Category: Oct-Dec 2016

Jindera – Wymah – Jingellic – Walwa – Clarkes Lagoon Reserve

Saturday November 5, 2016, 85 miles (137 km) – Total so far: 2,412 miles (3,882 km)

The last weekend we rode, we rode Plan D. This weekend I think we sorta ride Plan 1A-Alternate. The past six months have been so full of frustrations and loss, and nothing I ever plan ever goes to plan (just wait, there will be more loss this week with the US election and the death of Leonard Cohen!). So this week, I planned out three possibilities, and this ride is a bit like Plan A, but not exactly. The wind will disrupt any chance of doing what I’d originally hoped. Read more →

Clarkes Lagoon Reserve – Walwa – Granya

Sunday November 6, 2016, 53 miles (85 km) – Total so far: 2,465 miles (3,967 km)

My alarm goes off at 5am. The winds are predicted to be 20-30kph with stronger gusts today. My hope is to get in some miles before the wind picks up. However, the wind never ceased overnight, and there have already been a few decent gusts. So I roll over and go back to sleep. If I’m going to have to push into it from the very start, we don’t have to start at such an indecent time. Read more →

Granya – Tallangatta – Bonegilla – Albury – Jindera

Monday November 7, 2016, 55 miles (89 km) – Total so far: 2,520 miles (4,056 km)

The wind has ceased. There is dew on the tent. The first birds sing out with first light. Let’s go.

I’m packed up and on the road in 40 minutes. Even at the end of a long tour, I can’t go from sleeping bag to pedalling much quicker than that. Read more →

Walwa to Shelley via Koetong

Saturday November 26, 2016, 39 miles (63 km) – Total so far: 2,559 miles (4,119 km)

Never ever manage a software upgrade for an organisation if you don’t love I.T. and don’t have any I.T. training. The past two months have been super shit at work. I’ve been doing some really long hours. This does mean I have time-in-lieu owing and means I can put together a four-day weekend to do a ride that I’ve been really wanting to do for some time. Read more →

Shelley – Dart River

Sunday November 27, 2016, 37 miles (60 km) – Total so far: 2,596 miles (4,178 km)

The wild dogs were howling last night. A 4WD drove slowly by the camping area on the nearby track a bit past midnight. I could hear it crunching up the gravel in the distance before there was 20 minutes of gun shots. Deer hunters. Creepy, creepy.

When people ask my dear husband if he worries about me when I take off on my own to ride my bike, he tells them: “Not too much. She looks after herself just fine. I worry a bit about bad drivers, but not so much about the camping side of it. She’s been going solo for 20-some years.” Read more →

Dart River – Hinces Creek via Nariel and Corryong

Monday November 28, 2016, 47 miles (76 km) – Total so far: 2,643 miles (4,254 km)

I wake in the night. Without the fly over the door of the tent, I can look straight up to see the stars. I spot a couple of good shooting stars in less than 3 minutes. I get up to go pee. I come back and lay there looking upward. I spot a speedy satellite. Oh, how I love nights in the tent. Then I roll over and go back to sleep.

It’s an early start. The 4WD guy yesterday scoffed at me when I said I’d be gone by 5.15am. So the lesson is this: if you ever meet a chick on a bike in the forest and any direction she came from involves a whole bunch of steep gravel, do not underestimate her. I am rolling at 5.10am – it’s not even first light yet. Read more →

Hinces Creek – Walwa

Tuesday November 29, 2016, 12 miles (19 km) – Total so far: 2,655 miles (4,273 km)

There is not much today to finish off the ride. We just need to go up and over the saddle that joins the Burrowa part of the national park from the Pine Mountain part of the park.

Yesterday’s funk doesn’t taint too much of today, but I still can’t get going until about 9.30am. It doesn’t really matter. We don’t have far to go. Read more →

Tarcutta – Adelong via Humula, Rosewood, Yaven Creek

Saturday December 3, 2016, 79 miles (128 km) – Total so far: 2,735 miles (4,401 km)

This is another ride that has been taunting me from the map for a while now. In my quest to keep riding new roads, this area of the map has a few blank bits I want to fill in. The weather looks hot, but manageable, so I make plans.

I will roll over my riding goal this weekend, and I will also roll over 20,000 miles on the bike odometer that I’ve had since 2012. So I ask dear husband if he would like to come with me Friday night to celebrate. I’m going to get a motel in Tarcutta and leave my car there. To my surprise, he actually wants to come. I know it’s not so much about celebrating my goal, because even when he is well he doesn’t care about those sorts of things, but even if it is just for a night away, at least he is out of the house. Read more →

Adelong – Tarcutta via Tumblong and Mundarlo

Sunday December 4, 2016, 42 miles (68 km) – Total so far: 2,777 miles (4,468 km)

It is pleasantly cool at 5am. I’m rolling quickly. I shove the key under the doors at the RSL club, then I’m climbing out of town. I stop at the Adelong gold site on the way out of town. I was too hot to stop yesterday. I take some pictures from the parking lot, but they don’t come out well in the early morning light. It just looks like a barren hill with some lines in it. You have to go down to the creek to see all the old workings – but I want to get going, so I don’t do this. However, my memory from when we lived in Tumut is that this is well-done with good interpretive boards. So should you come by here some day, a stop is recommended if you aren’t trying to beat the heat. Read more →