arctic-cycler.com

Well, this is not where I thought I’d be when I left Oberon this morning. Rather than Yerrenderie, I’m in a camping ground on the Abercrombie River. Let me explain.

I left at 6am with a fully loaded bike with gallons of water. The road was beautiful through the plantation forest, undulating up to 1300m.

Then, the dirt track started. A big sign warned people – 60km, 4WD only, take spare tyres, take water etc etc. The first 9km was moderately harmless to the Mt Werrong camping ground. I thought this would be a piece of cake. After a snack and filling my water bottles from the tank that I wasn’t expecting, I continued.

The road started to get steep, dusty and rocky. Often I pushed my bike up, and rode the brakes down, only to repeat around the corner.

While it was hard, I was enjoying it. Until the brakes started to squeak. The first sign of them wearing out. I was exactly half way between Mt Werrong and Yerrenderie -25km in both directions. Looking at the map, the road just got steeper. The brakes would not survive getting there, let alone getting back.

I couldn’t afford to be without brakes in the most remote part of this trip. I reluctantly turned around. I could walk up and down the steepest bits and make it back to Mt Werrong by sunset. From there, I could make it to the bitumen road tomorrow. I was confident the brakes would be fine on bitumen.

Then a car passed. And I caught a lift.

They dropped me off at a place I’d passed earlier, not far from the main bitumen road.

Once I hit the tar, the brakes were fine. I hardly used them as I flew down the descents with confidence.

Still 30km from Taralga and 44km from Wombeyan Caves, I decided to call it a day at a camping ground just off the road where it crossed the Abercrombie River.

Kangaroos galore, I had a swim to freshen up, had dinner, and went to bed. I’m exhausted.