The second departure
Bike It In A Dress: Melbourne to Adelaide, Day 2
Slept in slightly, then as I was leaving from home and not coming back, needed to double-check that everything was packed into the trailer and the gear was all ready to go. Thus I arrived one hour late for my own send-off at Ballarista in Lydiard Street, Ballarat. I had my coffee and said my goodbyes, then departed up Sturt Street, following Remembrance Drive all the way through Lucas, onto Cardigan Village and joining the Western Highway. I did forget to pack more bananas, so stopped by Wilson’s Fruit & Veg in Lucas on the way.
I had a nice, but relatively uneventful (except for some roadworks) ride into Beaufort, which is about 50km from Ballarat. On the highway entering Beaufort I was pulled over by a police squad car, though luckily the local Beaufort cop just wanted a chat and to see what I was up to. I told him I was planning to stop at the bakery for a pie, to which he highly recommended the Pyrenees Pantry café across the road. I decided to try his suggestion as I hadn’t eaten there before, usually returning to the bakery for their awesome chunky steak pies, but I should have heeded my own advice on this one — the coffee, whilst OK, was nothing to rave about, and the service and attitude from the young bloke working there was pretty poor. Ah well! Maybe they put more effort into the policeman’s order, which is probably a good policy.
I headed out of Beaufort and enjoyed a nice ride into Ararat, or just shy of, where I pulled off the highway at Langi Ghiran State Park to camp for the night. Rode my bike a few kilometres up a corrugated dirt road — hell on a bike! — to the formal (but free!) camping ground. I met a nice family whilst camping there. David and Nicole were from Lalor, in Melbourne, and were camping with their little boys, Sam and Charlie, 5 and 3 respectively. They were good kids, especially little Charlie who had fantastic manners for a child his age, and was great seeing them enjoying a camping trip with their mum and dad. Dad sang them a song on the guitar to put them to sleep — which I was informed by Nicole was a regular nightly occurrence, not just a camping thing — and then had a great conversation as they shared their campfire with me until the late hours of the evening, when I finally dragged myself away from the campfire and hit the hammock at about 23:00. The hammock is comfortable enough and very warm, but being my first night camping in a hammock, I still need to get used to the sleeping angles.
Follow the journey
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Prologue — Media coverage in “The Courier”: Ballarat father of two preparing for ride of a lifetime...in a dress!
A bit of media coverage this morning went a long way to help drum up some awareness of my ride. Big thanks to The Courier for the article.
- Day 1
Up the hills!
I arrived at the Royal Exhibition Centre in Carlton this morning with no small amount of nervous trepidation, as well as some weary eyes, after catching the 0520 train with my partner, Danielle. We said goodbye with a big hug at Southern Cross Station, and I rode from there to Carlton, and parked at the big fountain to the south of the Exhibition Centre.
- Day 2
The second departure
Slept in slightly, then as I was leaving from home and not coming back, needed to double-check that everything was packed into the trailer and the gear was all ready to go.
- Day 3
Horsham
I awoke early this morning to the sound of kookaburras laughing, and then cockatoos having a screaming match, so much better than an alarm clock! I love the bush!! Enjoyed a beautiful sunrise through the gum trees as I packed up camp and had a muesli breakfast.
- Day 4
Dimboola
I started this morning in the worst possible way — disaster struck my rear axle. I snapped the ‘Burley Balls’ rear axle bolt, which was made out of cheap Chinesium, as I went to depart the Darlot Motor Inn! I was devastated — this could easily have been the end of the adventure right there.
- Day 5
The silent ‘h’ in Nhill
Today was a very hard day. It started off nice enough — awoke to kookaburras and cockatoos once again, and as I packed up my hammock I saw a little possum mother climbing the tree my hammock was on, with its baby on its back — unfortunately, the possums had also taken the liberty to piss and shit all over my tarps during the night.
- Day 6
Watching Toby get chewed up and spat out by a Tiger
After the hard day yesterday, today was brilliant! Awoke refreshed, with not a lot of distance to cover to finish off Leg 4 — about 40 km to Bordertown, SA. I left Kaniva early and headed out for the border between Victoria and South Australia at Serviceton.
- Day 7
A hangover to Coonalpyn
I woke up this morning with a bit of a hangover, but nothing too bad, and got my laundry done pretty early. I wandered around town for a while, checking out the Bordertown train station, a stop for the Overland Train I’ll be taking back to Melbourne this coming Friday.
- Day 8
The Mighty Murray!
I left Coonalpyn this morning feeling pretty awesome. I’ve gotten a large portion of my journey out of the way, I’ve stayed at some great places, met some lovely people, and seen some beautiful sights.
- Day 9
Resting in Murray Bridge
Today was scheduled as a rest and recovery day, to allow me to a) recover from the past eight day’s journey, and b) rest in preparation for tomorrow, which might turn out to be the hardest day’s ride yet.
- Day 10
Pushing beyond the limit, and arriving in Adelaide
Today’s ride was by far the toughest, most gruelling bicycle ride I’d ever undertaken, and pushed my body to limits I hadn’t exceeded for more than ten years.
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Epilogue — Media coverage in “The Courier”: Ryan Moore bikes in a dress to raise money for girls charity
A bit of media coverage this morning went a long way to help drum up some awareness of my ride. Big thanks to The Courier for the article.