On some Adventures You Fail

Failure and Adventure

The two go hand in hand, I am certain. I say this because the whole idea of adventure is putting putting yourself out of your comfort zone.. you may train hard but the outcome is unknown...you may have done it before, but conditions must be perfect for success, or, something totally unpredictable crops up!

So anyway, for this adventure I had 5 days spare, so what better thing to do than my first short bike packing trip in arguably Australia's most stunningly beautiful state? The great thing about this route to Tasmania, is that I can ride out my front door and onto the ferry in just a few hours...with an overnight sailing you can be on the road early morning the next day. Once docked in Devonport it wasn't' long before I was riding out of town...there is a good bike path over the river then its quiet back roads but with not much of a shoulder. Within 10km I hit the first steep climb ominously called 'Gentle Annie' which was short and sharp...a theme that will permeate every day on this route. I later found out the hill got named from a local trying to get his horse down it...e.g "Woooah easy does it, gently Annie..."

I took a pit stop at the village of Wilmot. There is only a very basic store here, but they let you fill water bottles from a hose outside which is quality bore water. This is the last place you can get water before Cradle Mt, and its wise to get extra here as there are some very steep climbs from here. 14.4% at one point, according to my route planner. Get ready to work.

Ride profile - Devonport to Cradle Mt

Once up those you are on the plateau, and some of the best riding I've experienced anywhere. Open roads, beautiful lush forests and distant craggy peaks all abound...total heaven.

It was a short day today as I was not sure how I would cope with the climbing, 1700m up and I felt amazing despite some pain that comes with the territory. However I was about to discover this trip would fail...

Day 2 - Disaster

There were not many options for early morning eating at Cradle Mountain so I munched on some muesli bars and drank as much water as I could in anticipation of a big day to Strahan. For this mini tour it was important to feel good still on day 2 after yesterdays 1700m climb, as I had much bigger days to come. Tassie at dawn... Just wow...and even more wow up on the alpine plateau. The air was dead still and a very familiar alpine mist amplified an unfortunately equally familiar haze of bush fire smoke... all the way from the mainland hundreds of km across Bass Strait. Nevertheless today was a mouth watering and thigh wrenching prospect for any keen cyclist, the road was dead quite this early ...and the land in the mood to strut its stuff.

About 10km west of Cradle I was feeling a vibration on the bike when pushing hard. Yesterday right at the end if the day I had felt it also and thought a spoke might have popped on the rear wheel but found nothing on inspection. This seemed to be getting worse. Hmm next town was a long way today, in fact only a village...I'd better stop and have a really good look.

Oh no. Game over. Trip over.

I had no mobile signal but Cradle Mt had amazing tourist facilities so I turned around and road back there standing only on the pedals and not using the seat in order to keep all weight off the crank and with my speed low, as a complete collapse of the frame looked likely.

Once eventually back at the centre it was time to eat humble pie and ask for help. I got directed to their transport expert Mel who works for McDermott's. What an amazing women she had me sorted in no time, and way out of the bounds of expectation in her role. "We look after people at Cradle" she assured me, after validating I was genuine and not just under prepared, though still obviously an idiot.

She arranged a ride down the hill with one of her team members also going way out of his way to help for later that afternoon, so I had half a day to kill and did a great walk up to Marrions lookout, smokey but still stunning and got some great ideas for return trips with my wife.

The ride down to Devonport was entertaining thanks to great banter. In typical Tassie spirit he was both a driver, local farmer, and general mr fix anything guy. Far sooner than I'd wished for, and thanks to the immense generosity of others, I was back at the ferry...on my way home.

This time, I failed. I'm gutted because I wanted this challenge, hills and all, I was not riding in west Tassie in ignorance. But a snapped frame is just that. Tassie, I will be back (perhaps with a tougher bike..)

A bit of info about the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry for cyclists

The ferry connects Melbourne with Devonport, sailing overnight is a fantastic option for cyclists.

