Dave and his Bike

Days 158 to 162.

Day 158.

Back on the bike. Just as well really as there aren’t many feasible cycling days left whilst we are in Australia.

With only a short day planned, and temperatures not being scorching, I was in no hurry to get away this morning. So after a leisurely coffee I trundled off. Turning left out of the campsite I was confronted with a hill. I knew it was there as we had driven up it. Not a long hill, but at 19% it was a proper challenge with legs that hadn’t really got going. All other gradients after that paled into insignificance today, but it did sort of set the tone for the next few hours.

Google maps took the piss a bit this morning. I’d found a cycle route across country thus avoiding the highway. I wiggled through Katoomba and got suspicious when Fitzgerald Street was actually a dirt track with a 15%+ incline. It wasn’t rideable on a road bike, but in the spirit of adventure I walked up it to see whether it improved. After a few more hundred metres on very slightly better tracks I was confronted with a sign stating that the K4b Trail was railway property, and I was liable to a hefty fine if found trespassing. The gate was also chained. I headed back to the highway for option 2.

After a couple of kilometres on the A32 I found Station Street, running alongside the railway and highway (rather logically). It was a cross between bridle path and footpath, with varying surfaces. It was slow going, and had the potential to damage my bike, but I loved it.

It was also a bit undulating, so I accumulated altitude without realising it. Jane rang me at one point to check on my welfare as I was so far behind the predicted schedule. When I did meet her at Mount Victoria it was lunch, not coffee that we stopped for.

I had also passed through some road works at a couple of places where the path converged with the highway, and was forced to walk (on red carpet) for a short time.

After lunch I stuck to the roads. The Darling Causeway was never going to be as busy as the A32, so was a reasonable bet. Again it was a bit up-and-down, but the views (when I got them) were worth it.

At Bell I turned left towards Lithgow. More undulations and stunning long views for 20 kilometres, past the Zig Zag Heritage Steam Railway until the rather nice fast, sweeping descent into town, which I will have to climb back up again tomorrow morning. The campsite was at the other end of town. Obviously. A nice clean, peaceful site. With chickens.

Overall a really enjoyable day. A nice mix of road and track, some climbs and good views. I spent the morning mostly over 1000m, and the afternoon at 1100m. Which meant that although it was a lovely sunny day the air temperature was pleasantly cool.

Distance cycled so far: 8233km.

Day 159.

Happy Anniversary Jane. 31 years of putting up with me and my hare-brained ideas, like traipsing around the world with my bike, you deserve a medal. Or something. Thank you anyway.

Another leisurely start. This is becoming a habit. After breakfast and a coffee outside in the sun, in an attempt to warm up after a very cold night (think sleeping bag and blankets), I was away by about 0945hrs. For the first time (planned), I had to retrace my steps for the first 20km of the day, which therefore meant climbing the fast descent from last night. A steady 10% climb for about 3km, rising to 15% on the hairpin bends was a nice challenge, and long enough to find a rhythm. The rise and fall continued all morning, with great views of the Blue Mountains on both sides of the ridge.

We met up after 27km, but neither of us were bothered about coffee, so after a short break I was on my way again. The climbs and descents were relentless, and very energy sapping. I was hovering around the 1000m mark, with 50-60m rises and falls which all seemed to be 10% jobs, meaning that by lunchtime (52km) my legs and back were rather sore. Hopefully good training for the next phase.

After lunch, the hills became much more one-way as I dropped back down towards Richmond where I would cross the river again at the same point as a few days ago. I met Jane in Woolworths car park, as an insurance policy in case I’d had enough. I hadn’t, so left her finishing the shopping and rode the busy roads through Windsor to Vineyard, and the campsite.

There’s a nice pool here, which was perfect after a hard-ish day on the bike. Then an obligatory beer, and a wedding anniversary dinner (beef burgers – not very traditional) with a glass of Tempus Two merlot, followed by profiteroles to finish the day. Excellent.

Distance cycled so far: 8328km

Day 160.

We slept in this morning. I didn’t wake up until nearly 0730hrs. I obviously needed some sleep. It was always going to be a short day on the bike as it wasn’t far to the coast where we were aiming to stay for a couple of nights. It became shorter.

I set off later than usual, and navigated my way eastwards across country. We are clearly in the commuter belt for Sydney, as housing estates seem to be springing up around the area, meaning that the views and countryside weren’t great. It wasn’t very photogenic.

