Cycling — Getting Out There

My Melbourne commute to work

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 21:37:08 +1100

One of the great benefits of my new job at the Starlight Children’s Foundation is the location of the Melbourne office: right on the Yarra River where Church Street becomes Chapel Street, in a commercial hub of the city known as Cremorne in Richmond.

At the moment I’m working two days a week in the office, and the remaining three from home in Ballarat. Whilst some might bemoan a long 120km+ commute, for me it’s been very enjoyable.

I get up early, pack the panniers on Serena and ride to Ballarat Train Station, barely a kilometre from my house. From there, I take the train to Southern Cross Station¹ and ride along the Capital City and Yarra River Trails from the Docklands, past Jeff’s Shed (the Melbourne Exhibition Centre), the Crown Casino and Southbank, then along the south bank of the Yarra to Church Street.

It’s a very nice, easy going 6.5 kilometre (approx. 4 miles) journey. There are a fair amount of pedestrians, and some of my fellow cyclists ride incredibly dangerously and far too fast for the crowds, but apart from that the scenery is wonderful and despite not being the world’s cleanest river, this is a nice section of the city.

Otherwise known as Spencer Street Station to those of us who grew up in Melbourne pre-2005. ↩︎

Roaming around Wodonga/Albury

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 18:21:48 +1100

My partner is a criminal barrister, and a few times a year she undertakes circuits, where she travels to a regional court and works there for 3–4 weeks. Sometimes she’ll come home on the weekends, sometimes not, depending on the distance from home. This year her Wodonga circuit has run for the past four weeks, and I’ve joined her for this last week to spend some time together riding around the area, both with her and on my own.

I arrived about noon on Monday and headed home this morning. We spent each day riding a bit, but also exploring Wodonga and eating at a few different nice places around town. Each day we had lunch at a salad bar called Greenstreat. This place was the duck’s nuts. They have different salad options, all super fresh with heaps of great tasty ingredients and a very healthy local following to boot.

A yummy salad from Greenstreat

On Tuesday I rode down to the Hume Weir, where the mighty Murray River starts at the base of the dam wall. I haven’t fished this far up the Murray before so I packed my bike fishing rig and hit the road. I rode along the High Country Rail Trail to Bonegilla, nearly at the lake, then turned off the trail and took the road past the Latchford Army Barracks to the dam wall. Looping around and over the river, just past the trout farm is a little 4WD track heading down below the weir.

I cast some bait lines for a while at the yellow boat markers that designate the off-limits section of the river (for boating). I then headed up to the fence to the weir and there is an area set up for fishermen. My mate had warned me about how strong the current is here but nothing can really prep you for it — it’s ferociously strong. I cast some shiny Tassie Devil spoons up into the current and just drifted them down, which given the fast flow of the river almost meant an aggressive retrieve even without winding! I was fishing with my little Daiwa ultralight travel rod, with 6lb mono and a 12lb leader, so I took about 3–5 minutes just setting my drag correctly. A big brown trout hit the lure just about perpendicular to where I was standing, and OH MY FUCKING GOD what a fight! She took off like a freight train, and I still can’t believe I didn’t snap her off. It’s nearly a Christmas miracle!

A great day’s bike fishing finished with a great fish

I wound her in, let her run, wound her in, let her run. I had no illusions about even trying to get her in the net, as it took all of my strength just to reel her in, and have her piss right off again. When she jumped — quite a few glorious displays of aerial defiance — my heart stopped. But still, no snap off! Despite a valiant effort, she finally gave up the fight and rolled over, but even then I couldn’t reel her in, just from the sheer force of her body weight in the current. After about 45 minutes, I got her close enough to swing my net over the top of her in a fashion I would never employ to net a fish in normal circumstances, but my back was killing me and I was desperate.

Of course there was no to be no catch and release — she was so thoroughly played out that the only fair thing to do was to thank her, snap her neck immediately, put the poor girl out of her misery and claim dinner. Due to my bike not having an esky, it being over 30°C (86°F), and being an hour or so from home — this also meant that my fishing for the day was over.

I called Danielle to meet me on the way and pick the fish up, all the better to get her into ice quicker, and set about cleaning her. It was when gutting her I found seven hooks in her belly. This beautiful old warrior had beaten at least seven fellow fishos. I’ve never seen anything like it in years of fishing, but looking at the current I’m not all that surprised.

I met Danielle on the road out and then rode into Albury, and crossed back into Wodonga to make a nice little 40km loop.

Crossing the Murray at Wodonga/Albury

We rode again each day for the rest of the week, clocking up 40km, 30km and 16km rides as we explored Wodonga, the High Country Rail Trail, Albury and the Murray River. On the Rail Trail, I was riding along and we decided to stop in a quiet bushy area near the Kiewa River for a toilet break, but in the confusion about where I was going to brake, Danielle rode right into the back of me and ripped up her knee in a bad case of gravel rash. I very sheepishly apologised and patched her up as best as I could at the lake with my first aid kit. In Albury, we visited the Botanic Gardens, had lunch at a nice pub and did a pretty good job of hiding how terrified we were about COVID-19 and the NSW Omicron threat.

