TANDEM BIKE RIDE Goulburn River High Country Rail Trail Ride 4 & 5 October 2014 It was a coolish Saturday morning when members of Tandem Bike Victoria and Melbourne Cycling met up at Southern Cross Station and boarded the 7:12 am Seymour bound V/Line train on route to Tallarook. The train was a Sprinter that only had two carriages with a capacity to only carry three (3) bikes in a caged area in each carriage. The caged area is long enough to stow tandem bikes. The train arrived at Tallarook at around 8:21 am and we got underway with our ride at about 8:40 am. The sun had risen above the horizon and it was beginning to warm up and we hadn’t gone too far with our ride before we began to shed a few layers of clothing. The rail trail fine gravel surface was well compacted and great to ride on. The scenery was absolutely outstanding and we were all so excited to be taking part in this Melbourne Cycling pioneering expedition of this newly opened section of rail trail. There was one tandem on this ride along with four single bikes. Alain Romary was the pilot on the tandem along with Rocky Berlingeri as the stoker. The tandem boys had a few hazards to combat along the ride with chicanes and bollards at many road crossings. These hazards tended to slow their progress but they still managed to maintain a reasonable pace. Our first stop was at the bakery in Yea for morning tea. The bakery has a huge selection of food all of outstanding quality and the also cater for vegetarian and gluten free dinners. Yea is about 38 km from Tallarook and works in perfectly with the itinerary. Our next stop was at the General Store come bakery in Yarck for lunch. The gourmet pies and pasties at this venue are a pastry connoisseur’s delight. Yarck is about 65 km from Tallarook and also fits in well with the itinerary for this ride. We soldiered on to Bonnie Doon for afternoon tea. Bonnie Doon is roughly 99 km from Tallarook and also works in just fine with the itinerary for this ride. Our next and final stop was at Mansfield which is 120 km from Tallarook. We checked into our accommodation at the Mansfield Motel, cleaned up and went out to the Mansfield Hotel for dinner which had delicious food at a reasonable price. Our accommodation at the Mansfield Motel is first class and the breakfast was well cooked and delicious. They normally don’t serve breakfast on weekends until 8:30 am but went out of their way to prepare breakfast for us at 6:30 am to enable us to getaway to an early start on Sunday Morning. Excellent customer service. We managed to depart Mansfield at about 7:30 am on route back to Tallarook. Our first stop was at Bonnie Doon for morning tea. Our next stop was at Yea for lunch at the same bakery as the previous day and our next stop was at Yarck for a very brief stop before the final leg of our journey back to Tallarook. We made it back to Tallarook at around 4:30 pm and within plenty of time to catch our 5:15 pm train back to Melbourne. We were blessed with perfect weather conditions on both days and the surrounding scenery along this rail trail was simply magnificent. In fact we all agreed that this was the best scenic bike ride that we had done. This rail trail is challenging in so far as the many long inclines and varying surfaces to ride on. We were lucky that it was dry because the sandy surfaces of the trail could be rather boggy when wet. However, the rides down the long descents are absolutely sensational. All the bridges on this trail are in the main made of concrete and all appear to be very new. The Goulburn River High Country Rail Trail has now been renamed The Great Victorian Rail Trail which I think is very appropriate. In summary, a sensational ride with fabulous company, delicious food, awesome scenery and perfect cycling weather conditions. What else could you ask for? Thank you to everyone who participated in this ride and for making tis such a great weekend on our two wheeled machines.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 00:53:02 +0000
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