I'm rocking things solo, as Kim and Lila are in Canada for six weeks, and I have a 10 day break off work for the Christmas holidays. Hmmmm. What to do. I pondered doing a backpacking trip in Tasmania, mountain biking in New Zealand, or doing a big bikepacking trip right out my front door into the heat of the Australian summer. While Tassie and New Zealand sounded like great options, I was just too busy to try and organize flights and wanted to keep the cost down. Thus, I decided to leave from my front door and embark on a 10 day trip through the most mountainous regions Australia going through Namadgi, Kosciuszko, and Alpine National Parks. The route... well, that was secondary...
I've done a fair bit of bike touring including mountain bike off-road stuff but always used panniers and a rack to carry most of my gear. This time however, I wanted to travel lighter and with a full bikepacking setup.
You first question might be ‘What is bikepacking? Isn’t that just touring?’
Well, kind of. I think most people would agree that bike packing is touring but on a bike suitable for various conditions and generally without the use of traditional rack and pannier systems. This will be my first time with a proper bikepacking setup as previous trips have still had either a front or rear rack with panniers.
What’s wrong with panniers and a rack you might ask?
Well, weight wise, it actually isn’t that much different unless you are going ultralight for racing or staying in hotels. The total weight of all my bags is around 1.8kg which is about the same as a rear rack and good light ortlieb panniers. The benefits are more around weight distribution and clearance. When riding with panniers, they are low and wide and tend to get caught on lots of trail side vegetation. If you are riding on good open roads, this won’t really be a problem; however, on previous trips I’ve had the panniers grab on narrow overgrown tracks many times where they could have either broken the bag itself, and/or broken the rack (which did happen to me!). So, a bikepacking system gets the load all over the bike and out of the way from trailside obstacles. While the weight is up higher on the bike, it is very well distributed and feels much better while riding and gives you great traction front and rear.
There were three main goals that I wanted to achieve with my setup:
1. Have everything on the bike with no backpack required
2. Have everything necessary to be as light as possible while being comfortable
3. Be almost completely self sufficient that stopping for a resupply would not be required
What I found out is that the first item is quite hard to achieve without impacting the other two! Even with all the bags on the bike, space is generally at a premium and with no backpack, all my water would have to be carried on the bike. Now, in some places, this might not be much of an issue as water can be accessed everywhere. However, here in Australia, water can be scarce so being able to carry a sufficient amount for a decent amount of time is necessary. It’s also one of the hottest times of the year with temps in the low to high 30s Celcius so, having some good hydration is very important.
After much thought, deliberation, tweeking, testing, weighing grams, packing, repacking, etc, I’m happy to say that I achieved my goals!
What bike for the job?
For my bike, I’m using a dual suspension Giant Anthem 29er mountain bike that I custom built with durable and light components and tips the scales at 12.5kg. It is an XL size alloy frame, has a Fox shock (RP2 100mm rear) and forks (FIT CTD 120mm), Chris King Hubs on carbon rims, Thomson Masterpiece seatpost, WTB Ti Volt saddle, Easton Havoc Carbon bars, Ergon Carbon grips, XTR/XT 1x11 drivetrain, XT brakes with Hope 180mm rotors for excellent stopping power, and Maxxis Ardent 2.4’s running tubeless. It will be the perfect bike for some of the ruff trails that I’ll be riding, is very comfortable, and so far, has been super durable with no issues.
What does all your gear weigh?
In summary, I got my entire kit, including bags and everything I need minus food and water to just over 10kg which I think is rather acceptable. Note that biking always requires more gear than backpacking as you have to carry all the essential spares, lights and tools to keep the bike rolling which for me totalled 1.3kg alone. I can carry a bit over 3L comfortably in my frame bag and have just under 5kg of food that should last me a good portion of the trip. That puts me around 18kg fully loaded or 30.5kg with my bike. For those interested to see a detailed list of everything I brought, check out my bikepacking list with weights, sums for each group of items, and total weights.
