In honour of our 20th anniversary (well, that's what we're telling the

babysitters anyway), we're doing a tandem tour sans kids in July!



We're hitting the grandparents in Sydney up for 4 nights childminding.(They

don't realise it's that many nights yet.. maybe we'd be better telling them

three nights, then ringing in to say 'oh damn, we're not going to make it back'.

[We're down in Sydney that first weekend of the school hols for netball State

Age, then the day after that, we're pulling the disappearing act.



Anyway proposed route is.. ex-Sydney, specifically Pennant Hills. Going to ride

to Bobbin Head and catch ferry service to Patonga, then head to Terrigal for the

first night. Next day to Newcastle. Then we're heading across to Wollombi, and

then the last night we plan to get to Wiseman's Ferry. Hopefully will still have

the energy and desire to head back up to Central Mangrove, then back down the

Old Pacific Hwy, through Brooklyn, and back to Penno. There's always the train

if we fall short!



Total around 550km I think.



Front panniers ordered (I think he's got that covered), and credit card primed.

Seeing it's school holidays, going to book the accommodation. Got Wollombi

sorted - that's the hardest one by the looks of it, particularly ensuring we can

find dinner! Would be nice to be a bit less structured, but them's are breaks

when you have a small window of opportunity.





In other Schmidt cycling news, Marc, Zoe and I went on a 110km ride with the

Bentleys and a bunch of others from Grafton, up to Maclean, and basically round

Woodford Island, via Brushgrove pub. Pretty flat. Older two girls declined to

come, so Marc rode the Cannondale tandem with Zoe, and I rode my half bike. 

Martin and Di were talking about Liz and Dave coming up and doing that ride

sometime soon, so Marc and I would probably try to wangle doing it too.  Mind

you, this just before the flooding up there - a few days later much of where we

rode would have been under water!



How is everyone, btw? Been a bit quiet on here lately!

Guilt. That's what it is Tracey. Guilt plain and simple. I was going to

claim the regular deluge was the reason but I know Coffs has been worse.

There's no excuse. The tandem is going rusty in the garage. We have done

the odd half bike ride. I set up an obstacle course - offset cones,

swerve and recover, figure of 8 etc. Cait used her older brother's

racing BMX- she had never ridden a bike that was so much fun. Turned

into Evil Knievel on the spot. More like Casey Stoner than Cadel Evans.

Until she tried a corner with about 70 degrees of lean and ended in a

heap. But nothing as intrepid as you and Mark. You are putting us all to

shame.



Keep it up.



OTOH I have been following the Giro. Having the last day as a time trial

was pretty mean. Not quite the same as the Tour's last day. SBS seems to

have let us down with the Dauphine Libere - at least I cant find it on

the multiple SBS channels there seems to be these days. But I guess that

doesnt really count.



Chris









Tracey and Marc wrote:

> In honour of our 20th anniversary (well, that's what we're telling the

babysitters anyway), we're doing a tandem tour sans kids in July!

>

> We're hitting the grandparents in Sydney up for 4 nights childminding.(They

don't realise it's that many nights yet.. maybe we'd be better telling them

three nights, then ringing in to say 'oh damn, we're not going to make it back'.

[We're down in Sydney that first weekend of the school hols for netball State

Age, then the day after that, we're pulling the disappearing act.

>

> Anyway proposed route is.. ex-Sydney, specifically Pennant Hills. Going to

ride to Bobbin Head and catch ferry service to Patonga, then head to Terrigal

for the first night. Next day to Newcastle. Then we're heading across to

Wollombi, and then the last night we plan to get to Wiseman's Ferry. Hopefully

will still have the energy and desire to head back up to Central Mangrove, then

back down the Old Pacific Hwy, through Brooklyn, and back to Penno. There's

always the train if we fall short!

>

> Total around 550km I think.

