DAY 1 - HAWKESBURY HEIGHTS NSW

HAWKESBURY HEIGHTS NSW

DAY 1

COLLAROY – HAWKESBURY HEIGHTS

121.14 Km

Total Time – 05.20 – 17.50 (12h 30m)

Time on Bike – 7h 12m 15s

Max. speed – 75.6 km/h

Av. Speed 16.8 km/h

Day 1 Casualty List:
1 x Shredded Rear Derailleur
1 x Spoke sheared from rear hub
1 x lost bite valve from Hydration Bladder (recovered)
1 x lost padlock (recovered)
1 x mudguard sheared from bracket
1 x case of very sensitive chafing and 1 x heavy case of physical buggeredness.

Well, without resorting to overstatement, it was a challenging day.

It started in good order, I believe. A confluence of 5’s has to be good by my thinking – given that this trip is the result of 5 months solid preparation and I will be receiving the best possible support from the 5 wheels that are on the ground throughout. I guess then it was a formality to begin at 5 am and finish at 5.50 pm on the first day. I could also draw importance from the numerological value of 29 March 2008. That’s 2 + 9 + 3 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 8 = 24 + 2 + 4 = …..well, 6…..

I think I’ll just stick with 5’s.

Actually, I think Cattai Ridge Rd was the 6 in proceedings today, because that’s where everything started to go wrong.

Yes, it was – I turned off into Cattai Ridge Rd at 66 km. That’s it.

And immediately after I had been commending myself on a number of fronts – from the weather, to coming through Galston Gorge before 11.30 am to generally what a great morning’s ride it had been - by any standards.

Windsor was my location by 2 pm and how things had changed.

I had become spontaneously pre-occupied with what was once a finely tuned, touring machina – important repairs were needed post-haste and on a Saturday afternoon in Windsor, that’s not to be found. Or any time on a Sunday for that matter.

There are certain running fixes I can attend to myself, but shredded derailleurs and sheared spokes aren’t amongst them. I could probably get around to changing a few spokes in time, but carrying around a quiver of derailleurs for all seasons is not entirely smart travelling.

My choices by 3 pm therefore, were to either camp out in Windsor till Monday, in turn forfeiting forthcoming accommodation arrangements (naturally enough at my own expense), or to push on with a lame machine, even as it would happen, straight up the steepest inclines of the Blue Mountains escarpment.

The choice was simple in the end.

Repairs will now be (hopefully) completed in nearby Katoomba on Monday and all will be in readiness for an assault on the Central West tablelands of New South Wales.