Bikepacking List
Some notes about my gear
Keeping with Goal 2, I’m using an Easton ultralite tent (thank you Zane!), sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and even a pillow and silkbag which are definitely luxury items but makes things so much more comfortable. Clothing is kept to a relative minimum with the ability to look normal in town situations with a pair of shorts and shirt. Cooking supplies are again at a minimum but include everything I need. My Platypus gravity water filter has an additional 4L bag so, my total capacity is around 9L with my one water bottle; I do have an ultralight backpack that I can use to carry the additional water such as just before a camping spot. For maps, I decided to mostly use my phone and bought a battery bank that can keep my phone going for at least 4 days with moderate use along with watching movies or reading a book. I have some nice scanned maps in high quality JPGs and also a couple paper copies in case my phone fails.
What’s all that food?
If you don’t know, I’ve been running on a ketogenic diet for about the last 18 months and thus, eat only fats and protein with very minimal carbohydrates. For endurance activities such as a big bikepacking trip, keto is the bomb. I’ve lost weight while being keto and can much more readily utilize my own fats stores for fuel while on the go. When not burning my own fat, I’ll be mostly fueling on nuts, oils, cheese and salami. I’m just under 90kg these days and I’ll likely lose 3-5kg over the next 10 days which is fine since I have much more than that to lose :).
Where to?
So, I spent so much time and effort getting my bike ready for action that the actual route I was going to take took a back seat. I talked with some friends and got a general feel for what I wanted to do which was a loop from Canberra, down through to Victoria and back. Some of it was based on the Hunt1000 route from Canberra to Melbourne but with more off-road particularly at the start. I was pretty flexible with my time so, determined that whatever I did, I could always change plans on the fly which was quite liberating. So, on the morning of the Saturday, I was off... not quite. One thing I hadn't got to was organizing an emergency locator beacon (EPIRB) in case I got into some serious trouble. I was going to be in some pretty remote areas with very few people around (they're all at the beach!) so, I organized to pick up an EPIRB that morning (yes, very last minute I know). It was a bit of a drive and back to get it and they only opened at 9am so, it wasn't until 10 that I was back home and... wait a sec. At my doorstep was a box of bike goodies that I was hoping to have arrived in time for my trip! New rear tire, chain, chainring, sun sleeves and photochromatic glasses were awaiting me so, it was a no brainer to get these items fitted and have my bike be in great shape. So, just after 1pm, I finally rolled out of my place in hot and dry mid 30s heat (ie: not the best time to be leaving!).
MY TRIP!
I'll try to be brief in my day to day descriptions and provide more insights into what I was going through.
Day1 - Canberra to Pryor's Hut - 81km
It's always strange when you first leave on a trip that will be so big and long and it always takes a bit of time to get used to the rhythms of the day's routines. First things first, I was riding with too much stuff! Too much food and too much gear. I find there is always a breaking point at which that extra kilo 'breaks the camels back' so to speak. I definitely started out this way and it was tough starting out with some big ups and downs over the Brindabella mountains at the start. My original plan was to get to Pocket Hut which is over the mountain range but leaving so late, I soon realized that this was not going to be a possibility. I ended up making my ride more difficult by doing Warks Road, Wombat, and Parrot before I got to Mount Franklin road which is more up and down but a good way to go.
Would my bike break with all this weight?
Can I do the loop I was planning on?
Maybe I should turn around in the morning and play disc golf for the next 9 days...
Yes, I did think about this.
Honestly, disc golf sounded very good at this point.
I mean disc golf is always a good option but really...
Hmmm....
Day 2 - Pryor's Hut to Mackay's Hut - 100km
I left at a decent time and ended up running into some rangers who politely informed me that I'm not supposed to be biking in that area of the park (which I did not know). However, they let me pass and I kept moving forward to the hike-a-bike over Leura gap. This would be my first hike-a-bike for the trip and certainly not the last! The descent on the other side was steep and fun and feels quite remote as it is virtually unused. At the bottom, there was a culvert with a good running stream that was perfect to lie down in with the cold water flowing over me. There is something special about lying in a cold stream on a hot day in the nude. Was a good stop!
