Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club

I have quite a bit of leave saved at the moment and no idea what to do with it but I do have the slightly idiotic idea of riding to Adelaide to catch a few stages of the TDU in January. This trip is a very long way from a sure thing at the moment. I've just had a quick look at a map and put together a possible itinerary:

Sydney - Nowra 169
Nowra - Braidwood ~100
Braidwood - Cooma 146
Cooma - Thredbo 96
Thredbo - Corryong 109
Corryong - Beechworth 156
Rest Day
Beechworth - Shepparton 151
Shepparton - Bendigo 122
Bendigo - St Arnaud 109
St Arnaud - Horsham 109
Horsham - Edenhope 99
Edenhope - Kingston SE ~145
Kingston SE - Meningie 144
Meningie - Adelaide 153

So that's about 2 weeks on the bike through some fairly warm parts of the country in the middle of summer. Does anyone else find this idea remotely attractive?

Matt

I'm interested, however I would have to convince my parents.

I'm definitely keen!

This might be of interest to you all - Cycling Tip's Melbourne Cup Road Trip.

They had some friends in a support car (and sponsorship from Rapha).

I'll be in depending on my bank balance at the time.

Here's the 2009 trip to Melbourne if you need some ideas LINKY I booked all the accommodation in advance to prevent stuffing around, only got caught out when there were bushfires in the way, but i think it ended up under $400 each for 11nights.

Now, what's this Rest Day business..... (unless it means day at the brewery )

If it is going to be less than $500 each then I'm in. What's the plan for getting back to Sydney?

Wow that looks awesome, if I was a single man I would definitely be in! Cost wise you may want to avoid Thredbo though, it was really pricey from memory.

I want to to go but I have zero leave after Italy and Xmas

I'm not that fussed, but if it's an issue we could avoid Thredbo by doing this:

Braidwood - Berridale 179
Berridale - Corryong 152

which also saves us a day.

Chris, $500 might be tough once you factor in food and a flight back from Adelaide.

As for the rest day, we can drop it, but I suspect I'll miss it when we're on our 12th straight 100km+ day...

I don't find the idea remotely attractive at all... But I will be in Adelaide for the TDU (following the comfort of an aeroplane) so would be good to know your movements once down there...

I'm a maybe

I'd be up for longer days

I could be convinced its a good idea. Are we talking touring or road bikes? Those are some long days on my heavy tourer.

While in the Jo camp here (don't find the idea remotely attractive at all) a rest day in Beechworth is perfect. Not only the Brewery http://bridgeroadbrewers.com.au/ but one of Victoria's best country restaurants, the 2 star Provenance >> http://www.theprovenance.com.au/

BTW, I think it might be a bit hot ....

@ christian,
just build a lighter one then.

Tom, (http://app.strava.com/activities/27363634) the guy I met recently on a Audax ride did the reverse ride last year. TDU to Sydney. He is very hardcore though and did 200-300 KM's each day. He rode a normal road bike with heavy duty tyres to avoid punctures. To manage supplies he'd post whatever he needed for each day to all the motels he'd booked himself into. Then he'd mail any stuff from the day before home again the next day. He rides with just Hammer Perpetuem for food so in each parcel he had a days supply of powder, some gels, a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and some thongs for wearing after each days ride. I think he washed his knicks and jersey, though if you have enough sets I guess you could also post those. I think post bags are about $12 each so it adds up over a lot of days, beats heavily laden panniers though.

I've only just remembered that I've outlayed a few hundred dollars on various events during the January window of this trip and that is possibly why my partner's excitement about it hasn't been as completely overwhelming as I'd expected...maybe this might work better for me a couple of months later when I've genuinely got nothing on and it's a bit cooler.

It'll have to be in the school holidays for me to be able to take part.

couple months later, i may be in! (for a week)

It'll have to be in the school holidays for me to be able to take part.

Two weeks mid-late Jan looks unlikely for me now that I've taken a proper look at my calendar. Obviously everyone's free to do their own thing but for me maybe a trip to Melbourne (via Ballarat for the Nationals on the 13th Jan) is a better bet. It'd be 7-10 days I guess depending on whether we'd like to spend a few days riding around the Vic Alps. I'd want to be back in Syd on the 15th Jan.

I'd be happy with Melbourne again, and the shorter trip would cut costs a little. I've got a few ideas for it, just need to stare at a map for an hour.

No Adelaide what about Brisbane? Or is that a bit boring? Or how about Melbourne to Sydney?

Melbourne to Sydney is an option I might actually be quite keen on. It wouldn't hurt me to think these things through a little bit more before posting but what the hell, I'd be interested in something starting the week after NY and finishing in Sydney by the 15th as per my previous post.