Well for our final day from Richmond to Hobart Mother Nature pulled out all stops in an attempt to break us.... It didn't work. The raging headwind saw us ride the first 18k in over 1hr 10mins and caused us to spend the next hour at the Brighton Bakery defrosting and regathering.
Once we crossed the river though it was tailwind all the way - except when Hef took the lead and we ended up in dead end streets, no bike zones and generally just lost! It took a long time to get to the Casino!
We took a detour up and over the Tasman Bridge which was a bit of a white knuckle ride - something I don't need to do again when it's that windy! After the Tasman bridge I couldn't convince Hef to ride up Mt Wellington again and I was most disappointed!
Having now finished the Rapha Festive 500 there was no rest for the wicked and we spent the rest of the afternoon at the Taste of Tassie and celebrating NYE at the Casino, although we didn't make it to midnight.
And on a final note, the next tour ride is already being planned......
It appears that mother nature has cottoned on to our method of rising early to beat the wind for today the wind started howling at 2:30am and this is a little early to get up even for us!
Today is our last day on the road and we have 56k to complete our Rapha 500 journey to Hobart. Before we hit the road, let me give you some tips from the first time tourer:
1. Be prepared to ride slow. Forget the averages of the saturday smash or even the sundy hundy's - if you average 20, you're hammering.
2. Sun sleeves and a helmet with a beak is essential. Forget looking like a pro whilst touring.
3. Pack light. Start by packing what you think you need in your panniers and then put half back in the cupboard - if you have two of anything, you have have too much!
Enjoy your last day of 2012 and we'll see you in Hobart!
Today started out as a team time trial - team Trek made up of myself and Hef and team S (evil word) made up of Helga, Jann and Smirinoff - not their real names but they spoke broken English and we could hardly understand them. Anyway, anyone who was riding a bike today had the same idea - be on the road early to beat the headwind. Right, back to the time trial. It was all over about 2k out of town, team S had the pedal down as they had to be in Hobart by 11 for a brewery tour!
As we plodded along we had a few bergs to roll over including Break-me-Neck and Bust-me-Gal which by now didn't phase us to much, but the downhill run off Bust-me-Gal was more of a ride out of a theme park with squally winds and panniers laden with GB trees!
5k out of Richmond all teamwork went out the window and Kittstar made a solo break up the final climb, hoping for a cruisey run downhill to the finish - but the headwind put a stop to that and I had to pedal flat out down the hill just to hit 35k/hr. But for the record I still held Hef off for the win!
Our K tally to date now sits at an odd 444k with one day of riding left... Here's to a break in the weather tomorrow.
Today I'm excited - we're on our way to Richmond! I'm not so excited about the lumps that lay between here and there, but as Zulu said yesterday "welcome to touring!".
Hef is keen to get on the road and beat the winds that are expected again today so I must run..... Or perhaps ride....
Well today we cracked the Hundy (103k in 5hrs 10min, destination Orford) thanx to a couple of extra k's down a road just past Swansea to Kate's Berry Farm. And I can tell you that those couple of extra k's were well worth it! This is definitely a must do, must eat stop if you're ever in the east coast region. Hef can highly recommend the Blueberry Pie!
The Zulu finally read his weather beads right and the raging headwind he had promised arrived with force today about 30k into our journey. It was like this for the entire day, including the final 30k into Tarabunna along a section we named "The Malborough Straight of Tasmania". We became that desperate that we pulled up stumps in the middle of nowhere to munch on our fresh cherries and bananas just to get some reprieve from the belting we were taking!
On a good note though we again saw some awesome sights - definitely an advantage of staying at B&B's and travelling by bike. Attraction 1: the spike bridge, built in the early 1800's by convicts - Looks very cool. Attraction 2: The Lair, just past Kabuki tea house, this holiday house will set you back $1,800 a night (personally I think you'd get better value haggling Hef for an FX 7.6!). And finally Attraction 3: the shoe fence. In the middle of the Malborough Straight other delirious travellers have started throwing their shoes out the window to make this random drive by feature!
I can honestly say that all four days so far have been different and challenging in every way, but I've never enjoyed such an adventure in all my life and we're kind of hooked on the bike touring thing!
Can anyone read weather charts? Sneaky Pete here, filling in for Kittstar, who informs me that the internet keeps getting blown off the wires in Orford, Tasmania. I checked the weather stats for today that they would have encountered and found this snippet...
Take a look at those wind speeds and directions!!
Does anyone know what direction it is between Bicheno and Orford? I've had a look on a map and I reckon it's roughly SSW. So I'm sort of working out why Kittstar had a wry little chuckle when I scoffed about a little 100k ride into a 'bit of wind'. Not sure how long this day's ride took but I think Kitty mentioned 5+ hours into an average 50kmh (roughly) headwind, straight on the nose along terrain similar to the Malborough stretch. I am happy to report they are still alive...
So who's up for a quick trip around Northeast Tassie with Kittstar and Hef?
SpyCat has a phrase from Jens Voight that mentions a creature who lives on your back who goes by the name of "Pain". I've been thinking about this creature over the past two days and have been wondering if and when he might try to hitch a ride to Hobart.... Well today wasn't his day, but his brother "Torture" jumped on for a ride about 20k out of St Helen's and he didn't get off until I'd been sleeping for over an hour post ride! It just wasn't my day in the sun - even though I'm the birthday girl!
