Adventures of Coatesy

In the first half of the Great Tasmanian Bike Ride (GTBR) the food came thick and fast and in huge portions. They had scrolls, cream buns, lamingtons, cakes, fruit and all sorts of goodies at every rest stop. At dinner you could regularly get seconds if you needed some extra calories or if, as in my case, you are just a big fat greedy pig.
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So this continued for a few days, CC and I spent the whole rest day together and the next day riding to Lake Burbury. It continued to rain and I continued to stay in the brown tent. Day by day, CC seemed to be getting stronger and I was getting sick again to the point where I couldn’t ride the 97km leg from Lake Burbury to Bronte Park. CC however was as strong as an ox. Deep down I knew what was happening but refused to acknowledge it.
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Today was 85km, the longest ride since I smashed myself on the east coast. It was pissing with rain, about 10C and windy. Not headwind windy though, tailwind windy, which was bloody marvellous and all but cancelled out ... [Continue reading this entry]

If you are on a bike ride with 1400 people, a good 800 are men and there are only two toilet trucks with a total of ten cubicles, an interesting problem arises. Especially if like me, you are a ... [Continue reading this entry]

Photo of the day: Another lake meant that I could avoid bum bumping for tonight! A lake near Tullah, West Tassie. What a bloody great day 59km all downhill. A bit of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Photo of the day: A mountain, it could be the back of Cradle Mountain but I am not sure, I should be though, I rode up the bloody thing! Today was ... [Continue reading this entry]

Photo of the day: An extremely mediocre picture of Lake Barrington from my campsite. It was much more beautiful in real life! After pushing myself to the brink of physical collapse on ... [Continue reading this entry]

I had made it the 120km to St Helen's but at what price? At dinner with Pete, I was quiet and quite out of it. The worst nights sleep ever, I become incoherent and confused. I passed over 4 litres ... [Continue reading this entry]

Today I felt sufficiently strong to get back on the bike. It was a long leg, 120km from Coles Bay to St Helen's, but was relatively flat. I was hopeing that today would be my day, the day ... [Continue reading this entry]

While we all focus on the Tsunami disaster something of what I believe to be equal importance needs some attention. Something that is happening on our doorstep as we speak. That is the destruction of Tassie's old growth ... [Continue reading this entry]