Vanderpants Oz Tour

Day 46 – Tullah to Bernie

Distance: 116km’s

Avg Spd: 14.3

Max Spd – 63.2

Saddle Time: 8 Frikkn Long hard hours and 5 Minutes

Elevation: 1365 mtrs

Quote: Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. I actually talk about this a lot and it’s my mind frequently and as I put it…if you ‘lean in’, it’s amazing how things unfold for you – not always in your direction but moreseo than not and that’s progress towards your goal isn’t it.

Song of the Day: Rudimental – Not giving in – the filmclip is quite touching also

Album of the Day: Goes to Eric Clapton – Crossroads (1988) – this guy knows how to get a good sound from an acoustic

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I woke up from my amazing campsite and made a coffee and made a coffee straight away and just watched the sunrise for 30 minutes in absolute silence – it was beautiful. I knew I won’t see a town for the whole day so i stocked up my water and supplies in the little pokey one shop town and I was off. I knew today was going to be tough and generally the first half of the day is pretty happy then the hurtlocker thoughts slowly start seeping in as the hours increase past the 4,5 or 6 hour mark so you know that and you work with it. When IU say hurtlocker I mean – you’re not singing as much, you’re getting a little tired and sore, the legs are saying ‘ok enough or today’, the decision making may be a little lazier e.g stuff it i’m going to find a caravan park instead of wild camp, the navigation skills ‘feel’ more tiring, the goals seem bigger and the k’s seem slower haha etc etc – not every day but generally you account for this (and not all at once).

So off I went in the wild west

I saw absolutely nothing all day….just wilderness. The first half of the day was hot sun and the second half was pouring with rain and really tough. As I came to the 60km mark (first 45 of it was hills) I could feel my eyes peeling for a campsite and I went ‘No Vanderpants….make it to 80 – you can do 80’. I knew at 80 it was a general downhill with only a few uphills remaining. It’s funny how hard it was at the 60km mark – I really had to push the mind and body really hard and it tested me. As my mind was wondering that rudimental song ‘not giving in’ came on as I was climbing and i had it on repeat for 30 minutes and it was perfect timing…

Something inside me wanted to challenge myself and make the 115km’s and that vert (I called it the double tonne) as I want to improve my fitness for my NZ race and build some mental toughness and confidence in my resilience during those tough rides. As they say here in Tasmania – the westside rains 300 days of the year so don’t complain about the rain.

So that I definitely did today…..at the 80km mark I had to sit down and eat a lot of food and just take stock of myself. legs were sore from yesterday and the mind was tired from a few tough rides in Tassie. I think I ate two meals worth of food and a litre of water…in the rain mind you – I didn’t care – i was drenched anyway and there was nowhere to stop **shrugs**. So off I went for the last 35km’s (2 hours) and that I did. I was really proud of myself today – I gave a big smile as I descended into Bernie after 8 hours of riding and found a place to eat – ate another two meals worth (not even joking) and said if I can find a motel for under a hunge I AM IN…..and that I did. The guys was nice and upgraded my room to the family room at no cost and I was really grateful – after that shower and some more snacks and lean clothes – I tried to hold a conversation but those eyes were closing early and I slept 10 hours……zzzzzzzz

Day 47 – Bernie to Devonport (Spirit of Tasmania Boarding Lounge)

Distance: 58km’s – TOTAL KM’s – 2,526 so far.

Saddle Time: 3:36 – Total Saddle Time – 159hrs:23mins

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Easy day – 400 mtr vert – beautiful day – half highway (blurg) half beach YAY. 4 coffee stops (one was like drinking bore water with milk) and the other three were ok, two good conversations and a whole lot of beach rides to say goodbye too…..brilliant.

Tasmania – your 1,160k’s I traveled here were beautiful

so far on my whole trip I have seen

5 snakes (all at different types of FLAT
4 phones (all rushed and not one iphone hehehe) maybe because oppo and samsung are SHITE haha

Tasssie has SOOoo many dead animals on the side of the road – lots of lovely weird and different smells to guess along the way

Hundreds of trailer and car parts

no punctures or broken spokes

I can’t believe how much rubbish is on the side of the road – it’s pretty sad actually – I could fill a trailer load in 20 minutes EASY it’s that bad…..humans an be pretty careless sometimes. You don’t see it driving but when cycling….I see thousands of cans (redbull, V and coke mainly, bottles, rubbish bags, play equipment (yes a whole play equip), nappies, packets of food – the list goes on.

On a more positive note…..

