Border crossing & some family history

Albury, and going South of the Border.

Some family history... I have a Great,Great Grandfather (convict) that was part of the Overland Journey by Hamilton Hume & William Hovell in 1824, to find a viable overland route from Sydney Cove to Port Phillip..
On this journey,  these were the first Europeans to see the Australian Alps..
The route they pioneered,  the Hume Highway from Sydney to Melbourne, mostly follows their route..

There is currently a "Hume & Hovell Walking Track" following some of that original pathway, beginning in Yass NSW, and terminating at the Hovell Tree in Albury NSW ....

one day I'd like to retrace my GG grandfather's footsteps...

A trip for another day...

Halfway..almost, powernap?

Dog on the Tuckerbox,
Gundagai. NSW

...the drone of the tyres on the roadway is sleep inducing... it's time to take a break and stretch the legs. Coffee refill time & a "happy snap" or two...

Sheep's bum...

Big Merino,  Goulburn NSW.

Time for second breakfast, & a coffee.

Stop, Revive, Survive they say.... A cool 10°C, on a typical Goulburn morning...Nice southerly breeze will give us a headwind as we motor on South....

Just as well I'm not cycling into it...although the aerodynamics of the RV makes the wind a non issue...

Hills?....
No comment

Road Trip

Norseman...we're heading South.

Buckle up.

I'd better pack a few necessities...riding gear for the #GREATVIC etc

Off we go....

Rebuild time b4 the GVBR

Executive Decision!

Get bits for transmission rebuild ..

Do I order from Trisled..? or go visit?

It's getting close  Great Victoria Bike Ride time...I'll kill 2 birds with one stone...

PLAN..

Pack the RV into the car.... drive to Trisled...
Rebuild transmission... Do the GVBR

FOUND IT!!!

At last the source of the front derailleur "noise" has finally shown itself... it was only happening on the small chainring....the chain was just touching the shifter cage.

It's worn through the front derailleur cage.

NOW WHAT!! @$#@

Ever since the getting the RV back on the road after the "DRUNK DRIVER INCIDENT of 2015"..I'd noticed a slight metallic scraping noise coming from the front derailleur...numerous investigations into trying to located the source of this "noise" proved fruitless. No matter how I tried to locate exactly where it was coming from,  I couldn't pin it down.

Until....

One eventful ride....

Taking a sweeping right hand bend, slightly off camber, and accelerating, changing up a cog to gain more speed....

BANG!!

Next thing I know, the jellybean is on its side and we're sliding down the pathway....WTF!!

WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!

How the hell do you roll a Rotovelo....I thought...I get the "going to fast & centrifugal force wins" scenario,  or "turn too hard at speed" etc.,

Result...on wriggling out if the wreckage

Gravel rash on the left shoulder.(..haven't done that in years)...a knock to the head... One hell of a fright!! and a destroyed Flevobike roof. Some scratches to the side and "turtle deck" but otherwise the RV looks ok......

From what I can gather,  the chain jammed between the jockey wheel and rear derailleur...I guess there was some "slackness" in the chain just as I changed gears and VOILA!! locked back wheel and over she went....

A few minutes to get myself together,  repack the RV...bits went everywhere.. check gear changing...seems ok....

Ride home..

Debris causes headaches

Having done so many miles in the jellybean,  it's beginning to show signs of wear and tear...namely the transmission...

This was confirmed after having had a small stick jam in the rear derailleur and the chain drop between the rear derailleur and spokes,.... requiring "quite a bit of effort" ...& some foul language (whilst stopped on the side of the M7 cyclepath),  to extricate the chain and get myself mobile again.

Something is bent out of shape ..as there were several stops on the way back home, to adjust the derailleur ,to try and get good shifting of the rear gears...

I got them "tolerable"...good for high speed...not so flash for climbing..

Seriously....racing?

Early November & Sydney Recumbent Riders attended the Revolve 12+12 riding event at Sydney Motorsport Park.

This was an evening racing event for the Big boys & girls.....I'm pretty sure that "cattle stations" were up for grabs...(serious prizes...to some LOL) Starting at 6pm thru to 9.30pm....

The challenge is to complete 12 laps of both the shorter and longer racing circuits in the time frame. A total of about 80km

Recumbents (again as a Novelty) were allowed in, on the proviso, that we "didn't block the racing lines"..or get in anyone's way..HA!.. when the flag drops..the bull dust stops,!!

We weren't allowed to compete for any prizes.

The challenge for me was just to see how far the legs would last....

They made the 12 longer laps, but only 3 of the shorter ones, before cramps forced me to bail out as a DNF.

Still, it's always fun to mix it with the upwrongs.....and belt past them on the downhill runs..

Fill in rides...

Over the course of 2018 I've done a couple of "different" types of rides...

Early in the year a bunch of recumbent riders, myself included, attempted to do as many laps  as possible in a 12 hour event called "Endure for a Cure". An Enduro event, put on to raise funds for research into Children's Cancer, held at Sydney Motorsport Park,  Eastern Creek.

Riding from 7am to 7pm.

We were a "novelty crew", unable to challenge for any of the day's prizes ..most laps etc.,

There's a few pics etc., on our NSW Recumbent Riders Facebook page

https://m.facebook.com/groups/519493954898058?view=permalink&id=985068528340596

I actually rode from home to the start of the event,  completing about 145km at the event, & then rode home afterwards...giving myself a total of about 200km for the day.

Needless to say, that a rest from riding was warranted after that effort...

2018...and Back in the Jellybean...

2017 and time has marched on...

 I've sold a house,

bought a house,

finished in one job

& started another

and done a bit of riding....