Day 3 - Mackay's Hut to Thredbo - 83km
The next day I woke up in a thick, wet and cold cloud. Merry Christmas. It was hard to get moving and so I waited until the clouds lifted, passed, or burned off. They did a bit, but by 10am, I decided enough is enough and headed out into it. It stayed like this until I got around to Mount Jagungal where I finally got out and the blue skies awaited. I also saw the first hikers of the entire trip heading up to Canberra on the Australian Alps walking track. I ended up stopping at noon after only a couple of hours to chill out at Grey Mares Hut to get out of the sun, give some attention to my chain, and have some lunch. It was a pretty cruisy morning.
Day 4 - Thredbo to Omeo - 127km
As it was Christmas day back in Canada, I spent the morning having a big breakfast and talking to Kim and Lila and company who were chilling out in the snow in Quebec.
It was a nice morning but again, I didn't leave until after 10am and went out into the rising heat. My bike definitely felt lighter and better and I became obsessed over the rest of the course of the trip seeing what else I could do in the future to lighten my load. I was out at Cascade Hut before noon and continued south toward Tin Mine. I saw quite a bit of wildlife on my trip. Kangaroos, Wallabies, Emu's, snakes, Fallow deer, Sambar deer, wild pigs, wild cats, owls, tons of birds and of course, Brumbies (wild horses).
I don't really like seeing Brumbies.
Not anymore that is.
I was actually warned that there was an aggressive stallion just south of Cascade hut that was black with a pink lower lip. I came around a corner and startled three horses and stopped to let them move on. However, the stallion turned and started to stand his ground. He was black with a pink lower lip. What are the chances.
Anyway, I was happy to get away from there and keep heading south down to Cowombat flat which is close to the head of the iconic Murray River.
Day 5 - Omeo to Roper's Hut - 90km
This day had a lot of paved road and a lot of climbing! The beginning section on the Omeo highway isn't too bad with reasonable slopes and winding roads. In fact, much of it is really windy but is simply contouring along the slope so was quite quick. However, once I hit the turnoff for Fall Creek up the Bogong High Plains road, the grade significantly increases and I was feeling way to heavy for the this length of climb. The climb is also quite exposed and as it was close to noon, things were getting very hot. I did not like this climb. It felt a bit like torture and there was no water until close to the top so, I ran out of water for about an hour and definitely hit a low point on my trip. I finally got water from a little mountain stream and when I got mostly up to Buckety Plains camping area, I drank lots, and literally passed out lying in the grass under the shade of a gum tree while periodically getting bitten by ants and march flies (horse flies). I didn't care.
Day 6 - Roper's Hut to Mount Murray - 112km
Roper's Hut was refreshing as it was good to have finished a bit early to have that down time and relax. But now it was today and today, today was going to be a good day! The climb out of Roper's is a chunky climb out which felt good to ride clean. Hitting the main track I turned right and climbed up slightly more to 1800m and the top of the descent down to Mount Beauty which is around 400m and has breakfast! I was stoked and this descent did not disappoint.
At the intersection to Bright, I turned left and headed towards Harrietville and the big but calm climb up to Mount Hotham. What goes down must now go up. I had a nice break in Harrietville before heading up the climb and making it almost to the top at the Dargo road exit. From here, I turned west into the 4x4 Victoria High Country on chunky rocky tracks as the clouds turned darker and another thunderstorm brewed. I got to Mount Murray and sprinted to get my tent up before the deluge came down.
Day 7 - Mount Murray to Black Snake Creek - 97km
It rained on and off all night but around 7:30am, it eased off and let me pack up freely. I got on the bike just after 8am and just wasn't really feeling it.
There were over a hundred of them.
Yes. Over a hundred. This felt more like an adventure race then anything else.
What made this so bad was that climbs became all unrideable since you had to stop so frequently to cross a fallen tree, and the descents you had to slowly coast down to the next down tree, get off and cross. It really sucked. The final descent was mostly free but I also learned why the Vic guys were telling me it was steep down. It was super steep. With the seatbag in the back, there was just no way to get my weight any lower and there were times where it felt like I could go over the bars. This was also the point where I realized that I had brought no extra brake pads and this could become a seriously problem with a few more days left to go.
Uh, no.
