Rattlin' Bones

This was our first weekend away riding the Mawson Trail and we were introduced to the Rattler Trail. Rough, very rough.

Saturday 17 January - Sunday 18 January, 2009
Tanunda to Hamilton to Penwortham, 118km

The Rattler Trail from Riverton to Auburn is not part of the main Mawson Trail, but still part of the greater Mawson Trail network. On the success of the Riesling Trail, the community of Riverton extended the trail 19km south to Riverton, but couldn't afford to lay a trail surface. So the trail is nothing more than a cleared former railway track, most of it being covered in stoney railway track ballast, although the trail was recently cleared of long grass. So it was a bone-rattling 19km. The very start of the trail near Riverton is part Mawson Trail network originally created, so soft gravel has been laid over the former railway bed. The final 500m near Auburn is also quite good, but most of the trail is very rough. The actual Mawson Trail between Riverton and Auburn follows dirt roads, maybe one day it will be shifted to follow the Rattler Trail if funding is provided to upgrade that trail to something more cycling friendly.


On Saturday we rode from Gomersal Road, Tanunda, where I finished 2 years ago, and Graham recently caught up to. On a ride a couple of months ago we finished near Tanunda, but I didn't see the need to re-do the short section between. Nick joined us today, previously he has ridden a couple of days from the end of the trail at Blinman south to Wilpena. We rode through Tanunda, Nuriootpa and Kapunda to Hamilton. We had a nice lunch at a cafe in Kapunda and chatted to some locals. The last kilometre of so of riding was off the Mawson Trail when we rode back to our car in Hamilton. Hamilton is a Nothing Town, a few houses, a former shop, telephone box and a couple of churches. We drove the short distance to Marschalls Hut - a hiking hut on the Heysen Trail - and spent the night there. The hut is on one of the loop trails out of Riverton that form part of the Mawson Trail network, but we weren't keen to ride the necessary 77km to ride all the way to the hut. We sat on the verandah, shaded by a peppertree, as the sun set over Gilbert Valley.

On Sunday we resumed back near Hamilton, riding to Riverton, where we enjoyed a morning snack and coffee in a cafe. From here we rode on the Rattler Trail, geez what a mistake that was, and once we reached Auburn we ate lunch in a very nice cafe. We could easily get used to these gourmet cafes all along the route! Alas though, I think it will only be these two days that it happens. From Auburn we followed the Riesling Trail, another former railway but upgraded to a very good trail standard, to Penwortham. The trail extends to Clare, and we rode the entire uphill bit, next time we will ride the remaining 10km - all downhill - into Clare.

Download Google Earth KML file of Mawson Trail

Download kml file to view in Google Earth or adapt to use as a navigational aid in a GPS unit: • The weekend's ride on the Mawson Trail • The Mawson Trail so far completed - Adelaide to Penwortham

Stats	Mawson Trail
	Saturday	Sunday
	17/01/2009	18/01/2009
	Tanunda to Hamilton	Hamilton to Penwortham
Distance	64.1km	53.7km
Start Time	8.43am	9.46am
End Time	3.19pm	3.39pm
Moving Duration	4h11m	3h22m
Stationary Duration	2h25m	2h32m
Moving Average	15.3km/h	15.9km/h
Overall Average	9.7km/h	9.1km/h
Maximum Speed	44.5km	43.6km

The Sunny Countryside

Despite the trials - last minute crisis of sick children and morning thunder and showers, we rode across the sunny countryside.

Day 2: Birdwood to Tanunda (take II)

Due to the uncertainty of whether we would be riding or not (sick child), we set off a little late. Despite thoughts to the otherwise, today's ride was easier than the last one and we achieved a faster average speed. Lots of sunny moments amid the warm humid day, interspersed with some cool winds. We cut the end of the ride 10km short, opting instead to ride 5km back along the main bitumen road into Tanunda.

You might remember from my last post my fat tyre, bulging and somewhat hard to ride. I replaced the tyre some time ago, and discovered that the wire inside the tyre has failed.





Download kml file.

Stats:

• Distance: 50.1km
  
• Start time: 10.37am
  
• End time: 4.53pm
  
• Moving duration: 3h 28m
  
• Stationary duration: 2h 51m
  
• Moving average: 14.5km/h
  
• Overall average: 7.9km/h
  
• Max speed: 47.5km/h
  

Fat Tyre

After a few morning set-backs with flat tyres, fat tyres and bike bars we set off on our first day's ride back on the Mawson Trail

Day 1: Athelstone to Birdwood (take II)

So 7am in a light rain, my nosy neighbour helped me fit my new bike rack properly, with the key ingredient of a few extra washers from a shed full of nuts, bolts and washers that might come in handy one day.

Graham, Pete and Sally and I met at Gorge Road and crammed two bikes onto the bike rack, and the remaining two bikes in the back of the station wagon. Bay to Birdwood traffic aside (good planning!) we drove to the start of today's ride in Birdwood. Like last time I did this section, it was decided that it would be best to do it backwards.

Stopped for lunch in Lobethal, and after a spinach and ricotta roll that was fresh, last Wednesday, and waiting for our vegie or chicken burgers to be made with all the bikies food, we tackled the steep hills after Lobethal. Lots of pushing bikes up hills, I think there was some discovering that ppl weren't quite as fit as they thought. I recall how much pushing my bike up hills I did last time with Alex, and was very happy with how I could pretty much ride up every hill now, even if I needed little breaks on the way up.

With a fat tyre, not quite sure what happened there, I ride my bike to and from work several times a week yet it's out on a trail that the tyre wall seemed to fail. A fat lumpy tyre made for some hard riding...





Stats:

• Distance: 39.3km
  
• Start time: 10.30am
  
• End time: 4:45pm
  
• Moving duration: 3h 5m
  
• Stationary duration: 3h 5m
  
• Moving average: 12.7km/h
  
• Overall average: 6.4km/h
  
• Max speed: 52.7km/h
  

Mawson Trail Take 2

Plans are afoot to get back to riding the Mawson Trail. In late September will be riding on the Mawson Trail again, with Graham, Pete & Sally.

None of them have started it before, so we will be doing the first few days again. First up, from the start of the Mawson Trail at Gorge Road, Athelstone to Birdwood, a distance of some 39km.

We will be riding from Birdwood back to Athelstone, as that will make it a bit easier, esp for the newbies. Here's map of our planned ride (thanks to martin13):


View Larger Map

Broken foot

Further to the previous post in March about Alex's broken foot... it is now healing... but is a bit complicated so will take some time... maybe later this year or early next year we will ride again!

Broken Foot

Alex broke his foot playing soccer yesterday. Bummer for work, footy, driving and our Mawson Trail plan. At least he was doing something normal, not like my friend Andrew who also recently broke his foot. He did some pruning of a tree, climbing onto his roof. In his true unco style he stepped onto an imaginary horizontal plane level with his roof. It didn't support his weight (surprisingly).

We haven't ridden this year yet, a combo of weather and camping trips. But it looked hopeful soon... not for 6-9 weeks now...