High Country Raid, Day 3, Tallangatta

Day 3 of the High Country raid was a ride from Tallangatta up to Shelley. This ride is along part of the old abandoned railway line from Wodonga to Cudgewa which goes along river flats for a few k's before rising into Forest shelley's station is at meters elevation which is meters above talanga this makes it the highest station ever built in victoria the trial surface is quite loose in parts and I struggled up the gravelly surface on my front wheel drive recumbent. What can't be changed on the bike is the white distribution which has the front drive wheel likely loaded but I didn't change the tyre pressure and that probably didn't help things after a struggle up the hill to shilly I arrived in about 10 minutes after everybody else I was fairly tired the climbing could took considerable concentration just to stay upright. So at shelley i lit the others go on and opted to return to telling God by road this was comparatively easy and there were some big downhills I managed to get back in to Talanga before the op shop closed.

The ride is really interesting and a great bit of rugged rail trail. I still have the book “The Branch Line” by Lloyd Holmes which is a history of the line, and shows pictures of old Wodonga station and other buildings we’d seen. Riding this bit of trail helped me feel more connected to the line which I’ve visited at the Cudgewa end as well as between Wodonga and Old Tallangatta.

During the day several other gangs of cyclists had invaded the town and these were groups of friends doing some gentle riding and touring around the area. Out touring was much harder than theirs - where we rode up to Shelley, some of these groups drove their bikes up and then they rolled down -  some on electric bikes!

During the afternoon I took the time to walk around Tallangatta and see the town, some of which has lakeside views. It is a quiet place with walking on the street mostly no problem due to lack of traffic. I like Tallangatta.

We got in early to the pub for dinner (6pm), before several other groups of cyclists arrived. This was fortunate as our meals arrived pronto while the other large groups were still ordering. There where about 40 people in the pub that night. After dinner, it was early to bed again, we all got about eight or hours sleep despite the early rises.