End of the day GVBR

Just had to post this considering it's been maybe 20 years since I was in Yackandandah.

Last time I visited Yack I think I was returning from a weekend on the Murray, either the Norton Owners rally at Tintaldra or one of those other rowdy affairs in Walwa, I can't remember exactly which. Motorcycle rallies in the 1990s really went off.... Well the Norton Owners Rally was always a bit more refined ;).

Anyway I dug up and scanned an old photo from the day. The image is of me standing beside the original Fat Boy and my 250 Virago outside the Yackandandah Motor Garage. I compared it with a photo I took while there two weeks ago and as you can see the paint has aged and the building is no longer being used as a service station, the bowser has been removed. Actually it's now an art gallery with the most amazing ironwork I've ever seen!

Now and Then shot. That's what 20 years of weather can do

Sometimes I reminisce about those days when I zoomed around the country on a motorbike, there was such a feeling of freedom and power, it was really magic to cruise through the high country of Victoria and along the Murray Valley. These days though I'm really getting into riding my  bicycle and taking it all a bit slower. More natural, more sweat, more effort, less speed. Same country, different pace. I thought it fitting that the garage has done away with fosil fuels and been transformed into something more creative... I hope I have too.

Great Vic. A bike ride... Part VIII

Day 4 - 2nd December 

Bright - Moyhu

Last post for this ride I reckon! It's been nearly a week since I ended the ride and it's really becoming hazy in my mind.
Tuesday 2nd December.... 45th anniversary of my birth.
Packed up wet tent, had breakfast early, loaded gear in truck rolled out of Bright at 6:45, the air was cool, sky was blue through a veil of mist, road dry, skin tingling from the coolness. Perfect day for a ride.

The ride along the Great Alpine Rd to Myrtleford. The most beautiful scenery, riding through a valley full of old tobacco drying towers, hopps gardens, grapes and various other crops. 84 km of downhill cruising, you can peddle along at a comfortable speed of around 30km/h.

The camp at Bright

I stopped in Myrtleford for a breakfast birthday treat and a chat with some other riders then slowly made my way back into the growing throng of riders and was soon turning left into Snow Rd headed, in a round about way to Moyhu. The road continued downhill and the landscape and foliage began to change as we descended the hill. We arrived in Moyhu before lunch time. It was quite a contrast from soggy Bright. Dry yellow fields, a very small town nestled between the eucalyptus on the banks of the King River. I think we're still in wine country but the field we camped in was rutted from the hooves of cattle.

Moyhu camp, drying our wet gear out

Birthday treat

The people of the town had converted their local park into a kind of mini carnival ready for a street party to welcome the riders.  The streets were decorated with bikes of every kind and in all kinds of condition.

colourful decorated bike Moyhu

Frightening reminder

It was a very hot day so I shouted myself a sorbet icecream. Riding back into town I was told we can swim in the river, just a kilometer down the road. Fantastic! I get to cool off and don't need to cue for a cramped 2 minute shower!

King river swimming hole

I had some pretty good company for dinner, unfortunately I've forgotten my new friends names, A fella in his 50s along with his daughter and her fiance, we had a great chat for an hour or so before dinner then the crowds started to appear and I decided it was time to make room for people to sit and eat their dinner. It amazes me the people who do these rides! Families, people of all ages and ability, it's fantastic to be amongst so much good spirit, enthusiasm and zest for life. This had been a good day, right up until I finished my dinner.

After dinner I started to feel a bit off, the feeling became worse all evening until I couldn't bear it and went to the sick bay. I just wanted to vomit but couldn't.

At the sick bay I was treated for dehydration, they stuck a saline drip in my arm and jabbed me with anti nausea something or other. It didn't work and by 2am I was spewing my guts out in the middle of a paddock.

Didn't get much sleep all night but at least I got rid of the nausea.

