Tour of Margaret River - November 2015

One of the things that makes the Tour of Margaret River a special event is that everyone has their own stories to tell. Four stages over three days, with 71 riders in the women's category and 448 in the open category - it is an epic event. And with each rider busy trying to recover and prepare for the next stage, many of these individual race stories don't come to light.

This is my story.

I had chosen not to register for the Tour of Margaret River, as it was close to the end of my road race season for the year, and I knew I would be ready for a rest by that stage. I was going to go and support my good friends in the Roues Chaudes Cycling Club, helping them out by cooking meals and anything else that was needed. Then two of their team members were hit by a car when participating in a charity bike ride in Esperance. They were unable to compete - this was less than two weeks before the race. So I decided to step up and fill in one of the places in their team. We had a team of five in the end (the teams are supposed to be six).

Finbar RCCC Women's Team, with RCCC President Dan O'Donoghue

Stage 1

The first stage was a prologue, a very short individual time trial. It was only 7.5km long, but included a lot of climbing up to the golf course at Augusta. It was an unusual format for an individual time trial - it was actually more like a team time trial, as each team started together, but each rider would be given an individual finishing time. It was a good format to start the race, as our team could suss out who was where in terms of climbing ability. One of the strengths of our team was that we were quite well matched. However, as I expected, I was the weakest in climbing ability. As soon as we hit the climb, I dropped off the back of our team and watched them ride away. I knew I would have to ride the climb at my own pace. 

I kept climbing, and about halfway up the climb I caught up with one of my teammates, Annie. We are fairly well matched - today, she stuck on my wheel as best she could up the climb. I just kept going at the fastest pace I could sustain. Then as it flattened out I eased off a touch to let her catch her breath, and she then took over some of the pace making. We also caught up to our teammate Jen not far from the finish, she had had some trouble breathing or we never would have caught her. The three of us finished close together. 

I was very happy with my efforts for Stage 1, and also pleasantly surprised to see that I was ranked third in my age category after the first stage. 

Stage 2

Stage 2 was the team time trial proper. It was 50km, undulating along Caves Rd from Augusta to Witchcliff. The team time was taken from the 5th rider to cross the finish line - so with only five riders in our team, we had to stick together. Stage 2 was held in the afternoon after Stage 1 in the morning, so it was a tough day. 

We agreed on some call words: "ease" if the pace was too fast, "up" if the pace was too slow, "on" - every rider to call when they got back onto the back of the paceline, and "off" if a rider dropped off. We also agreed on the order of riders in the paceline, to protect the slower riders from surges after they had done their turn, and try to position people behind riders they were comfortable to follow. This worked really well, as we all stayed together for the whole stage. I was one of the slower riders, so I did have to call out "ease" a few times, but the ladies were really good and kept a nice consistent pace up the hills. I also did shorter turns that the other ladies to protect myself and so that they could keep the pace up. 

One of the things that I took away from this stage is that I can push myself harder up hills that I think I can. It was really great training to force myself to stick to the wheel in front of me going up the hills, to manage my effort so that I could still recover but push myself harder than I normally would. I got to know Leila's rear wheel very well, as sometimes that was all I could focus on. 

Towards the end of the Stage, we turned into Redgate Rd. There was one hill on this road, it was tough work to stay with them up this hill. After the hill, I was third rider in the line. Then Margot pulled off and it was only Leila in front of me. I was thinking "please stay there Leila" - I didn't know if I would have any energy to do another turn on the front. Then Leila pulled off, and it was my turn. We still had 2km to go, but I knew I couldn't pull off the front as I would never be able to get back on. Leila had picked up the pace, so I just kept going as hard as I could. I know there was a motorbike cameraman taking photos at this point, but I couldn't even lift my head to glance at him. 

We were very happy with the outcome of this stage, as we finished 4th fastest women's team. 

Me leading our team (briefly) in the team time trial 

Stage 3

Stage 3 was the longest and hardest stage of the tour. It was a little over 100km, a circuit starting in Nannup, heading southeast to Greenbushes, Marrinup Ford, Balingup then back to Nannup. It was very undulating, with two long and challenging climbs. The first climb was only 2km into the race, but luckily for me the women didn't race up it too fast, so I could stay within contact of the peloton. However, they punched out the last 200m and over the top of the climb, so me and a couple of other women had to work together to chase back onto the peloton. 

The race organisers set off the women's teams first, in two groups with 30 sec gap between groups. Then the men's teams set off, with only 30 sec between the slower women's group and the fastest men's group. As expected, it became somewhat of a handicap race - when the fastest men's group came past our peloton, less than 10km into the race, the women's peloton merged with the men's and those that could hang on, did. 

