Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

bosvit wrote:

The 2nd Womble wrote:Out of curiosity, what are the details on the wheel set and are they really all purpose? Love the look.

+1 are they tubbie Vittoria Paves?

Yes, 24mm jobbies. A wise acquaintaince of mine twisted my arm to try these tyres, only second ride on these today - so far uber grippy, ultra comfy and don't lose too much speed over the 21mm/23mm Vittoria CX combination I had on these wheels previously, I must thank him!

Why I like thick tubular tyres (a not so joyous aspect of country riding)

Gotta love a day off work and the Ocean Road only a 50 minute ride from home..........

The joys of country riding ... possibly comes undone when a bike needs to spend time on Country Link. I'm just pulling my bike apart at the moment, to fit it into a cardboard coffin, which must remain under an inflexible Country Link weight limit of, 20kg ... there will be no air in the tyres, in this box. The box weighs about 5-6 kg.

I'm heading to Armidale with Country Link next week, to ride the BNT Main Trail from Point Lookout, hiking the bike downhill most likely, to my home in Canberra. I'm in no hurry to get back. I've not spent winter in the Western Blue Mountains before so I'm really looking forward to see what the light will be like during winter. And hopefully, get to enjoy(?) some early snow in the Barrington Tops, if today's temps on the Great Divide are any guide. The light out on the Western Slopes is usually very fine and soft, and atmospheric, good for foggy and frosty mornings.

I'm leaving the BNT at times, to do a few side trips (to places like Sugarloaf Mountain west of Nowendoc, to Belltrees Mountain NW of Scone, and to the amazing Tombrong Road, to Mordor (that's the track along the Turon River into Sofala ) and to the Hill End Bridal Track down to the Macquarie River, then rejoining the BNT where I've left it, at those times.

Hopefully I'll have some good shots when I get back, hopefully ... but for now, it's back to packing up the bike and making that Portuguese flavoured jerky ... like Nando's Peri-Peri.

Some packing stuff ... and modifying the cardboard coffin, that has to fit both the bike and trailer.






... and a bit of cold evening light in the ranges.




If you haven't ridden out to Hill End off-road, and crossed the Macquarie and Turon, it is well worth the effort. Here is an old shot from above Sofala with the road to Mordor. That horrible tarmac stuff doesn't last long, thankfully.




Fair tailwinds.

Warren.

Oh I remember those back roads out from Sofala from my time in the area a couple of decades back...never knew where half of them went but the run down the Turon from Running Stream and the Dark Corner Road to Palmers Oakey were a hoot. The Limekilns Road out of Wattle Flat was always fun too.

I'm heading to Armidale with Country Link next week, to ride the BNT Main Trail from Point Lookout, hiking the bike downhill most likely, to my home in Canberra.

Hey Warren, you have wrestled your health back from the jaws of the serpent? Trip sounds great, look forward to the pic-a-logue........

WarrenH wrote:

Beautiful.

silentbutdeadly wrote:Oh I remember those back roads out from Sofala from my time in the area a couple of decades back...never knew where half of them went but the run down the Turon from Running Stream and the Dark Corner Road to Palmers Oakey were a hoot. The Limekilns Road out of Wattle Flat was always fun too.

silendbutdeadly, G'day. That's about a similar time for me too ... out that way.

I remember the low level crossings with many short but steep undulations and as loose surfaced and as off-camber as the waterbars and corners can be and the water will be freezing, doing wet crossings. On other threads in the MTB section members write about highways to hell overseas. 'Snake Alley' is the track along the Upper Turon ... so my preference is a winter trip.

open roader wrote:... look forward to the pic-a-logue........

open roader, G'day. A pic-a-logue? ... I'd hate anyone to expect any thing from me about bikes or riding. That would change my style. But a Pic-a-logue? ... how about photo reportage or editorial images, more likely.

It's taken a while to come back from the snake bite, almost 6 months. I've improved considerably thanks to allied health people. In the last 9 days I've upped my training from 4 to 5 hours a day. 10 weeks ago I struggled to even walk 100 metres, without damaging muscles and my frozen ankle, leg, hip and shoulder joint/s on the bite side are basically fine.

