2/3 of Attack of the Buns
I attacked Nowra to Bungendore from 17~19-feb solo. Firstly, it was fantastic.
Gear
Ride wot u got - weapon of choice is an old xc race bike, a dualie sworks epic 11sp - 28 x 10-46
A custom frame bag from
#bikebagdude, for tent poles, billy, gas, aeropress, coffee, tools/spares and random stuff.
Two 750ml biddons mounted on the forks and voile-ed into the cages, all pretty solid.
A 6L saddle bag for the naturehike tent and nemo sleeping mat.
Mont prolite 150 sleeping bag, a change of nicks and pub clothes in a 10 litre Apidura bar bag.
I had a toptube/seatpost bag (gastank?) for day 1 but that was super annoying so I moved stuff around.
Food, 1st aid and PLB in a mt500 enduro backpack with back brace.
A SP-PD8 generator hub wired to a klite USB charger to keep the garmin and phone fed.
Day1: Ride to central, 4:40am train to Bomaderry. Nowra to Piercys was a very big day. The climb from the Shoalhaven to the plateau is very steep, where the bogans can access it's cut up, where they can't, it's loose, almost single track. The tops are fast with sections of very slow slurry of quartz ball bearings.
By the time I hit the Braidwood road I was out of water and needed to go down the hill to Tainjara falls - lunch at the lookout.
The Endrick River firetrail was fast until after the NP gate, then deteriorated, the fires have hit hard, its a bit of a moonscape with mud.
The descent from Red Jonnys to Endrick River was pretty special, kinda not quite in control, surfing the mud through a tube of overgrown grass with a facefull of spider webs.
Piercys clearing wasn't so I camped on flattened grass on the Red Ground side after wading the swollen Endrick river. Absolutely stuffed and needed a nap before cooking dinner. The backcountry Nasi Goreng didn't meet expectations - although it did improve as I dug deeper - maybe I didn't mix in the flavouring enough. The fire maple titanium gas burner worked well. The Aeropress was a standout producing a fantastic coffee.
The NatureHike tent performed well in drizzle and light rain, the nemo is the most comfy mat I've ever used, and the Mont sleeping bag is the first time I have been comfortable in a bag in summer conditions.
Day2: The Red Ground fire trail up from the Endrick river is non existent a plantation of 2m weeds for about 500m in all directions (picture below taken holding phone above head). The garmin route is accurate, so just follow the triangle pushing the bike through the weeds and pop out on reasonable dual track eventually.
The cliffs to the east are amazing - even moreso with all the treecover missing.
Nerriga pub Cafe was open and adequate. Road bash was uneventful, maybe one too many B-doubles. Charlies Forest road into Braidwood was very slow and sticky, the logging trucks had made a mess of the wet clay for around 8km. Arrived in Braidwood just after 2pm, in time for everything except the pie shop to close. While murdering a potato pie I met the lady from the tourist info, she was very interested in my little adventure. When I said ai was going to Mulloon camp she exclaimed "over the Palerang?" err I guess so... I may or may not have ridden past a National Park closed sign, then the relentless climb to Palarang, I had a little cry and walked for 15min on a perfectly good gravel road.
I narrowly avoided a road closed sign on a quick descent to Mulloon camp. The area may (or may not) be closed due to bushfire damage. From what I could see the dangerous trees were cleared, but the area is a mess and needs work to make it presentable - I can confirm there was paper in the composting toilet. I may (or may not) have ignored all signs. Dinner was most excellent, a pouch of mexican tuna and beans on flatbread.
Day3: A short climb and a long decent to Hoskinstown during which a fork failure became evident, and an uneventful roadbash to Bungendore with the fork on the stops made me more aero. Traded a long story for the loan of a shock pump from the bike shop at Bungendore and took the long way to Canberra - avoiding certain death on the Kings and Captains Flat roads. If only you could transit the Magura army training area like in the old Capital Punishment days, you could ride a great mix of firetrails and singletrack from Canberra to Bungendore.
I definitely need to do more of this bikepacking stuff.
-matthew