Canberra to Kosciuszko ride Nov 2010

On the ride for the distance including camping overnight at 3 Mile dam were Aaron, Adam (Hunsie), Alex, Libby, Nathan, Mark, Ian, Simon and myself (Steve). Chris joined in most of the ride on Saturday and (Robert) Bleeksie was joining in on Sunday.

Support for the overnight camp and gear carrying was done by Celia, Jules and Alex's parents. Thanks to them for such a stellar job we were able to have a great weekend on the bikes.

Starting an hour later than planned (11am from Ororral Valley once we were all there and ready to ride) and with 5 flats through the day, a large group of people so more things to slow us down and then the last 40 km along alpine grass terrain where the tracks were too wet from all the rain and no traffic to be able to move fast we ended up getting to the overnight camp at 3 mile dam (a gorgeous campsite) at 8pm.

That night over dinner we made the call that we were unlikely to make it through to the finish of the ride in time. The 35-40 km over the alpine grass terrain took us 3 hours and was slower and wetter than expected. We had 40-60km of this on day 2 before we got to better quality fire roads, all of which was in wilderness areas. We decided instead to get a lift back to Tantangra Rd and ride back home the way we came out.

Chris had turned around on Tantangra rd just as we were truning off to the slower terrain. This was around 55km from the start and he turned around at 5pm, he then managed to get back to Ororral and the car parked there by 8:30pm. We knew Chris was moving faster and stopping less than our group of 9 once he was riding alone, however we thought it would be fairly easy to do the return ride from somewhere on Tantangra rd.

With 8 seats for the car shuttle Mark volunteered to stay behind and head in to Cooma for brunch with Celia, Jules and Alex's parents. The rest of us rode back the way we rode in. All up it was an excellent weekend of riding, we all had a great time and are keen to have another go, maybe once the route has dried out a little bit more.

fullsize 5 of us ready to start on Saturday morning, Steve, Alex, Hunsie, Nathan, Aaron. fullsize Riding along Adelaide Ave toward Tharwa. fullsize Getting back among the group who rode all the way out and back. fullsize Hunsie and Nathan pulling us along (as they did most of the time, especially on the bitumen sections) fullsize About to hit Fitz's hill. fullsize On the way up Fitz's fullsize We suggested Aaron could have a really interesting set of tan lines if he kept his Jersey off, he was not so keen on that idea so got dressed again. fullsize Nathan heading into Ororral fullsize Still climbing into Ororral, there was more up hill on this road then I remembered from my last ride in this way in 2004 fullsize The whole group ready to ride, Lib, Mark, Ian, Nathan, Alex, Aaron, Hunsie, Steve, Simon and Chris. fullsize Simon, Nathan, Hunsie, Alex and Chris on the first climb. fullsize Aaron fullsize Ian fullsize Alex fullsize Lib and Mark fullsize Simon did the whole ride on his CX bike, impressive I reckon as there were some tough bits. Though he did not do the two long bitumen sections so suited to the bike. fullsize Alex and Nathan fullsize Aaron followed by Ian fullsize Hunsie also showing how many of us are HRM geeks (I think at least half of us were wearing an HRM of some sort). fullsize Lib, Mark and Chris fullsize The banana hanging out of Lib's pack seemed on the verge of falling out and most of us had mentioned it to her for the previous hour or so. Eventually a rescue was done but it did seem to last there for a long time. fullsize Mark and Lib about to make our first water crossing for the day. fullsize Mark descending toward the Murrays Gap area. fullsize A weather station just near a workers hut of some sort near Murrays Gap. fullsize Just baout to start climbing Murrays Gap. fullsize Lunch at the top of the climb over the gap. fullsize One or two small pinches before the real top. fullsize At the gap just passing the ACT/NSW border below Mt Bimberi. fullsize Approaching a stream crossing which had some work done around it. fullsize The water looked so good I filled a bottle and grabbed a photo. fullsize A hut on the way toward Tantangra, the kids staying here told us repeatedly there was a very steep hill coming up. I rode all the way up it so it could not have been too steep really. fullsize Aaron once we hit Tantangra rd. fullsize Water refill stop at the gate where cars were parked stopping them getting further into the wilderness. fullsize Great alpine scenery. fullsize Riding toward the dam, around the area we were dropped for the return the next day. fullsize Nathan took photos of my really slow flat change earlier, so I returned the favour, though his was faster. fullsize Ian and Aaron waiting for the change fullsize Lib, with the dam visible through the stark looking burnt out native forest. fullsize Alex enjoying a lie down during the tube change (3rd for the day)

