Kings Birthday Weekend Kickbike Adventure

After the previous tests I did of camping and accommodated Kickbike touring setups back in March I was all ready, mentally at least, to try a Kickbike tour that was a little bit longer and more adventurous. The Kings Birthday Long Weekend in early June offered 3 and a half days or Kickbiking and other activities. I had wanted to do a weekend Kickbike tour from Rutherglen to Yarrawonga and back, but the extra day and half provided extra time for something different.

The plan for this weekend was:

• Friday PM: Rutherglen to Yarrawonga (55km).
• Sabbath: Walking around Yarrawonga and Mulwala, relaxing, resting.
• Sunday: Either ride back to Rutherglen (55km), or to Wangaratta (67km), depending on how fatigued I feel and which direction the winds are coming from.
• Monday: If I chose to ride to Wangaratta on Sunday, this day will be riding towards Rutherglen but I suspect I would not make it the full distance (45km+) after a long ride the day before.

Friday 7th June: Rutherglen to Yarrawonga (55.5km, 3hrs 24mins)

After an energetic 3 1/2 hour early morning shift, plus a 4 1/2 hour shift doing Software Engineering (on which I am usually standing), I wasn’t sure exactly how well I would do with the ride from Rutherglen to Yarrawonga. The weather forecast was for fine and sunny weather with winds from the South or South South East. This was fine until I had to ride towards the south, like near the end of the ride. But for the rest of the ride it was fairly easy going. I wanted to get to my accommodation in Yarrawonga with some time to do some shopping before sunset on Friday. I rolled into the motel car park about 15 minutes before sunset.

The ride was predominantly on shared trails, the Rutherglen – Wahgunyah section of the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail and the “North of the Murray” Corowa – Mulwala trail. The trails were in good condition, the North of the Murray trail only being fully completed about a year ago. This ride was also the first time I had ridden the whole length of that trail in one ride, although I had done the various sections of it in the past.

The Murray River has been low over the last few weeks, which had effected the water levels in some of the water areas near the North of the Murray Trail – they were empty or near empty. Of special interest on the trail was the Lake Mulwala Boardwalk, a feature of the trail that takes the rider out over the upper reaches of Lake Mulwala. With the sun being in the west, the trees and lake took on some interesting hues.

By the time I got to Yarrawonga I was ready to take a break from Kickbiking, having been pushing myself fairly hard since leaving Rutherglen.

Sabbath 8th June: Exploring Yarrawonga / Mulwala

After yesterday’s good Kickbike effort, my plan for Sabbath was to spend some time doing some walks around Yarrawonga. The first walk was early early to try to catch the sunrise over Lake Mulwala. After the sunrise, I walked over the weir that hold back the waters of Lake Mulwala. One particular part of that walk was a little strange feeling – where the walkway goes above the sluice gates, and I could feel the spray from underneath and see the water through the cracks in the walkway. That was a little unsettling, especially when the walkway made noises. This walk was 5.5km.

The second walk, at 6.75km length, was from my accommodation along McNamara Walk to the south of the town. This walk is named in commemoration of Capt. John McNamara MC, who was killed in action in New Guinea in 1943 at 34 years of age. He was born and raised in Yarrawonga to a well known and respected family. He is described as “an outstanding citizen who contributed to community live in many ways”. He, along with a small band of other volunteers, felled trees in the Murray River Flats before the Yarrawonga Weir was constructed which meant that when the weir was completed and Lake Mulwala was formed there would be a large body of open water free of dead trees. This effort has proved to be of immense value to the towns of Yarrawonga and Mulwala that hug the sides of the lake. When news of his death reached Yarrawonga the town came to a complete standstill and businesses on Belmore St, the main street of the town, closed there doors and ceased trading for the day as a sign of respect.

The last walk for the day was 3.4kms long and was to watch the sunset over the other end of Lake Mulwala, followed by purchasing a Subway, a ready made pasta salad, and a pre-made soup, and some chocolate bars for my evening meal, Sunday’s breakfast and planned Kickbike ride.

That means I walked 15.65km today, maybe not as ‘restful’ as I thought it would be. Apparently today is Global Wellness Day, which seems somewhat appropriate for a Sabbath!

Sunday 9th June: Yarrawonga to Wangaratta (64.4km, 4hrs 14mins)

As I was feeling pretty good yesterday and this morning, I decided that I would do the longer ride from Yarrawonga to Wangaratta rather than riding back to Rutherglen.

This ride was blanketed in fog for about the first 30km, but after that the fog lifted a bit. When riding in the fog it was hard to tell by sight whether I was going up hill or not, and a few times I wondered why I was going slower and finding it hard going, only to realise it was because I was going up hill! The fog also meant my glasses fogged up or got condensation on them a lot and had to be cleaned fairly often.

By the time I got to Peechelba I could see much further into the distance as the fog had lifted but the temperature was still cool and the humidity was high. At least it wasn’t raining while I was on the ride.

After arriving at Wangaratta I a large Zambrero nachoes for lunch and booked the nights accommodation. Rebecca had hinted that she wanted to rendezvous with me in Wangaratta.

This Kickbike ride was the longest ride I’ve done on multi-day tour so far, and only about 6km shorter than my longest ever Kickbike ride.

Monday 10th June: Wangaratta to Everton (28.9km, 2hrs)

After rendezvousing with Rebecca in Wangaratta for the night, I decided one more ride was possible for the long weekend this morning.

The original plan was to ride towards home and to get Rebecca to pick me up at Springhurst. But with Rebecca already in town and her planning to be in Myrtleford for a late breakfast at the bakery our son manages, I decided to ride towards Myrtleford instead. So I started the ride while it was still dark, made possible by a good headlight. There was fog on today’s ride, but it cleared about an hour into the ride. There were even a few patches of blue sky, but alas no sunshine directly on me. Most of this ride, apart from the last few KMs, was on the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail.

So as it turned out, I rode on 3 of the 4 days from Friday to Monday, did the longer Wangaratta ride which I wasn’t sure I would have the energy to do (but which Rebecca said I was capable of completing), and rode about 148km over the 3 days of riding. Over all, not a bad effort, and longer in time and distance than the previous 2 day ride I did to test my “accommodated” Kickbiking setup.