Geelong to Inverleigh

Now to really start. Time to head west.

Yesterday evening I slipped on wet stairs on leaving the amenity block. This morning I find a sore knee, heel and shoulder! Hopefully the sort of sore that goes with exercise. It has highlighted an obvious point though. Damage the engine and we go nowhere!

It was a short 36k ride today. What that figure doesn’t say is that the first 10k are mostly uphill and quite steep it was too. Tony and Maggie were in bottom gear for quite long periods and the average speed suffered. The high point of the first bit was Highton.

Ted and I had some SMS communication. I had left a USB charger at his place and he decided to bring it out. I explained my route which he would follow.

After a while my planned route turned off and ran along Gnarwarre Road. This was narrow, free of traffic and great for bird watching while pedalling. Going up one hill was helped by watching well over 100 birds climbing a thermal.

Unfortunately things took a turn for the worse.

Recently graded watered sand to start, then non-graded loose sand into which all wheels sank, then to where the sand graders were spraying water prior to grading. Ted and I exchanged a few messages but he followed the same way.

The sun was now out, the air humid and the temp up around 30 degrees. Not nice to also be cycling like its along a beach.

After about 5 k it was back out onto tarmac. So much easier to roll on. Not far along Inverleigh’s 80 then 60 k signs appeared and Ted and I arrived at the Cafe together.

A refreshing brew later Ted went back home and I pedalled along the Hamilton Hwy looking for the airbnb. I went passed and didn’t see, then turned back and eventually spotted it. Certainly nice to be in a proper building for a night.

Easy to recharge all lights plus the phone ready for a long day tomorrow.

My knee was a minor issue throughout the day but didn’t impact on performance. Feels the same this evening so (fingers crossed) it should not be a problem.