So pleased to see yours and Marls bike together there Ron, now how about some pics and stories for those living this vicariously?
They are getting to be rare occasions. I don't have any pics.
The ride was a fairly straight forward plan with Marls in mind. Mildura to Mansfield, to Goulburn and return. Leave at 5am arrive at 12 midnight.
A bit of caution on the Sturt in the dark, then onto the Murray Valley Highway, fuel stops at Swan Hill and Echuca, then to Mansfield via Mooroopna, and Euroa. Ron knowing better, ignoring the GPS, ended diverting through Murchison. That was an oops, I thought at the time. I enjoyed the Euroa Merton run, before we checked into our digs, at around midday, dumped the panniers off both bikes, fueled up and headed back out onto the Hume North.
Fueled at Holbrook, then at TDOTTB, had a brief power nap, then to Goulburn. I checked Marls' fuel dockets and decided we didn't need the Gundagai stop, so straight back to Holbrook. Added a coffee to the body, check the BOM radar. It was fairly ominous to the West of Mansfield, and we were about 2.30hrs from our destination. Decided not to tell Marls, but kept a good pace down the Hume.
About 20km short, I'd had enough of the stress of night time ride. Pulled over had a lie on the gravel for 2 minutes, emptied the bladder, and all was good with the world again.
That rest put us 5 minutes past our target.
I'm happy....I need to do a bit more on my fitness. Marls, maybe, has done her last IBA ride, informing me she struggled towards the end.
We left at 5am Sunday morning arrived home at 1pm. The run back to Euro was bloody cold, with the visor fogging up, then fog, with a few 'roos thrown in. It was good to miss them for a change, which gave me a little more confidence that we were taking an evasive (80k/hr) in the hills.
With Australia in drought they are coming to the road edges for the little green pickings. It's a bugger that others have had the mishap of hitting the marsupials, but until it rains and they can find their feed off the road, we are at risk. Vlad and Mixr, I hope your both OK.
The pic Rus was referring to.