Murray 1200

Start of the Murray 1200

Howard Dove and Bec Morton

Pete Carr, Sarah and Cows on the road near Deliliquin

Near Denniliquin after dinner

Sunrise West of Rochester. Video Link

Near Mitiamo

Sarah and Phillip near Mittiamo Video Link

Warracknabeal Cafe

Civic Sculpture in Birchip

Fires in the Paddock near Hopetoun Video Link

Phillip and Peter in Hopetoun

The Murray 1200 Audax ride was the brainchild of Mr. Simon Watt from Geelong.  He has been a long time organiser of Audax rides around Hopetoun in Western Victoria and wanted to run a 1200k ride in the area. "As flat as you can get".  And so the ride came about.  It seemed like the sort of 1200k Audax I could cope with, I was in friendly hands, nothing to stop me training or at least schlepping around Melbourne a bit more than I needed to on a variety of recumbents. And so go, and I did!

Day 1, Robinvale - Jerilderie, 366k
After the trip up from Melbourne, I met Pete, Simon and Dave at the Caravan Park in Robinvale and set up my tent.  Dinner was at the pub and the fish and chip shop as I was starting the long distance cyclist's eating mantra, certified as correct by Peter Heal: "Eat as much as you can without being sick.  If you can't finish it, take it with you." On this occasion the Pizza Pamigiana went uneaten and was used the next day.

Early Saturday and we are off.  I am well prepared and at the start point well before time.  80k to Balranald is ridden in reasonable size packs and passes quite quickly.  I was thinking about people I knew in the area and some tiny brain cell inside my head remembered that Matt Boddinnar came from Balranald.  When I pulled into the town, I crossed to the right hand side of the road thinking that was where the cafe was.  And I started chatting to a guy opening up the hardware store (Boddinnar's Mitre 10) and I asked him and he happenned to be Matt Bodinnar.  Anyway, we had a chat, he asked me where I was off to (oh, ridiculous bike ride, y'know), I declined a cup of tea, mentioned a few old mates I was still in contact with and then I was off.

Bit of a hard pull into Kyalite.  I was on my own and riding into the wind and not keeping up much speed. Hard work.  On the run into Moulamien (1st checkpoint, 175k) a friendly group including Sarah, Bec, Peter and Howard overtook me.  I tagged along behind them into Moulamine and was able to rest a little bit.  Bec grew up in the area and her Mum and Dad had provided all the checkpoint food in exchange for a donation to the primary school.

On to Deniliquin, tough headwind riding again but at least I was with a few others.  Its all pretty barren land and at one point, cows were crossing the road.  Filled up with food at a Deniliquin cafe / Service station.  The toilet rating was 1/2 flush only (very poor)  The food was ok though but almost too much and too much variety and my stomach wasn't totally broken in for Audax riding. So I felt like throwing up for a minute or 2 but was ok.  On to Jerilderie! A lazy 80k or so accomplished nicely in a fairly big pack.

Jerilderie Motel overnight, a good night's sleep much needed, and I'm in the room with Phillip Jang and Peter Carr, ride companions for the next day.  Everything good!

Day2, Jerilderie - Rochester, 336k
Up early the next day and I'm leaving with Sarah and Bec.  Fairly uneventful up till Urana, which is a very nice town.  Urana starts a hard slog into the wind to Corowa where we refuel with food at a Main St. Cafe.  We have cross winds to Yarrawonga and pass Peter Donnan on the way.  I'm fairly shickered when we reach Yarrawonga, but we have a tailwind for the next pull into Katamatite, we have a large group working well together and can go at 30kph at times.  (This section of the ride is familiar to me having done the 2013 Oppy ride on much the same route, Yarrawaonga to Rochester.) This group continues to Shepparton, we stop for noodles and to gather strength for the last 80k into Rochester.  At Shepparton I manage to contact my brother Richard who is visiting Victoria from the UK.  It had been a bit hard to be in touch and it was good to speak to him on the phone.

Pete Carr has us in good formation riding all the way in the dark through Kyabram, where we stop to (ahem) use the facilities.  Most of us are fairly spent but plod on for the 40 odd k's to Rochester.  Near Rochester town I need to stop for a pee and so fall off the back of the pack and am left chasing a dancing array of flashing taillights about a kilometre ahead for a while.  In Rochester a factory worker gives me directions to the Motel, Simon and a few others greet me and I'm home for the night.