My map was designed for 4x4ing and was a bit too zoomed out to show all the climbs and descents that I would face. With 50m contour lines, it was hard to not see that the river road was in fact not flat at all. The climbs were steep hike-a-bikes, the descents were so steep they were slow, then cross the knee deep river, and do it all again on the other side. There was probably over 400m of climbing on this river road with much of it pushing, braking, and then carrying the bike over and through the river. I was getting pretty worked. I stopped at a basic shelter and my next sections did not look good. I had a 100m hike-a-bike, a steep descent down, and then the quickest way out was a super steep 500m hike-a-bike. I knew it wasn't going to be fun but had been through so much already that at that point, it was just all additional character building.
I'm pretty sure that that was the biggest single hike-a-bike I've ever done and I would like to keep it that way. Once on the top though, I also knew that I had an equally steep decent I had to do to get back down to another river and the gravel road over to Dargo. You could hear my brake pads glossing over and by the bottom, I knew that my pads couldn't handle too much more of that.
At this point it started to rain. Hmmm. I was at a camp spot but decided to keep moving in the hopes of finding somewhere a bit nicer and maybe the rain would subside. The rain did go away for a bit but then built up to the point where I was officially soaked on the bike and needing a place to stop. I finally hit Black Snake Creek campground where I used the hut as a refuge just as another deluge of rain came down and kept coming down for most of the night.
This was one of the hardest days I've done on the bike in my life. I likely had over 1000m of elevation gain in hike-a-biking alone and had so many trees to get over which is super hard work when you have a geared up bike and have to tetris it through branches and awkward positions. So many stream crossings, slimy slow road surfaces with all the rain, and just mentally tough. I was just happy to get out of there and looking forward to better roads ahead.
Day 8 - Black Snake Creek to Swift's Creek - 99km
After a deluge of rain fell all night long (just like the night before), it stopped early in the morning and I was nice and dry since I pitched my tent under the overhang of the hut at Black Snake. That being said, none of my clothes dried at all so it was into wet kit and out into the blue skies. The road was wet and a bit spongy but not as bad as the previous day. After a short ride, I made it into the small town of Dargo and decided to have a good stop in the sun and get some breakfast and a few supplies at pretty much the only shop in town! I even had an ice cream bar as well, since, well, why not. I was just happy to have yesterday over but also realized that I was in for some good climbing today as well as I had another look at my route from Dargo over to Swift's Creek. Today was pretty uneventful especially compared to the few previous days and especially the last one.
Day 9 - Swift's Creek to Tin Mine Hut - 127km
This was a good travel day as I was trying to get to Tin Mine Hut or maybe even go further. The weather was again fabulous and my bike was the lightest it had been all trip and I could tell. I also (finally) checked my tyres the night before and my rear was quite soft so, put some air in to make the climbs a bit easier. I should have picked up a bit more supplies the day before as I had a big supper and didn't actually have much left. I had some cheese and salami and a few other small items and that was it. As the shop didn't open for at least another hour, I headed out onto a nice flat road that was absent of cars. A little turnoff up the valley and then to the start of a 1000m constant grade climb. It was pretty hot and exposed going up but I just kept at it and knew that this was just the start. Although I would gain that 1000m right away, I'd have quite a few more shorter climbs of 100-300m peaking me out at 1600m elevation and that would add up to around 3000m total for the day. There were actually a few vehicles moving about up high with all of them towing horse trailers and going to or from riding. Over almost the entire trip, the number of vehicles and people I saw were so minimal that if I did have a breakdown of some kind, it would be hours or days for someone to randomly pass by. It was a good thing that I had arranged to have an emergency beacon with me in case things did go south.
Day 10 - Tin Mine Hut to Jindabyne - 66km
At this point, I knew I wasn't making it back to Canberra so, just wanted to get out to Jindabyne and then figure out how to get back home from there. I could take another day off work and ride the 177km road ride back home in a day but the road is busy and riding that section of road would suck. So, just get to Jindabyne was the plan. I should mention that I had almost no food left. I had a coffee with my last bit of MCT oil for breakfast, and had a small piece of cheese and salami for the day. I literally had nothing else left.
'How was your break?'
'Yeah, it was good'
And back to my desk...
The End!