Day 5 Moyhu - Mansfield

The longest ride on this trip, this day was scheduled to be the most challenging ride day. At first I thought there's no way I can ride. I had intended to sleep in and just ride the sag wagon all the way to Mansfield but something compelled me to pack up my gear and get going.

I left camp reasonably late and experienced what it's like to ride at the back with the stragglers and the goof offs. I say goof offs because there were quite a few school groups toward the back and they didn't show any of the discipline I'd become used to with the front riders. The boys were all over the road and there were a lot more people to contend with. People were riding at very different paces and there were so many of them that there was constant need to overtake, It was much harder to avoid collisions riding at the back.

I was feeling very weak but determined to go as far as I could... By morning tea time I was spent! I'd peddled just 24km and I felt like I was going to have a seizure! I'd reached my limit. I pulled up on a patch of grass and felt reasonably content that I'd given it my best. Most of the next 50 km would be up hill. I was in no condition to do that so I decided to end the ride there.

When the road headed uphill at the Mansfield - Whitfield Rd I sat comfortably in the 'Sag Wagon' (the bus used to ferry all the little engines that couldn't). While in the bus I broke into a fever and had the shakes. I dozed and woke and dozed and all the time we were climbing. As I looked out the window from time to time I could see exhausted riders pushing their bikes up the hill. When we reached the top of the hill there was a road block. That's when we heard the news that a rider had been killed. A man in his 60s had lost control and fallen in front of a truck. Very sad.

End of ride odometer reading

I spent the rest of the day in Mansfield staggering around with a fever, I tried setting up my camp when I eventually found my gear but was in such terrible shape I ended up back at the sick bay, sleeping on the sick bay floor, fever, headache, etc... Apparently it was a virus which was starting to spread through the camp.

My family had been calling and Mum and Dad decided they weren't going to let me spend the night shivering and sweating in my tent so they drove 2 hours to come and get me.... Can't say I was disappointed to have a bed to sleep in that night.

I didn't mind missing the final days ride so much but would have liked to see a bit more of Mansfield. This had been an amazing ride through beautiful country. The Great Vic Bike Ride was the most incredibly well organized event I've ever been to. I've never ridden in a large group before and the experience was a little overwhelming. All up I cycled 420 km. I'm glad I did it! But now I've got to go and take care of my sick kid!

Great Vic. A bike ride... Part VII

Day 3 - 1st December 2014

Yackandandah - Bright

Got the routine down pat. Up super early (5:30am) Pack up sleeping gear, prepare bike for ride, eat breakfast early to avoid the crowd, pack up tent and stow gear in truck.... Start riding 6:45am!

Big ride today! There's a big lump of rock between Yackandandah and Bright and it ain't moving!

It was a hot day, good riding felt a lot stronger by now and was finally over my dehydration but tired from not enough sleep. The events of the various days rides are becoming foggy to me now but here's a few highlights.

Following the road from right to left. The uphill started just off screen and ended before the first white dot on the blue line.. The whole rest of the way was downhill! Sweeeet ride!

After a long and beautiful ride along the Kiewa Valey Highway we took a sharp right turn onto the infamous Tawonga Gap Road....!! Which makes a serious incline over the mountain range separating Bright from Mount Beauty. Up up up... we rode. A lot of people started walking outright at the beginning of the road. I dreaded the thought of giving up too soon so I shifted to a low gear and peddled on. No one was passing me and after about a km I stopped passing other riders, we just strained and pushed, heaving one rotation of the chain-ring after the next. Finally I stopped riding, pulled over and had a drink. After the first stop and as I became tireder the temptation to stop became greater until it seemed I was stopping for a rest every 500 metres... (I'm sure I was riding further than that but not much) oddly as frequently as I was stopping not many passed me. Everyone struggled on this hill! 

Going up? (7km climb - 20km descent)

Sweet cool water for your climb

Yep! I wore the cycle gear!

Toward the top of the hill a group of us stopped at Lawler Spring, where sweet fresh water flows from the ground. 