Day 3, Rochester - Warracknabeal, 261k

Up early again on Monday and I'm heading west with Phil, Sarah and Bec.  The start had a nice tailwind and this continued on and off all day.  There were occasional hard bits when we headed north into the wind. The dawn was spectacular west of Rochester and there was very nice "golden hour" light just after sunrise heading into Mitiamo and I managed to get a few photos.  We stopped at Boort for breakfast, Wycheproof ("World's Smallest Mountain" rising all of 30m above the vast flat plain)  for lunch and Birchip  (home of a well endowed and often vandalised bull sculpture) for afternoon tea.  The night's destination was Warracknabeal and we zoomed in under full tailwind.  After sorting out my room I spoke to Phil and he said we were to leave at 1:30 in the morning with Peter Donnan.  Well - ok!

Day 4, Warracknabeal - Rochester, 237k

Up early and off with Peter and Phil.  By Beulah we worked out a formation that kept us all together and riding a Peter's metronomic 20kph.  That is, Peter out front with one of me or Phil beside him, and the other in "the cheap seat" getting some wind assistance behind.  We stuck with that till after the Sea Lake turn off and we separated a bit after that.  Phil caught up with us at Woomelang (toilets off the track a bit but very clean and new and rate 4 1/2 flushes) and told us Phil had had a puncture.  Peter and I pushed on into Sea Lake for breakfast and only about 110k to go.  After Sea Lake there were still headwinds, and we stuggled into Manangatang.  Needed lots to drink at Manangatang and the locals were very curious about our bikes and the ride as a whole.  We had our photos taken and might even make the Manangatang news (Big Time!) in a week or two.  Managed to pick up some speed coming into Rochester, but I was dog tired and crying hopelessly with pent up relief and vindication that some of my bike ideas are working.  Peter Donnan and I crossed the finish line at the same time and Phil came in a few minutes later.  Pete Heal made my finisher's medal on the spot and I crashed out after that, not to surface (much) until the next morning, because I couldn't walk. (much)

Ecological Traps

Ecological traps are a set of circumstances that makes an animal or person do dumb things or "choose falsely attractive habitat".  Until a week or so ago I'd never heard of them, then I read an article about them in "New Scientist", and now the idea is stuck in my head a bit.

Environmental trap for animals: Sea birds will eat plastic debris which kills them.  Dragonflies mistake solar cells for water and  will make a futile attempt to nest there.

Environmental  traps for people: "Fast Food" can be cheap and tasty.  But they can be full of salt and sugar, and not very good for you.  People fall in love with the wrong people and go irrational.  Celine Dion still has a singing career.  The list goes on and on.

As far as this blog is concerned, the overuse of cars seems like something to be considered as an ecological trap. Cars take up space not only where they are, but also demand space where they could be, that is, a workplace, sporting venue, shopping centre, city or freeway "wants" car space enough for a (rarely occuring) busiest period, and the rest of the time the space goes to waste.  Even so, at busy periods, the capacity of some roads has been reached at some times in some areas, and traffic slows down enormously.  At least over shorter distances, bikes would not only get most people to their destination faster, they don't cause pollution and give good physical exercise.

To highlight some of these issues traffic issues (chaos and real unsustainability of  transport times) that exist in the west of Melbourne, a local  council is holding a race to the city using foot, bus, bikes, cars and trains over about 30k.  Here are some links
http://www.getwyndhammoving.com.au/news__events/ready_set_race/competition
http://www.getwyndhammoving.com.au/news__events/ready_set_race
http://www.getwyndhammoving.com.au/news__events/helpgetwyndhammoving (with a few video links)

If you were going to avoid environmental traps as far as bikes and trikes are concerned, everybody should be choosing a bike "most suitable for purpose" or "attractive habitat".  Not everybody always chooses the best bike for the purpose and this is possibly a bad thing.

People's decision on a bike is based on their knowledge and that of people in bike shops, not to mention cost, advertising, what is seen in books, magazines, on television and in films, what friends think, what friends will think!  All this stuff (some of it unavoidable) creates a "lens" which helps separate a purchase from a best-result purchase.  

It's worth taking a long term view of this though.  Lots of useful bike styles which were cutting edge ten years ago are mainstream and less expensive now.  These include electric bikes, trail-a-bikes, folding bikes, kid's bike without pedals, cargo bikes, cargo trikes, bike trailers.  Other styles like recumbent trikes and recumbent bikes are at least less expensive now, even if that comes at the cost of less Australian manufacture and a loss of local bike culture.

So it is fairly certain we'll see an increase in the use of recumbents over time, goodness knows fashion might even give them a boost.  Fixies are now available very cheap ($100) in supermarkets.  Surely their popularity will wane when their exclusivity is gone and something else might fill their space. 

But nobody hold your breath.   

Regards

Steve Nurse

Murray 1200 preview

Sunny mastering the wooden bike

Retaining lug on side of new suspension block

New light and the start of a fairing

Tailbox under construction

Tailbox with rounded corners

Shutter Precision Dynamo Hub

and other bits and bobs.  The RHYN device is a USB charger that gets an input voltage from the dynamo.