This trip was so many things: Amazing, tough, fun, challenging, character building, difficult, relaxing, and everything in between. It really had all the checks of a great trip overall as the tough moments seem to define the journey the most sometimes and allow the highs to be higher.In the end, I covered around 1000km with something like 20,000m of climbing. See my route here:
Todd's 10 Day Bikepacking Route
Trials and Tribulations
What type of Track?Most of the trip would be on dirt roads/tracks as there is very little dedicated singletrack here in Australia for either hiking or cycling. However, the tracks would range from a double wide full nice gravel track, to a single width full track, to a small vehicle track, and to what I like to call single double track which was generally the most fun as you would have to pick one or the other and would be constrained to each due to the vegetation or materials in between them (and I would be constantly trying to pick the better one although the grass is usually greener on the other side :) ).
Watch out for Sticks!
Many of the backroads (especially those that are gated) are full of woody debris; lots of bark and sticks from the surrounding Gum trees (Eucalyptus). The easiest way to end your ride early is to get one of these into your wheel and break your spokes and/or tear your rear derailleur off. Thus, it is paramount that you are constantly scanning the trail (especially on fast descents) for sticks that are not perpendicular to your line of travel (perpendicular good; parallel very bad!). I was very diligent about this the entire trip.
Watch out for Snakes!
I saw three black snakes on my trip all in the first two days. They like to hang out in the sun on the roads and yes, look just like sticks. So, while you're scanning for things that will snap your rear wheel, you're also watching out for those sticks that may rear up to bite if you were so unfortunate!
Plan your water
While on a bike you are covering much more ground than hiking, you still need to check ahead and see where your next water will be. At the start of the trip, I was simply carrying too much. After the 3rd day, I tried to only carry two litres and only more if I had some huge amounts of climbs and limited water sources. Over the 10 days, it was hot and sometimes sweltering with lots of mid 30s temps doing big exposed climbs in the middle of the day. I was drinking at least 10 litres per day with some closer to 13 or even 15. That is way more water than I'd ever drink but when you are outside and exposed for so long, that's just what I was doing. My electrolyte powders were being well used!
Keep your skin out of the sun!
Here in Australia, it can be quite normal in the summer for the UV index to be above 12. In fact today, there is nowhere in all of Australia that has an index of less than 12 at noon. Anything above 3 is recommended to have sun protection measures. Thus, you really have to cover up here. On the bike, I almost always use white sun sleeves to keep the sun off and avoid having to carry and supply copious amounts of sunscreen. For my neck, I ended up using a white bandana that was attached to my helmet and this worked so well that I never had to use sunscreen on my neck and the bandana could also be used to wipe off my glasses or the sweat pouring down my face on a hot climb!
Did your bike break?
No! It lasted great although I did significantly lighten my load over the trip. I did a gear dump at the end of day three in Thredbo and carried less food and water which made things easier going. For the trip I did, having a dual suspension bike was just great. Yes it would be slower on the climbs compared to a hardtail or rigid but was so much more comfortable on the rough trails and let me absolutely open up on the descents (especially with all the extra weight carrying me down)! So, it really depends on what type of trip you're doing but for this trip, the dually was the ticket. My only complaint would be that I have a full lockout for the rear shock like I did on the front to make some climbs easier.
How about that bikepacking kit?
My kit was outstanding for the entire trip. I have a mix of Relevate and Blackburn bags and they did not disappoint.
Ketogenic Stuff
While I took way too much food at the start of the trip, the food I did take was great. As it was so hot over the duration of the trip, I had a lot of long moments (up to 5 hours) where I ate nothing and just focused on keeping my water and electrolyte levels up. In fact, there were a lot of times where I just wasn't hungry. I've never drank so much water with at least 10 litres of day coming in and limited pit stops telling me that, at the least, I wasn't getting too much. If you don't know much about keto and endurance, here are the main points about the diet and what happens when you're on it:- The purpose of a ketogenic diet is to be in a constant state of 'ketosis' where the body produces ketones in the body for fuel. You 'HAVE TO' restrict carbohydrates to a very low amount for this to occur (although, everyone is different and requires different restrictions); thus, it is not advisable to go half way (you are either keto full stop or not). I really like how simple this diet is in that you are either keto or not and that any 'cheating' will be physically noticed. I have a blood ketone monitor that I can check my ketone levels with but I don't really use it much anymore once I got the hang of what I was doing. Keep things above 0.5mmol and you are all good.
