2 sleeps to go!!

This is sooo exciting! Collis picked up 2 overseas riders yesterday and 2 interstate riders today.
Tonight is the dinner and I'm a little nervous as it started to rain this morning. Of course we were going to have a BBQ. It would be nice if the Gods allowed us to eat outside but there is plenty of room in the house. Collis will still have to cook on the BBQ though. I have a quick shop that needs to be done and then all should be ready. Instead of a heap of hamburgers I may do some morroccon balls which can be cooked in the oven.

My bag is packed and gee it was hard packing for 6 months. I have been allowed only one sausage bag as well and it will be weighed along with everyone elses tonight. Collis said one of the riders (no names) has his usual HUGE bag which he struggled to lift. I said if he can't cut down his stuff he will have to carry some on the bike. Collis will struggle with this but I refuse to lift this riders bag and he will have to do that himself (all the way). We are getting tough this ride.

Food boxes have little stickers on them this year hoping this will help them find their boxes when they are soooo hungry.

Time is nearly here.

Even though we are still completing the preparations for all rides, we are starting to concentrate on the finishing touches for the 1st & 2nd legs. Once we are underway we will finish off preparations for the other legs.
Our plan is to provide each rider with a book of the blog so we will be doing one for each leg.
I hope to encourage the riders to contribute photos and experiences to their journey so the blogs are more personal for them.

The first blog is well underway with lots of information already situated on and : http://melbourne2cairns2013.blogspot.com.au/

The blog for the second leg will be on: http://cairns2darwin2013.blogspot.com.au/

Once the other blogs are commenced we will publish their addresses.

Training Ride Photos

Bairnsdale to Bright 

January 17th to January 19th 2013

Day One

Bairnsdale to Omeo

The leader??

Day Two 

Omeo to Mt Hotham

The others are way ahead. Oh well.

Feeling on top of the world.

Day 3

 Mt Hotham to Bright

Morning is breaking.

Where have all the mountains gone?

The day started off chilly but didn't last long.

Thanks Jacquei for the photos.

Emerald Springs & Doon Doon

Emerald Springs roadhouse accommodation has been booked and they are holding 3 cabins for those that want to upgrade on these nights.

We will no longer be staying at Pine Creek.

Doon Doon Roadhouse is closed so YES we have added another bush camp onto the itinerary and we hope to be camping on the Durham River. There is a rest area that allows 24 hour camping.

Itineraries have been changed and should appear on the website this week.

Changes to accommodation- Pine Creek & Doon Doon

Just received an email from Doon Doon Roadhouse in WA on the Darwin to Broome ride stating that they are sorry for the inconvenience but their camping ground will be closed for the year of 2013. Collis rang them straight away to confirm and it is true. Apparently they were having work done on the toilet blocks when something drastic went wrong and it will take the whole year to sort it all out.

There is a spot on the Dunhum River but it is a 24 hour public rest stop and these aren't always very pleasant. It is about 20 kms short of Doon Doon making the ride on that day around 90 kms (was 110 kms) and the next day would go up to 115kms (was 95 kms). Too far for the riders to ride for a meal so therefore I will have to add another bush camp meal onto the itinerary. Hopefully there will be some water in the river, not too much though. Here are some pictures from the internet showing some of the extremes of the Dunhum River.

If the rest area is not too busy and the water is not too high then we probably will give it a go for camping.

Pine Creek

We have been trying for months to contact our friends in Pine Creek re- accommodation at their small intimate caravan park but without success. They are still living at the park but they do not seem to be taking any guests.

Collis is currently investigating a night (on the way to Darwin and one night on the way from Darwin) at a different stop called Emerald Springs. It looks very nice as they have renovated the roadhouse and are continuing to update with a swimming hole and a lake. We are waiting for a response from the owners as to whether they can cope with a large group of rowdy cyclists. 

Will update the itineraries once these changes have been confirmed.

Training ride completed.

Well, the training ride has come & gone so quickly and my main concern is the cycle around oz, which is 6 months long, will fly by just as quickly. Previous rides have been an average of 5 weeks long and because we are all so busy, the time flies by without you even realising it.

We all arrived in Bairnsdale on Wednesday afternoon/evening and met up for the ride discussion at 6.30 pm at the Big 4 caravan park. We ended up with 12 riders and 8 in the support crew. The discussions were centred on the forecast of 38C the next day. Jacquei had flown down from Brisbane with Qantas but her bike went to Mackay; then they lost the bike in Brisbane but eventually it arrived at midnight via courier. Very frustrating time for her and worry over in what state the bike may arrive. Theo & John arrived late as they drove down from Pt Macquarie in the one day.