>

> Front panniers ordered (I think he's got that covered), and credit card

primed. Seeing it's school holidays, going to book the accommodation. Got

Wollombi sorted - that's the hardest one by the looks of it, particularly

ensuring we can find dinner! Would be nice to be a bit less structured, but

them's are breaks when you have a small window of opportunity.

>

>

> In other Schmidt cycling news, Marc, Zoe and I went on a 110km ride with the

Bentleys and a bunch of others from Grafton, up to Maclean, and basically round

Woodford Island, via Brushgrove pub. Pretty flat. Older two girls declined to

come, so Marc rode the Cannondale tandem with Zoe, and I rode my half bike. 

Martin and Di were talking about Liz and Dave coming up and doing that ride

sometime soon, so Marc and I would probably try to wangle doing it too.  Mind

you, this just before the flooding up there - a few days later much of where we

rode would have been under water!

>

> How is everyone, btw? Been a bit quiet on here lately!

>

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------

>

> Yahoo! Groups Links

>

>

>

Must admit; other than to and from work, nothing much happening here.



Roger and I with daughters as stokers and the boys on their half bikes did

the Bike North Century Challenge at the end of April (we did the 60km event,

but that did include nearly 1000m of climbing).  See route on bikely

(http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/283964).  Must admit; I was stuffed at

the end.  My excuse; bronchitis over Easter the cough from which I still

can't shake properly.  My Dr thought she'd found a case of whooping cough

and was most disappointed when the tests came back negative!



Other than that; short course swimming carnivals are in full swing so at

least the kids are staying fit.



Enjoy your trip with Marc; I know some if not all of the route you're

taking.  It's nice countryside and potentially quiet and mostly road safe.

There's a few good hills in there for you to make Marc work out.



Must be time for Sydney Tandem get together somewhere; maybe a Sydney based

dinner somewhere?



Regards,

Malcolm

Malcolm Wade wrote:

> Must admit; other than to and from work, nothing much happening here.

>

> Roger and I with daughters as stokers and the boys on their half bikes did

> the Bike North Century Challenge at the end of April (we did the 60km event,

> but that did include nearly 1000m of climbing).  See route on bikely

> (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/283964).  Must admit; I was stuffed at

> the end.  My excuse; bronchitis over Easter the cough from which I still

> can't shake properly.  My Dr thought she'd found a case of whooping cough

> and was most disappointed when the tests came back negative!

>

> Other than that; short course swimming carnivals are in full swing so at

> least the kids are staying fit.

>

> Enjoy your trip with Marc; I know some if not all of the route you're

> taking.  It's nice countryside and potentially quiet and mostly road safe.

> There's a few good hills in there for you to make Marc work out.

>

> Must be time for Sydney Tandem get together somewhere; maybe a Sydney based

> dinner somewhere?

>

> Regards,

> Malcolm

>

>

We will be in Sydney 11-14 July approx jst touching base with

family.Mind you the tour starts on the 4th.





Chris

Sounds fantastic Peter! Have a great time!



Actually, there's a couple from Coffs BUG that are currently riding

Darwin to Broome under their own steam! Wonder if you'll run into them.



Bike North Century Challenge sounds interesting Malcom! Will have to

keep tabs on it. Maybe we can come down for it next year (if we don't do

something major earlier on...)



Hope your cough gets better. I did the bronchitis over Easter thing a

few years back. Not good.



We will be in Sydney the weekend that Chris is, for Ali's State Age

netball - Sat, Sun, Mon at Blacktown. The Saturday night is already

spoken for - I'm taking Cait to SYTYCD tour at the Entertainment Centre

(and leaving Marc and Zoe to have quality time together - however they

may appreciate some excuse not to go back to Grandma's).  The Sunday

night is technically free.   The Monday night we'll have one tired

netballer and we'll have to be getting organised, as next day Marc and I

dump the kids and ride off into the sunset (so to speak.)    [And, yep,

I hope he's primed to carry me up the hills. It's payback for having me

as ballast for the yee-ha downhills.]