- Most organs actually run on fat for fuel but your brain can either run on glucose or ketones. If you flirt with a bit too much carbs, then your body stops producing ketones and then your brain will likely not get enough fuel as glucose is there but in too small of quantities (or you are not keeping your blood sugar up throughout the day and have foggy brain moments). The main point here is that your brain works just fine (if not better) running on ketones than it does on glucose; you just need to ensure that you keep your ketone production up.
- Once adapted to being keto (which took for me a good 6-8 weeks in terms of athletic adaptation), your perceived output goes down. At least it did for me. I think the main reason for this is that fat is a more efficient fuel and you now require 70% of the oxygen that you used to use for the same level of effort. Thus, a hill that would have me breathing hard before on, I can now have a full conversation; this can make it seem like you're working less hard but the speedo doesn't lie.
- At first it feels like you have absolutely no 'snap' in your legs for hard outputs. However, once you truly adapt from doing hard outputs, your fat utilization goes through the roof and you get your snap back. Maybe it's not quite as intense as with carbs. I'm really not sure. I'm a bit of a diesel rider anyway so, full out sprint efforts are generally quite rare and thus, this diet really suits me. I'm also not to sure on if I should actually use some carbs during and/or slightly before a race and if that would give me the best of both worlds with the body having high fat utilization and then having the carbs as a type of nitro. Again, this is beyond what I have experimented with.
- You can go a long time without taking in any food since you have so much fat stores to access. Insulin is the gatekeeper to fat utilization. Keep insulin up by keeping glucose up and your fat stores are more or less cut off. Being ketogenic means fuel freedom from an endurance perspective. Any ride I do now less than 5 hours, I don't bring any food. Seriously, I used to bring some 'emergency' food and now don't bring anything other than water and some electrolytes (I do sweat quite a bit so have to keep them in check). For a long 5 hours ride, on carbs, I would bring at least 1200 Calories with me of bars, maltodextrin mix, etc. So, bringing nothing is such a liberating feeling.
- You know those times when you push yourself really, really hard and then go to do the same the next day and you get out of bed and your legs are like, uh, really, no, please? And then you get up and do it anyway with your body still saying no at first? Achy, sore, tired legs? Well, I used to know that feeling and it's called inflammation. I don't get that any more. Not once have I felt what I used to think was a completely normal reaction from training and racing. I've raced a lot over the years and have had many many MOMARs and other events where I try after the race to elevate my legs, massage them and other things to help them recover better and feel less sore the next day. After 10 really hard days on the mountain bike with bikepacking kit, a crazy amount of hike-a-biking and long days, I never once woke up to sore legs. Not once. Zero. Nothing. If you would have told me this before keto I would have laughed at you. Sure, they might feel a bit tired sometimes but never sore or achy or hurting; those things are all related to inflammation and that is a byproduct of fuelling your body on carbs which is more inefficient of a fuel, and creates a large amount of free radical damage.
- Cravings are glucose related. I don't get cravings at all anymore. Sure I get hungry, but I never have cravings. If you think about things you like to snack on, my bet is that every single one of them will be carb related. Almost all snacks are some kind of flavoured carb. Even snacks with a high fat content will also have high sugar as well (like cheese cake). It is so much easier to not overeat and to eat more sensibly on a keto diet.
- As fats are more dense than carbs, the quantity of food that you consume on a daily basis goes down; in turn, your stomach shrinks, and intestinal inflammation goes down with way less gas produced, less to no bloating if you had issues before, and it just seems to calm your system. I have suffered with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and have had oral thrush (candida which is a yeast that feeds on glucose) for most of my life; I have neither now. It's funny at how you forget the things that used to be normal too. On a recent trip to Italy, I transitioned back to carbs for the first time since being keto and for the first week, things seem fine. After the first week though, I started to notice all these bodily functions happening like some bloating, more gas, and my energy levels being more like a roller coaster as my body responded to glucose/insulin responses. It was pretty amazing and was a good experience to show myself what life was like before. After three weeks, I was able to quite easily transition back to being keto with some intermittent fasting and avoiding carbs (obviously!). It also showed me that having a day off keto is not so bad and it was quite easy to transition back (unless you spend an extended amount of time off of it I suppose).
