Vanderpants Oz Tour

Distance: 101km’s – TOTAL KM’s – 2,839km’s

Avg Spd: 15.4

Max Spd – 60.5

Saddle Time: 6hrs 32mins – Total saddle time = 187 Hrs 26 Minutes

Elevation: 900mtrs

Quote: Are you doing what you’d RATHER be doing??? A quote straight from the cards that a good friend gave me – well…….are you?

Song of the Day: Ben Howard – Depth Over Distance – He is one of my all time favvies……he has his own unique style on guitar and his lyrics say so much in one line…check it out

Album of the Day: Sevendust – Southside double wide – great heavy acoustic album this one – pretty much my favourite type of music

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G’DAY readers…..well – a day of ups and downs – literally and mentally. The first 36 km’s were all uphill. It’s probably the longest climb i’ve ever done. I knew I was in for half a day of climbing (took me three ours) so I stocked up on 5ltrs of water (I can feel the diff of 5 ltrs let me tell yah). Off I went – I knew there wouldn’t be any water but I thought the last half of the day is all downhill so I wont need it – how wrong was I. I’ll get to that….so at the bottom o the hill, Max (i think that was his name and sorry if I got that wrong Max) drove past, stopped, got out and said ‘do you need a lift to the top mate it’s a fair bloody climb’. To which my response was ‘I told myself that unless there’s a road closure or a fire, I aint cheating and I will cycle all the way around Australia using my horsepower only’. We had a yarn and he was a lovely bloke and he took off. Two hours later (and a few boiled eggs mid way) He finished his job he was driving too and stopped on the way back and said ‘god I thought you’d be finished now’ hahaha. Another good yarn and he asked if he can follow me somehow to which I gave him my blog and he was off…..Thanks for the offer though max.y of the climb, a couple other locals encouraged me up the hill – so bloody nice around here. Although it was only 900mtrs in total (ranging between 2-12%- with a fully loaded bike a 36 km climb takes it out of you….so I got to the top and my ritual is to spit on the road and say ‘eff you bitch’. I know it’s crude but at the top of every climb it’s my motto to say ‘nothing will stop me’ and boosts me to keep going to crush the next hill.

So it was time for lunch and i pulled over in the shade (it was hot today) and had my spaghetti in between bread X two with biscuits and a muffin plus a coffee and boy did that go down well. Whilst I was watching the ants I noticed this one feisty one and thought i’d give him some food to chill him out. This ant was like in the matrix – he was so fast and jumped (yes jumped) from place to place. He was really aggressive too WTF. If anything and i’m talking anything no matter the size he would attack it. I watched him for 20 minutes. Even this big bee or a cricket – he would go hard at it. So when i gave him the food he backed up and launched at me and JUMPED to bite my finger. If I ever come back as an ant – I want to come back as this ant. never seen one so aggressive and jumpy to attack hahahah. PS – have you ever squashed an ant and seen what happens??? The others carry it back to their nest no joke….My mate and I discussed this once and we thought that maybe they want to give it a proper burial or something and they all gather around a small amount of micro twigs and burn it like the old romans did to soldiers????? Maybe not – who knows.

so anyway after the climb, I thought brilliant – 40km’s of downhill….but then the wind GUSHED like never before. You never have experienced the elements until you’re outside everyday and away from the city without a home to go to and reset. The fluctuations of touring are so many in a day you are constantly adjusting multiple times a day to weather, terrain and body. Same as life I guess but it seems as though there’s more happening each day that you need to adjust to on the fly. Maybe not more or harder but more changes perhaps. These winds were bike stopping and the last 40 were hard. I smashed through it and happily found an old showground with working showers YEsssssss…..It was hot but said to rain all night and morning which it did and I did not sleep a wink (you’ll see why when I show you my campsite hahaha) as I said earlier – you take the crooked with the straights right LOL. Come to think of it, I had a red bull at 4:30pm ish which I haven’t had in like years and I wonder if that was it.

it’s all part of this amazing and lucky journey i’m on (convinces self) as the day before I had one of my best days. As I woke for the next day at 5:30 – I packed up and took off so tired but and knew I had 500 mtrs to climb in the rain before the next town and that’s where I am at now after changing my clothes that are all soaked and in a warm cafe blogging and waiting the rest of the rain out (hopefully an hour or two) before I push onto Wodonga.

Things I love that I didn’t even know before

• Hot Chocolate at night – delicious after a hard ride
• Water – i’m a hunter gatherer now
• Sheltered bench seats – always on the hunt
  • Means no ground sitting with bitey bugs so I can eat in peace
• A bed OMG a bed hahaha
• Warm showers
• A washing machine
• A kind gesture from a stranger – it’s strange how our first response to a kind gesture is to say ‘oh no that’s ok thanks anyway’ but I’ve learned to say ‘yes that’d be great thanks’ pretty quickly now hahaha and because of this, i’ve met great people and also learned a lot of helpful tips and tricks and also a ot about the history of the town or their lives.
• Electricity on hand

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No jokes on the blister ok hahahaha

Vanderpants OUT!!