2020 – Tony's Tasmanian Cycling Blog

Looking back in Isolation

Or .. Rip, Rack, Roar and Rumble explained.

Life in Self-Isolation

We noticed the above in the Kings Meadows shopping centre last Sunday. We tried to earn a roll but the butcher had run out of sausages!! Bloody Hoarders.

Autumn Mini-Tour to Mole Creek

Day 3. Back to Deloraine via Meander.

After the rain clouds cleared during the previous evening, the air cooled down. My sleeping quilt is rated to 5°C – that’s keep you alive at 5°C not keep you toasty warm. I was aware of how it performs so wrapped myself up for the night in plenty of clothing, an extra fleece blanket and the quilt. It was still cold!

Autumn Mini-Tour to Mole Creek

Day 2. Deloraine to Mole Creek

Before we travel any further, I would like I would like to pay my respects to the local Pallittorre peoples, the traditional custodians of the land where we rode on Day 2. The Mole Creek area had been settled by the Pallittorre peoples for at least 10,000 years prior to the arrival of the Brits.

Autumn Mini-Tour to Mole Creek.

Day 1. Longford to Deloraine.

Yes – the much cycled Longford to Deloraine route begins this mini-tour to Mole Creek. For days 2 and 3 of the tour we will be following the Meander Valley Council’s cycle route called The Great Caves Ride. Some years ago the Council documented 4 cycle routes alongside the Great Western Tiers and we have cycled 3 of them over the past year. The plan is to complete the fourth. (The set of rides is documented HERE).

Re-scheduling our Victorian cycle tour

I decided to double-check V/Line trains after a heads up warning from Emily (The Navigator). Last time I checked (both website and by phone) the Vic Rail train line to Albury was to close for the month of March but the trains to Seymour seemed to be running OK.

We re-planned on the basis of starting our Rail Trail Cycling Tour at Seymour, not Albury.

S36O. Longford – Golden Valley – Longford

1 route. 2 days. 2 maps. 2 sets of different statistics. On day 1, Ride with GPS had troubles finding satellites but on day 2 it locked in after a couple of seconds. I believe the detail for day 2 to be the most accurate. This belief is enforced by knowing that the ride to Quamby Corner caravan park was a bit of a trial for us trike riders (more details later!). Uphill for a lot of the way, we also rode into quite a breeze. It felt a lot more than 434 metres of climbing. On Day 2 we descended 593 metres following exactly the same route – that would seem a more likely figure for the day 1 ascent. Unless there were some unusual geological changes overnight.