February continued pretty much as January with plenty of riding in the Norfolk Plains. Things were a little awkward as the main link road (Bishopsbourne Road) was undergoing renovations and the top surface was removed, deep dropaways at the edges created and rocks were added as road base. The rocks were difficult to cycle over so Bishopsbourne, Bracknell, Carrick etc were inaccessible unless the trike was carted over the roadworks in the car.
Colin and I did that once and rode from Bishopsbourne to the Hazelbrae cafe (for coffee of course) and back. I took no pictures so didn’t provide a report.
Another unreported ride was along the western side of the Tamar River between Beaconsfield and Beauty Point. This time I had the camera and took pictures but had set the image size to VGA (i.e. very small) while taking some pictures to put on Gumtree (classifieds). It remained set to VGA for the ride and the resultant pictures – which should have been wonderful – were rubbish!!
However, the overnight to Ross, riding the Launceston Trails (well, some of them) and the Grand Parade at the Evandale National Penny Farthing Championships were all documented as they happened.
Melbourne to Adelaide
The kick-off date is getting closer !!
I have been working the Ride with GPS tool to plan a route that has 40-50k legs and avoids heavy traffic areas – so I am going inland until getting to the SA coast at Robe. The coastal route while picturesque is both windy and attracts a lot of traffic. I am told there will undoubtably be head winds from Robe northwards – if not all the way. Oh Joy. Current weather checks have shown days with south easterlies blowing so it will be useful if they continue.
The plan is to camp as much as possible. There are a couple of sections that seem to be farmland only. Tiny towns with no camp grounds or pubs even (?? in Australia ??). Not sure what will happen there but something will come along.
So the plans are laid, gear selected, trike ready and it’s 2.5 weeks to go.
Tony's Tasmanian Cycling Blog 