VBP#1: Border Run - Ride Report

VBP#1: Border Run - Melbourne - Echuca - Melbourne

Distance: 480km

Climbing: 2,700m

Garmin files: Day 1: Melbourne to Echuca, Day 2: Echuca to Melbourne

LC, DB and I headed out from Coburg at 6:00am last Saturday morning hoping to make it to Echuca for dinner. I'd plotted a course that included as much dirt as possible, but would be rideable on my single speed Surly Steamroller (I'm still waiting for my new MTB). The plan was to camp somewhere on the Murray River and ride home on Sunday. Despite battling nasty head winds all day and frequent magpie attacks we made it to the border (as you'll see from the picture above)!

I'm not much of a report writer, so I'll try to let a few pictures tell the story...

Many of the dirt roads were smooth and flat, like the one in the above picture. There wasn't a lot of climbing on this ride but the constant head winds made holding 20km/hr hard work.

Of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing. Conditions turned swampy at times and the sticky mud clogged up LC's fenders and the space between my tyres and brakes.

When plotting out the course, I found a short cut through a gorge with a potentially sketchy river crossing. There was a good chance that access would be blocked off by gates with "Private Property" signs. We were lucky on this occasion and managed to wind our way down to the river.

The descent into the gorge was good fun (see above)...

... and the river crossing was one of the highlights of the day. You'll see DB making his way across in the above picture.

We stopped for lunch at a fantastic bakery in Heathcote - the country bakery tradition is still alive and well there. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of my apricot tart, but let me assure you that it was amazing!

We were incredibly lucky with the weather. The forecast suggested we'd be riding through hail and thunder storms. As it turned out we missed every storm cell that passed by. This meant wet roads at times, no rain jackets and some awesome rainbows amongst the rolling hills somewhere south east of Rochester.

Eventually our shadows lengthened...

... and the canola fields started to glow in the evening light.

We rolled into Echuca at about 7:15pm, snapped the required border picture (as you'll see right up the top) and slapped a few high 5's. After a quick supermarket visit to stock up for day two, we fuelled up on dinner and beers.

LC's chicken parmigiana was gone before I'd managed to down 2 slices of pizza. Impressive.

We found a quiet spot by the river to camp and crashed out early. It was my first time in a bivvy bag. I was wondering if I'd wake up screaming in a claustrophobic panic, but it worked out well. I'd doze off for a while and wake to find the moon had shifted in it's arc across the sky. By 4:00am the kookaburras had started laughing and other creatures had begun their day - there was no need for an alarm clock.

We packed up our campsite and sourced some water before heading out of Echuca at about 6:30am.

The course I'd plotted for day two was longer than day one. There was less climbing, but most of that climbing was confined to a 40km section midway along the route. Day two started with flat, quiet bitumen and strong westerly head winds as we left town.

Eventually the roads turned to dirt and both we and the winds turned south. We battled into a strong head wind along the straight farm roads that divided neighbouring paddocks.  One road in particular had us riding in a straight line for 25km, with only LC's humour and frequent magpie attacks to keep us entertained. By this time we'd forgotten what riding with a tail wind was like.

A long neck of iced coffee at Axedale definitely helped my mood and on we went to Redesdale.

We skirted Lake Eppalock through some rolling hills. After 120km of flat roads it was a strange relief to find some hills. The dense vegetation also gave us some welcome protection from the wind.

We rolled into Redesdale early in the afternoon. Unfortunately hot chocolate and some rest couldn't force DB's knee to cooperate any longer and he opted to ride the 30km to Kyneton and catch a train home from there. We checked the train timetable to make sure DB wouldn't be stranded before bidding him farewell.

Further down the road LC and I refuelled at Lancefield. While the bakery closed 45 minutes before we arrived, the fish and chip shop sold us hot chips and bread rolls. The chip butties!

We put our lights on somewhere near Romsey and prepared for the last 70km back into Melbourne. The long gradual descent had us at riding easily above 30km/hr for the first time all weekend. I'm sure we could've gone much faster but my 42:18 gearing combined with tired muscles meant that a cadence above 120rpm had me bouncing in the saddle - Sorry LC.

Day turned to evening and evening turned to night. Earlier in the day LC predicted an 8:00pm finish time. Unfavourable Sydney Road traffic lights demanded a team time trial to finish within LC's predicted time. We scraped in with two minutes to spare.

Thanks LC and DB. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Why would you ride with a backpack when you can strap everything to your seat post?