Bikes are an extra $20-$30 (depending on current fare offers) and when you book the option is available under 'vehicles'.  You then choose how you want to sleep...

Its 45$ for a reclining chair or much more for a cabin. I took the recliner option and slept ok-ish. When you get to the terminal in Melbourne, join the slow moving car queue. The staff will then direct you on to a gangway on the side of the vessel. Take anything valuable off the bike, whilst access to the decks is not allowed during the sailing...a bike still could be a target for opportunists. You can get pretty good food on the boat, albeit overpriced.

When boarding from Melbourne: your bike is treated like a vehicle. E.g. join the vehicle queue and you are then directed to the passenger boarding entrance after security etc

When boarding from Devonport: your bike is treated like a passenger, join the passenger queue

Sydney to Brisbane - Trip Summary and Info

A quick reference guide here for anyone planning similar cycling adventures in Australia.

This was my 4th tour in this country, and just about the shortest as well as the most populated I've ridden through. So, it is the worst for traffic, but the easiest for distances between supply points and services.

As well as riding interstate for this tour, I had an additional goal of completing the Great Cycle Challenge Australia for which I needed to ride 2000km in October in order to raise money for the Kids Cancer Charity. I ended up on 2080km in October which was on about day 4 of this tour.

Gear

I rode a Giant Contend, the same bike I commute with. I was not camping on this trip so really just carrying ample tools, food, water, rain jacket, sunblock,electronics and a few basic clothes. In November its already very warm in this area.

'Bianca' in Bikepacking mode

Key links:

https://www.nswcoastcycle.com  - Trip planning

https://www.willyweather.com.au/ - Great Wind Forecasts

https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me - Check this often!

http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/radar/ Rain Radar Maps

My Sydney to Brisbane Ride Summary:

The route I followed was similar to that on https://www.nswcoastcycle.com

• Bondi to Lakes Entrance / Route Map and also / Distance: 97 km / 932 meters / Blog post
• Lakes Entrance to Nelson Bay / Route Map  / Distance: 124 km / 648 meters / Blog post
• Nelson Bay to Forster / Route Map / Distance: 112 km / 738 meters / Blog post
• Forster to Kempsey / Route Map / Distance: 153 km / 852 meters / Blog post
• Kepsey to Coffs / Route Map / Distance: 131 km / 842 meters / Blog post
• Coffs to Yamba / Route Map / Distance: 139 km / 681 meters / Blog post
• Yamba to Ballina / Route Map / Distance: 94 km / 251 meters / Blog post
• Ballina to Gold Coast / Route Map / Distance: 134 km / 722 meters / Blog post
• Gold Coast to Brisbane / Route Map /Distance: 106 km / 689 meters / Blog post

Totals (includes cycling across southern Sydney, and GPS ran out of power twice)

• Total Distance: 1097 km
• Elevation Gain: 6516m
• Ride Days: 9.5
• Rest Days: 1

My Other Australian Tours:

For other tours see:

Adelaide to Melbourne  Total Distance: 1,040 km, Total Elevation Gain: 3792m
Melbourne to Sydney  Total Distance: 1255 km, Total Elevation Gain: 10289m
Perth to Adelaide  Total Distance: 3562 km, Total Elevation Gain: 12371m

Sydney to Brisbane - Day 10 - Brisbane

With a flight home now locked in, and freshly energised legs...it is time to finish this!  I woke very wary of these gun ho thoughts. Entering or leaving a big city is always the most dangerous and least scenic part of a ride. In this case, it is one massive urban sprawl between Gold Coast and Brisbane. Experimenting with both Google and the Coastal trail route gave me a rough idea...but you cant plan for on the ground conditions...so frankly was not looking forward to this.

Initially out of the Gold Coast the route is OK as you can use waterways as a handrail without frequent navigation checks. But around the freeway it's so fiddly and again alternates between 'bike path ends' signs, footpaths and vaguely cycle friendly roads. Just north of Beenleigh the wind was going crazy with crazy violent shifts in direction that seemed to catch on Bianca's bags as if they were sails...the bike kept heaving sideways and this was unnerving tearing down Logan road at 60km/h!