Hi

For the last month or so my aluminium bike has been off the road and I have been schlepping around on my wooden recumbent.  But its been off the road with a purpose!  I've entered the Murray 1200 Audax ride.  It is a clockwise 1200k loop through Southern NSW and Northern victoria, starting in Robinvale.  Its coming up in a week, and I've been fettling the Aluminium bike for the ride which has included
*  Replace seat and tailbox.  They were getting a bit tatty and I wanted to try putting "go faster" curves in the base of the box.  Some of the inspiration for my methods come from Pete Heal and some from "instructables".  To bend my corflute with the grain, I put a single slit along a set of flutes and used pvc pipe as a bending template.  Then I put gaffer tape over the inside rolled section of the plastic.
*  Installed a dynamo hub from Shutter Precision.  This is not a buy and go thing.  I bought the hub online through ebay, had it fitted into a rim by Abbotsford Cycles, then fitted the resulting wheel into the bike.  Lastly, add lights and hey presto, an Audax (all night riding) lighting system.
*  Reworked the rear fork and suspension as mentioned here.  The latest change was to retain the suspension block between steel block on th rear triangle.  This takes some of the slop out of the suspension.
*  Added seat padding!  I have attempted some quite long rides with only minimal seat padding.  Believe me, its a pain in the bum!  I have 2 layers of camping mat foam under my bottom and one layer for the lowest 6" of my back.  Over the whole lot is a layer of ACS10 / Ventisit open, ventilating seat pad.

So 1 more week to riding time.  I'm not sure if I'll finish the front fairing I've started. but will be lining up in Robinvale in just over a week.

Oh, and Sunny, a design student from Monash University has started some project work on my style of bike.  I've lent him my wooden bike so its off my hands for a while.

Here are some links for those intent on following my progress.  Lots of people going on the ride will have spotter trackers, or the follow-me app enabled on their smart phones.  There is a website to follow all those technologically advanced people but I won't be blipping on it unless something fairly dramatic changes.  I will be trackable via old school updates of the checkpoint spreadsheet. Christine will here from me via mobile quite often, she is on (03) 94818290

Online map.

Overnight stops: (Friday April 4 Robinvale)
                           Sat April 5 start Robinvale 0500, overnight Jerilderee @ 365k
                           Sunday April 6 Rochester @ 703k,
                           Monday April 7 Warracknabeal @ 965k
                          Tuesday April 8 Robinvale@1200 k


Checkpoint Spreadsheet

Online tracking At the time of writing Pete Heal and Tim Taylor are riding the volunteers ride and can be tracked.

Twitter Pete Heal is posting as I write.
 

A few new links

Paul Needham's fwd deraillieur mount.

Paul is building a trike a bit like my version of the ilean.  This link is to page 2 of a 2 page thread on Atomic Zombie.  I've bben advising Paul every now and then. Keep up the good work!

Azub blog on touring bikes with some fine advice on component choice, which would work well for commuting bikes as well.

Brad and Sharon and the Chookshaw.  Brad works with me and today I bought some of the eggs from the chookshaw.  The naturalest eggs from the happiest chooks you could hope to find!

Some Sunday Rides

A Raleigh 3 speed at the Swinburne Electric Bike Day

Projections onto the museum amidst a massive crowd at the free White Night Festival in Melbourne City

Electric Bike & Trike demo machines at Swinburne

Some electric skateboards at Swinboard.  The big board with suspension is a Baja Board

Sinclair Electric Velomobile at Swinburne.  This is a vintage machine circa 1984 obtained from the Canberra Cyle Museum.

Another iconic recumbent, a Wilson, in Richmond, Melbourne

Wilson bike in Richmond

Wilson bikes notice circa 2000 in the ozhpv magazine, Huff

Leaving for the 4k trip to the Epworth Hospital with a walking frame on board

Michael, Lisa, Izzy, Graham and Sruan on a B-Spon ride, near the Cow in a Tree

Testing a homemade electric trike on a St Kilda B-Spon ride.

Bikecentric living: bike in the loungeroom and carrying a large pro-hart print home from the op-shop.

Hi

Over the last few weeks I have been out and around on my bike quite a bit.  My wife Christine has been in hospital since January 4, and I've visited her in hospital almost every day.  Last week I managed to ride to work on 3 days and so I can cross off one of my bucket list items.  This was a "prospiracy" or set of events working in favour.  Tuesday I had to go to the dentist, (had to take the car, and Friday the car was being serviced (couldn't take the car).  So once I had ridden on Monday things sort of fell into a rythem and just ended up riding 3 days, 66k round trip each day.   On top of riding my bike to work, I'd normally add 8k's on the other weekdays by riding to the hospital to visit.

