Bikepacking girls....

It's always nice to have a pair of fresh eyes check over a course so when 'Tinderry Trail Angel' [Cloudride circa 2017] Karen Foat decided to swap from trailside to ontrail bikepacker it was an ideal opportunity to do just that ... along with ride buddy Emma they headed out over the Australia Day weekend. Their adventure is here...

Steve Watson

Bikepacking girls test the 2019 Cloudride Prologue course

Having watched the Cloudride from afar in recent years, a friend of mine, Emma, and I wanted to give the Cloudride Prologue a go.

It falls on a date when other commitments don’t permit us participating so Steve was kind enough to provide us access to the route so we could test the course out over the Australia Day long weekend.

As can happen around Christmas time, other commitments saw us a bit slacker in the training

department than we’d originally hoped for. And then the kicker came – the forecast for the Australia

Day weekend for all weekend being above 35 degrees and day 2 of our trip (on the hardest part of

the course) forecast at 39. We’d planned for a 4 day trip but the lack of training and the height of

forecast saw us revising this to make sure we had 5 days to get it done if we needed it. We needed

it. But not for the reasons that we thought.

In summary, I’d say the second half of the route we felt like we were on a bike packing holiday – scenic, flowy and if you wanted it to be, fast. We opted not for fast but for taking in the sights and enjoying the route and the hospitality of a pub and café or two, if only in the second half. The first half ‘holiday’ is not the appropriate word. I imagine it’s just a wee taste of what the full cloudride has to offer, just a teaser that Steve knows how to throw a challenge at you if he wants to. It’s more

isolated, but some of us like it that way so it has its ups and downs in more ways than one!

Day 1: Bent Spoke, Braddon to Tinderries

Steve had devised a route which on paper calls past home for me in the Tinderries just shy of the

average ride distance needed to get the job done in 4 days. Given we weren’t in the event proper,

we took full advantage of calling in at home for a feed, shower, bed Friday evening and also had the

luxury of not having carried our full gear up the Tinderries. Having carried our full bike packing kit up

that climb a few times before we knew what a treat it was to be unloaded whilst doing the climb.

Not the most direct route to Tharwa, but some great little back tracks and pretty sights to get you

started on your journey. Wildlife spotted – 3 huge eagles somewhere on the bicentennial trail after

Coolaman ridge. I knew the Burra bridge was out and that we’d have to hike around the works there

– it should be back up and running again by the time the cloudride prologue goes through. Ice block

1 – Frosty fruits in the Tinderries, so began a tradition.

Day 2: Planned.... Tinderries to Braidwood

– actual Tinderries to the Harolds Cross end of Sawpit Gully Fire trail. Forecast temp 39 degrees.

Bike of choice! Soma B Side (steel frame, rockshox, 2x11, front bag katmandu drybag, back bag mr

fusion porcelain rocket)

Having ridden some of Cowangarong firetrail before, we knew we were in for a slog. It’s pretty. It’s

hilly. It’s rocky. We left just on daybreak and took an extra 2L of water, which weighed us down but I

was glad to have it for reasons soon to be explained.

The climb up Anembo road is the warm up, Flat Range and Cowangerong is where it’s at. It was a

foggy, cool and quiet start but soon heated up. An hour on, a little break. An hour on, a little break.

And so on. Enjoy the view, smile at the Lyre bird crossing the track, enjoy the sounds of the forest.

Cowangerong FT

Keep an eye out for the Captains Flat radar on your right because after that it’s not long till it’s all

downhill to Captains Flat road. Hurrah. Several hours after we started we enter Sawpit Gully Firetrail and

get a touch lost for a moment. I’m embarrassed to say not for the first time because we’ve been lost

in there before, but we soon remembered the way out and started to enjoy the trails as they

became flowier. We’d previously ridden the rest of the route to Braidwood and so spirits were lifting

with the hardest part of the course out of the way before lunch time. And then something happened

to wipe the smile off our faces. We were flowing down a section of Sawpit Gully Firetrail just where

it starts to become more open, it’s a bit littered with debris but we were just cruising along, not

going too fast. A huge noise from my back wheel that cannot be described other than that noise you

get when the back wheel isn’t turning when it should be because a foreign object is interfering,

accompanied by the bike ceasing to handle well. Bum back, brakes on, stop. Dismount. Oh

*Expletive*!!! I looked down at my beautiful soma b side to see a huge stick lodged in the wheel and

going through my derailleur so that it was a mangled mess. I pegged the stick into the bushes with all

the force I had at my disposal in a pointless display of frustration and with my head in my hands let

out a bit of a yell. Poor Emma arrived at this moment and thought I’d been hit in the head by

something. I explained whilst not hurt the gravity of our situation. The best I could come up with was

to convert to single speed to see if we could keep making forward progress. First attempt at this

worked ok but accidentally put it in the big ring which wasn’t really thinking things through. Given

that went well we thought it would be a simple matter to shorten the chain and put it in an easier

gear. But we couldn’t get the chain alignment and tension just right. When rolling down a hill it ghost

shifted up a gear and then my chain was over tight and an awful hub destroying noise started. A few

attempts to fix this to no avail and then it’s time to walk.

*Expletive!!!!*

From previous rides I remembered a camp ground at the end of this trail that’s not on the map. I sent Emma ahead to see how far it was and I walked on. She didn’t want to leave me but totally understood when I said I could do with 10 mins walking alone to think through some options and that I just needed to make some forward momentum for a bit instead of continually stopping to try to fix. She rode on and I trudged along. After a sufficient period of head clearing trudging she

reappeared to say just another hill or two until the camp ground and that there was beautiful water and shade there. Yay! Time to eat, drink, cool off and reassess our situation. One more time trying to fix and then

acceptance that that bike now wasn’t going to make it to Braidwood without parts. We sent a message to my other half, Grant, on the in reach tracker and requested either a new derailleur and chain or a replacement bike (Thanks Grant!!). His estimated arrival time was 5.5 hours later. So we chilled in the shade and did the chores we could - bird bath, eventually dinner and organising stuff

for the next day and replanning how we might still be able to get the route done in the time we have

given we’d lost half a day. Eventually spare parts arrived but the assessment was that hangar and hub both stuffed as well so swapped bikes instead.