Danielle’s gravel rash

We cooked up our fish on the outdoor barbeque at the hotel, sampled all the local wine, beer and food we could, and just enjoyed our little week off without the kids. And then, as if the week couldn’t get any better, I scored a job interview with the Starlight Children’s Foundation and — I believe — performed quite strongly, so fingers crossed!

My bike at the Kiewa River

The Kiewa River

Stopping for a photo with this beautiful hairy coo

Hey there big fella!

On the way past Latchford Barracks

Riding around the Hume Dam

Stopping at the historic old Bonegilla Train Platform on the High Country Rail Trail

The Hume Dam from below the weir

Lazing around

A beautiful day

A nice little setup for local fishermen

Fishing at the Hume Weir

The strong current coming out of the weir

A beautiful wild brown trout

Stopped at the Hume Dam historic marker

The road back to Albury

Cooking the fish on the barbeque

Albury Botanic Gardens with Danielle

Lake Hume

A very stupid, dangerous and scary mergin of bike path and country highway

Danielle and my bikes on the Murray River

Danielle near the Kiewa River

Danielle stopped at the Kiewa River

Danielle with Lake Hume behind

Creek near the Kiewa River

Danielle crossing a creek

Danielle at Ebden Train Platform on the High Country Rail Trail

Danielle riding along the Wodonga bike paths

Danielle picking up her bags

Danielle at Lake Hume

Danielle on the High Country Rail Trail

Danielle riding along the Wodonga bike paths

Pure joy in getting back on the road again!

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 15:09:04 +1000

Finally got back on my bike today for the first time in 2021, after seven months recovering from spinal surgery. The shitty weather and blowing cold Ballarat wind couldn’t take away from my sheer joy in being back on the road, with the wind in my face, fighting back real tears of relief.

When I hurt myself again last year, I didn’t know whether or not I’d get back to riding again, as my last tour exacerbated my back problems and I spent quite a few months worried about ever getting back.

The original plan was to wait until September, but a combination of watching the Olympics, eating copious amounts of food for my birthday yesterday, stacking on nearly ten kilos, and overwhelming boredom has gotten me back out there sooner, and I’m very glad I did so. I only did one lap of the lake, 8km and nice and easy (which isn’t to say I wasn’t exhausted!) but a good first ride.

Planning a tour of the Apple Isle: Tasmania 2022

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 12:38:39 +1000

With international borders closed (for Australians, anyway) until god-only-knows-when, and a nice local trip looking very attractive as an introduction to touring for my partner Danielle, we’ve been planning a Tasmanian East Coast cycling trip for a few months now.

We’re hoping to take the trip next year. Danielle is a native Tasmanian, so we’ll finish the tour by staying with/near her parents in Sandy Bay, a suburb of Hobart. The Spirit of Tasmania ferry berths in Devonport, so with our start and finish points decided, it was simply a matter of working out the route. I found a good PDF guide on the Discover Tasmania website, but the link has since disappeared into 404 heaven. Using the outline detailed in this guide, along with a Hema map of Tassie, we’ve outlined a nice 15-leg route that will take us 13–14 days in total riding, across perhaps three weeks (given rests and sightseeing).

Continue reading after the quote

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? That depends a good deal on where you want to get to. I don’t much care where — Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.

Lewis Carroll, Alice In Wonderland

Update: We’re going! We’re finally doing it!

We have booked the ferry, and some of the accommodation, and we’re gearing up to do our tour this December!

I wavered between just updating this post or creating a new one, and decided upon the latter.

Tell me about the new adventure!

“Tell ‘im he’s dreamin’!” Dealing with lockdown boredom by prepping for Europe

Sun, 30 May 2021 17:14:38 +1000

Victoria is currently in our fourth COVID-19 lockdown, and I find myself sitting inside, on a chill but sunny Sunday afternoon in late autumn, preparing for a European bike tour that might never eventuate, but even if it does, certainly won’t for quite a few years.

Setbacks galore

Let me list just a few of the barriers between Europe and ourselves:

We (my partner and I) live in Australia, where international borders are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Europe is still in the grip of COVID-19 itself and it’s unknown how safe it will be to book any flights or accommodation. It means we have to plan for varying seasons and times of year and then play it by ear.
I injured my back in December 2020 and am not even out on the road yet, with a due date to return to cycling outdoors set as 17 September this year, and fully-loaded touring set as 17 March next year (12 months post-operation, due to the need to handle a bike weighing as much as 20–30kgs).
I started planning for this tour a few years ago, before I had two kids living with me. We now likely have to wait until they are old enough to move out to be able to take a few months and do the trip right.

