Nerd Em's Adventures
Not good. I’ve been on the bike very little and haven’t ridden more than 10 miles each time the past two months. I’ve been concentrating on trying to make a life in America work somehow. I have not been successful. It has been a very frustrating time. It looks like I may have to return to Australia. It turns out you can be away from your birth country long enough that returning is impossible. Read more
So what is there to say about August? More emotional rollercoaster but I did manage about 100 miles of day rides before I did a week-long ride with 7 mountain passes. With little pre-ride fitness, the first two days and two passes were painful. Everything but my butt came good on Day 3 and the rest of the ride was a joy (except for my poor butt which protested all 385 miles). Read more
You know one of those really long days on the bike, where you just keep riding and riding? One of those days where you aren’t sure where it will end, so you just keep pedaling and pedaling? You tick over mile after mile, growing more tired but knowing you can pedal for as long as required. But then, when you FINALLY stop, the fatigue hits you. You sit down, and that is it. You can’t pedal another revolution. You are completely exhausted. Read more
I caught up with a friend on Saturday. It showered off and on all day Sunday (thank goodness, it hadn’t precipitated in over three weeks). It rained this morning. But then the southwest sweeper of a cold front brought gusty winds and pushed out the clouds.
It is the perfect time to go ride some gravel. Not long after a rain, the dust is down and the loose stuff isn’t quite so loose. I have a lot of little unridden roads to ride, so off we go on a short ride to tick off a few on our list. (Actually, a few roads on my map, I don’t have a list.) Read more
There was a ride on my map that I was terribly disappointed not to accomplish before I left Australia permanently. It was the “Around Lake Eildon” ride. It has beckoned to me from the map and streetview for a long time. But because it’s a two -hour drive away, it just didn’t happen. But through the crazy paths of life, we find ourselves back in Oz, and the weekend weather forecast is perfect. So we get a second chance for the ride that almost got away. Read more
You know you are heading the right direction when a local asks you with a look of concern in their eyes, “Do you know where you are going”?
The question today comes from a Council worker in a b-double gravel truck that has passed me twice already hauling gravel for some road repair up ahead on Healey’s Lane. This time I’ve gotten off the single-lane road for him as I can see the cloud of dust up ahead coming my way. Read more
Any ride this weekend needs to be pretty gentle. My deteriorating front tire (about 10,000 miles on it, so it’s had a good life) has sped up its demise on the last two rough gravel rides. The fuzzy liner stuff is starting to poke through where the tire is starting to split, and you can peel back the tread in places if you desire.
I’ve got a new tire on order, but it’s winging its way from England, so I’m not sure when it will arrive. Estimated delivery times are always laughable where I live. So I wanted to do something with decent gravel and chipseal this weekend. Read more
Friday night we had our work Christmas party. My ticket number was called in the raffle which meant I got to pick a prize from the table. There were gift certificates, bottles of wine, various pamper packs, etc. But I chose a deluxo first aid kit. Everyone laughed – because they know I don’t drink much at all and don’t like anything frilly. The comments were all, “yeah, Emily would always go for something practical and sensible!” Read more
All week they’ve been warning of an ‘unprecedented rain event’ for southern NSW and Victoria. The warnings have been dire. They were predicting up to 300mm (12 inches) of rain over a couple days in our part of the state. It was supposed to start Friday and go through Sunday. We even had people at work who commute from nearby towns stay home on Friday – in case water went over the roads and they couldn’t get back home.
But Friday was a bit of a fizzer in most places. We only got about 16mm of rain where I live. It is unusual to get a day where it rains almost all day in December, but it would not be unusual at all in July or August. It even stopped raining around 4pm and the guys and I went out for a ride around town after work – just to get out. Read more
We start the trip in deficit. Yesterday I drove to Eildon straight from work. Upon arrival at 6.45pm, the petrol station, the takeaway shop, the pizza shop and the supermarket were all shut. The nasty, unmaintained pub required previous bookings. So there was nowhere to get food. I had not eaten all day and had spent two hours through the day at work doing sweaty physical labour to clean out a shipping container. So I was hungry.I was a bit concerned with my food supply anyway. I’d already figured out how I could ration the food I brought over four days. Weight vs energy needs are always a concern when doing steep gravel roads with no places to resupply. So, cautiously, Thursday night I ate one package of Madras lentils and the last 1/3 of a bag of corn chips. I went to bed hungry.
This morning we are rolling at 6am – just after sunrise. The motel owners have been kind and are letting me leave my car there (I buy them a bottle of wine on my return in thanks). I do think you could probably stealth camp at the Oval though – most other places around the pondage have ‘no camping’ signs, but because there is no vehicle access beyond the parking lot at the Oval – there is no demand there. You could set up behind the kiosk.
So we climb up first thing toward the dam wall. It’s a massive thing sitting over there. We pass the cemetery which sits under the massive high voltage power lines. The span over the lake just over the hill is the longest in the southern hemisphere at 2.2 kms. It’s an industrial feel until we turn right and up toward the marina, boat ramp and campgrounds.