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Updated
26/05/2008
I have done the Australian bicycle tours included on this site over a number of
years, either on our tandem, or
on my solo bike. They have mostly been done unsupported and usually
camping in caravan parks, although there have been times where it
was necessary to rough camp.
I have also included brief information on rides that I plan to do as circumstances permit. When they have been done, I will update the
webpage to provide more reliable information. Being a
Novocastrian, I've also included a number of my favourite day trips
around the lower Hunter Valley - they are mainly loops - as well as my
preferred routes for getting around within a 30km radius of Newcastle.
The map below indicates the areas
covered on these tours. All of the tours can be linked with one or
more of the others to provide quite extended trips.
I tend to ride for 3-5 days and
then have a rest day, depending on weather, fatigue and location.
I
usually start riding between 7-8am, and arrive in camp by 1-3pm with a
maximum saddle time of 5-6 hours. This usually
allows enough time for my washing to dry, do some shopping and have a
look around. As everyone has different rest needs, the routes only
show riding days.
The gearing of my
Trek
520 Touring bike is such that the 48-36-24T chainrings offer a wide
enough gearing with the 11-34T cassette to get up most hills, and still
provide enough opportunities when circumstances allow faster travelling.
However, I am now playing around with a 22T small chainring, and to date
there seems to be no problems even though the number of teeth between
largest and smallest chainrings exceed Shimano's specs.
The tours have covered a mix of bitumen
and gravel roads, each with varying degrees of surface quality.
The condition of gravel roads change from time to time and are dependent
on when maintenance is done. However, most of the gravel roads
that I have travelled were OK. I do not use nobbly tyres on my
bike. Generally I use
Continental 700 x 32 or 35's with some tread - Top Touring 2000 has
been replaced, so now I use a Continental Contact tyre. Where possible I
have tried to avoid heavily trafficked areas, but that is not always
possible.
The tours listed are not intended to be a diary of my
trips. I hope that you may be able to use the information that I
have included to help plan your own bike touring excursions.
I would welcome any feedback about the
tours or the website.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank some of my touring
companions, notably Hans Meier and Col Gibson, for the use of some of
their photos, however, most are my own.
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