A surly crosscheck was my next best weapon of choice and she did a good job of looking after me on the bits of trail she didn’t belong on and ate up the miles on the smooth sections of which there was a fair bit to come. Now if in the event proper, this would have ruled me out as a finisher though so the moral of the story is to practice your single speed conversions kiddies!! I had the right concept but failed in application.

Day 3: Sawpit Gully FT to Tarago

We didn’t bother with bivvies and just slept under the stars and up at 4:30am to make a

getaway on what ended up being a 42 degree day. I rode like a complete nanna in the dark on my

skinny wheels in the sand and I have to thank Emma for her patience during that hour before

sunlight. The sun came and we were soon bombing down Lowden Rd and looking forward to the

Bombay trail. I knew the CX wasn’t going to be great there especially with the gearing I had, but it

wasn’t as bad as I feared. And I soon adjusted to the new steed. But it was BAKING hot by the time

we rolled into Braidwood before 10am. We took a long break – ice block 2, a splice because no frosty

fruits available.

Second steed of choice – well travelled surly crosscheck. (Front bag mounted on upside down tri bars

so that I could still see the garmin etrex 30x on the handlebars to show us the route)

Kudos to Steve for picking the lesser travelled roads. On the long weekend, I expected more traffic

heading out of Braidwood but not the way we were going. From here on on this day we pretty much

stopped at every river crossing to dunk our heads in the river and then hop back on the bikes. At one

such dunking we ran into Alex, a bikepacker making his way from Port Stephens to Canberra and

then on to Melbourne via the Hunt route. Safe travels Alex - impressive journey!!

We rolled into Stewarts Crossing mid to late afternoon thinking we were done for the day and very much looking

forward to a cooling swim only to find a scene that could be from a movie. The Australia Day

celebrations were in full swing with hundreds of 4WDers, some of them getting bogged on the

beach, gazebos floating down the river and people getting rather merry! Staying there was not going

to be an option if we wanted any sleep but rolling on straight away wasn't something we were up for

in the heat either. So we had a swim to cool off, collected and filtered more water and then headed

onward not sure if we'd make the extra 40km to Tarago or whether we'd camp by the road

somewhere. Lots of corrugations and sand were to be had on this next section and we firmly wanted

those behind us.

By the time we reached the tar, Tarago seemed like a good option. With a room and meal locked in we trudged on and made it all of 2 mins before a massive thunderstorm hit. We didn't realise it was going to be that close but people following our progress at home did and were anxious to see our tracker dot arrive moments before the red and black on the radar descended over Tarago. Thanks to the folk at the Loaded Dog Pub for hospitality - heads up if you call ahead that you can arrange to have a meal set aside if you aren't going to make kitchen hours and there's a safe place to lock bikes. We were still a bit hot overnight (and may have had a couple of cool showers in the night to get our temps down) but a shower, bed and good feed were treats not to be overlooked and we were welcomed in the pub lycra and all after our 145km day in the heat.

Wildlife spotted: 1copperhead snake and 200 bogans.

Day 4: Tarago - Gunning

The pressure was off. Having put in a big day the day before, we'd caught up to our 5 day

scheduled pace. We'd already decided we didn't want to try for 4 days in the heat so we only had to

make it 103km to Gunning. Still another warm day but the terrain was kinder and the scenery

magnificent.

So began the most picturesque day of the trip…

SOME cafe provided a great lunch stop at Collector and Gunning continued the ice block challenge

with more frosty fruits and another swim in the river for good measure. Barbour Park, right in town offered a great camp spot amongst the grey nomads with toilets, showers and drinking water available.

I use a macpac bush cocoon bivvy tent and sea to summit spark III sleeping bag. Emma runs a sea to

summit hammock and fly which packs down even smaller but does require 2 trees appropriate

distance apart.

Day 5: Gunning to Bent Spoke, Braddon

Some rain brought a much needed drop in temps and for the first time in 5 days we weren’t

hot. Hurrah! A lovely scenic ride to finish with Boutchers lane being a highlight and Old Wells Station

road being a great dirt way to approach the city. We cruised on in to be met by Steve and loved ones

for a beer and burger at bent spoke.

Wildlife spotted - echidnas, wallabies and a farmer or two.

Finishers are grinners.....

All in all a fabulous weekend was had and we were really glad to get the job done despite mechanicals and heat. Whilst Wog Wog camp ground marks the half way point in terms of distance, the terrain at the beginning is more challenging and so I reckon that puts Braidwood as the half way marker. The course can definitely be done a lot faster (and we would have easily done 4 days

without our mechanical) but it’s also a good introduction to multi day bike packing course because

of resupply options from Braidwood onwards.

Thing we wished we’d packed – a small pair of pliers and maybe more insect repellent, more gears

on my second bike, but hey I was lucky to have a second bike!

Things we were glad we’d packed – shoelace (for undoing quick links), zip ties, in reach tracker.

Things we didn’t need but had – extra food (I gave away some to grey nomads on the morning of the final day)

Hot Tips - pack a granny gear for the first half and practice your single speed conversion. ;)

Stats: 516km, 7377vm

Huge thanks to: Emma (Champ!!); Grant, Denae, Steve, Anne, Scotty & Tommy – amazing support

and encouragement.

Have a great Cloudride!