Day 2: Molong to Cargo
After the great disappointment of not being able to eat at Barnsey's Cafe, as they don't open until 9am, we squashed into the only other cafe in town, where the coffee was good but the big breakfast was non-existent. As it turned out, I really needed that big breakfast, as I ran out of fuel before we reached Cargo, the last section to which was all uphill.
Patsy kindly provided some sandwiches, before they toddled off to the Dubbo zoo. Ray had one sandwich for breakfast and the other for lunch. I wasn't feeling hungry. Lesson learned. Don't miss lunch when riding 70 kms, mostly uphill.
I should have realised how up it was going to be when we turned off onto the scenic road. Nothing spells uphill like the word "scenic". Fortunately, the sun was out and it was very picturesque. We managed to take a wrong turn and remain on the bitumen road for most of the trip. That was very ok with me, but Ray reckoned the gravel road would have been more scenic!
After 6 hours (4hrs and 45 minutes of actual cycling) we finally made it to the Cargo Inn. They have brand new cabins, which are very nice. I have placed an order for a steak sandwich with the lot. That should give me some ummph for tomorrow's ride which is longer (78kms) and higher (1320m). And, it might be raining. Looking forward to it.
A very pleasant tree lined gravel road. Most gravel roads today were pretty good. Very few corrugations or potholes.
Quite a steep climb that one. Heart Rate 184 bpm, but funnily enough I was not breathing all that heavily. Seems the long slow climbs gets the blood flowing. For those of you with a bent for maximal heart rates (mhr) in theory my mhr should be around 155 (roughly 220 - my age) but I think mine is around 190. I am pretty sure that this is not a bad thing. I can tell you all this because Rachel gave me a smart watch which may mean I need never go to a doctor again.
Patterson's #f^&* @##?{yyyRk+
Quite a few sheep, plus many unseen sheep.
Plenty of bucolic vistas.
A vista ruined by weeds.
More vistas (and weeds)
Ho humm...
Some silly old bastard got in the shot and ruined the vista (and weeds)
...
Ride Notes
- Please note that the ride time may be a little less than reality, so average speed is probably a bit lower (it was 14.3 klm/hr- problem with auto pause at one stage)
- Brenda did not consume enough food during the day and bonked around the 50klm mark and really struggled for the last 17 klm.
- We took the first gravel road which was pretty good, but mistakenly went on the bituman road nearer Cargo. Distances are roughly equal but I can't comment on the quality of the second gravel section.
- Ride cautiously on the sections of main road as some sections have very little verge and they are a lot of very large trucks that use the route. Fortunately, not a lot of time was spent on major roads.
- Otherwise a relatively easy and uneventful day
- A number of changes of direction had the orange direction arrow, but their appearance was not reliable.
- You can get food in both Cudal (cafe, not sure about a store) and Manildra and both have parks and toilets