Left Fairhaven about 7pm on thursday night, and originally the plan was to ride to Cumberland river (awesome place to camp) but we decided to stay in Lorne so we could get some food and setup camp before complete darkness. AJ got setup much quicker than I did, due to the scenario of tent vs fly vs poles vs idiocy. I had it sorted by the 3rd night. There might have been a massive amount of inappropriate language in the process. Anyways, fish and chips and a pint or two in Lorne and then off to bed. Sleeping on my bruised or cracked or broken ribs (I haven't figured which yet) proved interesting, though as I write this a week later they have gotten worse. Seems that a thermarest does more than a 'comfy' spring bed. 5 to 6 week recovery they say. Aarrghh... But I digest.
Left Lorne in the morning heading to Apollo bay, and got to about the first hill outside of Cumberland River when AJ's back tire punctured. Here's a video of the moment. This could be a long post...
And then the drama continued. 1st puncture, sure, you throw a new tube in and off you go, until you discover that you've lost the little bit on your pump that seals it properly on the the tube. We pumped it up as much as we could (not much) and hoped we could get to Apollo Bay (about 40km away) and set off. 5 mins later, another blown tube. Second tube replacement not so much fun, and no more spare tubes. I started to think maybe AJ's modified trailer / pannier rack wasn't really up to it. Turns out it was, but there are easier ways to do it...
The back story: AJ built a bike out of an 80's racing frame I gave him, built a trailer out of a carbon fibre frame he had, only to find that it didn't turn corners very well, so then modified it to make a glorified back pannier rack about an hour before we left. I had my doubts about it holding the weight, going on the size of his rims (tiny little racing ones), but really it was all about the broken pump.
So we set off, ran into trouble with tire pressure (AJ riding on the rims instead of the tubes) and stopped to try and put all four hands into sealing the pump on.
Luckily, after about ten minutes a guy rode past with the exact same pump I had (with the bit mine was missing) so we pumped up the tire and made it to Apollo Bay and bought some more tubes. There was a moment there where we thought we might be stuck in in Wye River for the weekend at the pub. Ordinarily not so bad, but not exactly what we planned.
So, sun shining we headed off into the Otways. I kinda knew the road headed up out of Apollo bay, but had never ridden it, and with 25kgs worth of bike and luggage, and the persistent flies it was pretty hard work there for a while. On my Surly Long Haul Trucker http://www.surlybikes.com/bikes/long_haul_trucker_complete I had gears for days, AJ not so much. Massive effort on his behalf.
Riding down to Cape Otway was equal parts joy and pain. It was all up and down, and knowing we had to ride back the same way the next day left a thought in the mind that every descent was an ascent and vice versa. It was an awesome ride though, riding at 60km/h down some of these hills with all that weight made me think massive props to my bike. That thing just doesn't ride any differently no matter how much weight or speed is involved. Built like a truck. Brilliant.
Given what we'd heard about the roads to the campsite, we decided we'd camp at Bimbi Park, about two thirds of the way to the lighthouse, which also made sense given AJ's lack of gears, the 80km we'd covered and our energy levels. Beautiful spot with lots of Koala's. We'd bought some Shellite for the Trangia which kinda set the thing (and everything around it) alight, and was totally unnecessary given there was a communal kitchen, but it was another thing we 'learnt'. They say use metho for a reason.
Beautiful roads in and out though...
Set off in the morning to blue skies, feeling great, though a little nervous about them there hills. We were both a bit spent from the previous days ride. As it turns out, it was much harder getting there than back.
Here's a nice little happy snap of the top from the Apollo Bay Hill and the start of the Otways. Glorious Day!
We rode back into Apollo Bay feeling fantastic and stopped for some lunch. We then headed back up the Great Ocean Ride to Wye River and camped there. The weather stayed beautiful, played some frisbee in the caravan park until I jumped and realised just how much that didn't agree with my ribs. Running not so good either. Riding = good!
A partial swim for AJ, and even less for me given the lack of movement, then dinner and a couple of well earned beers at the Wye River Pub (good spot if you're ever there), a game of Canasta (for old times sakes) and then off to bed.
Woke up next morning a little hungover, may have taken about an hour longer to pack up than it should have, but got on the road again to glorious weather, and some beautiful roads along the way.
Made it back to Fairhaven about lunchtime. The only downer on the whole thing was I started to feel pretty sore in my Achilles tendon, which I read is common (Tendinitis or RSI). I rode the next couple of days (to work and back) feeling like it was a bad idea, so took two days off, then rode again. Strangely, it was getting more sore, until I rode again after the two days, and about an hour after I got off the bike on Friday, it almost felt fully recovered. Back on the horse!