- Will I stay Keto forever? I'm not sure and will see how I feel as I go. It's been a long time on it now and I still feel very good (actually, probably the best I've ever felt). If I do go off it though I'll likely never go back to a high carb diet again.
- Over the 10 days of riding, I lost around 3.5 kilos which I'm pretty sure was all fat. I came in at 86.5kg and looking pretty cut if I do say so myself.
My Best and Worst Moments During the Trip
Favourite trail section - Australian Alps Track from Cowombat flat (headwaters of the Murray River) to Limestone Road. Nothing spectacular but just a great technical track that was fun and challenging both ways. Some great climbs and descents. Cowombat flat was pretty special too.Most Scenic Section - Mackay's Hut down to Valentine's Hut on Grey Mare's Trail. Beautiful high country in Kosciuszco National Park. Rough, lumpy and slow going on the bike and some hike-a-bikes to Valentine's Hut but well worth it.
Best Longest Descent - After climbing out of Roper's hut looking over to Mount Bogong at 1800m, you have a 1400m descent down into Mount Beauty. The top of this descent reminded me of a video game with steep vertical drops with expansive views, and a track full of logs, cobbles, boulders, sticks and hairpin turns to maneuver around at hyper fast speeds! So fun. If you ever are in the area on a mountain bike, do not waste your descent on the road like all the roadies. Top notch. A bit of a climb out from one river but mostly all downhill and coming out at Rock Pool Road. Epic stuff. Full suspension approved!
Best Short(er) Descent - If you take the road climb from Mount Beauty to Bright and when you get to the top, don't waste your climb on the super boring road descent. Keep going up on the gravel for about another 10min until you reach the powerline viewpoint and the powerline trail going down. Go past the gate and make sure your brakes are tuned. Holy shit! Such a good descent that meets back up with the road to Bright. Biggest smile on my face on the whole trip after that one.
Hardest Hike-A-Bike - 500m straight uphill hike-a-bike on the Wombat Range Track. This was the hardest hike-a-bike that I've ever done and was done after I had already done over 500m on other trail sections that day alone. The approach on the water bars on this 4x4 spur trail were at or over 100% slope (more than 45 degrees). Yeah, f you. It was just almost steep enough that if you started to slip, you might just keep sliding backwards and when you're pushing your bike, your head is below the bars because you're leaned over so much. I drastically underestimated the 4x4 trails in Victoria and will not be so naive again if ever going by there again.
Hardest Section - Mount Murray to Wonnangatta River. This included the dreaded hike-a-bike above. This day started after a deluge of rain the night before making the top of the tracks like molasses. The tracks were steep, and there was massive blowdown from a recent storm. I changed my route because of this and ended up going down Whites Track that had over 100 trees down. Both climbing and descending was almost pointless on the bike since you had to stop so frequently to tetris my bike through multi-trunked gum trees (with a 25kg bike, my core got a serious workout with all the twisting and away from body positioning). This leads into...
Hardest Section That Looked Not Hard! - Whites Track led into Humphrey's River Track which, you guessed it, is alongside a river. However, what was hard to distinguish on my map, was that the track would cross the river something like 20 times (knee deep) and had many ups and downs. As in, cross the river, hike-a-bike 100m straight up, go straight down with brakes on hard and almost going over the bars (can't get behind the saddle with a seatbag), then cross, up 50, down 50, repeat. Yeah. When I was finally finished, I then was at Wombat Range Track for the big hike-a-bike. Note that in some of these areas, there is simply no other option than to push your bike; it's not like I could have went a slightly easier way and ridden. The tracks were steep everywhere and if you had too much gear, you might not even be able to push yourself out.