The positive to this was that these wild winds heralded a change and it was swinging to a southerly and a much appreciated tailwind! As you get closer to Brisbane the last 17ish km into the city is mostly fantastic...with a big wide path separated from traffic. It's not all connected yet but will be by 2020 according to signage.

After getting through Fortitude valley, more roadworks, and loads of traffic I finally hit the home stretch on the airport approach.. adrenaline kicked in and the legs were pushing Bianca nice and fast...so feeling like king moron I hit record on my handle bar video cam...a few secs later... ptssssssssssshhhhhhh goes the front tire....and I came to a stop only about 1km from the terminal with my first puncture of the trip.

Hahaha so the trip ended somewhat unglamourously with me walking the last km into the airport and getting 1 last magpie attack for good measure! Arriving at the airport I was totally drenched from effort and from riding in another hot day...my old knee injury pounding from a few 1000 km with not much rest. Strangely not a gram of elation until the plane home took off...then it hit, elation, but also a feeling of being really  grateful for the support of many cool people, and fortunate to get to do the thing I  love to do...ride my bike...

Sydney to Brisbane - Day 9 - Gold Coast

When cycling long distance in England...I remember a common occurrence being a quaint little village, steeped in history, always containing a very old church and a pub. In Australia, the common occurrence when going 'around the outside' is an epic, wild, and remote sandy beach. Between Ballina and Byron, there was a classic.

The was some nice bushland between here and Byron, but the road is pretty tight (no room) and you need to stay alert. Once entering the town it doesn't  take long to catch the vibe here...super chilled, hippy, surfing, creative people....I loved it immediately. There were some dark clouds offshore getting shunted inland on a punchy northerly, but still the main beach was kinda packed with people. It would have been fun to stay here longer but I felt if I stayed an hour that would easily turn into a week...and I still had a fair way to cycle.

There was a lot of traffic around town and it felt bad to leave, but great to be on quieter roads. After a hairy highway crossing I got onto Wooyung road which traversed beautiful sugar cane fields punching directly east away from the freeway and towards the wild coast. Once again, the coastal afternoon northerly was strutting its stuff and nothing was easy. Upon hitting the coast I turned off for a pit stop on yet another massive white sandy beach. At first I thought no one was around until I realised a couple were enjoying themselves and their privacy about 100m away....good on them it was an amazing spot for it.

Another massive beach...south of Pottsville

The town of Pottsville was not far ahead but it was a bit of a push into the wind and I was yet again drenched with the effort and dehydrated on arrival. Thankfully there are fantastic cafes here and friendly people abound.

North of here it was hard to distinguish bike path from footpath...because well, they are one in the same. Navigation was fiddly and the riding slow. My fault entirely for failing totally to have a slow itinerary. I did get the bonus of an extra hour as the clocks went back crossing into Queensland, the 4th Aussie state border on my bike! From Coolingatta you can see the hulking skyscrapers of the Gold Coast across the bay to the north. They look out of place....like an alien invasion. I guess that because that is exactly what they are...and yet still pretty spectacular I suppose.

Gold Coast on the far horizon

It was nice to see my goal for the day, not so nice to see it at least 20km direct line of sight. The bike paths in Queensland have some quirks. The craziest of which is just short of Gold Coast from the south, where there is a one way street for cars but with a bi-directional bike path squeezed on the right hand side. I couldn't have the gumption to actually use this path until I saw other cyclists going different directions up the one way street.

The Gold Coast us a crazy place that makes its own laws...I suppose. All I knew is that I was smashed when I got here and needed a rest. The NSW Coastal Cycle path plan takes 4 days to cover what I did just did today, so, I took a day off and did very little beyond walking and eating.

