MT CRAWFORD FOREST TO TANUNDAth

MT CRAWFORD FOREST TO TANUNDA
 

21^st December 2015

38.8km/523m

https://www.strava.com/activities/456265580

Heading off on the fat bikes for a day ride starting at Mt Crawford Forest just 4 days before Christmas Day was nothing more than perfect. The Mawson Trail took us on some great dirt roads and tracks with a few small climbs and lots of long awesome rolling down hill runs.

We came across the cutest little koala sitting on a low limb of a gum tree who interestingly watched us ride past. We couldn't resist but to stop and go back and take a few happy snaps of this little guy.

A great climb into Steingarten Riesling Vineyard gave us a breathtaking view of the Barossa Valley. From this vantage point you could clearly see the fire path from the recent Pinery Fire. Kilometre after kilometre of burnt ground could be seen as far as the eye could take you, showing the devastation this unforgiving fire created.

The final leg of this ride was a long, fast downhill into the valley. Great coffee was had at the end of the ride at a great little café in the main street.  

DAWESLEY TO MT CRAWFORD FOREST

DAWESLEY TO MT CRAWFORD FOREST
(Dawesley to Rockleigh, Rockleigh to Mt Crawford Forest)

13^th- 14^th December 2015

73.8km (33km/641m & 40.8km/607m)
https://www.strava.com/activities/452479279
https://www.strava.com/activities/452479287





I am so grateful for having fun and adventures in my life.

Last week we made a big effort and got a few decent gym workouts done YAY 😊😊 On Friday we did one with lots of FAF front squats with a rest day on Saturday giving time for the legs to recover before heading off on the bikes for our first 2 day mini bike packing adventure. WRONG!!!! On Sunday the legs were still in pieces 😳 oh crap!!!!

Unfortunately our fur kids thought they were coming too and there were 5 sad faces when we left without them.

We headed out on our first overnight bike packing adventure. I rode my fat bike Priscilla for the first time loaded with gear. Oh boy does that ever change things. That extra weight alters balance, steering and power. Yep had to find my Big girl undies and dig deep. Well we also had hills, killer  
 
hills. One hill was even called Steep Hill Road wtf...and we thought that would be fun - ha - pushing a fully loaded fat bike up ‪#‎steepasfuckhillroad nearly BUT didn't make me cry. Yeah yeah yeah the view at the top was amazing but seeing the sign at the top saying 'No Trucks' well that just cracked us up. This badass hill was too steep for tough old trucks 😜😜

We got to camp out in our little tent at an old school house at Rockleigh. Opposite was a very old disused tennis court stuck out in the middle of nowhere with large grain properties either side. It turned out it wasn’t disused, as a local family of 5 rocked up with their rackets, a rope for a net, an eski for cool drinks and a fold up chair for the mum. Here the Dad and 3 kids played tennis for well over an hour while the Mum relaxed under the shade of a tree. After an hour or so they packed up and headed back home leaving us to the sights of a promising sunset. I was out to it shortly after dinner way before the sun went down totally knackered. Dave took his camera in hand and stayed up happily clicking away waiting for that perfect sunset shot that didn’t quite eventuate.

Monday morning brought a very hot day. We were on the bikes before 9am and headed off with smiles. Legs felt really good, energy was high and attitude positive. We melted in the sun quite a few times when the Garmin was reading 40 degrees + but nature provided us with coolness on some awesome shady downhill runs. We came across one slithery brown snake wanting to share our road so we offered him right of way. We finished our awesome little adventure with a fresh salad wrap at the Mt Pleasant bakery before completing our last 7km.

This is just our beginnings of our bike packing adventures, just little one and two days at a time, getting the feeling of things and working out all the do's and don'ts. It is tough work and no room for princesses. The shower comes in a packet called Active Wipes. The loo comes with a shovel, (or if you're really lucky you may get a long drop with red back spiders and all) And the best thing of all is the feeling of freedom and the excitement of doing it over and over again.

MACCLESFIELD TO DAWESLEY

MACCLESFIELD TO DAWESLEY

12^th November 2015

36.6km/751m
https://www.strava.com/activities/431171736
 

We have attempted to get our butts on the bikes on a few occasions during the past couple of weeks to get this section ridden but life kept getting in the way. Finally, we managed to find a day that had no other commitments and so  we packed the car with the bikes, drove two cars out to Dawesley, leaving one car here at the end of this section, then driving back in the other car to the start of our ride today at Macclesfield. Ok we need to be super organised to do these day trips and it all worked a treat.

This ride was pretty damn hard in more than one section. Fun though, lots of fun. The Kidman Trail is somewhat hard to spot the markers at times and left us once and thankfully only once just a little off course.

Today’s ride took us out onto mostly dirt tracks and some private property. The private property was a hill. A hill with no visible rideable track, just a hill with a fence to follow down, down, down into a creek bed then up, up, up into the sky…well up. This up, up, up was not rideable but was pushable.

Most of the way we had a lovely tail breeze but during one section there was no breeze at all and was quite hot and omg the little black flies.

