The ride, April 2013: Day 7 "Brunch at Omeo? ... Let's!"

We were quite committed to our plan of brunch in Omeo. 30km basically level seemed like a doddle after yesterday. How strange is the mind when in a state of dissonance reduction. I suspect that Belinda had a more realistic take on this plan; she seemed hesitant when I first mooted a pre-breakfast ride. In any case it was with some enthusiasm that we prepared for the ride, taking some last minute photos and heading off at about 9:50.

Mary being a bit liberal with Chamois Cream

Simple maths would have told us that this would take over 2 hours, so it would be more like lunch than brunch.

There's not a lot to report about the early part of the ride. The road is excellent, and the grade easy.

The few hairpin bends had a funny optical illusion thing happening, Belinda and I had both noticed this yesterday. It works like this: if someone is ahead of you on a tight tucked-in elbow bend, having rounded it, and you are still approaching it, they emerge from the elbow and appear to be far above you. You enter the bend thinking "this will be a steep climb" but soon afterwards, with a gentle easy push up a slight gradient, you are at the point where you noticed the leading rider...it wasn't hard at all to gain all those metres. Is this because in our minds we perceive the gradient as the distance above divided by the straight line distance over the valley and we find it hard to perceive the total horizontal distance because it is folded back on itself?

While I'm asking you questions, have you heard of "counter-steering"? We hadn't, and Belinda gave us a tutorial. It's a motorcycling technique where instead of leaning into a curve to turn, you give a short push on the handlebar on the side to which you want to turn (ie: the opposite to what you would expect). You don't lean while you do this. The effect is a sudden shift in centre of gravity which suddenly leans you into the corner and automatically turns the bike. WARNING.. If you want to experiment with this, do it incredibly gently.. A vigorous push will almost certainly have catastrophic results. I had a bit of fun playing with this yesterday and really enjoyed it on the downhills today.. The slightest nudge causes a really effective and responsive shift in direction.

Another question? Have you heard of Kevlar emergency spokes? Belinda is carrying one of these. These aren't solid, as I would have expected.. They coil up like a cord. To me this was totally wrong: spokes are solid because they transmit forces up from the wheel where it contacts the ground to the axle, right? Well maybe not.. What if the wheel is solid enough to hold it's shape by itself, and all of the weight of the bike (at the axles) hangs by the spokes from the top of the wheel arches? Then the spokes could all be strong strings.. Could they not?

While on the theme of the counter intuitive, why after crossing the mountains from Mitta Mitta, where the river was heading steadily towards the Murray, did we find the very same river on the other side of our descent, heading towards the sea? We had been forewarned about this mystery but it still seemed wrong when we saw it! http://www.coxhill.com/familystuff/Holidays/Bike%20Trip%20Oct%202008/Tour%20Notes/Bike%20Tour.htm

Enough wobbling of your cognitive foundations and back to our adventure!

After a while sidling around high over river valleys we finally emerged from the Alpine National Park into grazing land. These pastures look less verdant than over the northern side and it wouldn't surprise me if the rainfall is a lot less. Even in the wet weather (patchy light drizzle today) the hillsides look "drier".

Just out of the forest I was cruising silently along and saw a farmer crossing the highway ahead. It was dead still and silent, so a vehicle could have been heard for miles. He didn't look at all, just stepped out with his head down. I had already slowed for him so I glided just behind him and said "good morning". I swear he literally jumped in the air, he got such a shock! This amused me a lot.. which made me reflect on my sadistic streak.. Why was that response so entertaining for me?

A female cyclist breezed past us as we approached a long planked bridge. We had seen her not long before hurtling the opposite way. Had she been to the Blue Duck and back in such a short time? How did she not get cold?

The Mitta Mitta valley was now to our left and below as we did a couple of easy kilometres. This easy run had to end sometime, and it did, with a strong headwind, and some rain.

To add a degree of difficulty we encountered two 11% climbs as we entered Omeo.

The Bankhouse, our wonderful accommodation for the night was easily identified (Mary spared me a detour courtesy of a Google maps error). The bank house was locked and a recorded message said the key would be in the door at 1pm. We could see a lit fire inside, and the sitting room looked fabulous. We couldn't wait an hour so I skirted the building looking for an unlatched window. I found one but gentle prising revealed it was painted shut. I considered a makeshift crowbar when I thought I heard a sound from indoors. I then had a brainwave. I went to the front door and.... knocked. The delightful and welcoming Mandy appeared from inside and soon we had been ushered inside. I wondered if she would have been so welcoming had I arrived through a window, complete with my balaclava and jemmy!

After a brief get to know you session with the house, we were happily ensconced as occupants and now 100% set on finding food. Twinkles was the place for us. Braving the 50m bracing cold walk we entered the warm-as-toast cafe with lovely food served by Trevor and Yvonne.. Also delightful.

A couple of hours passed as easily as we ingested their food and coffee. This was followed by lazing in the lounge back at home, washing, blogging, worrying about tomorrow's weather (snow again for our ascent to Dinner Plain and our descent from Hotham the next day), and planning dinner.