Sydney to Brisbane - Day 8 - Ballina

A forced late start this morning as I was taking the first ferry to Iluka at 9.30am. In fact this may be the only option for cyclists at the moment as there were signs on the freeway forcing cyclists off it on the approach to Yamba.

The heavens opened briefly in quite a heavy shower but it was over in 20 minutes. Hopefully the rain has eased stress on the local fire service. I had plenty of time for a good breakfast and enjoyed relaxing by the river waiting for the boat.

There was a boy in wheelchair who had cerebral palsy and was clearly super excited to go on the boat...the crew all knew him and he was treated like royalty..awesome work from his accompanying Dad.

Its a gentle cruise as the fairly slow boat has a complex route around mangroves, sandbars and rock walls...and very pleasant way to pass the time as I watched a seagull skillfully surf the cushion of air in front of the bow..with not a care in the world. The website for the NSW coastal cycle warned about the road ahead today...and so when we docked at Iluka I was very reluctant indeed to get going.

First up things were great, the rural road east is quite tight for space but is lovely riding through the bush. Apparently there are emu's here, but I wasn't lucky enough to spot one. Once hitting the highway...things rapidly turned to custard. Massive works are ongoing here on the upgrade. Both the northbound and southbound traffic was funneled  into 2 narrow lanes with nothing separating them and an 80km speed limit. There was a patchy shoulder usually less than a foot wide and often with loose stones and debris. Total death trap I believe..but there is no detour around this. To makes things worse, the northerly kicked in here as well, and I don't like having low speeds in situations like this because you can be exposed in blind spots longer, such as on a crest.

Occasional passing bays were the only relief...I just hoped the works were not this bad the whole way, but they were...all 30ish km to Woodburn.

In the town I felt beaten from concentrating on watching my rear mirror. This kind of cycling is too risky for me...I don't think I would have done this tour knowing this information. Sitting outside a cafe utterly deflated and scared, 3 different groups of people came up to ask what I was doing. "Don't you think this is dangerous?" ummm...Yes. "You could get killed?" ...yup. One Dutch(?) guy actually offered to give me a lift. The interaction that really got to me though was a story a local told me about how she nearly killed a cyclist when she came barreling round a blind corner on a rural road that she knew 'like the back of my hand' at 110km/h. After screaming to a stop behind him apparently he wasn't very impressed and things got heated...she then said something about him being lucky she didn't set his dogs on him. I'm still not sure why she felt the the need to stop and tell this story to a stranger, but it wasn't out of kindness this time.

North of Woodend the road is also pretty hairy, thankfully there is an option to get off the highway here along River Drive and then using another ferry to connect to Ballina. Its exposed to the wind...but safe, albeit a  touch wind/sun burnt. It was a massive relief to get to Ballina otherwise in one piece. I had a good chat to my wife and felt better afterwards, without going into too much detail on what had transpired today playing in traffic.

Ballina is effectively an island, and a wonderful spot even if the area has a more bogan feel too it. Tomorrow is a new day...there are some amazing bike paths to ride on, and hopefully no more highway roadworks!

Sydney to Brisbane - Day 7 - Yamba

What a crazy day this turned out to be!! I had a much bigger feed than normal before getting started today (normally just a banana and a coffee) as it looked like there could be a bit of distance between services. Also I was turning the pedals at 6.20am to try and beat the heavy traffic at Coffs, it was crazy busy yesterday. There is a steep climb first up, with some very hairy sections of road with very little space. Maybe the downside of my early start was that most of the traffic seemed to be trucks.

After cresting one of the hills I was zooming fairly quickly down the other side and heard the roar of both truck engines and braking...I have a small rear view mirror mounted which has saved my ass many times...and again it did here. 2 big rigs side by side were looming and there was very little shoulder. The truck closest to me couldn't manoeuvre as it had another truck right next to it, but it was trying to slow down. With no time to think at all there was a sharp left turn approaching and I pulled off some freakish breaking turn as the steel monster thundered past. It wasn't 'near death' or anything, there could have been enough room for them both to pass...but rule #1 with riding long distance in Australia is to get the hell out the way when more than 1 truck is passing!

