Taking Bob out for a spin

Graham and I thought we might take our Bob trailers out for a bit of a trial run to get used to their handling.

Riverton to Auburn and return

We headed to Riverton to cover the section of Mawson Trail to Auburn. We had already been between these towns back in January, but we had gone via the Rattler Trail. This time we followed the true course of the Mawson Trail along the dirt roads, and I gotta say, it was much more interesting and scenic than the Rattler Trail, and a fair bit easier to ride.

Near Golf Course Road we came upon a locked gate. On the GPS map that I found on bikely.com the GPS track author had ridden around this locked road. The road beyond the gate was nothing more than an old road reserve and with the trail signs removed we could smell an angry landowner. So we rode around this section, taking a small short cut down the Rattler Trail. I think this just proved once and for all just how bad that rail trail really is, it is so rough, in desperate need of some finer gravel or rolling. We exited the Rattler near the famed spot where Graham had thrown his tanty last time. Later that day riding home the trail was still sign-posted in the opposite direction, so we decided we would ride the true trail. We found what appeared to be locked gates, and as we were preparing to unpack and lift our bob trailers and bikes over the gate we found the gates were not locked at all. This was also true of the gate we had first seen back on Golf Course Road! Stupid heads, should have inspected a bit closer.

In Auburn we had a yummy lunch at Cygnets, where we had eaten last time. I ordered the truly magnificent Caramelised Pear on Blue Cheese Bruschetta, my most favourite meal ever combining everything truly yummy. A few passers-by stopped to admire our Bob trailers.

There seemed to be more hills to contend with on our return ride to Riverton than we recalled going down, how easily those downhill runs are forgotten.

Overall, as expected, we were very impressed with the Bob trailers. Like pack hiking, one certainly notices the extra weight when you first set out on the trip, but you soon get used to it. Obviously due to the extra weight they still affect the performance of the bike, we had ours loaded with about 20kg of water to sumulate a normal touring weight. Nonetheless though a Bob trailer is far superior to panniers which grossly affect bike handling.

Download Google Earth KML file

Download kml file to view in Google Earth or adapt to use as a navigational aid in a GPS unit

Stats	Mawson Trail
	Sunday
	15/03/2009
	Riverton to Auburn	Auburn to Riverton
Distance	20.5km	20.0km
Start Time	9.40am	1.10pm
End Time	12.10pm	2.58pm
Moving Duration	1h26m	1h34m
Stationary Duration	46m	13m
Moving Average	14.2km/h	12.6km/h
Overall Average	9.3km/h	11.1km/h
Max Speed	41.6km	38.7km
Oodometer	20.5km	40.5km