March 22, 2022
The wet weather gear gets an airing.
Judbury to Franklin
After another satay inspired chorizo dish last night we were well fuelled for a rather short but steep ride through the the forest to Geeveston. I was the last one up and could not get my shit together at all. I packed and repacked, left stuff hanging in trees and couldn’t find my collapsible water container for the 3rd time in 2 days. My new organic toothpaste I bought in New Norfolk also vanished before I got to taste the minty orange blossom flavour.
It was drizzling when we pushed out of the Rec ground for 500m of tarmac riding before we turned onto the dirt and headed up immediately.
Much like yesterday the road was smooth and corrugation free but we were somewhat more wary this time. We climbed 400m in light drizzle before we pulled over for a morning brew. Some vicious sounding dogs started a commotion and before long a weird looking dude drove down to check us out. We apparently were on private property but could finish our tea as long as we took our rubbish. We rode past his double gated drive and two feral looking pit bull terriers bared there teeth at us. How I wished I had purchased the special deal on 10 decoy wood ducks for $100 at the gun shop in New Norfolk, but Pete talked me out of it. I would have hurled them at the dogs and scarpered We all concluded that he was cultivating something he shouldn’t be.
The road started deteriorating soon after and progressively got rockier and muddier but was always rideable except when it got too steep. I called the summit at least four times and then gave up. We pushed a fair bit up some 25% grades before eventually we started heading downhill.
Once we started descending it it went down in a hurry. The surface was loose and best described as ballast. Cricket ball size rocks that bounced the front wheel around mercilessly. There was lots of controlled sliding and plenty of walking with a firm grip on the back break.
As we dropped the road conditions invariably improved until we finally hit some tarmac as we descended into Jeeveston. We were cold and wet so hot pies at the bakery trumped the soggy wraps that were festering in my pannier.
The last 14ks were up the Huon highway to Franklin where we’ve booked an underground B and B for the night.
Today's ride: 44 km (27 miles)
Total: 661 km (410 miles)
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