Incidentally, Rule #2 is that a rear view mirror is your most important piece of safety equipment... more so than a helmet for long distance riding.

The road widened right up just a few km further on...and there was plenty of room for everyone! Up in the distance I could see a heavily laden touring bike powering up the hill...its always amazing to meet someone like minded...Ben was on day 70 of an epic from Perth, making my own ride seem like a jaunt to the shops and back. It was a good laughing & talking with him and swapping a few road stories...he was only a few days from home. 

Bianca made a friend

After riding together for a a while we parted ways at a servo...he was doing some roadside first aid after standing on a tent peg this morning. Ahh the glamour of cycle touring....first aid at a Petrol Station.

Onward I went...grateful for topping up water as there really is nothing north of Woolgoolga. South of Grafton there are massive roadworks and all bicycles have to take the old highway. The tarmac is rough here but totally empty of cars. I bumped into this Wild Horse which had a young foal in the bush on the other side of the road. 

Horsey!

It took a while to get past these awesome animals...the foal kept moving away from mum and towards the freeway whenever I moved. Also saw a large Roo here as well as the biggest snake I have ever seen....the thing was huge...it was roadkill...hate to see what happened to the vehicle that hit it.

Anyway, the route to Yamba got a little fiddly here...but went down some cool back roads like these:

This also turned out to be Home of The Birds...I got swooped and helmet pecked no less than 4 times in one area by Magpies. Unfortunately I don't know how to whistle 'I mean you no harm' in bird language while the birdy mums protect their young.

By the time I got back to the highway it had been 90ish km without a break and I was very hungry...like a beacon from the very heavens...near Tyndale, a bakery called 'Plantation Organic' appeared...and the food there is very yummy.

I got chatting to a couple who were on a "running holiday' with their toddler. Super friendly people and they had a few quick stories about their own adventures.

From here it was 30km into Yamba, and into an increasing NW headwind. The road here is not good for cyclists...take great care. But of course I always get there eventually.

Yamba is a wonderful town...stunning wild beaches and a sort of artisan natural feel to the shops and homes, it is surely a brilliant place to live in.

Sydney to Brisbane - Day 6 - Coffs Harbour

Kempsey wasn't the most glamorous town I have passed through. It was not possible to find anything for dinner that was not fast food, despite having a good walk around. The town had clearly fallen on harder times, with many boarded up businesses. Since most of the accommodation was booked up, I wondered what all the other visitors were eating, apparently many were fire crews and I'd imagine they'd want to eat well.

Anyway I got cracking at 7am and had a good solid push all the way to Macksville, about 50km. It was on the freeway again, and still very smokey...but quick miles. At Macksville there was 1 excellent coffee shop and I enjoyed sitting in the sunshine at the front, with a delicious brew.

After that it was a relatively short hop to Nambucca Heads, using a combination of rural roads and bike paths. The roads were narrow and hairy...so grateful to get off them. Nambucca Heads is stunning, rugged mangroves, perfect golden sand, and stormy winds. It is worth the short but steep climb to the various lookout's. Amazing how much smoke is around still...even here on the coast.

Nambucca Heads in Smoke Haze

From here I took Glinagey Way,  a rural B road which hugs the freeway north. The shoulder is not great here and I personally believe the freeway is safer...but admittedly the scenery is much better here!

Once in Urunga, I was a bit ragged and looking for shortcuts that were not really there, to get to Coffs. The better option is the suggested looping 41km on the coastal trail but this road was closed because of fires. So I just had to push on. Even a fairly big town like Coff's had amazing beaches.

Coffs Harbour

Tonight I washed my cycle gear as I've started getting saddle sores...a good Indian Meal and a good sleep will hopefully encourage a strong day pushing pedals tomorrow.