Sunday July 5, 2009, 135 km (84 miles) - Total so far: 135 km (84 miles)
The big day had finally come. After weeks of planning and organising, we were finally ready to leave the familiar roads of Melbourne for the (not so) great unknown of country Victoria, NSW and that behemoth of Australian cities, which despite being bigger than our humble town, could not possibly come close to comparing (but we had to visit just to check): Sydney.
I'd set a ridiculously early rendevouz time at my house and was somewhat relieved that the two guys (James and Matt Z) who were meant to be meeting me at 6:20 AM were not there at the appointed hour, because I was running late as always:P I'd left the packing until the night before and hadn't gotten much sleep at all, so I did my best to throw things into my pannier bags and hoped that I hadn't forgotten anything. The other guys seemed better prepared, except for Matt Z who had only the night before discovered that his bike did not have the requisite braze-ons to accommodate the pannier rack he'd purchased. We ended up having to take most of his gear for him, which wasn't optimal, but what-can-ya-do?
The sun was just starting to rise when we set off and the traffic was minimal, so the ride into the city was quite nice. We did go quite slowly, however, and I think that was mainly because of me. I'd forgotten what it feels like to ride with fully loaded panniers!
Having met Jonathan just down the road and Anand on the bike path, the group was almost together, save for Matt Morris, who was dragged into the peloton after a mandatory group shot at Fed Square in the city:
Spirits were high as we headed for Plenty rd, eager to get out of the city. So eager was Jono that he managed to get his (two-wheeled) trailer to do a wheelie as he accelerated round a corner. No harm was done, but it looked pretty cool! Matt Morris was the first casualty of the day and headed the customary 'shout for flatting out' beer tally list after getting a flat (although further inspection revealed no actual puncture, just a twisted tube) on the glass riddled streets of Northcote and then having a frayed brake cable snap in the repair process. Luckily there was a bike shop nearby and while half the group attempted to fit a new cable, I sat on a bench and ate my snacks:P 'Too many mechanics spoil the oil cloth' after all;)
The little delay cost us about half an hour, but we set good time after that and were soon out of the trendy inner suburbs and into the McMansion/Bogan zone. I was chastised for riding off the back by a group of five rat-tailed sk8er-bois who high fived everyone else and then mooned me, the little scum bags!
A little way before Whittlesea, we saw a sign for cheap apples and made a spur of the moment decision to pick some up. As far as riding food goes, it's probably not ideal, but my rumbling tummy appreciated the freshly picked Pink Lady apples and pears. Overhead, the sky started to rumble, and it was on with the jackets as we were treated with a sprinkling of rain. It didn't last very long thankfully, but we were careful to avoid any discussion of the weather after that, as there was a shared feeling that a comment along the lines of 'Gee the weather is fantastic today' may have aroused the wrath of the gods.
The testing phase of the day began near Wandong when we were met by a series of climbs. On a road bike they're nothing to worry about, but with our bikes/trailers loaded down we found it hard going and I found myself eyeing off the day's elevation profile a bit too often hoping for the large spike to somehow disappear off the page. It wasn't to be, however, we did find consolation in a food stop at Wandong where we were first berated by the fish and ship owner for leaning our bikes against her glass shop window and then scoffed at by cigarette smoking tweens:P
Just as we left the town, the heavens really opened up and I got quite soaked before I had a chance to put my jacket on. No sooner had I done so when the rain stopped and more hills appeared, causing me to sweat profusely beneath my suddenly too thick clothing. One can hardly complain about sun though and together with a deserted road and lovely bush scenery, it made for very picturesque riding.
We were covering ground at a good rate, but the short day was threatening to end, and our google maps-derived directions had led us to a dead end, so we decided to bite the bullet and get off the scenic road and onto the roar of the Hume highway. It was loud, nasty and brutish (sorry Hobbs), but it led us in the right direction, and the din of trucks abusing their compression brakes really got us moving fast. Just as darkness was beginning to descend, we made the turn off to Seymour and thus completed the day's ride.
Searching for accommodation, we first tried A CErtain caravan park, whose name I will not mention ( ;-) ) and whose proprietors appeared much more interested in the puffs of smoke inside their office than in procuring our custom. The second place we tried was much better and the manageress went to great lengths to make sure we were comfortable. After locking our bikes to her daughter's car port, we began to set up camp and it was at this point I discovered that my rushed packing process had resulted in my leaving something rather important behind: the tent poles....:S Doh! Displaying great ingenuity (I thought), I managed to rig up a structure that somewhat resembled a tent, but whose water-resistant properties were likely non-existent.
Matt Z (who was to share the tent) was amazingly non-plussed, but when the opportunity presented itself to buy another tent (at Woolworths of all places), he declined the invitation to overnight in my humble abode. I was too stubborn to join him and despite the significant risk of waking up in a swimming pool, managed to have a decent night's sleep.
Further comedy that night was provided by the following events:
- James basically passing out from exhaustion as soon as he'd set up the tent
- Local lads heckling Matt Z and I when we went for a run in our cycling knicks:
"Youse trainin for footy or somethin?"
- yeah
"Then what's all that spandex for? I just run naked"
- James waking up and attempting to consume 3L worth of powdered milk in one sitting:P
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