Cycling from Launceston to Hobart 13/2/2015

After a long 18 months of planning dates, routes, bikes, food and ourselves.
Hayden and I finally locked in Friday the 13th of February as our date to ride from Launceston to Hobart which is around 200km. We had a third person joins us in Rob Lewandowski who is actually attempting a Guinness World Record for the fastest person o cycle around Australia in just a few weeks. So this was perfect training for him.
The weather was perfect with a northerly wind pushing us along for the majority of the journey and the sun shining.
We left at 6am from Prospect, we travelled through Longford, Cressy and then through to Cambell Town which was the 84km point of the ride. We stopped for about 15 minutes having a coffee and a sandwich, along the way we seen a few places we hadn’t seen Barton and Bicton the notable ones, literally in the middle of no where. We were abused by an old couple for taking up too much of the road, Rob soon sorted the out by explaining the Laws. We also seen a lot of road kill on the country roads and lots and lots of rubbish.
We headed south past Ross and onto Oatlands where we had another bite to eat and a top up of water. We were all feeling pretty good so we continued another 11km to the turn off to Richmond. The last 80km was pretty easy going as we were getting good assurance from the wind and also the downward slope heading to Richmond. We got there at about 245pm and then took off for Cambridge which was going to be finishing point.
The last 8km were very tough as we all just wanted to get there, I experienced a few mental demons along the last few kms. I was getting frustrated with how long it was taking and I just started yelling get me there and a few expletives.
We finally made it to Cambridge Park where we had a good feed and loaded up the gear and set off back to Launceston departing at around 345pm.

The experience was amazing and certainly very challenging. Would certainly recommend it to the fit people out there looking for something challenging to do.
The key is to maintain a healthy diet on the way down and drink plenty of water to keep the rig going.
Search for Robs Ride Aus on Twitter and on Google.
I will be spending about a week with him from March the 1st in the campervan to assist with his hydration and keeping the food ready for him as he will only stop for a few minutes at a time.

👏👏👏👏 to Hayden and Rob on a great day.
Check out some of the photos of me and the boys on some of our breaks.

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Mountain bike ride at Hollybank

Today I drove out to the Hollybank mountain bike park which is about 12minutes from Launceston.
I had never been out there on my bike so my mate Cameron and I went for a look, we are very much amateurs on bikes but looked at it as good cross training for footy. We had both done some basic riding out at the Kate Reed tracks in Launceston.
So close to town it is an amazing place for tourists coming to Launceston.
We headed 5.2 km up the Juggernaut track before turning around and coming back to the main base. The track was very good and challenging and was more suited to experiences riders, I managed to fall of the bike a few times and grazed my knee. Next up we took on the beginners track a 5km loop. This track was fast and certainly suited our level of experience on the bikes. Also terrific scenery riding through the natural forest.
We then spent 10 minutes riding on the skills track which we found to be good and also challenging in a way that can help develop your skills.
I highly recommend taking the drive out to Hollybank, it is so close to town, extremely well signed and all the facilities for a day out with toilets and bbq on site.
👍👍👍👍👍👍

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