Anyway, during this time I managed to carry some reasonably bulky loads on the bike and these are shown in the photos.  There is a trick to this and it is called patience.
* Make sure you can carry the load before you head off.
* Don't carry any extra bulky stuff except for the big item you want to carry.
* Don't muck around on your trip, just get there at a conservative pace without unnecessary stops.

A few years ago I attempted to bring a glass framed picture home from the same op shop, but managed to break the glass along the way.  This experience (I got over it a long time ago) found its way the Cycling Board Game I devised.  This time I spotted the painting a week before I bought it but was in a hurry on that occasion and only bought it later when I had plenty of time and had checked it for size, that it would fit in my tailbox.

Peter Wilson was one of the early riders to join Ozhpv rides in Victoria and before too long he had rented a factory and was starting to make big, long wheelbase recumbents, cannabalising entire, new roadbikes in the process.  I don't think they ever sold that well but they had a bit of a following and you see one or two very occasionally.

The rest of the photos speak for themselves I think.  Happy Cycling!

Regards

Steve Nurse

Wendouree 2014

Juice Blenders and a big tyre bike

Superheroes prepare to do battle

Douglas and Damian outside the administration hut

After the race.

My bike and Douglas's.  Douglas has a gizmo for displaying the speed of the bike in lights on the back wheel!

In the centre of Ballarat on the way to the train station,  I meandered around the Rockabilly festival,

these guys know how to have a good time.

Me!

Douglas

Victory is mine!

Damian

The Ballarat Wendouree ride is an annual event which raises money for cancer research, and the total raised is edging towards $1,000,000 over about 7 years.  Despite posting on several Bulletin Boards I only managed to get 3 (out of a possible 12) on the recumbent team but Douglas Tuck, Damian Harkin and I managed to put up a good show.  Teams ride around the lake for 2 hours and the total laps are counted.  There are other rides that take place on the day, and to be honest, the relay ride is a bit of a kiddy pool with faster fitter riders mostly taking on the rides from 50 to 100km. 

Douglas Tuck finished first in the first lap and no one passed him at all on the whole ride.  He averaged about 30kph.  I was third in the first lap and only a few people passed me in the whole race, amongst them were some of the "Superheroes" team who were actually fit cyclists  on good bikes underneath all the costumes.  Damian got a puncture halfway through the ride but was pretty quick up till then.

After the race I trundled into town before taking the train back to Melbourne.  There was a Rockabilly Festival on in town and dancing amidst the hotted up cars and music in Liddiard St.  So quite a lot going on in Ballarat on this particular weekend.

Oh yes, and my bike is still adorned with the pink number 22 on the back.  So if you get run over by a wooden recumbent bike with pink reflectors on the front and a pink number 22 on the back, it wasn't me!

Regards

Steve nurse

Wendouree 2014: Prelude

Beeac, Western Victoria

Finn's $5.00 Surfboard Bike

Rob

Fresh Blackberries at the start of Riflebutts road.

Top of the big hill, Riflebutts Road

Near Beeac

Blurry flowers

More blurry flowers

Hi

A few days ago, I took some time off work and decided to use some of it for for a bicycle road trip.  There is a place I can stay in Airey's Inlet, and I was booked in to a Motel in Ballarat for the Lake Wendouree relay ride , so why not make a tour of it?

Friday Feb 14:
Up early and made the 7k ride into Southern Cross Station for the train trip to Geelong.  My bike is big, awkward, and heavy to move around, but I had some help getting it onto the train so no problems really.  Arrived at South Geelong about 8am and I rode to my friend's Rob's place in Torquay.  Rob wasn't that surprised to see the bike, (having seen a range of my machines) but another mate Paul was very surprised, a wooden fwd bike being entirely new to him.

Rob had bought a tip shop bike for his son Finn for $5.00.  It is a cabable touring machine with canti brakes but now it is garishly painted and has surfboard racks fitted. After a mango smoothie, I went on from Torquay to Aireys Inlet where I stayed the night.

Saturday Feb 15
Made a 7:20 start for Ballarat.  There is no main highway between Aireys Inlet and Ballarat and the first bit of the ride needs to be over or around the Otway hills.  I chose to go up the dirt road to Bambra - and my bike does not cope well with uphills on gravel at all well, so there was lots of pushing to be done.  The basic strategy to employ is shut up and get on with it. Here is a short video I took

So 2 hours for the first 20k to Bambra, and then on over fairly familiar territory to the Colac - Ballarat road.  (So no more navigation then)  This road runs north through Beeac, Cressey and Rokewood .  I hadn't seen these towns before and they were very pretty.  Beeac has a windmill museum celibrating the diversity and craft of Beeac local windmill builders.  Had a nice lunch of dim sims, tea, and coke (I was cycling so this sort of makes sense) in Rokewood before moving on through the hills to Ballarat.  Found the motel fine and zonked it pretty early.