It was a very different ride today - shorter (80ks) and a lot flatter (by Tasmanian standards!) and despite the unwelcomed hitch hiker we had some awesome scenery - including the yachts of the Sydney to Hobart and some amazing wildlife, dolphins, a thousand bunnies, an echidna, wombat and some strange looking birds that belong in a scene from Alice in Wonderland!
To end our ride our B&B is at the top of a 200m hill climb - which I will admit I walked!
Thanx to the Riddler for the secret reminder text! Oh, and you must ask Hef about his electric blanket.
Today lived up to all my expectations - and then some! 98k 5hrs 21m ride time. Location - windy St Helen's.
Right from the time I woke up I was fixated on having a good strong brew at our brekkie stop which was supposed to be 30k down the road. The problem was that no one in Tassie is awake before 10am and by this time we were in the middle of nowhere - somewhere between berg 1 and 2 (refer to evidence below!) with berg 3 and 4 still to come. And "bergs" down here are only represented by these awesome red signs that tell you to slow down - which is pretty hard to do when you're crawling a long at 8k an hour! All other hills apparently don't rate a mention to these Tassies!
Route detail....
Click arrow for route details...
Top 3 quotes of the day:
3rd place goes to Hef: "It feels like we're going uphill". No kidding.
2nd place goes to Kittstar: "the goats name is William? How do you know that?" Billy goat = William (according to Hef anyway, he even called me blonde!).
But the winner goes to Hef: after 71ks, 60 being uphill, 4hrs+ ride time - no coffee and only a muesli bar, a couple of Nakes and a banana - Hef says "let's ask the guy in this road stop if there are any cafes down the road". I don't think so Hef!!!!
G'day William the Goat.
"It feels like we're going uphill"
Hef, deep in thought; contemplative, reflective....
My thoughts of day 2 being a bit of a tough day in the office have been confirmed - how, you may ask when we haven't even hit the road yet.....
1. When the locals say "oh, so you took the FLAT road between Launie and Scottsdale. Yep, you've got some hills tomorrow!"
2. The publican at dinner last night said we'll go through a 20k pass today that always makes her car sick.
I'm thinking I should have joined Hef with that rum n coke last night!
Ps - Wazza B you are right, the locals call it Lonnie. I paid special attention.
Oh boy. Where to begin. I have this habit of biting off more than I can chew... Ottway 100, oppy gran fondo the week I get my arm out of a cast - and now our tour of Tassie.
Let me break our 98k down into stages. Stage 1: first 12k - all uphill out of Launie and that was just about me done. A smart person would have done some training with a fully loaded flat bar - but that would be a smart person.
Stage 2: about 31k heading north into a headwind. Enjoyable stuff when you're riding uphill as well.
Stage 3: about 35k - 2k down the road we realise we didn't get a coffee at our food stop, what were we thinking???? On this stage we were nearly taken out by the odd thousand or two Hilux's towing boats.
Stage 4: 20k to Scottsdale. Finally a tailwind on our backs but more hill climbing - bearable though when you're riding +20k/hr.
As for the GB Tree (aka gingerbread tree), his days are numbered.... As for the Hef, he's gonna run out of chamois cream.... As for Kittstar, she's gonna be like her mate LG and just keep swimming...
Ahoy me M1 hearties, after a long night at sea, the two weary sea dogs Hef and Kittstar - oh and the gingerbread Christmas tree - now await the bus to Launceston where bike assembly will commence and FINALY the riding can begin....SEE THE PLAN/ROUTE HERE.
Stage one we'll call the Planning Stage - Zulu would be proud. So our first ever credit card trip around Tassie on Trek FX's has been extended somewhat to get us up to the 500k's required for the Rapha Festive 500. Dun! Christmas Day will be spent travelling from Gladstone to Melbourne and across the Bass Straight on Hef's favorite ship - The Spirit of Tasmania.After a short bus trip Boxing day morning, our 500 will begin...... Dun!! Day 1 (26th): Launceston to Scottsdale via Pipers River and Bridgeport. Our first day will see us head North and we'll cover around 96k's. Day 1 Updates here...and here Dun, Dun. Day 2 (27th): Scottsdale to St Helens on the coast. We'll be in uncharted territory on Day 2 - with all our trips to Tassie, we haven't yet covered this part of Van Diemens land. I fear our 98k's may be on some what lumpy roads. Updates here...and here Dun. Day 3 (28th): St Helens to Bicheno - we're now heading down the coast and hopefully we've got a tailwind behind us! Thankfully its an easier day of 76k's - perhaps it's something to do with it being my birthday. Perhaps not. Updates here... Phew Dunnnnnnnnn! Day 4 (29th): Bicheno to Orford. Yes, we're still in Tasmania, not Europe - although you wouldn't think so with towns named as Bicheno and Orford. Our 98k's today will again be in uncharted Hef and Blogmistress territory. Updates here...here...and here.... Done, dun. Day 5 (30th): Orford to beautiful Richmond. A (hopefully) leisurely 55k roll southwest to our most favorite and the most gorgeous town in Tassie. Day 6 (New Years Eve): Richmond to Hobart - the lonnnnnnnnng way. The short way from Richmond to Hobart is about 25 - 30k, however we've managed to turn our last day into about 85k's which will finish on the bike paths along the Derwent River that will take us to our final stop - the Casino. Let the riding begin..... Link to a live interactive map; as it happens...
Looking for some riding to do during the festive break???? Then check out this link on the Rapha site and join the Festive 500 Group Rides Event. Not only does it give you something to do, but you can also win prizes for the best ride story submitted.... So get riding and get writing this Christmas!