We followed the road out near Mt Barker (not the suburb but the actual Mountain) and out on the Back Callington Road to the South Eastern Freeway. Under we went and then followed it on the other side on Ironstone Range Road. Hit some nasty little bugger of hills here that burnt the legs just a tad.

We finished our ride at Pyrites Road at Dawesley just where we left the car. 36.6km of riding today with 751m of elevation.   

 

KANGARILLA TO MACCLESFIELD

KANGARILLA TO MACCLESFIELD

24^th October 2015

26.6km/460m
https://www.strava.com/activities/419117200

 

We headed out of our gate on a glorious day for the beginning of an amazing adventure to come. We rode our secret little sandy single track down to the Main Road and dropped into the local primary school who were having a fundraising car boot sale. Here we met up with our local Country Fire Service volunteers at their sausage sizzle and donated a few dollars to a very important community asset.
https://youtu.be/r-bXEq79z7w

Then back on the bikes and headed up Cut Hill Road, along Razor Back Road until we came to the forest and first trail marker where we started to follow the Kidman Trail. The ride was awesome through the forest and out on the back roads. Some roads were quite steep but rideable. One doozie was Bailey Road, it was just like a roller coaster. Once we got over that sneaky challenge we found a lovely shady tree and sat under it and ate cake. Lucky for me Dave packed some walnut and carrot cake that certainly went down a treat.

We continued along our way following dirt roads along some very beautiful farm properties still with lots of feed for cattle and sheep. We sure did spot lots of fatty’s enjoying the spring grass. We finished the day at Macclesfield having completed our first 26.6km (460m of climbing) of many km’s to come. To get home we continued pedalling and rode into Meadows and back home the dirt way of course.

TRIP OVERVIEW

Trip Overview, Or Plan N?

K2K stands for Kangarilla to Kathmandu

As mentioned in the previous post the initial few hundred k’s will be ridden in stages from Kangarilla to Port Augusta following the Kidman and Mawson Trails. This will allow us to finalise our bike and gear set ups before we head off on the long way around in the first week of May 2016.



Approximate route Stage 2 K2K

One of our biggest aims is to ride as many alternative routes than Highway 1 as possible. We will follow the coast around the Eyre Peninsula then head west across the Nullabor to Esperance and then Albany. Albany is the trail head for the Munda Biddi Trail, 1000km of Mountain Bike Goodness all the way to Perth.

Then we will head North to Broome and across the Gibb River Road through the heart of The Kimberley ultimately reaching Darwin. 

In October, we will head home for a break until the season is right to head to a circumvelo of Bali and Lombok, followed by a flight to Singapore that will begin our tour of South East Asia. Hopefully we will be able to cycle across Myanmar from Thailand to North Eastern India. We intend to ride quite a lot of India, ultimately reaching the Indian Himalaya, riding the highest roads in the world through Kashmir and Jammu.

But wait, there’s more, heading back east through Northern India, we will head up into Nepal to Kathmandu. All going well and seasons aligning with our plans, we will fly to Lhasa in Tibet, riding the Friendship Highway across the Tibetan Plateau to Everest base camp on the Tibetan side, followed by the longest descent in the world back into Nepal and Kathmandu.

And Then?????

 

PLANNING

Planning!!!!!

We have had so many plans to enable us to take our first steps into our life changing experience, I think we are up to plan L, M or even N by now. We have learnt through all of our preparations that plans can change and plans sometimes need to change. Often we have had to think way outside the square for a plan that will work for us. The most important thing that we have learnt about planning is to be comfortable about plans actually changing.  So with a lot of thought and pondering our new plan is to start our journey in stages.

Stage 1 will be Day rides to start with while we are close to home, then string a few days together as we can and hopefully get to Port Augusta by the end of April.

Stage 2 is to head off in May for 4 to 5 months and see how far we get. Commencing at Port Augusta and heading west across the Nullabor Plain to Perth then ride in the direction of Broome and maybe finally to Darwin. Who knows if we will make it that far in this time, we will be in no hurry, we have no rules to follow other than ride as far as we feel comfortable on any particular day.

 Stage 3 will commence in 2017. Here we will start where we finished off wether it be Perth, Broome or Darwin. Wherever it is we intend to find a path to Kathmandu and ride the highest roads in the world.

Plans may still change and we have come to accept that this is our journey, our plans, our rules and we can make any changes whenever we like. We are not tied to our plan of today, it can change and most probably will change. Changing plans is not failure, changing plans is a positive step to achievement.

This is freedom, the journey of Freedom.

A few words from a very wise and much loved friend

...what a journey you have been on, what a journey you are already on, what a great adventurous journey ahead of you. Yes, you make the rules, yes you can do any, all, part or none of your current plans. Things always change...plans often roll into something unforeseen and equally enjoyable and rewarding. Lots of struggles, work and lessons for you - but you've passed thru the eye of the needle with flying colours and set yourself and your priorities up for a better life! Breathe a sigh of relief, allow yourself space and time to recharge and go and do what you love, your way….

Amanda Allen,