Back From The Outback by David Wills As soon as we took down our winter clothes in mid February, the desire was to be on our bikes. A few emails later, I was happy to accept an invitation to ride the first part of the Transcontinental Trail Ride across Victoria, starting at the western side and ending at the eastern side of the Australian continent. The Ride is part of the Randonneur Cycling Club Victorian Branch’s annual tour and it’s called the Transcontinental. In 2010, we’d had a really good Transcontinental done by road, followed by other options including riding east/west across the States as well as down to Sydney and a Tasman Island option. This time around, we were keen to do the ride the same way… on our MTBs. With no bike racks or trailers, a couple of guys, two bikes and another vehicle, we needed to use the train and flights if we wanted to get all the way across Australia, which was the goal. From Sydney we’d head back to Western Australia and then head out across the Nullarbor back to Adelaide. All of the riding is tough, with about 3,000kms of hard road to cover in 10 days or so. With the Ride starting in April, I was really looking forward to enjoying some warmer weather on the bike. The Ride actually begins at Clunes, near Ballarat, in the Western District of Victoria on Sunday 6th April, with four riders heading off on their bikes at 5 am. A bit later, we’ll be sharing a meal with them and then they’ll move off, leaving us to our own devices on the bike! I got all my gear together and then headed over to the nearest train station to book a train. Clunes is one of those “everywhere” towns… about 50kms to the west is the historic gold mining town of Bendigo. A lot further north there’s a beachside town called Geelong and, as if by some plan, there was a major cycling race called the Herald Sun Tour that took place in Clunes earlier this week! Just to complete the jigsaw, a couple of my good friends were involved with the media and were able to point me to some good riding. The ride to Bendigo was great for training. The roads are generally flat and featureless with sweeping corners and short straights. At first, it wasn’t super busy and there was a good mix of riders, solo and family groups and a handful of experienced riders doing the hard ride. The first couple of days were spent on fairly low-key roads and the riding was quite easy. The first day involved a long stretch from Maffra to Heyfield and back, which was very pleasant and gave me a good feeling for what was ahead, including two river crossings. The next day, after a very pleasant cycle along a bush track near Redesdale, we pushed on towards the more famous country north of the state, including Bylands, Strathfieldsaye and Stawell before finishing in an empty supermarket car park on the outskirts of Bendigo itself. Even though it was a very wet and miserable day, the riding was excellent and I got some great time in with the bike. The next day, we had an easier day and rode up towards Kyabram before heading home. The weekend was cold and wet and, when you’re not used to it, a bit depressing, but it was good to have some rest in the end before setting off. The weather wasn’t great on the way north to Warrnambool and a fairly bleak day on the west coast with big hills didn’t really lift my spirits, but after a brief rain shower, the weather cleared and it became sunny and very warm. Coming down to Moyne, we joined a couple of riders from the other team who were heading south to Port Fairy, where we had a rest day. By then, the weather had started to turn bad and the last part of the Ride took us through some very wet and windy weather before finishing in Port Fairy, in pouring rain. For me, the Ride turned out to be a lot tougher than the Ride in 2010… I was getting some pains in my hip joints and, in some ways, the riding was harder. On the way south, we took our time through Geelong and Corio Bay and then through a nice park to pick up the coast before looping along the Corio Bay coast and making our way through a couple of short climbs, before a fairly flat finish into Port Melbourne, where we had a late dinner. All-in-all, it was a great day, a bit easier than last year. For the next day, there was a gentle tailwind ride along the Great Ocean Road through the centre of Port Fairy before looping around and heading north. The Ride back was a little windier, but nice enough to keep you pedalling. Then it was on to the next rest day at Anglesea, before riding back through Lorne and making the short jump to Melbourne. The ride south was fun and pleasant in the morning, before the heavy showers set in again and we had a hard day at Lorne. The rest of the way back was drizzly and cold and I felt it in my legs and arms, but still managed a happy ride along the flat roads around Bairnsdale to get back to Melbourne just in time for dinner. This ride is a rambling one through the South Gippsland of Victoria, with a fair amount of climbing and descent. There’s a loop around the Lakes at Omeo and then a great descent back through the same way. From there, it’s up to a rest stop at Tawonga Gap and then on to Walhalla. We only had two rest days on the Ride, but a lot of it was rolling along and I felt very good in the morning and then by mid afternoon my legs were starting to get heavy as I tried to make good time for the day. I was keeping a pretty good pace but, by the end of day 3, I was feeling quite heavy on the bike and my pace wasn’t good enough for the rest of the ride. The Ride was all the way from Walhalla to Tatura, the main towns in the South Gippsland region and the first part of the ride was quite dull, as there were very few riders there and the area had a very damp feel. At Tatura, we turned left and headed north towards Orbost for a ride up to Baw Baw National Park. We also had another rest day here and then took a bit of a detour back to Melbourne, as there wasn’t any real climbing or descent on the rest of the ride to Walhalla. But it was back to a lot of hard work, and for me, on a few descents the bike went in a couple of big holes and I couldn’t avoid them, as there was no time for me to get the bike in a safer position. So the rest of the ride was really tough. From Orbost, we headed out to Walhalla and then through a town called Mount Gambier on our way to Hamilton. It was a big climb up and it was quite warm and humid. It had been raining quite a bit in Hamilton and the road was wet and slippery, so we went very slow. The ride down to Melbourne was fairly uneventful but it was quite warm and humid as well, so it was very nice to get off the bike in my dry clothes! It had been a great adventure and I had a good ride back down the Great Ocean Road. You can read more about this fantastic event here… but what a great ride! It’s the sort of ride that I will always remember… it’s good fun. With the weather turning into winter here, it’s a bit of a change of pace as the bike gets used to the cold… but still, I think I’ll be glad to go back next year and take it a bit easier! I have a few other rides lined up now, which are all coming up quick… a 2 day Ride at Mt Stromlo here in Perth and then in August, the famous Ride Across America that we did back in 2006. I still love the bike, but my time on the road has slowed down quite a lot. I’m thinking of trying a new plan… riding a lot less kilometres, but rather just enjoying the scenery on some really nice day rides. The bike is feeling like it’s ready for a rest now… which it probably is. My hip joints have never been great but, when the joints are really cold, they’re pretty tender to the touch and there’s no real pain, so I think that it’s probably time to let the bike go for a while… This is an image that comes to mind when I think of the bike I owned during my time with Triumph. This was the big brother bike that took a lot of hard rides and some big descents. By the end of that particular year, I sold this bike to one of my former team mates, as he was going back to the US and had never ridden with it. It’s now the centrepiece of the collection of my daughter, who is now 11.