So essentially I was riding through suburbia, and having to stop to navigate all too often. After the last couple of quite brutal days on the bike I would have liked a steady ride on something relatively flat. No such luck. It was more hills, and a bit of a spicy headwind to make me work just that bit harder. The traffic was also what you would expect on the outskirts of a capital city. Not quite Bangkok standards, but no hard shoulder made it interesting.

After 20km I met Jane at a handily placed bike shop. The Odd Spoke Bicycle Store in Dural were only too happy to provide me with a box for my bike, and I managed to pick up some chamois cream, a chain tool and some brake pads. Result. Takes the pressure off the next few days. We also had some fast-food sustenance for lunch.

My urban ride continued. I stopped again at 99 Bikes in Pennant Hills for a new back tyre, and carried on to Turramurra where Jane was waiting. I had spent a good few kilometres riding mainly on the footpaths, as a pragmatic self preservation tactic. The traffic was just getting worse, so it seemed a bit futile to continue just for the sake of a bit of accumulated mileage. I resigned myself to the inevitable, and got into the van.

The campsite in Narrabeen is huge. But the facilities and location are good, so here we are. We had a walk to the shore and watched the breakers crashing on the beach. It looked very much like rain, but as yet it has held off. The forecast for tomorrow is better, so hopefully we’ll be able to enjoy the coastline a bit more. The beaches are beautiful.

Cheese and wine for dinner. Not very imaginative, but lovely all the same. I’ve a couple of days to explore a bit more on the bike, but the big days in Oz are now behind me. Tomorrow will hopefully be a short spin up the coast, and a haircut.

Distance cycled so far: 8364km.

Day 161.

No riding today, unfortunately.

I didn’t sleep well. I wasn’t woken at all during the night by the rain, but the pain in my back did the trick several times. I couldn’t get comfortable at all, and this morning it wasn’t great.

I think the hills over the last few days have taken their toll, and my position / posture on the bike clearly still can’t be right. The seating and beds in the van haven’t helped. I took the decision to abandon my plans to ride up the coast to Palm Beach, and try to rest my back a bit. It was also wet and overcast, which made the decision easier.

So we walked to the Warriewood Square shopping centre, about a kilometre away, hoping that may help. There I managed to get a decent haircut, had a back massage (bloody painful), changed some money to USD, and got a new battery in my watch. Jane bought a dress. Overall not a bad morning. It started to rain lightly on the way back to camp, then heavily once we arrived. It continued on and off all afternoon.

The massage, as well as hurting like hell, seems to have helped a bit I think, but I’ll reserve judgement until tomorrow. The rest of the afternoon was spent lying down and reading a book, as the weather wasn’t exactly conducive to sitting on the beach, or anything else for that matter.

Day 162.

It was very wet, but not actually raining when we got up. Not a great sleep – back discomfort all night again. This morning it wasn’t too bad, so I did a bit of stretching before tentatively setting off south along the coast. My plan was to try it out a little at a time, stopping frequently to meet Jane in case I couldn’t continue. I stopped at one point at a physios that was open, just on the off chance, but no joy. Generally it was ok-ish, but I wouldn’t have wanted any long climbs.

I rode down past Dee Why Beach, to Curl Curl Beach where we met up briefly, before moving on to Manly beach. After a coffee we walked into the centre of town where a helpful pharmacist sold me some Diclofenac, and suggested with a smile that in South America I’ll be able to buy whatever ‘medication’ I need.

We decided to stay in Manly for a couple of hours, sit on the beach and swim in the sea, which effectively made the decision for me to stop riding. Probably the right choice. So that’s it for Australia. Since we are already technically in Sydney there is absolutely no point in fighting any more traffic just for the sake of it. Added to which I need to rest my back.

I started off with 3000km in mind for this leg of the ride. With us wanting to visit so many places en-route that soon changed to a nominal target of 2000km. I’m just a few kilometres short of that, but not really bothered as I think we have made the most of our time here, which is essentially what the trip is about. There have been times when I could maybe have done more, taken a different route, added a bit here-and-there, but I’m not out to break records. I’ve still ridden a good way from Cairns to Sydney and had an amazing time doing it. Talking of which, we’ve now got a few days exploring the city (as well as returning the van), which is a trip in its own right. Exciting times.

Distance cycled so far: 8379km.