stats. Today 84.43km Trip total 118km
Dr Alan, Jeff, Ron, Jim and I rolled out at 8:15, fueled up on porridge and in good spirits. The pace was a little high and Ron left us to ride at a more comfortable one. Jeff and I moved to the front on the first of many short sharpish climbs.
Alan and Jim weren’t as quick on the way up the hills, but they more than made up for it on the descents, we ended up riding in two pairs to the morning tea point. Jeff and I stopped to adjust his seat, then looked up to see the other two flash past with a shout and a wave.
Many jokes were made today about the Aussie battler doing it hard — everywhere we looked we seemed to see yet another — bush retreat or enormous house in the forest. Hardly typical of a rural area though, most of it being expensive getaways from Sydney. The bush was a mixture of freshly burnt trees and stunningly bright green regrowth after the bushfires earlier this year.
From five kilometres before the lunch stop at Bargo Sportsground until almost afternoon tea, the road headed up almost constantly, climbing around 300metres. There was a brief respite in the descent to afternoon tea, then the killer climb of the day, the last two kilometres before a screaming drop into Bowral. I had just reached the top, sweating heavily, when a few large drops of rain landed. No sooner had I thought how refreshing that was when the heavens opened and visibility dropped to around 4m! Some riders leapt off their bikes to struggle into spray-jackets — a rather hopeless gesture — the rest of us just squinted into it and descended as carefully as possible into Bowral. By the time I reached the bottom, the rain had stopped and everything was steaming in the sunshine! This set the tone for the rest of the afternoon, with a number of rapid, short showers, followed by steamy sunlit periods.
In the evening Bowral turned out to be quite a disappointment. It’s a snooty kind of town, all antique shops and ye-olde tea-rooms, having a thousand bike riders in town with money to spend didn’t seem to matter, so everywhere it was business as usual. The shops all shut early, so nobody could get any chips or snacks, and the pubs all shut at 10:30, the one we were in refusing to serve anyone after about 10! They made it abundantly clear that we weren’t really welcome, and I think most of the riders will repay it in kind, by avoiding the town in future!
Where?
Camden(-34.05,150.7), Bowral(-34.4666667,150.4166667)
