Sunday 7 December 2014

The trail gang and Dover

    Well if you had asked me a bit over a year ago to ride across Tasmania I would have said you were crazy. This adventure will be one that I will always remember and in a good way. I have met some great people in our ride group and have really enjoyed their company, it was all well run and easy going considering it was not a commercial tour, just a group of people that enjoy riding and experiencing what Tasmania has to offer.
    The group comprised of our support team of Barry and Cheryl who were always there at the end of the ride with food and drinks and supplies that they picked up on their way for us. They have to navigate the back roads of Tasmania to find the meeting points and sit and wait (sometimes quite a while) until we arrived tired and weary, it was much appreciated. Our ride group comprised of our only female rider in Jo Oliver who would often be up front on the technical climbs and was impressed when listening to her story's of huge alpine and mountain conquering road rides. Then there was Leo Kaimatsoglu, Cheryl's husband. To see this man ride the way he did considering only 18 odd months earlier he had a biking accident that broke the top off his femur really amazes me. Then there is Ross McPherson (Barry's son) our mechanic, sprinter and time trial king. Our hill climber Michael Richmon leaving us all behing on the big climbs. Steve Watson one of our guests from the nations capital but we didn't hold that against him and some respect needed for riding a fully rigid bike over some of the tracks was well earned. Des Brown the other Canberran that snuck across Bass Strait with Steve, would amaze me time after time. A solid sprint would take place on the sealed road and after a few km Des would still be there, a big climb would present itself and Des would be right behind you if not passing and after heading down the nastiest, rocky, rutted and muddy hill descent and reaching the bottom you turn around Des would be there. I will be in good stead if I reach his age and still have that level of fitness. Nigel Hume our official 2IC and resident fireman, always there to take the blame for any dodgy track selection and great for a chat on the run and over a drink afterwards. And the man that made it all happen Dale Carney, the bloke that isn't even all that interested in mountain biking dragged his old Giant that had been left untouched since the last attempt at the trail ten years previous. Without Dale this adventure would not have come together.
    434km ridden and over 9,300 meters of elevation climbed in six days it was a great experience an wouldn't have thought I could have achieved seeing that that my longest ride before that was 50km.


Then of course there are the bikes


Dales 10+ year old Giant Ringcon 26er (which will most likely be retired) Only done two rides!

  Leo's big travel Titus El-Guapo (with special two piece handle bars) 26er

 Ross's feather weight Apollo Arctec 9 29er

 Michael's Santa Cruz Blur 26er

 Nigel's Focus Raven 29er

Jo's racey Scott Expert 29er

Steve's Kona (never go full rigid???) Kahuna 29er

Des's Commencal 26er

 and my trusty steed the 2012 Giant Anthem X0 29er

After leaving the gang on the last day my family stayed in Dover for two nights at the very comfortable Smugglers Rest, went to see the Hastings caves and thermal pool and had a good look around the area. Nice little spot and will have to come back again and probably have a crack at the last section of the Tasmanian Trail.

 Dover beaches



The Hastings Caves and thermal pool centre 


Big tree at the Hastings centre

 Hastings cave


Thermal heated swimming pool
Salmon farms in the distance

Where I should have arrived into Dove. Maybe next time.



2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the company during our epic tour of "tassie". Many thanks for the blog and photos ,what a great way to remember this adventure.
    hope your family have a great and safe xmas.

    Cheers Nigel

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    1. No worries Nigel it was great to meet you, have to organise a ride some time. I could just picture your grin when learning of our last day "difficulties" seeing that we lost our 2IC :)

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