High Country Raid, Day One Melbourne to Corowa

 

 

 

Phil Giddings from Audax had organized a “Raid” ride around the high country which seemed to suit me. Distances were not too long,  there were stays in country hotels and motels and it seemed like I could spare the time away from home. So I booked up the Raid ride, and a few weeks later I was up early and heading to Southern Cross station for a 7 a.m. train to Benalla. Steve and Phil were on the same train and I was able to neatly stow my bike in the racks despite it being oversized. The bike splits in two and I had no trouble with splitting the bike or putting it back together on this trip.

It was raining slightly when we got to Benalla and there had been rain overnight. This itself was no problem however devious Phil had put the  route through dirt roads near the start  - they were actually more like clay roads. Small blobs of clay flicked up everywhere and the road was greasy so I fell over once which wasn't much fun. The end of the clay road wasn't the end of bad roads for the day. Within a few k there was a diversion which involves about six more ks of dirt - but not too bad this time. We got off the dirt just after Goorambat, and the others rode back into town to see the Silo art. However I was quite content to wait for them at a bus stop and take some time to clean the gunk off my bike. As it happened there was some unique art just near where I was and despite a vociferously barking dog, I ducked my head into I need my church to see the saintly mural.

The others were soon on the way back out of town and I was on their tail. This time the road was very flat bitumen which is “home” for my recumbent leaning trike. We saw some more silo art and had a break at Tungamah, but the small shop there did not have much food. We pressed on towards Mulwala, however there were some more gravel roads along the way which was not great for me. I realized later I should have had my tire pressure lower - maybe 40 psi instead of 60 - and then the leaning trike might have handled bumps and gravel better.

We stopped at a chicken joint for a burger and Coke beside the lake in Mulwala. Soon after, we started on a bike path running beside lakes and rivers which ran all the way to Corowa. Although the bike path was quite good and scenic - it also ran through a caravan park - there was a perfectly good bitumen road right next to it, and I was struggling to keep up with Steve and Phil. So I opted for the road which had very little traffic and a reasonable shoulder for bike riders. Using the road I was able to keep up with Phil and Steve and rejoin them just as they veered off the main road for the last few ks to the Corowa motel. Chris and Michael were waiting for us at there. We had not all ridden together as there was a car race at Benella on the weekend with accommodation booked out. However the group was all together now and we rode the same path for the next five days.

After a shower we walked in to a Corowa pub for dinner. The rugby league grand final was on but none of us took any notice except for Michael who watched the whole thing on the TV. It was fairly early to bed in the comfortable Motel.