Vanderpants Oz Tour

Distance: 120km’s

Avg Spd: 18.46

Max Spd: 49.4

Time in Saddle: 6hr:30mins

Elevation Gain: 350 mtrs

Quote: Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over – You can fail many times – it doesn’t matter does it? Just keep frikkn goin – you’re moving forward and who cares what others think. Listen to everyone – follow no-one.

Song of the Day: It’s a toss up and I can’t decide – it’s a tie today between Billy Joel – Downeast Alexander (ripper) and Wish you Were Here by Pink Floyd (This is fun to play on guitar too) – both just felt right To take podium today

Album of the day: no album – it was Vanderpants Greatest Hits all day

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You’ll have to bear with me today – this might get out of order but you’re going to get in wahatever order my brain says the day so here goes…..

Today felt like the the tides turned a little about half way through the day. I felt like Reece Witherspoon in the movie ‘Wild’ – after some hard yakka and some tough times it’s all coming together. i say that now as that’s how I feel today and let’s hope it’s trending in the right direction. I was an 8/10 hammy pain wise and today I felt like my legs were Creeping in slowly and saying….’ahhhh before you’re life got super busy for quite a few months you were super fit and now I remember that power and feeling of just smashing out a good ride and finishing strong and still having energy in the tank’. My cycling legs are coming back to me and the bike felt good, I am finding good spots for everything and things are becoming easier. Still way tough and challenging but ‘easier’. It’s funny – I was thinking on the bike today that I have totally forgotten my Europe Tour which was I think alost 8 years ago. I forgot how to organise myself well on the road (for instance smashing out a quick meal mid ride and packing up well). This all seemed to happen today for instance – I bought a thermos that sits in one of my three cages which meants hot coffee ALLLLL DAYYY – why didn’t I think of this earlier **slaps forehead**. My water is sitting in better spots, my tripod and cooking gear are better oragnised. It’s all important so you can be carefree on the road that way. It boosted my confidence to not only hit the Victorian border but also smash out more than a tonne today. A few days ago I woulda thought it was either going to get worse and I had to think of other options or take a few more weeks. I’m hesitant to type this as every day is so different on the bike. You can go from smiling massively and genuinely to absolute HELL in a space of 30 minutes and you have to control your mind and stay positive. It can drift into how big the journey is or i can focus on the the next ten pedal steps then 10 km’s at a time and slowly slowly you’ve done 120km’s and that’s how it’s done. Each hurdle as it comes. Stay tuned tomorrow for the hammy update – i’d give it a 5/10 today – Stretch stretch and more stretch people – I think i say THINK it’s working.

I digressed a little HAH. Donna – you are a frikkn super hooman with a kind heart (even though you won’t let me take a picture of you) – thanks for solving the worlds problems last night, sharing a red (or ten) and a good meal and a cloud to sleep on. The eggs in the morning were delish. After setting off (forgetting my watch and trekking back) I was off about 9:30ish and I said to myself….Self….Portland is 110 away – head that way and see what the day brings. i shopped up before I left the Mount in case i needed to wild camp (i had a recipe in mind) and off i went. 10km’s turned into 20 which just kept going and going.Every downhill was a chance to stretch again (sometimes 1 minute) and the day had rolling hills with some 10-20 minute climbs and I smashed em. I have lost a few kg’s already (see what i mean I forgot how to eat on the road since europe) and it’s coming back to me so i’m pumping more food into me. Food and water is SUPERRrrr important when you’re putting in 4-7 hour days on the bike almost every day and you need to be prepared to eat eat and eat plus drink plenty of water which means thinking ahead two days (more in remote areas i’m sure to find out) plus a little more water than you think. I’ll give you an idea of today’s food (in no order)

3 eggs
2 slices of bread
4 Muesli bars
a wrap with cheese and spaghetti
1 serve of spaghetti (more spaghettti)
anzac biscuit
4 coffees (haha)
6 litres of water
Some peanut butter
few handfuls of salted cashew nuts
packet of chips
cheese and vegemite scroll
fish burger
fries
1 carrot
1 banana
1 apple

this was for almost 7 hours of riding (no cooking tonight – was too late) – I think a lot was residual hunger too. If you don’t get food right – you start making stupid decisions. You start looking at the trees for fruit hahaha it’s funny what the body does when it’s ACTUALLY really hungry. On that – for some reason for about 4 hours all I could think about was my cashews like that toilet right next to you – bear with me…you know when you’re busting and the toilet is ten metres away and you hold it in – WHYYyyyyyyy this was my cashew story today – do I eat my cashews now – nah i’ll wait – ok another 10km’s….nah not yet – JUST EAT THE DAMN CASHEWS VANDERPANTS as in RIGHT BLOODY NOW. Shit!

I bought a new bike stand and installed yesterday and finally I can place my bike anywhere and use it as a stand for piccies – the three best things I have purchased are a rear vision mirror, bike stand and my coffee thermos hahaha.

So mid way through my ride I almost crashed today as I was singing and riding along this bloody HUGE spider started crawling across my handlebar bag – I won’t repeat the kind of sound that came out my mouth (might have been pretty shreeky hahaha) and I tried to swipe it away and the mothership that my bike is (aka Thor) you can’t keep a hand off for very long as it’s very front heavy so i’m swerving all over the place hahahah my fight or flight kicked in hahaha. I swear it was not a safe place to be I was def almost in the middle of the road – lesson for next time – don’t panic – it’s not venomous hahaha

It rained most of the day but I didn’t let that bother me – i pretty much sung all frikkn day, the cows were running away all day (seriously), the sheep too and I was in my groove (also thanks to the tailwind) – it was a great day – jacket on – jacket off – jacket on – jacket off hahaha. I made it to Portland and I just wanted a countery of some sort but both pubs were chokkas and had an hour and half to wait – NO SIREeee was I waiting that long so off to some fish shop to eat and blog before heading to my free campsite I found just up the road #winning. Maybe a day off tomorrow or a small day – let’s see where the wind blows hey……….Legs have that nice zinging feeling and i’m off to setup tent and really enjoy a good night sleep and maybe a sleep in (hopefully no crazy poodle ladies next to me)

Vanderpants Out