fullsize Climbing on Tantangra Rd. fullsize Some of the view we were rewarded with during this section. fullsize Looking back down the dam as we approach the dam wall. fullsize Nathan and Ian. fullsize Weirdly this hill felt steeper driving along it the following morning than it did climbing it on the bike. fullsize Alex at the top. fullsize Tantangra Dam wall. fullsize Looking up the dam. fullsize We were about to turn off the good quality fireroads to head toward Nungar Creek fire trail so Chris turned around, it was 5pm here. fullsize Bye Chris have a good ride back. That he got back to Ororral only a few minutes after we got to the finish was a little disturbing (though it is a quicker ride back, as we found out the following day). fullsize Going over some of the boggy sections of the trails here. fullsize Mark walking some boggy ground. fullsize A line of riders across the alpine terrain. fullsize The entire area was beautiful but the stark look of the alpine forests shows how brutal the fires were here two years ago. fullsize Ian fullsize Lib fullsize Aaron fullsize Riding down into a larger alpine plain, with a river in the middle fullsize Long view toward the front of the group approaching the river crossing. fullsize The others heading down the hill. fullsize Walking our bikes through the shallower section of the river (the first section was waist deep. fullsize Ian as we cross another ridge fullsize Some of the tracks were alright over ridges and then deteriorated in the valleys/plains. fullsize Looking at brumbies. fullsize More brumbies in the distance all up we saw around 100 in different herds. fullsize Passing a group camped out at Witze's Hut on the nungar creek trail. fullsize Initially they did not believe us when we said we had ridden from parliament house in Canberra that morning. fullsize More of the great alpine terrain. fullsize Lib descending. fullsize Stopped before we go too far on an attempt to avoid a climb fullsize Returning back to the nungar trail to do the climb fullsize Alex while we waited for everyone on the descent. fullsize Mark kindly waiting for me to get through another low on food slow period, I needed to be more careful to eat more often all day. fullsize Simon as we are almost to the bitumen and camp. fullsize Almost the last bit of dirt riding for the day here as it got darker. fullsize Looking at the moon as we crossed the bridge on the snowy mountain highway and headed to 3 Mile Dam. fullsize Ian as we are about to enter the park fullsize Ian, Hunsie and Aaron.

fullsize Jules and Alex's dad dropping us off on Tantangra Rd on Sunday morning around 9:30am. fullsize Back on our bikes. fullsize Lib and Alex. fullsize Looking over my shoulder at Ian. fullsize Lib fullsize Simon, Nathan and Aaron once we were in the wilderness area again. fullsize Alex as we waited at the top of a climb. fullsize Lib and Ian, the climbing was a lot easier coming toward Murrays Gap from this side. fullsize Nathan and Hunsie fullsize Aaron looks like he is having fun. fullsize Simon through i had the helmet cam on so waved. fullsize Alex and Ian in ARNuts garb fullsize Lib demonstrating her Rule No. 5 jersey is well earned as she is doing this huge mtb ride 6 weeks after breaking her arm. fullsize Hunsie chatting with some people on the track. fullsize At the border into ACT again after a quick stop around 11:20am. fullsize Time to head for the top of the descent. fullsize Simon showing how versatile CX bikes are (though hard work from the sounds of things) fullsize I held a gate open for everyone to come through, here is Alex. fullsize Ian fullsize Lib fullsize I also thought I was fiilming but it appears the battery in the helmet Cam were flat and I only got one video in the whole trip early on Saturday alas. fullsize Bleeksie met us up at the top of the Murrays Gap climb where we had lunch on Saturday. fullsize Aaron at the final water crossing on the way out again. fullsize I headed down below to try for some better photos of the crossing. Here is Ian fullsize Lib fullsize Simon fullsize Alex fullsize Simon, Aaron and Nathan on the last few climbs toward Ororral. fullsize Group shot as we are about to make the final descent into Ororral fullsize Ian and Lib riding downhill. fullsize Waving goodbye to Bleeksie and the three getting a lift back into town. fullsize A runner on the second run leg of the triple tri at around 4pm. fullsize Back at Parliament house, where it all started the previous morning. fullsize The same 5 who rode out from here rode all the way back, Steve, Alex, Aaron, Hunsie and Nathan (who did all the turns on the front all the way back in and proved his hard man status once more) fullsize After showering at home I drove over to the triple tri to see how people went. This is John Power as he crossed the line. fullsize Gary a while after his finish, tough day out for him feeling dehydrated all day and not having slept much all week. fullsize Pete stepping up to an awesome solo triple tri again.