Long Tours – Page 3 – Ramble Out Yonder

Unscripted – Part 2 – The Final Teaser

April 7, 2023E Sharp

The old guy is driving an early 2000s 4WD Landcruiser. There are extra water jerry cans, recovery boards and a shovel on the roof rack. He stops beside me at the intersection of a logging road and the Princes Highway. I’m refolding my map after a long morning riding up and down the gravel roads in the hills. It’s been a morning of burnt and logged trees as far as the eye can see.

The man asks me which tracks I’ve been on, their condition, and if the tracks seem like they’d get impassable after rain. I tell him what I know. He’s off to bushwalk up two of the peaks over the coming days, but he doesn’t want to get stuck if the coming rains are heavy.

I wish him luck on climbing those peaks, as I don’t think he’ll have any track to follow, even if there once was one. The fire regrowth is so thick that I’ve been stymied from riding some of the tracks I’d hoped. Some roads are still closed, and other roads that are open are so thick with vegetation that they are impassable.

Poor Verne, Kermit and I have been whacked by young vegetation on the road edge for kms upon kms the past six days. So I can’t imagine any bushwalk is going to be anything but a cross-country bushwhack and navigational nightmare.

He’s not too fussed – it’s really just about getting out and going somewhere new. When he asks where I’ve been before the last few tracks, I name off a few roads and locales.

He replies, “Well, THAT is a very big undertaking. Good on you. You must be a very hardy soul, with a durable bum and a reliable bike.”

I laugh and say, “Well, I guess you could say that.”

And then we both head on our respective ways, trying to get somewhere else before the rain comes.

Unscripted – Part 2 – 25th Anniversary

March 14, 2023E Sharp

Twenty-five years ago, in the second week of March, I was on a collision course with Nigel. We would meet on my birthday on the Great Ocean Road, after I boarded his bus in Lorne. I didn’t know that the course of my life was about to change forever.

Now, 25 years on, I’ve lived half of my whole life in Oz and almost all of my adult life.

So, in the back of my mind, I was hoping that I would be able to camp at Jacobs River somewhere in the week before or after my birthday. It’s a very special place for Nigel and me – our favourite camping spot and a place of many good memories from long ago. I wanted to spend a day there reflecting on the past 25 years – the highs, the lows, the tragedies and triumphs.

Unscripted – Part 2 – February Teaser

February 28, 2023March 4, 2023E Sharp

Crumple up a piece of paper tightly. Wad it up in your fist. Then flatten it back out. Now take a marker and draw a line along the crumpled ridges. Where one ridge ends, drop your marker down into a valley of the crumpled paper and then draw a line up to the next ridge. Repeat again and again on that crumpled mess of highs and lows.

And that is what riding the Eastern Uplands of Victoria is like. That’s been our life on the forested roads the past two months.

Unscripted – Part 2 – January Teaser

January 30, 2023February 1, 2023E Sharp

Here is a teaser summary of life on the forest roads for January. I’ll write up the trip properly when the weather turns and I wrap up this part of the tour.

I’m currently in Bairnsdale where the super-knowledgeable and helpful staff at Bairnsdale Bikes are hooking me up with a new chain, spare tubes and a few other bits and pieces of maintenance. The vibe there is awesome and they even have a coffee bar if you need a caffeine fix. So give them a visit if you are in that town and need some bike love.

Unscripted – Part 1 Review – Food/ protein and fibre

January 4, 2023January 5, 2023E Sharp

This is the food review for Unscripted Part 1 with a focus on getting enough protein and fibre. If you would like to see the bike and gear review, please see my previous post.

Unscripted – Part 1 Review – Bike and gear

January 1, 2023January 4, 2023E Sharp

The rain did its thing. So did the wind. And the cold. And through all of that, we tried to do our thing. The conditions this spring really were extraordinary. The temps and precipitation made it more of a winter ride than anything I thought I would ever see for a sustained period in October, November or December.

I thought I might reflect on the ride, the route, the bike, the gear etc. in case it is helpful for planning future tours or for anyone reading this.

Unscripted – Week 11 – Strathbogie State Forest to Jindera

December 28, 2022December 28, 2022E Sharp

17 – 21 December 2022

315 kms (196 miles)

Total trip kms: 3248 kms (2018 miles)

The first real love of my bike life was my Columbia Blue Angel. I looked at the bike every time we went to Ayr-way and dreamed of riding it. I’d only known hand-me-down bikes up til then. My parents eventually bought me that banana seat bike that was blue with images of clouds and sea gulls on the banana seat. I was seven. Oh, I loved that bike and spent heaps of time on it.

After I outgrew that bike, I had a nondescript red Huffy girl’s ten speed. The coolest thing about that bike was that it had an odometer with white numbers that clicked over and a rudimentary speedometer with a little needle to point toward the speed.

Unscripted – Week 10 – Castlemaine to Strathbogie State Forest

December 27, 2022December 27, 2022E Sharp

10 – 16 December 2022

289 kms (180 miles)

Total trip kms: 2933 kms (1822 miles)

It is in the silence of the forest, when I can hear my heart beating and the quiet rasp of my lungs breathing, that I feel most complete. It is where I feel tiny but whole, finite but completely connected. It is among the trees that my thoughts branch out like an old growth eucalypt, scarred and knobby from time and experience but with fresh growth reaching for new heights. The consumerist world recedes and life becomes focused on the immediate here and now. The world expands to show me my tiny place within it but also recedes to the basics of movement, food, water and shelter. This is where I want to be. Always.

And so we’re heading east today, out of the built-up areas and agriculture to end our last couple weeks of Part 1 with a fair amount of time in the forest.

Unscripted – Week 9 – Glenalbyn State Forest to Castlemaine

December 26, 2022E Sharp

3 – 9 December 2022

255 kms (158 miles)

Total trip kms: 2644 kms (1643 miles)

The Christmas chocolates are on sale. There are carols on the overhead speakers at the supermarket. But it doesn’t feel like we are approaching Christmas – a North American one or an Australian one. Most days still feel like late Australian winter, so it seems so incongrous to see people buying tinsel when it’s 15 degrees.

However, the past couple days have been warm. Today will crack 30 – something that would normally occur back in October. And the forecast for tomorrow is 34. That’s hot. And Christmas-y. It’s a bit odd to have two days where I’m considering heat instead of rain in my riding plans.

Unscripted – Week 8 – Avoca to Glenalbyn State Forest

December 7, 2022December 7, 2022E Sharp

26 November – 2 December 2022

440 kms (274 miles)

Total trip kms: 2389 (1484 miles)

There’s a somewhat famous quote at the end of the movie “Back to the Future” where Doc says, “Roads, where we are going, we don’t need roads”! Doc says this in response to Marty’s concern that they didn’t have enough road to get the Delorean up to 88 mph to launch into time travel. As the movie ends, the Delorean lifts its wheels and flies away.

Well, I’ve been thinking of this scene when I think about what makes a great tour for me – just being out on forest roads amongst the trees and hills. So when I get stuck in towns (taking pics of buildings)… well, that’s not a whole lot of fun for me. I enjoy looking at buildings when I’m in town to resupply, but if I’m just riding from town to town, well… that’s pretty boring for me.

So when I’ve been thinking of what makes a good ride, my head says, “where we’re going, there are no buildings”!

So it is only appropriate that I mentioned the Back to the Future quote in my reply to Greg’s comment on a previous post the other day. Little did I know that in a couple days I would end up riding for a while without buildings OR roads….