Tips and Tricks
In no particular order, here are some good ideas that worked well or will work well!- Right up front, it helps to have small and lightweight gear already. If you backpack, you'll likely have most of the stuff you need already. If you can get your shelter, and sleeping system sorted without breaking the bank, then everything else should be reachable.
- I feel silly for saying this as I've never been a super gram counter but borrow or buy a decent scale that measures to the gram. You really have no idea at how much some things weigh until you actually weigh them. I was surprised at how little some things weighed and how heavy other things were that I thought were light. Another hook style hanging scale is also great for weighing things like your bike or heavier items that max out your scale.
- A 3-4 L water bladder (130g) is way lighter per how much it can carry vs a 750ml bottle (85g), cage and bolts (45g). Use one in a frame bag or in a backpack and ditch the bottles. Only ever keep pure water in it...
- However, bring one bottle and mix your electrolytes, milk powder, whatever in it. I brought an Allmax shaker cup that is slightly bigger and heavier than a standard water bottle but it also has no indentations in it and has a wide mouth with no lip. This makes cleaning it a breeze. I carried this in my jersey pocket usually with little to no water in it.
- Try to get rid of little carry bags / stuff sacs as they all add up in terms of weight. For example, my towel has a mini bag (10g) but I can also wrap up the towel and snap it together with the included snap cord to still keep it together. Sometimes having the bag is worth it in terms of organization but if you can ditch it, then do! You'd be surprised at how much extra weight these little pouches add up to.
- Don't let anything rattle (especially metal); this is particularly important for your camp pot if you're bringing one. Not only is rattling annoying, but over a long trip, you can wear things down a lot including your frame. For my stove, I wrapped it in a small cloth and could fit it in my pot with the fuel and other items without having things rattle.
- My Samsung phone lasted super long if left in ultra battery saving mode and still let me take and view photos, look at my maps, and connect to mobile networks. I still used the battery bank but if I was on a shorter trip, I would likely not bring it.
- The ability to resupply is much easier on a bike due to the distances that you can travel. So, next time, I'll plan ahead better and bring less stuff (food in particular).
- Bring an extra gear cable! My trip could have ended because of a snapped cable. Next time I'm bringing one!
- Bring extra brake pads! I almost had nothing left by the end of the trip and my pads were almost new both front and rear when I started.
- Bring a leatherman style tool with cutters and pliers as they are much more useful on a bike than a Swiss Army Knife.
- Don't ride through creeks if they'll get your chain or hubs wet. I would either ride super slow or simply walk over via stones; this kept the drivetrain in much better shape with some days not having to lube the chain once. If you're in it for the long haul, then think long term. Same goes for keeping your feet dry unless you have tons of water crossings to deal with.
- Learn to enjoy cold stream baths. It's great for your muscles and is the only way to get clean after a good long day. During the day stream breaks are great too!
- Bring some swim shorts next time as you can't always have a naked swim!
- My for next time trick: have a water bladder that has a large fill opening so that you can get ice when stopping through town. Then, store your items you'd like to keep cool on top! I would keep my cheese and stuff in there anyway but my water filter bladder doesn't have a big enough opening to get ice in. Ice water would have been fantastic during some of the sweltering climbs too!
- It was nice to have a big waterproof paper map to look at where I was going. While digital is nice and weighs nothing, it's sometimes hard to see the big picture. Plus, if your phone/gps fails, then you always have something to navigate off. Note that I didn't use a gps unless the roads didn't line up right and then I used it through google maps on my phone.
- I brought two heavier weight tubes as backups for my tubeless setup that both equated to 0.5kg. I had no flats but would still bring two tubes in the future as you would be screwed if you double flatted. However, next time, I will bring lighter weight versions that would be likely 200g lighter for both. The chance of getting two big flats is pretty low so, bringing a heavy-weight tube is likely overkill.
- I think the trick is to avoid gear duplication. For example, if you're going to bring a pot and stove, use leatherman plies for your pot holder; this would have saved me 28 grams alone and for me, my pot holder is already very light so for you, the weight might be more.
- If you never need to wear clothes in your sleeping bag, than you could get away with a lighter weight bag. You can always wear your warm jacket to bed and use your rain jacket to cover you legs or zip it up and slide the bottom of your bag in for extra warmth.
