Day 10: Intense Bittersweet Ride

March 25th, 2011

Wee Jasper to Tumut
Distance: 72km
Total distance: 647km

Had a good sleep last night but was rudely awoken by the 100-decibel sound of cockatoos squawking. Saw the park ranger in charge of the campsite and made the camp fee payment. We spoke a bit about the road conditions to Tumut. The distance written on the sign was 61km. According to the ranger, the first 30km are all dirt road, steep, narrow at the beginning, and the weather doesn’t look promising at all. What a great start for the day!

So off I pedalled at 8.30am and the road quickly becomes dirt surface, narrow, winding, and steep uphill. It remained that way for the next 13km. In this 13km, I was at my lowest point for this tour so far. Negative emotions kept pouring in, so was the rain. I felt miserable, I managed a top speed of 6kmh with my strongest effort while my average speed was a pathetic 3kmh. Twice, I had my rear wheel stucked into the mud. The first time, I switched to granny gears to crank out of the mud only to find myself dug deeper into it. I had to get down from my trike and push it out of the muddy mess. And because of the low clearance of my rear derailleur, it was all covered in mud, this means part of my chain had mud on it too. What a mess! I tried cleaning the chain with water at first, but stopped after I realised I may not have enough drinking water for the day.

At about 10km into the ride, a young couple driving a sedan stopped to ask for direction. Apparently they were following the Hume Hwy to Melbourne but took a wrong turn at Yass and ended up here. I was surprised when they asked to take a photo of me, which I agreed. I was feeling very exhausted and breathless at that time. They kept asking me if I was alright, probably wondering if I’m going to live through this. Haha!

Shortly after they left, I saw a fox running across the road! I thought it was cute, it stopped in the middle of the road and looked at me for a while. After the first 13km, there was a slight downhill and then uphill again but not as steep as before. I kept thinking surely this uphill will come to an end, but the question is when. All the potential energy I’ve gained must be release at some point. I don’t know if this will happen today but I hoped it will. I desperately needed some sort of reward to balance my miserable morning ride!

Just as the ranger said, after 30km, the dirt road magically transforms into a sealed surface! Oh the joy! But not the fullest joy yet, I still find myself pedalling uphill for another 16km! An observation of something odd, all along the road I encountered stretches of road covered with tons of baby crickets, grasshoppers, butterflies, and small flies, appearing one after another. Must be an insect breeding season in full swing!

Finally, after 46km of uphill climb this morning, I reached the end of my misery! What follows was positively intense, 20-long-kilometre of downhill ride! If that wasn’t good enough, it was all sunshine throughout the ride and an almost non-existent traffic! I was rewarded with absolutely stunning view along the entire stretch of Bombowlee Creek Rd. The evening sunshine cast long and soft shadows on the trees and hills, and the river water sparkles, the view was so magnificent I nearly cried! It felt even more meaningful after hours of suffering that morning. In the end, I didn’t feel so bad about the tough climb after all.

The road took me straight into Tumut, a town of similar size to Yass. The first thing I saw was a 4-star caravan park. I was so tired I couldn’t ride a metre more, so I just settled into this caravan park. I paid a little more for an ensuite tent site, I didn’t even know this exist, its basically a tent site with a private toilet and bathroom (keys provided). My campsite neighbour, Jim from Bendigo, kindly offered foam mats for my tent but I declined, seeing that my tent works well for the past one week on wet grounds. My other neighbour was a big family with kids. They were making a lot of noise but it was tolerable, thanks to my tiredness. After resting for a while, I cycled to the town centre to get dinner and grocery.

I reflected on my ride today and felt like this has been the craziest ride ever in my life. I hit the lowest and the highest point of my tour both on the same day. It was truly a bittersweet ride.