Day: 015
Date: Thursday, 16 July 2020
Start: Colosseum Creek
Finish: Mount Larcom
Daily Kilometres: 111
Total Kilometres: 1625
Weather: Cool early, but warm later. Sunny all day.
Accommodation: Cabin
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Toasted bacon & egg sandwiches
Lunch: Mars Bar/Snickers Bar
Dinner: Spaghetti bolognaise, apple pie & custard
Aches: Nothing significant
Highlight: Nothing in particular
Lowlight: Some headwind climbing hills in the early afternoon wasn't much fun.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
Given the days are getting longer, we left a little earlier today, 6:30am, just before the sun rose. The theory is that it's already quite light by that time, the traffic is lighter, and the afternoons are getting warmer.
Again dictated by where accommodation was available, our goal for the day was Mount Larcom, 111km away, where I had booked a cabin. We could have aimed for Rockhampton with plenty of accommodation, but that was a further 78km, and although I believe we could have made it, our sweet spot for distance on sealed roads at the moment is about 140km.
The early riding on relatively quiet and flat roads was beautiful through lightly timbered grasslands, with mountains visible a few kilometres to the west (and the unseen ocean about 20 kilometres to the east). We cruised through the waking village of Miriam Vale and carried on to the even smaller village of Bororen, where we stopped at a cafe and ate our breakfast at a table in the sun.
From Boronen, the road became more undulating and we began encountering long sections of roadworks which became the pattern for the rest of the day on this road as it bypassed the mining/industrial port of Gladstone. The traffic controllers were very friendly and concerned that we got through some long sections of alternating single-flow traffic safely. In one place, we had our own escort vehicle driving behind us, and at other times we were able to ride for long distances on completed sections of road, that were still closed to regular traffic. However, there were also sections where we felt quite pressured to ride as fast as we could, often uphill, knowing that there was likely a long queue of traffic waiting to come through from the opposite direction.
Between roadworks, we took a break at the beautiful Calliope River rest area where we sat peacefully on a bench overlooking the manicured rest area populated with RVs and caravans taking advantage of the 24-hour free camping option. It looked an idyllic spot and we could see the attraction of the caravanning life in this part of the world.
Apart from a few sections where the road turned westwards and our crosswind became a headwind (see above), the last 30km passed quite quickly and we found ourselves at the campground where we had booked a cabin just before 2pm. We booked in, did some laundry, and called a bike shop in Townsville, a week away, to book our bikes in for a service (though they have been behaving impeccably to this point). Later, we walked a kilometre to the tiny town's post office and mailed back home some stuff we no longer need (mainly my wet-weather and winter gear …. Julie's hanging onto hers for a bit longer) and visited the little general store to buy some food and drink.
Another good day on the road.
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