And not to see the wizard (sorry, couldn't resist!).
Headed out tomorrow for Australia and the Geelong Flyer 1200K. I did the 1000K version in March and the route is mostly the same. Wonderful organization and support from my good friends Peter and Eileen and looking forward to seeing many Aussie friends (plus a fellow Yank).
I've done a lot of traveling in my life and have always enjoyed the "being there" part. The "getting there" not so much. 16 hour flight to Hong Kong (hopefully no protest issues at the airport) followed by a 9 hour flight to Melbourne. Sigh.
I'm honestly not sure how this ride is going to go. As I wrote earlier, I hurt my back pretty badly a few weeks ago and it still hurts. The route has some pretty stiff climbing out of Adelaide then is relatively flat for most of the rest of the first day. The second day also has a fairly stiff climb but the third day has the longest/steepest climbs (Lavers Hill and Horden Vale). Lavers Hill is an 11.3 mile climb with an average gradient of 2.5% (very misleading) and a max gradient of 14.6% (ouch!). Horden Vale is a little over 6 miles of climbing with an average gradient of 3% and a max gradient of 12%.
I did mostly the same route in the spring and managed it OK but my back wasn't hurting at the start. I'm hoping that I can ease into it the first couple of days and my back will adjust to the load and be up for it on day 3.
We'll see.
