The Going Gets Tough

Central Victorian Cycling Adventure - Day 7.

Our challenge today was to complete a 42 km ride from Benalla to the Lake Mokoan Hub. We thought it would be something of an easy doddle. It wasn't.
As soon as the ride started, we discovered that the track surface was quite rough and somewhat difficult to stay upright. I am not sure what it was made of, but it looked like fine black sand. Also added into the mix were hundreds of wind blown tumbleweeds. It certainly was a contrast to the ride we had done the previous day.

The rough surface started to take its toll when John had his first puncture of the day. Not long after the ride restarted Allan and I nearly got killed by a huge alpha male kangaroo jumping across the trail just in front of us. That quickly got my heart pumping.

As the condition of the track deteriorated further, we were met by several other kangaroos. The ride was anything but a doddle, but we finally reached the Mokoan Cafe and settled down for lunch.

Although the skies were mostly blue, the temperature was 10C cooler than the previous day, and the rising wind added to the chill factor.

After some discussion, we decided to cheat a little on the return ride and ride some of it on the road instead. It was a delight, but it could not go one forever.

As soon as we rejoined the trail, John suffered his second puncture of the day This time the tyre was not reparable, and we had no other alternative than to leave him behind. We figured that, sooner or later, someone would come to his rescue. (Actually, we did send a driver back to collect what was left of him and his bike).

The final 10 km or so were straight into the teeth of a howling headwind. so we were not sorry when we finally reached the end. It had proven to be a much harder ride than we imagined.Read more