Leon H
Pack Dog
Hi guys,
It frustrates me immensely when you post your upcoming rides, and they look so great, and I can't attend them due to the minor inconvienience of being seperated from the action by a reasonably large continent, then an ocean, then more of a different continent... :?
...well in my petty way here is some payback, a ride I am planning for January here in Australia...
:twisted:
Mel is going to Melbourne in January, so I have decided to piss off for a few days and go for a bit of a ride. I normally head north for riding fun, but I have the shits with that country, plus it usually always rains when I go there in the summer. So for a bit of variety I have decided to head south...
The trip will comprise maybe 500km or so of good bitumen, with the rest of the trip good gravel roads. Days will be relatively short, not like my usual 700km day antics, to allow time for drinking and relaxing. The plan is as follows:
1 - Depart TSV morning of Thursday 18th January. Head to Burdekin Dam along bitumen, cross dam wall - from here it's dirt. Head south about 40km, then head north east about 70km to the historic Bowen River Hotel to stay the night. For those who don't know the Bowen River Hotel is a historic pub in the middle of nowhere, no town, no nothing. I plan to camp there or stay in rooms if they have them. If for some reason it is unavailable I will continue the 40km or so into Collinsville and stay for the night... aim to arrive mid arvo and spend time drinking and relaxing.
2 - Up on Friday, head into Collinsville. South along the bitumen for about 20km, before heading east in the dirt, then south east to eventually arrive in to the west of Eungella Dam, up in the rainforest country. Ride down Australia's most difficult bitumen range (wait until you see it!) to a little place called Pinnacle in the Pioneer Valley to stay/camp at the pub...
3 - On Saturday will head from Pinnacle, up to Eungella via an obscure bush track I don't yet really know anything about, but it leads back to Eungella Dam. Once at the dam head south in the dirt, until we hit the Suttor Developmental Road. From there will head west about 160km or so in the dirt until we hit Mt Coolon, where will camp the night, again at the pub.
4 - Sunday morning 21st January get up, head about 106km directly north across the dirt again until I arrive back at Burdekin Dam wall. Ride the 80km of fast bitumen back into Ravenswood, fuel up, then head due east in the dirt again, down the escarpment until the Burdekin River. From there it's all bitumen to nip across the back of the cane fields back in Townsville, hopefully getting home mid afternoon Sunday.
So that's the plan. Like I said there is a lot of dirt, but it should be easy dirt. And if the weather turns foul we should still be ok. I plan to take my camping gear, but camp near the bush pubs so I can eat (and drink!) there, other than that I'll be travelling pretty light. The pace will be very restrained as I don't want to bin it and trash everything in the middle of nowhere, and some of the spots will be reasonably remote, plus I will be stopping a LOT to take photos, as I do these days. For you maths monsters, it's a total of 1189km, 57% of which will be dirt and gravel roads.
So - any takers interested in joining me for all or part of this ride? If you're interested I can send a route plan which can be viewed using Mapsource of Google Earth.
Cheers
Leon
It frustrates me immensely when you post your upcoming rides, and they look so great, and I can't attend them due to the minor inconvienience of being seperated from the action by a reasonably large continent, then an ocean, then more of a different continent... :?
...well in my petty way here is some payback, a ride I am planning for January here in Australia...
:twisted: Mel is going to Melbourne in January, so I have decided to piss off for a few days and go for a bit of a ride. I normally head north for riding fun, but I have the shits with that country, plus it usually always rains when I go there in the summer. So for a bit of variety I have decided to head south...
The trip will comprise maybe 500km or so of good bitumen, with the rest of the trip good gravel roads. Days will be relatively short, not like my usual 700km day antics, to allow time for drinking and relaxing. The plan is as follows:
1 - Depart TSV morning of Thursday 18th January. Head to Burdekin Dam along bitumen, cross dam wall - from here it's dirt. Head south about 40km, then head north east about 70km to the historic Bowen River Hotel to stay the night. For those who don't know the Bowen River Hotel is a historic pub in the middle of nowhere, no town, no nothing. I plan to camp there or stay in rooms if they have them. If for some reason it is unavailable I will continue the 40km or so into Collinsville and stay for the night... aim to arrive mid arvo and spend time drinking and relaxing.
2 - Up on Friday, head into Collinsville. South along the bitumen for about 20km, before heading east in the dirt, then south east to eventually arrive in to the west of Eungella Dam, up in the rainforest country. Ride down Australia's most difficult bitumen range (wait until you see it!) to a little place called Pinnacle in the Pioneer Valley to stay/camp at the pub...
3 - On Saturday will head from Pinnacle, up to Eungella via an obscure bush track I don't yet really know anything about, but it leads back to Eungella Dam. Once at the dam head south in the dirt, until we hit the Suttor Developmental Road. From there will head west about 160km or so in the dirt until we hit Mt Coolon, where will camp the night, again at the pub.
4 - Sunday morning 21st January get up, head about 106km directly north across the dirt again until I arrive back at Burdekin Dam wall. Ride the 80km of fast bitumen back into Ravenswood, fuel up, then head due east in the dirt again, down the escarpment until the Burdekin River. From there it's all bitumen to nip across the back of the cane fields back in Townsville, hopefully getting home mid afternoon Sunday.
So that's the plan. Like I said there is a lot of dirt, but it should be easy dirt. And if the weather turns foul we should still be ok. I plan to take my camping gear, but camp near the bush pubs so I can eat (and drink!) there, other than that I'll be travelling pretty light. The pace will be very restrained as I don't want to bin it and trash everything in the middle of nowhere, and some of the spots will be reasonably remote, plus I will be stopping a LOT to take photos, as I do these days. For you maths monsters, it's a total of 1189km, 57% of which will be dirt and gravel roads.
So - any takers interested in joining me for all or part of this ride? If you're interested I can send a route plan which can be viewed using Mapsource of Google Earth.
Cheers
Leon
