Exploring The Word By Bicycle

 

I have sold the car. So I'm full time on the bike. The way it's supposed to be.

I left Wodonga on the Friday 21st of February.  It's been six days now. 

My legs are very sore / recovering after a big day on Monday.

After leaving Wodonga I cycled the freeway to Rutherglen looking for work. The job did not workout. 

That's ok might go for a short tour to get back to Wodonga in over a week. So I head for the town of Bright joining the rail trail on the way. Once on the rail trail it's very safe with no motorized traffic.  This makes cycling most enjoyable. 

I was carring lots of supplies for a week or two of food. Lot's of items I would use at a caravan park which has made for a heavy load. Ive now got the Extrawheel Mate trailer which is working out really good. The bike had a bit of the swaying at speed to start. So I've transferred all the heavy items to the trailer.

This has worked out really good. It's stable now & have tested it on down hill at speed on tarmac. I'm glad of that.

So this means when I get back to Wodonga in a few days. I will lighten the load a bit. Put all the heavy items in the trailer & head of fruit picking. 

So after leaving Bright I headed up the Towonga gap rd.

I wasn't aiming for the top just a nice camp with water. So I decided on a little track to the left half way up. German creek track. I had been here before so knew of the spot. So down the track for about 1 km & there's a little creek that cross. Not much room for a tent but good enough. Really nice place just the same.

Next day up over Towonga gap. Down hill with great views of the kiewa valley to the town of Mt Beauty. Got some food supplies from the IGA  supermarket.  Then up to Mt Creek camp ground. ( free). Really nice camp with toilets very popular at times.

Monday 24th February 2020.  This was to be a big day. All my GoPro batteries charged etc. Eat breakfast & down 2 nodoze caffeine  tablets. Drink lots of water. Let's get going up Mt creek track to camp creek gap where the Eskdale spur heads up Mt Bogong.

Lots of creek crossings as you follow up the creek criss crossing many times. So I deflated my tires to about 18 psi. Straight away creek crossing. Better set the camera up in the creek on the tripod. Using a GoPro 7 black. Settings 240 fps @ 1080p. Good for slow motion creek crossings. Made it across the first creek fairly easily.

I'm surprised that I'm able to ride most of the creek crossings. Only putting my foot down on one. Then fallen trees must be negotiated with the bike & trailer. The first tree fine. The second a little more complicated. I was able to just disconnect the trailer & carry the load over the trees this way.

Having put all the heavy items in the Extrawheel Mate trailer made this much easier. Normally I would have to take of the panniers. Still hard just the same.

Up & up we go on bark covered track. Creek crossing & up again. Another tree to get over. This one was quiet hard. Off with the trailer & carry trailer over the branches stumbling all the way. Try not to fall down steep edge to the side. Finally done that was hard. Time is ticking by & it's midday already. Was doing lots of video which does take time.

By the time I reach camp creek gap the start of the Eskdale spur walking track it's 2pm.

Better get going it's a steep walk to the summit. 4km of up & up. This is the easy way up I believe. A bit over One half hours & I'm there.

Mt Bogong summit 1986 metres. Victoria's highest Mountain. ((I Got lost on this mountain when I was 14 years old. I was walking from Mountain creek to Falls Creek. Back in 1984 they still allowed cattle to graze the high country. At the turn of to big river there were cattle everywhere. I didn't see the turn of as there were cattle & they kept moving ahead of me. This was the long Spur trail I was on without knowing it. The cattle kept moving just a bit in front of me for about 5 or more kilometers. They were quiet intimidating for a kid. AdvetureallyI came to a track. Looking at the map my brother had cut for me. Didn't look right. It was hard to tell as the map he had cut into just one bit. So I just kept walking. I came to a dirt road didn't know which way to go so just guessed. A car came up & I waved them down. Asking them if they knew where I was. They said you are a long way from where you should be.

They gave me a lift a long the Omeo Hwy to the falls creek turn of.  I got out & started walking up & up. I was getting very tired by now. I had started at 5:15am it was 3pm now. Besides the lift I hadn't stopped worried what my parents would be Thinking. Then a nice farmer stopped turned around & asked me what was I doing. I explained the situation & he said jump in. So he drove me to where my parents had been waiting. That was my first experience with Mt Bogong.))

A quick look around the top. Thunderstorm clouds gathering to the east. So I better jog down. Got back to the bike about 5:30 pm. Quick drink & on the bike. About 500 metres up the dirt road & then down.  This dirt rd is much easier than the morning track. Progress is much quicker & I'm soon on the way down trappers gap rd back to Moutain creek. That was a big day.
The next few days I charge my 50,000 mAh battery & edit the video. This takes three days of moving the 60 watt solar charger to get the best sun. Editing at night to save screen power. Then back to Wodonga where I cleaned my chain & sprocket. Putting the back wheel on I manage to snap the Extrawheel axle attachment. Making it broken. Hmm reason I used a wrench instead of the Allen key.  So I ordered another axle from the Robert Axle Project. I won't do that again.  Next post leaving to go fruit picking.