitress said "Is someone else oging
Crookwell windfarm
luckily for the first few days i've had a slight tail wind (or no wind at all)...to be joining you then?" heheh, no ma'am its just for me;P
I polished that off pretty quickly and had an apple for good measure....went to the supermarket and, feeling much better, decided to go for
Goulburn, 47km further.
Oh yeh, when i arrived i met a belgium couple, mid 20's, riding their bikes from Melbourne to Brisbane. They'd just been to New Zealand and thought it was amazing. They were heading the way i just came - i warned them of the hills and said to say hello to Christina for me (they were going to camp in Binda also).
The ride out of crookwell was good, averaging 25km/h for a while. The hills were not too steep. I passed the windfarm - was pretty impressive with all the thunderclouds in the background.
There was lightning to the left and lightning to the right, but it was clear up above and i had a nice little tailwind.
So yeh, my shoulders and arms were hurting as i came into Goulburn, but otherwise i was ok.
I found Neville's place (lisa's uncle) and had a nice shower and a T-bone steak....and a good sleep....it's
gonna be a rest day tomorrow😉
Advertisement
Tot: 0.155s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 60; dbt: 0.0561s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Ali
Ali Watters
Christina's Road Train Bike is Fantastic!
Thanks for posting that - brought a huge smile to my face :) Long live the eccentric and good luck on the road.