I've been pedalling heaps and using the Tabata System for doing weights and reps in the local gym and it has worked wonders. Apart from still having an ugly itchy scar on my leg from the bite, I've not felt fitter or stronger, for a while.

Idrcycle, G'day. Thank you. Both Sofala and Hill End are heritage listed towns on the old Turon Goldfields. Some old stuff from the Turon.

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Warren.

PS, I wrote earlier that Belltrees Mountain is NW of Scone, it is actually 25km to the NE.

Some great pictures in here!

Yep, country hack here and love it!!! Love doing a mix of road and MTB (single/rail trail) riding. Some weekend mornings I can do a 52km ride and not pass a car at all, just some cows on a cattle crossing!


Like a sunrise!


The road ahead...


MTB hack on the local rail trail.


Having a hack on the Bass Coast rail trail, love running the CX tyres on the dually/hardtail, roll great!

S

There is great joy found mostly, when riding in the country, agreed ... but disturbing things can happen as well. It's not the encounters with the wildlife, the wildlife is usually fine, but the warning signs about encountering the wildlife can be somewhat disturbing.

Like these signs that I found on the Great Divide, in the Upper Lachlan Region of New South Wales, during June.

Such as this one near Broken Bridge, warning to be on the lookout for Wombats with shotgun blast acne. I presume that's because the authorities aren't sure if this acne is catching, particularly now in NSW National Parks or like how the Hendra Virus has jumped between the species?




... and for Wombats wearing gas masks. Although leaving the hamlet of Roslyn, I was more worried about the arborist who pruned that tree ... which caused me to have flashbacks to the horror flick The Middle Arm Road Chainsaw Massacre.




Another sign that I found confusing was one that I rode over, SESROH ON. Which I'm guessing was either in the Cyrillic script or very Old Latin. If I had ridden back over it and gone back into town, I could have asked one of the locals in Taralga what it meant, I guess.




I did have a few disturbing encounters with the wildlife ... especially the rural wildlife.

A mutant-hybrid Black-Backed Magpie with pigeon toes ... which I've renamed Gymnorhina columbæ digitorum (spp. Phaps hudsonii).




If you needed a pillow during the horror films The Isle of the Damned, Wasp or Hitchcock' classic Birds ... be mindful of where you camp in the Upper Lachlan.








One particularly disturbing thing happened when I was on the Bicentennial National Trail, when the trail went through the town of Taralga. As I approached the oldest two story building in the Upper Lachlan Region, the guard dog at the house ran away from me. I know that dogs have an acute sense of smell ... but that dog was just being ridiculous.




I did actually have an attack of the Plovers on the Bannaby Range. It took awhile to encourage them to be in the shot, but they came good when (ever) I turned my back. I spent an hour playing with these low-light rainy-day Plovers.




I must go into the rural countryside again, soon ... to where the sheep look like Musswellbrook coal miners.




Warren.

Cheers Warren, some truly great pics there........ love the commentary! Pleased to see you had a good long ride.............

Open Rider, G'day.

I'm pleased that you like my small country ride events. The country gives me many opportunities for images ... to try to capture.

The Magie stayed-put ... while the spectrum lasted mere moments. By the Banaby Road, heading towards the flooded Swallow Tail Pass.



A couple of fine hounds parked beside Banaby Road.




These poor old BNT blazes are looking a tad sun bleached. Great roads to ride ... especially, Middle Arm Road and the lanes off the Mount Rae Road (off Carrabungla Road).




Crimson Rosellas taking flight, in Goodhew Lane, Taralga and more of the lane.






A vertical slab hut, on the BNT. Upper Lachlan Shire.



A soft day above Swallow Tail Pass. It is a relatively flat road beside the Banaby Range ... until the steep descent to Swallow Tail Pass across the Tarlo River ... it's the original road from Goulburn to Sydney. The locals tell me that no cyclist has come up the pass from the river, in living memory ... good one. Well worth a look.




