Vanderpants Oz Tour

Distance: 72 kms

Avg Spd: 18.2

Max Spd – 47.2

Saddle Time:4 hours

Elevation:193 mtrs

Total Distance: 713m

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Howdy All – welcome to the Redlegs Tour update (Redlegs until Melbourne and then Vanderpants returns lol)

I have a feeling that my videos won’t be as exciting when I don’t have my wingman with me taking those extra vids and pics – i’ll have to fight hard and learn new tricks to keep you entertained as having an awesome wingman like Alex has really helped my videos so much. His pics and vids and eye for detail has helped me so much. Lets see how it unfolds hey….

As we woke up at 6 with Nick Cave as my alarm clock hahahahaha it was time for breakky and coffee. I got the coffee and Alex was on breakky so teamwork got that done – sorted and packed and away we went into the sunrise for a BEAUTIFUL descent and costal JOYRIDE where Alex and I couldn’t get the smile off our faces. This day is what touring is all about – it’s what locks in that core memory of ‘ahhhh this is why one tours Australia by bicycle, I get it now’ kinda moment. I could see in Alex’s face that he was just HAPPY and that made me happy. Before we started there is always some thought about whether this would work together, how many km’s would we do, do I have enough fun stuff organised for him, will it be too boring etc etc. That all went out the window day 1 hahahaha. Seeing him enjoy it makes me enjoy it way more because it’s great to see him enjoy what I absolutely LOVE to do and he just said ‘I get it now’ was a nice feeling to have and share.

Winding down that first road along the coast and overlooking the oceans sunrise on a quiet road just started the morning off perfect and set the tone for the day. We arrived at a dead end road after a few clicks and thought – stuff it – lets just walk on the beach and see where it goes – it’s going in the general direction so lets just see. So we climbed out bikes over the rocks and started walking on the beach and talking shit as we do – popped the drone out for a last goodbye to Portland (love that place, i’ll be back) and then popped up on a side road that was quiet also and then onto the main road again with TRUUUUUUUUCKS. We were feeling energetic so we pumped on the speed a bit as it was pretty flat and a nice wide shoulder plus PERFECT WEATHER. A tad headwind but nothing to annoy us – then I saw a message pop up from Alex ‘join my spotify group’ – I accepted and knew he was headbanging a bit behind me, as I was, and we listened to – get this – ‘Country Road’ but in a Metal/alternative type style – cracked me up – that made Alex speed up to me and we headbanged and cranked out a nice pace for a while. Alex is good at cranking random songs at random times or singing something sooo random that sticks in your head all bloody day – I think he does it to annoy me just quietly.

So as we are churning and burning along I felt my legs itch a bit and realised it was crickets jumping into my bike and legs – thousands of them – sooooo gross! Crack crack they all went under the tyre and into my legs – GROSS – that didn’t last long though but never seen that before.

After the crickets was a koala running across the road just in front of us as Alex and I held our breathe as it narrowly missed a truck and a car but fled to safety PHEWPH………We past a windfarm too so didn’t miss an opportunity to get Droney out which was wild, AGAIN.

We pushed on 40 clicks or so to a town (one cafe in the toan and that’s it) called Yumbuk – As Alex walked out of the general store he was like ‘it was actually ok in there’ hahahaha and i wasn’t holding my breathe to see if the coffee was good. So far, the coffee outside of the larger Adelaide area has been not so good. But yumbuk delivered a 6.5/10 – I was suprised – it was the 2nd best coffee we had so far – we sat under the shelter/bbq area and enjoyed a self made roll and topped up our fluids, we were smashing the day so far. If it wasn’t for the beach walk I think we would’ve averaged 22kmph today which is great. Thanks Yumbuk

The day just flew today – it was fast k’s and awesome scenery BUT heaps of Trucks. We had a wide shoulder so it was fine. Both our legs were feeling strong. Yes we could push the km’s MUCH more and really get them ticking along but at the moment, this tour is about having an adventure on and off the bike, getting the drone shots, beach swims, walks, sight seeing AND bicycle touring and so far it’s been the best balance of all those things. I remember my New Zealand adventure where for a month it was go go go eat what you can and keep going but it’s refreshing to do a good 4-6 hours of cycling and combine that with FUN – what a bloody adventure so far lol.

I just realised my emails/contact me page wasn’t working property so I apologise to anyone who messaged me and I haven’t replied – we are back up and running now so keep them rolling in as I answer every one of them. Sometimes I feel like all I/we are doing is pushing some pedals around and seeing some shit BUT I’ve had so many emails and messages from many people over the world Friends, family, followers. With so many positive stories it makes me keep going so THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LOVELY SHOUT OUTS and people sharing their story of ‘I have now dusted off my bike’ or ‘i had a tear reading this or that and it motivated me to…..’ or ‘I booked a holiday to such and such because of your blog’ or ‘OMG Adrian and Alex – are you guys top athletes/models’?

Ok that last one was a stretch but really – THANKYOU THANKYOU – it helps keep my blog going because sometimes – i just feel as though i’m dribbling shit 🙂 I am but hey, if you like reading it that’s awesome.

So we rocked up in Port Fairy, found some accommodation quickly via the use of 100 different apps 🙂 and just put our shit down and headed strraight for the beach to ice those legs. Nothing is as refreshing as finishing the day smashing the legs on an amazing adventure and finishing it in the beach (and stealing a random boogie board to fail hugely) hahaha – was a nice dip with some drone footage and headed back to the accomm for some din dins.

Spent dinner in the pub REALLLLlllllY roughing it. Having a cuttla and planning the next 5 ish days looseley just so we know where water and food is, loose camping spots and also planning total distance to melb so we can have a plan a/b/c and be loose with an overall distance each day. That works fine and we planned it like clockwork (stay tuned to see if it goes like that hahah)

Side note for the day – how many people love to have a microwave as a letterbox in Straya hahahaha

PS – thanks everyone for your suggestions, they came rolling in – i’ve taken them all on board and will be adding them into my blog….Tan, JB, quite a few emails from the followers and Wally cheers everyone – PS – no bakery stop in Port Fairy I don’t think so can’t comment on that lolz. I must say though that the port Fairy coffee roasters (in my vid) was a 8.5/10. We rocked up into town and I could smell the beans from about 100 meters away and yelled at Alex ‘THERE’ – we were 1 minute late and they were closing but they let us order yewwwww and we happily sat under the shade of the closest tree and enjoyed that beautiful beautiful liquid gold.

I hope tomorrow will bring more awesome times – stay tuned peeps – let’s see – enjoy the video – keep the ideas coming

Redman OUT