CWC - Day 3: Gulgong to Mudgee Return

Day 3: Gulgong to Mudgee and back 67 kms

Some people must have a vastly different opinion to me on what constitutes a good coffee. How hard is it to get crema? Apparently very hard in the central west of NSW. I scoured the reviews of the cafes in Gulgong and chose the one which had the best coffee according to most reviewers. Obviously I was bitterly disappointed. But that was the least of my worries. We had a ride to do. 

As we were returning to Gulgong for another night, we (well Ray)did not have to take both panniers and his 100 ton laptop. So we set off on an easy, mostly down hill ride. Unfortunately we would have to ride back up those hills later. One hill in particular had me concerned. It was a very bumpy and quite steep incline for about 3kms. 

We had lunch at a trendy cafe in Mudgee (no coffee) and then visited a couple of op shops as I had forgotten to pack a t-shirt and Ray had no dinner shorts.  We then rode on to the bike shop so Ray could invest in some comfy bib shorts for the rough roads ahead. The shopping expedition was only deferring the return ride up the bloody great hill. I think we were waiting for the hottest part of the day, but I drew some comfort from the bike shop guy, who said it was a difficult climb. At least I wasn't the only one who thought it. Ray was doing his "lt's only a slight rise" routine.

I stopped a few times up the hill, once to take off my outer shorts because my radiator was overheating. And I was in the lowest gear for a lot of the time. When we got to the top, Ray thought the big hill was still ahead. Now that really worried me as I had just about run out of steam. Thank god he was wrong. After about a kilometre with no big hills in sight, I could breathe a sigh of relief.

We decided to have an ice cold drink in the bar on our return. No Campari, no piccolos - oh I forgot I am in western NSW.

Pics

You see the oddest things in toy shops in Country Towns. This thing looks like it had just returned from the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras: What's that thing mummy. Don't worry love, it's just a gay eunuch.

I'm not sure this farmer knows what he/she is doing. Maybe they though it was grapes they were planting, not olives.

Clearly, they realised their mistake and got it right this time

More mountains

And so I should be annoyed. I took the bike to the bike shop to get the gears fixed so that they would change smoothly and into the correct gear and to replace any worn cogs, chains etc. When I arrive, he tells me the rear cogs (groupset) was very worn and had to be replaced - no problem. But after checking the gears I notice that he has put on the wrong groupset. I wanted one that had a super low cog for steep climbs - like one that was on there when I took it in. This was second time he had done exactly the same thing, only last time I didn't notice and I ended up riding the 900klms of the Mawson Trail grinding up all the steep hills on too big a gear. I wasn't going to be caught again.

So he goes out the back and finds some gears that have a reasonably low ratio which was not great, but ok. So he puts it on while I  wait, but little did I know that he didn't bother to re calibrate the gear change action to suit the new gears. Which leads directly to this photo. The chain had come off at least 4 times in the past 2 days and so I did a little fiddling which ended up making things worse. Could not get a gear and the chain came off again. Fortunately, it gave me enough information to do a little more fiddling which resulted in the gears working reasonably well and the chain not coming off again. Let's see how long that lasts.

Gum trees and bike

Australian country towns have an obsession with rotundas. Can anyone enlighten me as to why that is? And don't get me started on roses! When I was a kid I used to have to weed the rose garden. No wonder I am mentally disturbed.

Nice grass. Oh yes, just noticed the picture of a horny bull at the top. Mind you, it's not much use bulls getting horny any more, as everything is done by artificial insemination. The ears just seem wrong. Can a head have horns AND ears?

Ride Notes

• Aound 30klms each way of which 20klm is gravel
• Surface is pretty good except for the substantial climb/descent which is pretty rough - limits the downhill speed unfortunately
• No heavy traffic on the road but some local 4x4s and farm vehicles
• There are a couple of loops available - try the cwc website - if this out and back does not suit