I have written down some thing’s i’ve been thinking about that either I need to improve on or actually practice a lot to help me in life and on this trip in particular…it may resonate with you it may not….if I put it on paper (the screen)….It helps me even more so here goes….

• Get a good mattress – make sure the hip doesn’t touch the ground when lying on your side
• A good coffee maker is VERY IMPORTANT hah
• Start slow – build up
• The bad will pass – you will dry – the pain goes – you get stronger
• Speak to people and take your time doing so
• Read advice, read blogs – listen to everyone – follow noone
• Don’t plan too much – it will change and it doesn’t allow for random finds or amazing convos with people
• This one is important – have large goals to aspire to for those hard days – you’re mind can imagine it to help. If it doesn’t scare me – it’s not big enough. Whether it’s a goal in one day or a life goal.
• Picture the ending A LOT – over and over – this helps me a lot
• Put those large goals into smaller ones and smaller again depending on your mindset at the time but keep those large ones handy
• When you think you’re done – you actually are not – is it an injury or just pain?? I’ll find a way – as a good team mate of mine named Mr B.Rule says…..’Just fukn ride through it’ hahahahahahahaha

Tasmania – you definitely separate the men from the boys here on this tour so thankyou…your east coast beaches were beautiful (albeit a bit busy traffic wise) and the west coast……well – you’re rainforest was delicious (you can stick your hills in the preverbial hah). Everyone I met (except one wanka which i’ll talk about below) was amazingly hospitable, curious, talkative and friendly – thank you to all who offered me accom (you know who you are), and all the people that I accepted……Tasmania….I felt the proudness you have for your lil place so THANK YOU!!!! **insert prayer hands here**

i’ll end on this note – a big win for Vanderpants and a good ending story if I don’t say so myself. ok here goes…So I made it to Devonport where the Ferry departs and Maccas coffee was calling – ordered a veggie burger, fries and coffee……I always take my valuables with me when entering a store (handlebar bag easily clips off) and garmin computer and ipad come with me so bascially all that’s left is camping gear (easily replaced) and I park my bike against a window where I can see it……so I’m eating my burger and I see these teenagers eyeing off my bike and my spidey senses kick in…..I see one them fiddling with my bike and then jumping on his bike and pedaling away…my first instinct was ‘i’m enjoying this burger too much and can’t be bothered….it’s only my pepper spray’. A split second after I said ‘EFF that – i’m going to get that thing back’. I grabbed all my gear….jumped backwards over the chair like jack Reacher (well at least I thought I looked like that) and I said to the staff next to me ‘I’ll be back for that burger’ hahahaha……I then proceeded on foot to pursue the vigilante and I almost caught him as he arched his back and stood up on the pedals to gain more speed (bastard)…..

I then ran back to maccas…..tried to take off on my bike…kickstand still down..,.bent that……I kicked it harshly back into place and took off…..this 16ish year old gang of thieves did not know a few things:

a) These legs (aptly named Des and Troy) have done A LOT of cycling
b) ironically they could’ve used the pepper spray ON ME hahaha that would’ve been a better story
c) I am the downhill KING – they didn’t have a chance.

so anyway there I am pedaling towards them uphill mind you and huffing and puffing away (I knew which road they headed up at least and hoped they didn’t turn off) – and turn off they didn’t (at first) BUT just like a movie they all peeled off hahaha I focussed my efforts on who I thought took it and yelled in my best dads voice……’OIIiiii – STOP…..give me back my shit you wanker’ – those words just flew out **shrugs**. So as I approached the top of the hill (about 800 meters or so) I knew the downhill was my forte and I tucked in, changed gears and pedaled as hard as I could, done the tour down under tuck and I was gaining…….at the beginning of the incline of the next hill i got aside him, grabbed his shirt (which I thought was pretty good bike handling skills if I say so myself) and told him to stop……I made him give it back to me and I saw the scared look on his face hahahaha….I said (and this just came out without thinking) ‘You’re lucky it’s me and not someone else who would smash your face in….you need to be better than this mate’. he rode off without a word with nothing but a scared look on his face and I rode off happy with my pepper spray in hand and my burger awaiting me…….Got back to maccas with a small cheer as they were all watching as I said ‘I got it back’ hahahaha and my food was handed back to me and the burger (and the taste of victory) was even better…..Vanderpants 1 – Villains – 0 hahahaha what an ending…..





i’m going to wrap up the trip so far with a nice lil imovie hopefully I will do it on the ferry – night all

Vanderpants OUT!!!