Kroombit Tops - Day 2

 I actually did get up early, beating my alarm. This was because there was a refrigeration unit outside my room window that kicked into life every few minutes during the night thus ensuring I had a crap nights sleep. 

I packed up and took my gear (topbox) downstairs, then went to get the bike from where I had hidden it behind a skip bin. Riding the thirty metres to my gear didn't feel too strange but I decided to check they tyre pressure. It showed zero! 

WTH?

I thought the valve must be dicky as I couldn't get any air out of it! Anyway, I rolled around to the front of the pub for the following photo. When I rode off the kerb it was obvious something wasn't right with the front tyre. In my sleep deprived, sickly state it hadn't dawned on me that the pressure guage didn't register anything because the tyre was flat. 

D'oh! What a doofus! 🙁

I proceeded to roll around to the petrol station at 30km/h. Once there I asked where their air hose was as I needed a slight top up. "Ahh, the nozzle is broken and we are waiting for the new one in the post" was the answer that I really didn't want to hear at 7am.

"There is a tyre place around the corner though. I don't know what time they open, but you can try them" she said. Yes, I would be trying them as I needed this fixed before heading out into the whoop-whoop. I wobbled around to J & J motors at about 15km/h as by now the bead seemed to be broken and the front end was seriously skatey. They open at 0830. Great, almost an hour and a half to wait.

I thought I may as well get my mini pump out and try pumping the tyre up while I waited. I have carried this thing around for about 4 years and never used it. Sooo...you guessed it, when I hooked it up and turned it on nothing happened! 

I wanted one of those sweet, free drums...but where to put it?!

I gave it a jiggle, still nothing. 

I gave it a more vigorous jiggle, held my mouth just right and she fired up! In literally 15 seconds it had cut out showing 30psi in the tyre! 

No way! 

It cannot fill it that fast. I disconnected and checked with my tyre guage - 30psi! I couldn't hear any leaks but used my leatherman to make sure the valve was tight, then packed up and hit the road. If it held ok I would re-check it in Monto before I really headed bush.

Suitably emboldened, I headed north out of town for the Chowey rail bridge. This is on yet another now disused rail line. One of many that trucks and road trains with their speed and convenience have made obsolete.

Located about three kilometres off the road, I had the bridge to myself so I mucked around with my drone. I was contemplating getting the bike on the bridge but thought better of it....

Back out on the highway I rode through another railway siding. Didcot consisted of a couple of timber buildings that I reckon were put up in the 1920s or '30s, had a single coat of paint and haven't been touched since. With no rail line there is no need for Didcot any more. The sad fate of so many small Aussie towns.

I kept on Northward and soon rolled into Mt Perry. I hadn't been to Mt Perry in forever - in fact I had to do a blog search to see when I had come up here to race my mountain bike and couldn't believe it was 13 years ago! The kids were so little!

Every park needs a Leopard AS1 Main Battle Tank. 😎

I stopped at the general store for a very nice pepper pie and a coffee. It was pleasant sitting outside in the sun and I didn't feel an urge to rush off any time soon....

But when I did it was time to head off track a bit to check out some more disused rail line. But first there were gates. A lot of gates.

And plenty of abandoned farm equipment.

I was soon at the Boolboonda rail tunnel. The last time we did this we were on mountain bikes and Lucy pink shorts (see link above) was 8 years old.

From the tunnel I headed north on Wonbah road through Bania State Forest. Well, not through the forest as in trails, I just did the main road. I got the impression from the notes for the .gpx tracks that I used for this ride that Bania might have been a bit next level for a crook bloke on a heavy bike.

So I meandered along, taking a few turns and looking forward to Kalpower State forest as it was another pine plantation. Unfortuntely, it has all been logged out so I motored over a rising and falling hilltop trail. At least the visibility was good!

Somewhere along here I accidentally ran over the tail of a huge python that was crossing the road. I went back to take a closer look and couldn't see any damage. He managed to slither off the road so must have been ok. 

