South Coast NSW - May 14 -18, 2010
FRIDAY
For most the annual 4 day adventure began on the Friday afternoon with a drive
from Sydney to Nowra then onto Callala Bay – not to be confused with Callala
Beach very close by. Paul and Phil
remained in Sydney on the Friday night but the rest – Rowan, Greg, Peter, Yarro,
JohnO, JohnD, Rod, Graham, Ashley and Richard – made it to dinner at the local
RSL then back to the “lodge” for a night cap.
Thanks to Yarro accommodation, the “lodge”, was awesome
with plenty of rooms and 3, yes 3 toilets and 3 showers.
On top of this was a nice kitchen with all you need and comfortable beds
with pillows, sheets and towels.
Luxury – 5 star. Sometime we do
have to go back to infinite star accommodation (i.e. tents and cabins).
SATURDAY
Saturday morning we all meet up at a little bakery / coffee shop in Nowra then headed to a smooth little 8k loop just west of town. Nice warm up for a big ride … arguably for most (except Rod) the longest ride of the 4 days. The big ride was from Bamarang up to Yalwal, big climb, and touching on the Morton National Park before “sweet” ridge ride with some lookouts and a fun decent to Burrier and road ride along the river back to the cars. Phils legs were really sore not having been on the bike for a few weeks. Greg wasn’t well and Yarros back was hurting. Still – we all made it back and from here we all got stronger.
Saturday night was pasta night loading up for the 8 hour on
Sunday. Oh, and a few of us
indulged in a little sugar loading with Bundy and Coke too.
SUNDAY
An early start with breakfast and off to the 8 hour track
for the “Chocolate Foot” starting at Coondoo Road in the Currambene State
forest. Start time was 8:00am and
we had 4 teams and a Solo - Rod.
Yarro, JohnO and Richard
Graham, JohnD and Phil
Paul, Peter and Rowan
Greg and Ashley.
Beautiful weather and a smooth track made for a pretty
relaxing day. A couple of minor
falls but nothing serious and no mechanical breakages.
Doesn’t get much better. Rod
was, as ever, amazing covering over 14 laps of the 11k loop and his last lap
time was faster than any of the rest in teams during the whole day.
Impressive stuff. Needless
to say he secured a well deserved podium finish.
Check out all the results and photos here
http://www.chocolatefoot.com.au/
Sadly Paul had to head home early but the good news was
Greg was feeling better and Yarros back wasn’t hurting.
A short drive back to “the lodge” for showers (via the
bottle shop for more Bundy and Coke and food) and it was a really good cook up
by Graham. What that guy can do to
a cabbage is amazing. After dinner
and a little internal lubrication we gathered in the big TV room for “The Crying
Game”. Hmmm … watch it.
It’s not your traditional piece of Hollywood predictability … well worth
the watch.
MONDAY
Now Monday had all the potential of being another one of
those Epic 3rd day adventures.
You know the ones we’re famous for.
The ones when we come back to base in the dark, have some kind of
catastrophic breakage, or lose a ride to temptation of a warm cabin and dry
pants. 9:00am departure in the cars
to Kangaroo Valley Bakery for the worst coffee and best pastries then onto the
end of Bendalee Road. Here we
collected a local, Bob, and a dog.
Bob was a 30 year veteran of the area and helped with a few pointers on local
sites as we headed down to the river.
He also introduced the dog as “Jack – the plumber dog”.
“Jack” was mad as a cut snake chasing us and fetching sticks at every
stop. Bob said he’s used to it.
Tough as nails.
From the river the grind began.
What was it? 2 or 3 hours
up, up, up with a nice little stop on the way at a flat green field.
Anyway, by about 2 pm we’d gone nearly 30k and it was like 750m climb to
Fitzroy Falls Tourist Centre and by now “Jack” was stuffed.
Bob called the plumber to say Jack needed a pick up.
The plumber says “nah, that’s not jack, Jacks with me”.
We check the collar and it’s “Mabel”.
So Bob calls the number of the collar and the owner explains poor Mabels
never travelled more than a few k’s from home.
No wonder Jack, I mean Mabel, was stuffed.
Five bags of hot chips later and we’re ready for the run
back to the cars down McPhails Trail.
“Oh yeah!!!” … all that climbing finally paid off and big time.
What a beautiful single track – rainforest, views, steep down hill, a few
log crossings and one final section of zig zag and steep descent to the black
track.
With only 4 k back to the cars the boys started feeling
like horses heading home and got a head of steam up.
Yarro was lucky to miss a kangaroo that blotted across the road in front
of him at about 50 kph.
Back into the cars and the drive back to Callala Bay flew
by with a regulation stop for more Bundy and Coke and some food supplies.
That night was steaks, sausages and vegies.
Heaps of food and a real celebration followed by “Quantum of Solace”.
A movie you need to watch twice to understand.
TUESDAY
So it was raining in Callala Bay.
Didn’t matter. JohnD
understood the southern weather systems and recommended we pack early and head
to Bundanoon and he was right. It
was beautiful up there and we had nice coffee, cake and then short trip to
Wingello where the Highland Fling is held annually.
We rode the red loop of about 24k and it was outstanding.
Loved the Great Wall of China and Tangles.
Such a well maintained set of tracks for mountain bikers.
A couple of punctures is all we suffered.
Back to the cars and back to Bundanoon for a pie and beer
at the local pub. Delicious.
Then we headed home in the rain.
Another fantastic 4 day adventure with a big crew this year
too … the “Dirty Dozen”. Great
food, great rides, great company. A
dozen blokes couldn’t ask for more.