So why bother planning it at all? Well, primarily the answer to that question at the moment is: I’m bored shitless. But I also need something to look forward to.

Continue reading after the quote

Life never gives us what we want at the moment that we consider appropriate. Adventures do occur, but not punctually.

E.M. Forster, A Passage To India

A brief outline of the trip

Vienna, Austria

Starting in Austria, and after taking a few days in Vienna to see the sights, heading west and following the Danube River along EuroVelo 6.
Regensberg, Germany

Continuing along the Danube via Ybbs, Enns and Linz, crossing the Austrian-German border at Jochenstein, then resting at Passau. From there, continuing through Deggendorf and Straubing and resting for a day or so at Regensberg.
Ulm, Germany

From Regensberg, still on the Danube through Bavaria until Ulm. There are lots of little villages along the way, and we’ll just stop wherever we think looks suitable.
Lake Konstanz, Germany

Still on the Danube, we switch back and forth across the river through to Tuttlingen, where we leave the Danube and head south to Lake Konstanz and the Rhine River.
Basel, Switzerland

Following the Rhine, still on EuroVelo 6, we ride across the German/Switzerland border a few times through Schaffhausen, Waldshut-Tiengen and Bad Sāckingen until Basel in Switzerland, where we’ll probably spend a day or so.
Besançon, France

Leaving the Rhine and turning through Mulhouse into France, we follow the Canal du Rhône-au-Rhin until we join Le Doubs River at Etouvans near Montbéliard. We then follow Le Doubs River until Besançon.
Orleans, France

Riding across Central-Eastern France, we leave Le Doubs River at Dole and join the Saône River, then the La Dheune at Chagny and finally the Loire River near Montceau-les-Mines. We then follow the Loire all the way to Orleans, passing through Digoin, Nevers and Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire.
Paris, France

Leaving the EuroVelo 6 route at Ouzouer-sur-Loire, we either join EuroVelo 3 for the last part of our journey, or if we’re out of time we take the train to Paris. The EV3 cycle route takes us through Montargis, Nemours and Fontainebleau, approaching Paris from the south.

2,100.0 route distance (km)
(approx.)

16,000m elevation to climb
(approx.)

80 days' riding
(approx.)

Preparations

Bike and gear

To prepare for this trip (and others), I purchased a Surly Disc Trucker touring bike in June of 2020. We still have to procure a touring bike for Danielle — I’m looking primarily at mainstream touring bikes such as the Surly Disc Trucker in the small frame (Danielle is very short) or the Kona Sutra.

I already have a lot of lightweight camping gear we can use along the way, but we’re very uncertain of what camping provisions there will be in Europe, so we may end up taking some light gear as a just-in-case and relying on accommodation along the way.

Language

I’ve also taken up French lessons during my mandatory stay in bed at the start of this year — I figure having some basic language skills will allow us to get along better with the locals. I’ve also enjoyed learning French a lot, so this has been a nice bonus.

Interesting resources used so far in planning

I’ve found quite a lot of good stuff on and offline, including:

The EuroVelo bicycle network website: https://en.eurovelo.com/. We will follow the EV3 and EV6 routes.
Some Marco Polo 1:800,000-scale country maps for France and Germany. This has been great for getting an idea of terrain and nearby towns, etc.
The Crazy Guy On A Bike website. Although there’s been a lot of controversy around the owner/producer of this popular cycling forum being a bit of a right-wing nutter, there remains a great deal of fantastic information for cycle tourists of all countries and persuasions.
Google searches of local towns and sights to see along the way.
The BicycleTouring subreddit. Lots of up-to-date and friendly information is to be found if you dig deep enough.

First half-century in the bag!

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 22:06:17 +1100

I achieved my first half-century today, logging 50 kilometres on my way out to Creswick and back to Ballarat. The ride was very scenic, and the smell of eucalypts made for a strenuous but altogether very enjoyable day out.

This wasn’t just the longest bike ride I’ve ever undertaken (so far) in terms of distance, but also time in the saddle, hitting almost three hours’ riding time.

Although I’m really quite sore tonight, I’m also rapt to have hit that milestone so early in the month, and hopefully I can push it out to 60 by the end of April.

50.5 route distance (km)

629m elevation climbed

1 days' riding

Cycling — Getting Out There

My Melbourne commute to work

Roaming around Wodonga/Albury

Pure joy in getting back on the road again!

Planning a tour of the Apple Isle: Tasmania 2022

Update: We’re going! We’re finally doing it!

“Tell ‘im he’s dreamin’!” Dealing with lockdown boredom by prepping for Europe

Setbacks galore

A brief outline of the trip

Vienna, Austria

Regensberg, Germany

Ulm, Germany

Lake Konstanz, Germany

Basel, Switzerland

Besançon, France

Orleans, France

Paris, France

Preparations

Bike and gear

Language

Interesting resources used so far in planning

First half-century in the bag!