Eeewwww. I hate snakes! 😳

I had a quick look in Kalpower and clearly the railways played a big part in this tiny siding town. Yet another dwindling town.

Another thirty five kilometres along the road I came to Monto, which was NOT a dying town. It was bustling with people getting ready for the long weekend. I fuelled up and looked for an air hose as the front was down a bit to 27 psi. 

No luck. 

I tried the other servo - no luck there either! What was up with petrol stations not having air hoses?

I dropped into the local tyre repair place and asked if they minded me putting a bit of air into my front tyre. The young bloke was a dirt biker and leapt to it. I asked him to put 33psi in to allow for the tyre being hot but I was very pleased that it seemed to be holding. 

(It looks like the tyre leaked around the bead from new and that is why it felt like shite' the first two days I rode it. I should have checked the pressure but I have never had a new tyre lose air like that before and I just put the handling down to being a knobby tyre flexing under the weight of the big girl. Lesson learnt)

I visited the local IGA supermarket and bought some supplies for what was going to probably be two nights camping.

Leaving Monto I saw an incredible one fifth scale model of a B24 Liberator at the local museum. 

Why, I hear you ask? Well, more on that later.

North out of Monto I was following someone else's .gpx track from 2018 along Monal road. I was hoping all of the roads would still be trafficable and within my skill range. It is always a bit dicey taking someone else's advice unless you know how they ride and it was 5 years ago.

Anyway, I was covering some nice easy dirt roads through various farms. Some being more open and flowy than others. Dooloo Tops road was going to get a bit less flowy and more remote than what I had been riding.....

I stopped here at the gate of Dooloo Tops to have some lunch. I assumed that my route went through the gate and continued and was pleased that it didn't go up the overgrown track that was behind me.....

Mainland cheese and crackers, washed down with water. Simple, quick and tasty.

Of course as soon as I moved the GPS righted it's direction of travel and I sooo did have to go down that road (signposted Rasberry Creek rd)! 

It started off pretty flat and wide-ish. Then it started developing steep pinches as it followed the ridge line.

It twisted and turned along the ridge.

Then it became powdery and/or rocky from cattle trampling it. So much so that I has a couple of front end moments in the tighter stuff. 

I was also thankful that I didn't have to hop any logs like this!

 

But then after a while I came to a gate with a biosecurity sign on the fence. 

Shit.

The phone number had washed off the sign so I couldn't call for permission. The trail went steeply uphill and looked to get worse....but I was too far in to turn around now....

Well, better to ask forgiveness than permission sometimes...... 😏

But just around the corner was the drop off the ridgeline. It was steep, loose and rutted and I was on a BIG loaded bike with 80/20 tyres and all alone. 

Shit.

Do I really need to go down there? Check the map. Yeah, just a couple of kilometres and I will be back on Monal Road (which I had turned off of  9 photos above)

So, to be careful I walked down part of the way. It was far steeper than it looks in photos. There were a few ruts but they weren't too deep and had good crossing points. While dropping the bike would be a nightmare out here, alone, I was confident if I was careful I would be ok.....

Annnndddd.....I survived! The grip was actually pretty good for the grade and dryness of the rocky soil. I will admit I just clutch coasted down and modulated the brakes and picked the optimal lines but it proved to be easy!

The trail then meandered across grassy flats along a creek (Rasberry creek?)  which was very pleasant after the last half hour of stress.

I soon popped out on Monal road and shortly after I went though a gate to take a look at the old gold stamper at the Monal goldfields ruins. How they hauled this stuff in there back in the day is mind blowing. We have it soo easy today with cranes, excavators and modern hydraulics.

Back onto Monal road and more cow paddocks, cruisy trail and nice scenery.

Then I came to this gate.

I remembered something from the route notes about the trail being a bit snotty after the shire boundary crossing. Well, according to the sign this was the shire boundary. The view of sky in front of me should have been ringing alarm bells right about now!

