To be a bit more elaborate - today was our hard(est) riding day so far and possibly the biggest day for the whole trip. 78 km at final measure, including a climb to 1345 metres from 260 metres, a headwind predicted with gusts up to 100km/hr (thankfully these didn't eventuate), snowfalls at the summit, sleet, rain and icy temperatures. In short, this was tough.
Oblivious to what was ahead we rose early and cheerily raided the hotel kitchen again for our "Continental" breakfast. For butter and milk we had to enter the large refrigerator full of supplies. The butter we energetically scraped from a 1kg caterers block of Western Star. We also prepared sandwiches which we would have to live off in the event of an Alpine disaster. We were quite organised and set off at 8:15
The weather was deceptively good: we even had sunshine and although it was cool, it was not cold. The exit from Mitta Mitta was a steady uphill beside Snowy Creek. There was a bit of a headwind, but my level of confidence was such that little could shake it : " this isn't going to be so bad after all". Very soon we had left the colourful deciduous trees behind and were soon in the characteristically evergreen Aussie bush. In the distance ahead, the mountains were overshadowed by large grey luminous clouds but they seemed far enough away to be of little consequence to us.
There were some pretty sites along the route. Granite flat was picturesque, as was "The Walnuts". We were doing well, covering 20km in the first two hours. Considering this was the uphill part we were happy that our worst case scenario of 5pm at the Blue Duck at Anglers Rest gave us plenty of leeway. As we approached the higher mountains we felt the occasional splash from the sky but happily the rain (as evidenced by a couple of rainbows) had evaded us and we were still in sunshine.
Soon we were climbing steadily. It became cooler, darker and eventually, when it could hold off no longer, the rain started. We kept climbing and the weather kept deteriorating. Fortunately we were largely sheltered from the wind, but when exposed to it, it was cold. We donned weatherproof gear as the rain became more consistent. At some stage we hit the gravel. Initially the gravel was OK...firm and well graded. Later it became muddier and we passed through some active roadworks. We climbed for 20km altogether ( that's so easy to write, but there is so much experience that goes into a 20km climb with full panniers that is hard to capture in print!)
By the time we reached an altitude of about 1100 m it began snowing. This was new for me. In fact I realised that when I purchased my bike I had omitted to ask "how does it perform in snow?". At one point Belinda asked me how it was going..."fucking awesome" was my response.
It's snowing
Blurry and probably unimpressive to you, but they are snowflakes.
My thumbs numbed, I was starting to get more gear from my panniers and put it on. Each stop also involved wolfing down a sandwich and gulping some water or staminade. The snow was quite pretty, but I wasn't in the mood to appreciate it.. My feet were also getting pretty cold. There was little option but to press on; stopping meant getting colder.
Eventually, after several hours of a pretty constant rise, we reached the Gippsland Shire line which had to be pretty close to our azimuth. The wind was howling in our faces, and the demountable housing a few roadworkers formed a suitable windbreak. The sun even attempted an appearance as we stopped for lunch. After a quick feed and chat with the workers we donned more clothing. I became a fluorescent Michelin man with my down jacket under my reflective vest.
We had not far to climb before we could relax a little and descend.
Final dirt section
Finally, the descent!
The sleet bore at our faces as we slewed through the mud. It spray painted my ventrum. The gears and chains started sounding like a pepper grinder. Extremities went numb and my frozen nose dripped. We whizzed when we could, braking to avoid catastrophes on the tricky bits and pedalled laboriously over a few brief rises. At speed the sleet hit our faces painfully. I wasn't wearing glasses, but was using the not well known slitty eyes-bowed head- tense sustained upgaze and presenting cap brim-technique, I was semi- protected. My numbed mind was devoting all its energy to devising some sort of Ned Kelly-like helmet.
Some juddery bits remained and there was the occasional slew into soft mud but all in all the graders had done a good job.. This road was soon to be surfaced.
By the time we reached the bitumen, we looked like dirt bikers. Nothing that a bit of pelting rain wouldn't fix! We free wheeled downwards, downwards, cold and wet. The next 35 km was mainly descent or level, with occasional brief uphills. We sidled by the mighty Mitta Mitta River and gradually ticked off the kilometres. Glen Wills and Glen Valley were pretty.
The Falls Creek turnoff looked daunting (it's called the WTF turnoff because of its punishing gradient of 20% followed by 10km of 10% in the three peaks riding course).
By 4:30 pm, weary after 6 hours of riding, and 8 hours total, we reached The Blue Duck Inn.
The publican gave us less than adequate information about our lodging and advised us to get a fire going first thing. For us first priority was actually hosing down our gear, bikes and selves to avoid our unit becoming a slurry.
Firelighting was a challenge without matches, firelighters or kindling which had been hidden with the diligence of someone setting up an Easter egg hunt. We weren't thorough enough in our search so B went to ask while I attempted to light the fire with 50 metres of toilet paper. The publican looked at Belinda as if she was stupid... Surely we were clever enough to realise that firelighters and matches shouldn't be left near the fireplace.. Look under rocks, in trees and failing that, in drawers!
Matches and firelighters were a great help.. Soon the fire was chugging away and looking forward to burning the rubber off my shoes while we were away at dinner. Dinner was good. We had been told to arrive early to get a good seat near the fire. We obliged and found many seats "reserved" . Our genius at the Genius Bar pleaded ignorant.. Pretending he'd never seen this happen before "it's another world down there!" he remonstrated, pointing out the dining floor. We weren't impressed. He flirted with Belinda (obviously he had no inkling of B's assessment of him) She took him to task and with that wicked twinkle in her eye threatened him with a kiss "later on". Despite his limp, he did the 50 meters to the kitchen in under 5 seconds.. Well done Belinda!
There are several unimpressive aspects to the Blue Duck. Having to light your own fire, pay for everything immediately lest you skip town in a hurry, being seated in the draft while locals arrive later and are escorted to the warm seats, having only one power point in the room (and it has a padlock!)
...we decided to skip breakfast tomorrow and head for brunch at Omeo.
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