WAGGA WAGGA NSW

DAY 16

YOUNG – WAGGA WAGGA

158.12 km

Total Time – 07.00 – 17.00 (10h)

Time on Bike – 7h 35m 51s

Max. speed – 65.5 km/h

Av. Speed – 20.8 km/h


Today was BT. Bloody Terrific.

First 150 day of the trip. Tired but satisfied.

Spinifex, millions of locusts, turtles, catheads, curious motorists.

I made friends with them all along the way.

Predicted rain did not eventuate despite an overnight soaking in Young.

School holidays however did eventuate and 7 am along the Olympic Highway out of Young was Sunday morning rush hour.

It took me about an hour to figure it out - but there were simply too many kiddies waving at me out of the back of car windows.

Perhaps they were just off to church…..

There was some extended climbing out of Young first thing, followed by some more serious climbing south of Cootamundra.

And once the terrain levelled out, the headwind kicked in for the final 20 km into Junee.

I’m not complaining – or maybe I am – it just gets a little frustrating when you’re grinding uphill at 7 km/h for an hour at a time, knowing there is another 7, 8, 9 hours in front of you.

Anyway, enough of this.

There were bountiful flat and downhill runs to keep me sufficiently pleased during the day and the average speed hovering above 20 km/h for majority.

Any average speed above 20 km/h is indeed fair travelling and I recognise this.

I just enjoy whingeing every now and then.

Pulling into Junee around 2 pm, surrounded by beautifully kept 19th century buildings throughout the town square (Junee train station is especially conspicuous), I could have easily stayed.

110 kilometres were already registered and with an uncomfortable headwind likely to accompany me into Wagga Wagga, why not just call it a day?

With only 40 km to cover for my final destination, I just knew I had it in me.

So down with a chicken burger and chocolate milkshake (fine nutrition for the road, people) in Junee and off into the afternoon.

And it wasn’t nearly as bad as expected.

My friendly headwind seemed to diminish the further I travelled and aside from a 5 km section south of Wallacetown rest stop, I was barrelling along at 30 km/h + for the most part.

The final gripe for the day was on the approaches to Wagga Wagga - the 7 km to go sign corresponded well with my own computer measurements and there was only spitting distance to go.

To my dismay, another 2 km down the way, a new sign presented, informing me of 9 km to Wagga.

More bad language, but the facts were a magical extra 4 kilometres had appeared from nowhere - with 149 already on the clock and just a small dose of fatigue, I wasn’t seeing the funny side of it.

I pedalled onwards as it seemed pointless sleeping beneath a highway overpass for the night.

On the stroke of 5 pm I reached my resting place in Wagga and pitched a tent not long after.