Riding twenty metres through that gate saw the earth fall away! It was steeep, rutted, rocky and loose! The only evidence of traffic was two knobby tyre tracks on the surface. 

"Ahh, I'll be right" I thought to myself. This wasn't much steeper than the last one that scared me even if it was badly rutted up.

Well, fcuk me, I was all over the place as the back end tried to overtake the front constantly! The problem was there was a large drop off to the right and an embankment on the left so I didn't want to get too much speed as there was a (several actually) corners to get around as well. I was instantly drenched in sweat as I tried to keep the beast upright. 

At one point the rear stepped out about 30 degrees to the right (downhill/off camber side!) and I thought I was off but I must have released the brakes just in time, the bike straightened and I steered into a deep rut with a root across the end to stop me! 🫣

I sat there a minute or two, shaking from exertion and thinking what a fool I was to not share the route with anyone (I had forgotten) as nobody knew where I was. Sure, I had my Spot tracker but if I dropped the bike here it would be a big job getting it upright on this loose slope by myself.

Well, I managed to get down and once the trail took a few small ups I stopped on the first rise to take a big swig of water and cool down. Here you can see the peak in the background that I just descended from. Looking at the topo map I went from 560m elevation down to 310m in about 1.1 kilometres!!

There were a few more rocky, loose downhills ahead but nothing so steep or sustained and soon I was back on fast, open farm roads. Taking a left turn onto Tableland road I knew that my destination wasn't too far away.

The views across the rolling farmland on Tableland road was breathtaking in the afternoon light. I wish I could have done it justice.

Twisting and turning over hillsides I was gently climbing. I was also ambling along as it was just so scenic!

Through another farm or two before I hit the National park.

Woo hoo! I made it! Just 8km and 400 metres of climbing to get to my camp site.

Interestingly I had seen Griffiths Creek campground pop up in Race to the Rock conversation the week before. A new water tap had been installed and I was really counting on it being ok to drink as I had seriously underestimated my water uplift from Monto earlier today. I only had about a litre left on me. D'oh!

I rode through the campground noting that pleasingly there were only three lots of campers, not the hordes  I expected for a long weekend. I rode past them all, following the track to see where it went. When it came to an end I glanced up the hill to my left and saw nothing but open, grassy bushland. Something like an early European settler painting.

Awesome!

Riding to the top of the ridge I spied a flat bit of ground that wasn't totally overhung with trees and it had a small fire ring to one side. Perfect! This would do me.

I set up camp then took a walk down to the main section of the campground to seek out the water tap. I had brought my Sawyer Mini filter with me so if the water tasted ok I would have unlimited water. Luckily the water was crystal clear. I filtered it "just in case" and was chuffed I now had as much water as I wanted.

It was getting late now so I arced the fire up, keeping it small so I wouldn't attract any attention from other campers, even though I was at least 500 metres from the main area. I didn't want to see anyone else at all tonight, wanting to get the hell away from everything and everyone for a while.

I heated some water to rehydrate my dinner. With unlimited water you can't go past these Backcountry dehydrated meals for convenience and weight saving. Well, for a couple of days anyway....

I sat by the fire for a while, reflecting on the day and listening to the wild horses whinnying and galloping around in the dark. Today was a good day and this was heaven camping here in the cool elevation of the Tops but I was upset with myself for riding that stupidly steep road on my own and not remembering to forward my route in Gaia GPS to a few people so that someone knew where I was. 

It shook my confidence quite a bit tonight which was quite unsettling. I hoped it might be the fact that I wasn't well with the head cold and the fact that I hadn't slept well last night. This wasn't the "normal me" so I decided to go to bed and catch up on some sleep. I wouldn't be setting an alarm as I was staying put tomorrow with just an exploration ride around the Tops planned.

Todays route. 358km.

Cheers.

Day 3 here.