PS, I hope that I'm allowed to say this here? ... (and this is not against Forum rules).
As a extra note, to (we?) rural cyclists. I have a part-time job as a caretaker of a wind and solar farm, south of Queanbeyan NSW. It is a great job, and most enjoyable, affording much country riding. BUT, I cant be relied on reply to respond quickly to the posts here, when I'm out on the farm because it take up to two hours for a single page to load ... and by that time, often, the link has timed out. I can't understand how ruralites voted against having the NBN by voting for Phoney Tony. I guess that is why this Country Cycling section of BNA is so slow to progress, even basically. Speed can enhance life.

Also, Mal Turner is anti bringing fibre optic broadband to the rural communities here in Oz, as he has often stated, fibre optic broadband is unnecessary ... yet he is a major financier of a programme to bring fibre optic broadband to parts of the European country side. But then, Roo Murdoch is our now new PM, OK? and Roo doesn't want fibre optic competition at the expense of his Foxtel satelites. Have I got that wrong Ruralites? ... (maybe, but I don't think so!).

WarrenH wrote:A vertical slab hut, on the BNT. Upper Lachlan Shire.

Image

This image is a thorough delight - beautifully executed photograph.

Also like the vignetting on the rosellas image and the Goodhew Lane images.

Most of us out here in the sticks have an internet tale of woe to tell..............

As always...great images.

As for internets...it didn't get voted against because we were never going to get fibre optic broadband unless we actually lived in a community. It wasn't worth chasing out a few stands of copper to widely distributed houses. These places were going to get either wireless or satellite and these weren't up for grabs in the NBN election - the new satellites go up in 2015 (though there is an interim service available if you can't get broadband) and wireless continues (albeit at a snails pace). Mal/Tony may be duds but it's not all their fault...yet.

Only those of us in rural towns have lost the chance at fibre to the home...and most of these particular hicks would never know or miss what they are missing. As for me...I'm waiting for 2015 or so to replace the old ABG satellite service we have.

Easiest way not to care though is to ride more....<sigh>

Open Roader and silentbutdeadly, thanks.

I went to the edge of the Yass Plains a few times this past week, and did some hill work, to attempt to toughen up mentally, in anticipation of riding over Mount Rob Roy with a few guys from The Berm. It was to be a big climb over Mount Rob Roy nearly 670 metres of ascending on fire trails with a steep and sketchy downhill of 7 kilometres through broken shale and baby heads. Rob Roy is NE of Tharwa above the historic homestead of Lanyon. I was the only person who turned up for the ride, everyone else pulled out the night before, unfortunately. Without a guide, I didn't have a clue where I was going. The map I had was a typically dodgy dumbed-down excuse for a map, from Environment ACT. I jumped several fences and had a good time (sort of). When I got back to the car, at Rob Roy ... I found the track that I should have taken. Rob Roy will keep, it was a good walk. Bikes are called push-bikes anyway, I'm hoping that the bike enjoyed it.

Some shots from the past week, of the Yass Plains and Mount Nutter, Black Cypress at Woodstock, the Murrumbidgee at the Bass Hole, Baroomba Rocks shot on the climb to Big Monks, Mount Franklin and the Valley of the Murrumbidgee, and a dam near Lanyon with Mount Tennant.














Warren.

The joy of country riding is currently ... cough ... cough ... cough ... cough ... cough!




Then the N'Westerly prevails again and the smoke goes, then the sea breeze returns which is followed by a period of smoky calm. Then the N'Westerly again prevails .... then the smoky sea breeze returns ...




Warren.

PS, from the Yass Valley to the Northern Alps and the sunset shot is from Pig Hill to Wombat Hill.

The Murrumbidgee Valley NSW National Parks are home to so many great, scenic trails. Why not take the family for a bush walk, or even a cycle through the gorgeous River Red Gum forests?



More information can be found on this Facebook page, highlighting the Murrumbidgee River near Leeton!
http://www.facebook.com/MurrumbidgeeRiverEuroley

Martin

Only just stumbled across this thread. Some wonderful images! Very beautiful country we live in.

WarrenH, would it be possible to get some of your photos in a higher resolution? Would love to use some as wallpaper on my PC!