If anyone is after a challenge, and a weekend away, there's the Coffs

BUG 100 mile ride coming up on the 16th August. Brooms Head to Coffs

(through Maclean and Grafton, and the back way to Coffs.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/90207  People usually camp at

Brooms Head the night before, though after doing that the first year we

opted for a holiday unit the second time. There's usually a bit of a

group from the BUG doing support crewing.



The first part is really pretty flat, so it's not a difficult 160km! Not

sure yet how we'll do it. Cait has expressed an interest in doing it,

but hasn't done much in the way of riding. I suppose I could give up my

stoker seat for her (after all, Marc and I have done it twice already on

the Santana) although that could be a big mistake!!  I wouldn't mind

giving it a go myself though....  Our other alternative (to getting the

kids sorted) is doing a big first and leaving them at home overnight by

themselves. Cait is 16 now, after all. All a big 'dunno' at the moment.



We managed to get out for a ride last weekend - did the "Big Block" from

Coffs, up Bruxner and out to Bucca Road, out to Nana Glen, across to

Coramba (coffee break) then back down to Coffs - all up around 60

something km. We've put touring tyres on the Santana (Marc not around to

check on the specs) in preparation for the dirt between Wollombi and

Wisemans, and, wow! - it was a much more comfy ride for me on the back.

Slower maybe, but much better on my bum!



Tracey











--- In sydneytandems@yahoogroups.com, Peter Howell <peter@...> wrote:

>

> Just to make you all jealous - after the great off road journey up the

> Mawson Trail a few weeks ago, I'm off next Wednesday to support

Alltrails

> Darwin to Broome followed by Perth to Adelaide. Two of us on support

> responsible for one vehicle, so we should both get a couple of

thousand k

> in. Sheila is going to join me in Broome for the in between bit and

shall do

> a bit of 4WDing.It's not that I don't love Melbourne winters!!

> Cheers, Peter

>

> On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 6:11 PM, Malcolm Wade wademj@...wrote:

>

> >

> >

> > Must admit; other than to and from work, nothing much happening

here.

> >

> > Roger and I with daughters as stokers and the boys on their half

bikes did

> > the Bike North Century Challenge at the end of April (we did the

60km

> > event,

> > but that did include nearly 1000m of climbing). See route on bikely

> > (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/283964). Must admit; I was

stuffed

> > at

> > the end. My excuse; bronchitis over Easter the cough from which I

still

> > can't shake properly. My Dr thought she'd found a case of whooping

cough

> > and was most disappointed when the tests came back negative!

> >

> > Other than that; short course swimming carnivals are in full swing

so at

> > least the kids are staying fit.

> >

> > Enjoy your trip with Marc; I know some if not all of the route

you're

> > taking. It's nice countryside and potentially quiet and mostly road

safe.

> > There's a few good hills in there for you to make Marc work out.

> >

> > Must be time for Sydney Tandem get together somewhere; maybe a

Sydney based

> > dinner somewhere?

> >

> > Regards,

> > Malcolm

> >

> >

> >

>

>

>

> --

> Peter Howell

> Mobile - 0427200533

> Web - www.pegasustandems.com.

>

Peter Howell wrote:

>

>

> Just to make you all jealous - after the great off road journey up the

> Mawson Trail a few weeks ago, I'm off next Wednesday to support

> Alltrails Darwin to Broome followed by Perth to Adelaide. Two of us on

> support responsible for one vehicle, so we should both get a couple of

> thousand k in. Sheila is going to join me in Broome for the in between

> bit and shall do a bit of 4WDing.

> It's not that I don't love Melbourne winters!!

> Cheers, Peter

OK I'm jealous. Few k's in that lot. Sounds a lot better than a

Melbourne winter. Or even a Hallidays Point winter come to think of it -

never seems to stop raining here.



Have a great trip,



Chris

This from the T@H list. Great photo. I think it would work on me:







http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5563986/Cyclists-slow-do\

wn-to-avoid-crater-sized-hole.html





Chris