Vanderpants Oz Tour

Today was what bicycle dreams are made of. it was everything you would want in a day – Apart from a bit of rain overnight I was a little weary but i checked the ground and it didn’t look too soaked. I have learned that the red devil dirt dries really quickly which is good for me. So apart from a morning drizzle the day was pretty much perfect in all bicyle kinda ways. Great piccies, rolling hills, beautiful old cottages, wildlife, some hills, some sun, a cool breeze, some rain to cool me off, half a day of tunes, a great lunch and a perfect ending hahahaha. I slept in a little because I was able to conjure up some wood and lit a fire – it was so toasty warm in my little old train station that I was all snuggle and woke up at 630 instead of 530.

So anyway the terrain leading to Spalding (about 40km’s from hallett – would’ve been 25% unrideable if wet so I was thankful. A few low creeks but nothing too technical. Some great scenery and only one big hill. Spalding general store had some killa baguettes and some great food – stopped for lunch there where the shop owner come out and said ‘hey, how would you like to score 5 grand??’ to which my reply was ‘Who Wouldn’t’

His response to my comment was – ‘If you keep that bike up against the window you’ll score a 5 thousand dollar bill if that glass breaks’ hahahaha i lolled, apologised and moved my bike. I always try NOT to do that but this time I forgot and of course it’s the time I get told hahahahahaha – that aside, it was a great shop for a town with a pub (which has the larget collection of types of barbed wire???? WTF hahahahah and one local shop. It was a well needed lunch stop anyway.
You know this trail is cycling heaven. Don’t get me wrong, it’s challenging for various reasons even if you’re fit. Bicycle maintenence is required, accounting for the heat (water), accounting for the rain, Making route choices on the go, steep climbs and much more BUT I was talking about how awesome this trail is – you literally just hop on your bike and just ride – that’s the pure beauty of it. Throw the GPX on your bicycle computer (have a backup paper map plus RideWithGPS route) and you’re set. You can enjoy the beauty of our lovely state and kill the corners, view the beautiful countryside and see the lovely little towns and just smile all day (whilst working hard) it really is just so bloody damn fun. I haven’t even finished it yet and I want to do it again. Every hour dishes up a different obstacle, different terrain, different weather – you can never think you know what the terrain will be like because when you do – it changes – and the changes keep on coming – I LOVE IT

From Spalding it became really rocky (and if it rained a lot – about 20% unrideable for anyone reading who wants to know) and I also rode in lots of paddocks with high grass and you don’t even know where you’re riding haha

From Spalding you’ll ride through a lot of farms as I said, some rocky terrain and also along the Bundaleer Channels. They are apparantly one of the 7 engineering wonders of Australian history. It was supposed to harness the water and channel them into resevoirs but pipelines were installed about 40 years later anyway. It was lovely to ride through anyway – one thing I couldn’t work out though is which way was it supposed to flow – I was looking at the terrain and couldn’t work it out hahaha

From the bundaleer channels it was up and down up and down all the way to Jamestown where I am now. Lots of farms, forrest and a little bit of dirt road. Today was a bloody day of GATES – when you’re on your own, it takes a little longer to open and close the gate on a bike hahaha I think I opened and closed about 25 gates today. One rule I learned from my Sis and Bro in law (thanks robby and ned) is………LEAVE THE GATE AS IT WAS.

I was kinda glad I have front suspension today – I clicked it on quite a bit and it helped through some of that rocky terrain and eased the vibrations more than I thought. If the bump of a rock is lessened by the front suspension, the rear is less also – funny that.

after about 1,000 of climbing and 100km’s I was done for the day – I had the option of camping orrrrrr 5 clicks down the road to Jamestown where I can get a nice dinner an blog quicker – well the decision was easy hahahahah – Still haven’t used my tent hahahahaha – until tomorrow peoples – I can’t WAIT.

VANDERPANTS OUT!!