So my holiday plans have gone awry. On the plus side, I guess I’m now a real cyclist. Most of my first day’s ride was very nice; I left Marrickville and headed through Pyrmont and across the bridge, exchanging occasional greetings with other cyclists who asked where I was going. I took part in my first cycle-traffic jam as I… Read more →
Having discovered that my carefully planned route north, that goes out of its way to avoid the Pacific Highway (about an extra 50km total, climbing over the Great Dividing Range and a couple of 150km days), is not feasible any more due to drought conditions along the way, I’ve been forced to reevaluate my concerns about the Pacific Highway. It… Read more →
For more than a decade, I have day-dreamed about riding from Sydney to the far north coast of NSW (Mullumbimby). I used to drive the Pacific Highway once a year on holidays every since I moved to Sydney but, ever since getting into cycling and then seeing the reports of the old Comm. Bank Cycling Classic as it passed through… Read more →
Last weekend, I started my testing of what was not waterproof on the bike. Firstly, I put a bowl with a brick in it in each liner bag and let it sink into a bucket of water. Within a minute there was a centimetre or so of water in the bowl in every case. I first suspected that the seal… Read more →
I’m home and back in the land of decent Thai food 🙂 Everything got wetter than I immediately saw in Coffs Harbour; it appears that the inner liner sacks have a life of about 15 years, and they’re looking a bit mildewy and damp. Water came through in all panniers to some degree, and then soaked into stuff at the… Read more →
My hope for a wet day came true. It must have rained all night and it was still teeming in the morning. I just focused on turning the pedals over as evenly as possible and on the road just in front of me. When I next looked around, 20km had passed. Water was centimeters over the road at Braunstone and… Read more →
Today was a good day. I left Casino at about 6:20 and the skies were overcast with temperatures in the low 20s all the way to Whiporie at about 9:45. After a milkshake and some of a burger I pushed on, making good time. The temperature increased but only to the high 20s. Skies were still overcast with intimations of… Read more →
I left Huonbrook at about 6:40, this morning. It was quite overcast so I didn’t put on sunscreen. By the time I reached the bottom of Montecollum it looked decidedly clearer and I applied some at the side of the road. However, it wasn’t until after Lismore that the skies really cleared enough for it to be necessary. The Goonengerry… Read more →
I left Uki this morning at about 6:30 and shortly thereafter it bucketed down all the way along Smith’s Creek Road until I reached the hill. Like last time I had to walk up it, being nominally a 15% gradient. That said, there’s a sign on the Burringbar Range southwards that indicates a 15% gradient, but it’s certainly no more… Read more →
It seems wrong that a town just 20km or so from one of the major population centres of the far north coast is without mobile reception, but there you have it. I’m typing this up for transmission tomorrow. Today’s ride was hot and slow. Naughton’s Gap was an early indication of the overall tenor of the day; I crawled up… Read more →
I set off at about 6:30 and, apart from a little fog on the outskirts of Grafton, there was hardly a cloud in the sky. It’s a boring ride in general from Grafton to Casino, with the main sights being roadkill and potholes, so I was pleased (for a while) to be diverted by the antics of my new Edge… Read more →
But it was overcast and sprinkling when I left Coffs. Sometime during the night it bucketed down (and apparently did in Grafton too) and the road was wet all the way to Coramba. The climb out of Coffs was hard again. Flicking through all the data fields on the edge, I noticed that there was a stretch of 11% gradient… Read more →
I woke up a bit sore, but not too bad, considering. The saddle-sores had lessened, but the legs were still feeling over-used. It wasn’t raining, but the sky was more threatening than yesterday. Not enough to convince me to put on a raincoat, though. There was a decent headwind, and it took me an hour to get to Braunstone, crawling… Read more →
Today was nothing special, but long. I left at 6:30 – only an hour to pack, compared to the two yesterday – and reached Whiporie at 9:30. It was nice and cloudy, so the temperature was kept down. I had a burger and a sports drink for lunch, but the burger was late coming out and I’d finished the drink… Read more →
After a period off the bike to rest and recuperate (among other things 🙂 ), I was ready for the road again. I got up at 5:30, but didn’t leave until almost 7:30. Packing up everything including the tent etc. took more time that I wanted. Marissa was still up and looked slightly embarrassed about it – we’d said our… Read more →
Today was the day of the saddle sores. For a long while after getting back on the bike at any point, I’d have to try and find a comfortable position, stand up on the pedals and side out of the saddle for a few meters, and then sit down again, hoping that I’d have got used to the pain. After… Read more →
Hills and more hills, today. Looking back from halfway, it was obvious that I’d crossed the shield wall of the old volcano – this wall of mountains, the Mackellar Range, was all along the horizon. For some reason, I’d had it in my head that Kyogle was 20km, not 30km from Casino. The heat and the flies were building to… Read more →
An awful day. I threw a back muscle when packing this morning, and had no power in my legs all day. That, combined with the excessive packing I have obviously done, meant that it took 7:30 hours on the road. The last 50 km from Whiporie to 4:30. I was almost out of water, too, given the heat and the… Read more →
The Coffs Harbour motel was most generous with breakfast. Basically I was given two for the price of one. The woman also gave me a banana, and asked if I wanted any avocados, as they had heaps. I ate everything but the banana, which I saved for the top of the big hill. An inauspicious start to the ride; I… Read more →
The trip up was reasonable. Bobbie dropped me at the station at about 6:15; the luggage people asked what I was giving them for transport, and I said it was a bike – they said OK. At Coffs, I was walking along the station towards the luggage cart and didn’t see the bike bag, so I called out that there… Read more →