Musical encouragement

At the top of the hill we were met with a juice jug band and jelly beans! 

Google maps describes the site as German Town, Tawonga Gap Rd but there is no town, just a lookout. From that point on we had a 20km down hill ride all the way into Bright! Orright!

Bits of rim metal not a good look for downhill breaking!

Top speed riding down the hill 67.5 km/h. Coulda gone a lot faster but my breaks were dodgy and I'd only replaced the front ones back in Yack... so it so chances of a prang were pretty high at faster speed. Managed most 35 - 45 km/h corners at 50. A couple of riders came off on the downhill and the Police had to start regulating groups descending. I was lucky to have a free ride down and not have to follow a police bike.

Unloading semitrailer No.5

My tent before the rain

Taking refuge from the storm

Being among the first to leave camp in the morning and having made it to the top of the hill on reasonable time I made Bright fairly early, in time to unload the truck and set up camp before rain.

I watched people ride in the rain. Latecomers had to ride in the Hail.

On that night I was lucky enough to go to sleep in warm dry tent in the middle of a very damp paddock.

Great Vic. A bike ride... Part VI

Official Ride day 1. Sunday 30th November

Day 2.

Woke sometime around 5:30am to the sound of heavy machinery flashing lights and reverse beep-beep-beep of fork lifts... I fumble around with the zipper of my tent look out and find people are packing their gear and getting ready for their first day of riding.

Figuring it best to beat the crowd I packed my gear, loaded it into the nearest truck (5), and jumped in the breakfast line, it was about 6am. In the cue there were about 20 people ahead of me, but when I looked over my shoulder I could see a long line stretching well past my camp on the river bank and up the hill toward the main entry already well over a couple of hundred meters long. Phew! I'd made it just before the crowd. I thought to myself 'Man! I'd hate to be at the end of that cue!' But actually the cues move amazingly fast! At every meal there are at least 5 serving bays and each of those bays has about 5 people serving. So the line just keeps moving, people sit at one of a sea of tables to eat their breakfast, or Dinner and are replaced by the people coming behind them, pretty soon 4,000 people have been well fed. It really is an amazing sight.

So on Day 1 we rode from Albury to Yackandandah via the Hume Dam!
This was my first experience of riding with a large group and I was quite excited. I pushed off with a group of young guys, one of whom was carrying some kind of sound system in his backpack so we had music... for a while. I soon discovered that people ride at very different pace and I tended to want to stay away from large clumps of riders so I tended to push forward to get away from the crowd, rather than dropping back. By the time we'd climbed a few small hills the field had spread out and I was in a comfortable riding space with some serious riders around me.

Crossing Hume Dam wall

 Fairly early on the ride we rolled down across the Hume Dam, which produced a kind of euphoric feeling of freedom and awe at the beauty of the country we were in.

Heading toward Yackandandah or 'Yack' as the locals call it we had a fair bit of up hill work to do, it was quite strenuous but the encouragement of other riders made it somehow easier to keep peddling (Or maybe that was competitive pride?), then amazingly several km before Yackandanda the road started to slope downwards and riders had a freewheeling free ride all the way into town! (Or quite a fast ride for those of us who preferred to keep our legs pumping!)

As we zoomed into Yackandandah we were greeted by a welcoming parade of locals who stayed (in the heat of the day) to welcome all riders over a period of about 4 hours! The town of Yackandandah was very welcoming. Cyclists mingled with locals and sat in the shade of the main street caffe's, museum, art gallery, grassy park and the pub, where live music was playing. The people at Yack were very welcoming and friendly, it was a great place to spend the day.

Yackandandah community welcoming party

Yackandandah Unicyclists.

 We had to wait a couple of hours for the camp to open, but when it did it was amazing! A duplication of what had been in Albury, a virtual portable village! Bike shop, food stalls, camping shop, first aid, etc... etc... and the giant marquee. It was a hot day and the sports field was in full sun but I was lucky to find a shady spot under at tree by the creek, where I spent the later hours of the day chilling out and cooling my heals.

