Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club

I'm still trembling from watching this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUbrh0Ac29M

Is that what you guys get up to on the Penny Century?

I'm still trembling from watching this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUbrh0Ac29M

Is that what you guys get up to on the Penny Century?

Something like that. There is a good bit of footage somewhere of a guy going really fast and his front tyre coming off, get Di to find it for you when we are down there. I think I'm out for the century this year as I seem to have done something to one of my knees, I'm hoping it comes good by Friday.

I rang Virgin to warn them of incoming bicycles on Friday's Sydney-Launceston flight. Not one person I spoke with at Virgin could help, rather than giving me incorrect numbers for people they assured me could (and invariably turned out to work for companies other than Virgin). However I did inadvertently manage to speak to a woman at the Sydney Domestic Airport who works for a courier company, but used to run Virgin Blue's freight room. She tells me they usually have a huge stack of bike boxes, and in the event they run out they can treat the bikes as 'fragile' items and just put them on whole with a sticker. They even get rolled out on their own special trolley. She reckons 10 bikes is no problem on that flight and that we should be fine, even with more. She also said we get 23kg, because it's sporting goods.

That footage is of Joff, nice guy who rode around the world on his penny. He should be allowed back in the country now (was banned for 2yrs for overstaying).

Probably a good idea to skip the Century Christian. I remember last time you did it you stuffed your knee up for touring.

We actually get 28kg because it's sporting goods, 23kg normal plus an extra 5kg.

Something in my bones told me that the weather was going to suck on this year's tour....wrongly, it seems.

Ted,

Good news for Launceston, but I bet it's a bit more chilly on the Central Tableland. I was thinking of putting my booties in.
It was 2 degrees one morning at Lake St Clair last week.

I'm certainly going to be taking more warm stuff than last year. I wish I had a pair of those covers that go over just the front of your shoes, since my booties require about 3 rounds of Graeco-Roman wrestling to instal on my feet.

Yeah I am going to take a fair amount of warm gear. I will be camping at either Lake Burbury or Lake St Clair if I make it there, so it's going to be relatively cold. Oh and Cradle too. Lucky my new sleeping bag arrived today! Only 4 deg though so I'll be rocking a liner too I would say. And merino wool is your friend... Thinking about investing in some merino undies

That said, I am looking forward to cooking porridge on a chilli morning!

Ted,

You can see February's observations here.

Thinking about investing in some merino undies

Do you wear the wooly side on the inside, or on the outside for style?

The stitching can get a bit lumpy on a long ride...

My goodness. Lake St. Clair can get seriously cold at night! Can one's nose get both sunburnt and frostbitten on the same day?

Do you wear the wooly side on the inside, or on the outside for style?

The stitching can get a bit lumpy on a long ride...

Haha! Well I wouldn't be wearing them riding now would I... I didn't even know they existed until I saw them in Macpac yesterday. I have been going outdoor shopping crazy this week :/

I have borrowed a friends Spot GPS tracker for the trip. If anyone is going to be sitting bored at work next week and wants to see where I am, PM me and I'll send you the link to the map!

Ok, so I think I am going to over limit

Bike = 12.5kg
Trailer = 7kg
Trailer bag with gear = 18kg

So I need to somehow carry 10kg with me on board. Eeek! I do not want to pay for excess...

Well, there will be a big cohort of us on the same flight, so I'm sure that your excess can be farmed out if necessary. But did you notice above T-Bone saying: "We actually get 28kg because it's sporting goods, 23kg normal plus an extra 5kg."

Yes, but if you add that up it comes to 37.5 kg

I will make sure my things are appropriately packed to be farmed out! Will try and get the heavy things on board with me. Are the on board liquid restrictions in place?

Now to find somewhere I can purchase a gas canister for my camping stove from that's in or close to Evandale...

Umm yes, quite right.

By the way, I plan to take my pedals off tonight and then stick them back on, not too tight. I remember having a terrible time at the airport last year with an over-tight pedal, and lost a certain amount of knuckle-skin as a result. All you veteran tourers are probably across the issue already.

Well being a noobie tourer as far as catching planes with my bike goes, I'm getting a taxi to the Airport. Since I have to half dismantle Bob and figure out how much weight is distributed where, it just seems easier. I got a bike box (Cannondale, no less) earlier in the week.

And Ted, your pedals should never be put on your bike tight anyway! Everyone over tightens pedals, it's nuts.

Huw has had pneumonia and isn’t going to tassie

I will make sure my things are appropriately packed to be farmed out! Will try and get the heavy things on board with me. Are the on board liquid restrictions in place?

1) No need to separately pack. Just check in as a group together and typically agents are extra lenient with group check-in (but watch out with Jetstar).
2) Check fluid and general carry-on policy. They are very strict these days.

It has been raining hard in Evandale and the National Pennyfarthing Championships, Evandale Fair etc. have been abandoned. Such a shame - pretty much the only rain for weeks and it will likely have cleared by dusk. At least people will probably be able to ride the road race tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, the tour of the western highlands was a success, although the Tour de Headwind might have been a more appropriate name for it. Everyone else seemed to handle the distances and climbing fine, but I was never quite the same after the Great Western Tiers on Day One, and the second last day's climb through the Cradle Mountain area with a Walls of Jerusalem kicker almost did me in. I left the youngsters to scamper back to Evandale and took a more leisurely two days to make my way home.

You might be forgiven for thinking that everyone was shot in Evandale on Saturday but no, they're all alive and kicking and probably tapping away manically on Facebook. Oh well, for the record, the road race went ahead on Sunday morning and both James and Amy repeated their victories of last year. A few pics:

Ian on the road from Miena to Derwent Bridge (it felt like it might snow that morning). 30km of dirt awaited.



Desperate times called for desperate measures before the climb up to Queenstown. The lake-water didn't look too flash but no one seemed to suffer any ill-effects.



Lindsay deciding if he'll ride out to Strahan or come the easy way with me (he chose the former, naturally). Note his patented back-of-bike refrigeration system.



Victoria hammering along in the road-race.



Lindsay attempting to run me over during the road-race.