The plan was to leave at 6.30 am on Thursday morning so as to miss some of the heat. The wrong morning to sleep in but it happened. 5 riders headed out at 6.30 am but the rest left about an hour later. The morning weather was quite pleasant with an undulating ride through various types of landscapes. Morning tea was between 9.30 and 10.30 (at the 50 km mark) with all riders, bar one, arriving as planned. Unfortunately Theo's bike (3 months old) had a fatal break on the derailleur hanger. He was taken to Bairnsdale by his wife but no-one was able to fix it for him. So disappointing for Theo but unavoidable and he was then not able to continue with the ride. After morning tea the weather heated up dramatically. The hills increased, the wind got hotter and in their faces and the water supply became luke warm. They arrived at Swift Creek in dribs and drabs for lunch with 1 rider pulling out at lunch break. We were down to 10 riders out in the heat. 2 more riders plus one of the support crew (who rode out to meet them) were brought in via car. At 4 pm we were down to 8 riders with 7 safely arriving at the Omeo caravan park. One rider was still out there on her own so we decided she needed to be brought in before she collapsed. She was disappointed but was not thinking straight at the time.
It was a tough, tough day and everyone of those riders should be proud of there achievements. Great dinner with the whole group at the Golden Age hotel. Early to bed.

11 riders left Omeo at around 7.30 am. The female support crew went shopping for food supplies for the nights dinner at Mt Hotham. Today there were very few (if any) down hills, it just seemed to be one steep hill after another all the way to morning tea. It was hot out on the road but cooler than the day before. Most of the riders were looking stronger today but 4 were still suffering from the ride the day before and pulled out at morning tea break (which was at the 25 km mark). One rider described his problems beautifully stating "I have no petrol in my legs". This left us 7 riders to complete the ride up the mountain without any further dramas. They stopped at Dinner Plains for lunch before riding onto the lodge we had booked for the night. All riders were in by early afternoon and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at the pub, walking the area or reading in the lodge. Lorraine cooked a lovely spaghetti sauce with Jacquei doing one of her famous Coleslaws and Jan & Allen doing a great tossed salad. Plenty of food with quite a few leftovers- where was Robbo when we needed him. Everyone kicked in with the clean up and it was all finished before we knew it. A small group had  a competition at the pool table with Kathy & Collis as the champions until Tim challenged Collis in a solo match. Tim won 2 games in a row before we all headed off to bed.

Theo, Caroline & John left us in the early hours of the morning as they wanted to get an early start back to Pt Macquarie. Planned a 'sleep in' the next day as it was all down hill with only a few ups & downs before the main descent. Very steep descent which required alot of concentration to prevent a nasty fall. Arrived at Harrietville in time for morning tea before racing into Bright where the ride was completed. Robbo was here to meet us but refused to take some of the leftovers.

The ride was enjoyed by most although some were bitterly disappointed with the bike performance, a couple disappointed with their own performance and most disappointed with the weather dished out to them. None were disappointed with the views or the experience. All riders have a much better idea of how much training they will need to do before they start their stage of this years Cycle Around Oz.
We could not have asked for a better training ride- everyone has gained some knowledge from the experience.

Bike boxes

We have received an email from one of our forward thinking cyclists who will be travelling from Melbourne to Broome. His suggestions are good and could be incorporated with some coordination. Collis and I are contacting cycle shops in the major cities regarding assistance with the assembling of bikes and we will also ask if they are able to supply bike boxes as required. We will forward on the names of these shops as they reply in the positive to us.

Here is the letter:

  Just wondering if there’s been any thought about getting bike boxes as people finish stages. In my case, I’ll be looking for a bike box to fly back from Broome. I’ll have a bike box when I arrive in Melbourne which someone else is welcome to use when they leave Melbourne – either at the end of the ride, or to join one of the stages. What would be ideal is if someone Melbourne who’s joining the ride in Broome could use my box so I can use it from Broome to home!

Alternatively, any thoughts on obtaining a bike box in Broome would be appreciated (My bike has a big standard frame and is difficult to  pack into a bike box typically available from bike shops -  an ‘airline’ full size box is good (140cm long x 80cm high x 30cm wide) – or a bike box from a cycling organisation (eg. Bicycle Vic, or Bicycle Qld) that organise bike transport for tour events).

Would you think about shipping (new?) bike boxes to ride departure points (stage ends) for people leaving the ride at the stage points (with cost to be paid by riders using the ‘service’)?

Riders who are interested in these suggestions can let us know and we will see how we can organise this.