Cycling in Melbourne Australia
Riding partner(s) for Tasmania ride wanted
Hi, I'm heading to Tassie end of September and would like to find cyclists who would like to come along. Going from Launceston to Hobart via the East coast, ten days in total.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris Harris on -
Sounds great Sonja,
I can't make it.. no time and no fit :)
Have fun.
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Permalink Reply by Sonja on -
Thanks Chris, I do intend to enjoy it, been there and done it before and going back every year. Not fit? I have not been on my bike for a few months either, there is only one way to get fit, ride, ride, ride. It doesn't have to be a marathon, a little everyday. Enjoy life.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Harris on
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Sounds like a challenge for me next year Sonja. I have often half planned a tour ride and never made a start. Seeing Tassie for the first time on a bike would be great. I'll get fit and keep thinking.
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Permalink Reply by Neil on -
Unfortunately, I can't come either, though I love cycle touring in Tassie -- surely the best place in Australia for that activity.
A question though: How are you getting to Launceston (presumably, from Melbourne)?
Below: The pub in the paddock at Pyengana, Tasmania (on the east coast route).
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Permalink Reply by Sonja on
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Hi Neil, where about's is this pub? I don't think I passed it last time but I did go via St Marys (not Scottsdale and St Helens) to Bicheno. I'm flying to Launceston from Melbourne, then flying back from Hobart. One day when I have enough time to leave my girls for more than ten days I will cycle the middle back up from Hobart, or perhaps the West Coast.
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Permalink Reply by Neil on
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Ooh, I dream of cycling the west coast. I mean the real west coast road, all unsealed, all the way from Zeehan to Arthur River via the Arthur Pieman Conservation Area and with a private toll-punt trip across Pieman River at Corinna. We drove it in a hire-car at the end of our 2005 trip and it was remote, wild and fantastic. Just the place to enjoy on a bike!
Now, when I say Pyengana is on the east coast route, I should really say, just off the Tasman Hwy.
If you look at a Tassie map, Pyengana is inland in the northeast between St Helens and Scottsdale. It is marked about a kilometre or so off on a side-road from the highway. I recall there is a roadhouse at the junction (which I am boycotting because of its bicycle-unfriendly attitude -- in 2000 I arrived in pouring rain and the proprietor told me I couldn't park my bike under shelter near the door but I could lean it against the picnic table "over there" in the rain. I told him where he could park himself and left immediately. BTW, I hold a grudge for a long time!)
Along the side-road there is a slightly famous cheese factory with a nice cafe and, a bit further on, the pub which has fairly basic accommodation but is pleasant enough after an exhausting day's cycling. Further along the side-road are the Falls mentioned in the pub's real name -- they are quite spectacular.
The photo above was taken the morning in 2005 my family and I rode past the Falls and continued on the less travelled, unsealed back road over the Rattler Range all the way to Ringarooma. Talk about challenging! But, as my wife insists, you don't ride on the "red roads" if you want to see the real countryside. Below is a scene from that day. Dry and flat are words which did not apply.
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Permalink Reply by Sonja on
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Thanks for sharing that Neil, and you had children with you as well!! I'm in awe. I still leave mine home at the moment, they are seven and nine, too heavy to tag along but too light to manage the roads. I could easily see why you would hold a grudge against that publican, how rude of him. It must be the day for sharing rude experiences, I just had an email back from a guy who runs a cycling company in Tasmania. Small company, sounded nice, their tours don't start until December though, so on the spur of the moment I had sent him an email and invited him along on my tour. Well, his tone was so rude, he basically implied I was trying to get a freebie tour with him, his girlfriend would 'go through the roof' if he went cycling off with a non-client who is a woman...etc etc. I was amazed. I have my cousin with me, I have cycled there before and don't need some 'expert' tour guide to take me. This was an attempt from one cyclist to another, thinking if he runs a cycling tour company, he might actually liek cycling. Oh well, lesson learned and no - strangely enough, I won't take him up on the offer of booking a tour with them in November. Very glad to miss St Helens! But would have loved to have seen the 'pub in the paddock'. By the way, where in Melbourne do you cycle as a family? Maybe we can all catch up one day, my girls love cycling.
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Permalink Reply by Neil on
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Sorry, we never cycle in Melbourne, we are interstate. Might run into each other in Tassie sometime though. If you see this set-up coming, you'll know who it is. Our kids were 10 and 14 when this pic was taken last year.
Come to think of it, maybe this will be the future solution to your problem...
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Permalink Reply by Sonja on
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Oh, I am sooo jealous. What a great idea! Except, my cycling partner lives in England, so I would have to have a tag-along on the tandem. I see you're wearing Audax shirts, do you enjoy doing Audax rides? I have done three so far, loved them. Where abouts are you located?
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Permalink Reply by Nick Biker on
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Wow, we also have a tandem, living in Melbourne. I use a tag-a-long behind the tandem and a trailer behind the tag-a-long. We have 2 electric motors, front and rear wheels to help with getting traction.
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