Fresh water Spiny Tailed Crayfish

This ride is pretty amazing! All I need to do is peddle and put up my tent, everything else is totally catered for by the ride organizers! Just line up with your plate at dinner time and you get an awesome meal (wash your own plate), after dinner you can sit back and watch a movie on the giant outdoor screen or listen to live music, or just head into town and see what's going on in there.

Really loving this ride so far!

Great Vic. A bike ride... Part V

Plans, Mice and Men!

To Melbourne on the plane:

No Problemo! One bag of carry on luggage. One bike stuffed into a cardboard box. My sister even came and picked me up from the airport, and gave me a bed for the night and even cooked me a delicious omelet in the morning. It was great to see her and my two nephews again.

Mulwala - 24km south of Moyhu (Sunday 30th Nov. - Wednesday 3rd Dec.)

Before I left Darwin I attended a talk by the author Arnold Zable who mentioned the two archetype story tellers (and so I presume 2 basic stories), one is the role of the great law/lore keepers which we have depended on throughout time to keep our aural history and record happenings in our society, maintain relations, family connections, interesting events, the law and what we call lore etc... the other which we are most familiar with these days is The Hero's Journey. Zabel told the story well, I'm not going to try and recount it for you but it was great to listen to... Fundamentally though my reason for mentioning this is that my posts lately have been around a journey... The Great Victorian Bike Ride 2014. Since the story is about my journey you won't find much in the way of heroics, but out of the two story modes I don't have many options.

A good story usually has a bit of drama. It's probably the drama which makes the difference between an ordinary travel log and an adventure story. Now I believe the great and Internationally infamous traveler Kris Larsen loathes to be called and adventurer, since that implies he is reckless and does not take precautions. I am not he, or like to him much at all, and if I had to live through his 'travels' my hair would have dropped out from fear, struggle or suffering (or before it even came to that fear of the struggle and suffering)! So I will take caution in the use of the word adventure, especially since this was a very well organized trip, but I must say.... as I began, like most road trips this one did not go exactly to plan.

The Journey

Change of plan: Instead of catching the train to Shepparton my parents decided to take a road trip with me to Yarrawongah / Mulwala which saved me 1 day of riding and gave us some time together.

Ride Day 1. 

Mulwala - Albury 99km

Route day one: I intended to ride through Victoria and to see Rutherglen but decided there wouldn't be time

Club Mulwala... It's huge.

Had breakfast at Club Mulwala (the most enormous RSL club I've ever, ever seen!) with Mum and Dad, then headed off on the NSW side of the border, following a cycle path along the lake through Kyffins Reserve where there was free camps right at the waters edge. (I'm still struggling with the idea that you can walk right into the rivers and lakes here with not a thought of crocodiles)

Me before the big ride. The bike is all painted up with anti fracking stuff... and #Freethechildren !

The reserve soon ended and I was cycling along Spring Drive which after Corowa became the Riverina Highway. There's a lot of wheat and sheep in this country. It's fairly dry but close to the rive so they have water for irrigation.

Basically after Corowa I had head winds most of the rest of the way to Howlong. Yes by the time I'd reached Howlong I was asking myself the same question!
It was about 1:30pm, I was dehydrated and tired, sculled a 750ml bottle of some fancy energy drink from the shop and pushed off into the wind and now hills to try and make Albury by 3pm.

Tough ride! Met up with Mum and Dad again at Wonga wetlands and they gave me a ride to the Base Camp for the GVBR2014.

Staggered into camp at around 3:30 and the sight nearly floored me! I can't remember having seen so many people in one place before and they were all there for the bike ride, the magnitude stunned me. What have I gotten myself into?

This is only a fraction of the tents on site in Albury. The camp went a lot further back than you can see here.