I stayed with this group for only a couple of kilometres. I was towards the back of the group, which makes it harder as the pace fluctuates more. Plus, every time they went up a climb it was a hard effort for me to maintain their pace. Keeping pace with my team in the team time trial in Stage 2 was good training for what I had to do in Stage 3! 

So about 10km into the race, I dropped off the back of the women's peloton. I was then riding solo for a while, trying to catch my breath and happy to be riding at a strong but consistent pace, rather than the surges I was experiencing in the peloton. Then the next fastest men's group came past. They were too fast for me to catch onto solo, so I let them go. But when the third group came past, I was ready and I got into their group. Unfortunately, after I'd been in this group for a little while, a couple of the guys to my right and in the front of the peloton when down. I could see it happen and I braked hard and looked for an exit to the left. But by that time guys behind me had come around me and crashed in front of me and I had nowhere to go. I tumbled sideways, but luckily I didn't have any serious injuries or bike damage. My knee was a bit grazed and I was a bit shaken, but after a couple of deep breaths and a quick check that my bike was in one piece, I jumped back on and took off, to minimise my time losses. 

Most of the rest of the race way spent riding solo, getting caught from behind by groups, and sticking with them as long as I could. I felt like I did a lot of riding by myself until about halfway along South West Highway towards Ballingup. Thankfully a group caught up with me on that road, as it was quite hairy riding along the major highway by myself with only a narrow shoulder to ride off the carriageway. I stuck with this group until we left Ballingup and headed up another hill. I had been working pretty hard and I just couldn't stay with them up the hill. 

I found myself with two other guys, one of whom was riding at a perfect pace for me. We stuck together and swapped off turns as best we could, playing leapfrog with the other guy whose pace was fluctuating a lot more - he would power up a hill and then slow down. After a while, the three of us were caught up by another good-sized group of about 10 riders. This was a terrific group for me as they were riding at my pace, and there were quite a few strong guys driving the group. The terrain was also a little more forgiving, as the hills in this section were quite short, so I could power up the hills with the group, then recover a bit on the downhill. I actually found I was a stronger climber than a lot of the guys, so that was a nice change for me. 

Breathing hard uphill

It was a relief to be in a peloton that was riding at my pace, finally. However, I was getting hungry and it was hard to find a chance to eat anything on the undulating terrain, so I was getting a bit grumpy. I really wanted this stage to be over. I managed to get in a gel at about the 80km mark, which was a good move. As we got closer to Nannup the hills started getting longer and steeper. I managed to stay with the front guys from our peloton for a little way up the hills, but then I couldn't push any harder and I got dropped. I found myself in no man's land, faster than the slow climbers but not fast enough to keep up with the front guys. Riding by myself again, I couldn't see anyone else nearby so I just stuck to my pace up the hills. Some of the hills were so steep I ran out of gears, and I was mentally telling myself "just pretend it is an SE training session", with a cadence of 60rpm. Then on the downhills I would aero-descend, trying to catch my breath and give my legs a rest. 

I didn't know exactly how far this stage was, but I started to see more farmland and homesteads, so I figured we were getting closer to Nannup. Thank goodness! I finally finished, in a time of 3:20:30. To my surprise, I was only two places behind the lady who was first in my age category, and I had jumped ahead one place on the General Classification, to be second in my age category. 

I was amazed to find that I had finished only 20sec behind my teammate Leila, and my teammate Annie was only 50sec behind me. These time gaps seem so small over 100km, but I certainly didn't see these ladies on the road once we split up. I was amused to learn after the race that Annie had seen me crash, and actually stopped and asked me how I was. Quite a few people were asking me how I was, and I guess my focus was on checking myself and my bike over and getting on with finishing the stage, so I never even looked behind me to see who was asking. Maybe if I had, we could've ridden out the stage together and had a much more fun day! 

Stage 4 

Stage 4, thankfully the last stage, was a 64km road race from Yalingup to Witchcliff. This was another undulating stage, heading down Caves Rd, but thankfully there were no really long climbs like we had in Stage 3. 

The organisers had changed the start order for this stage, the women's groups started behind all the men's groups. I guess they didn't want the women drafting off the men; instead we had men drafting off the women. We passed a couple of slower groups of men and a few of the riders tagged onto the back of our peloton. 

This stage started with a climb out of Yalingup. I got tailed off the back of the peloton on the climb, but I wasn't too far back and I quickly rejoined the main group. It was such a relief to be able to ride with the main women's peloton for the majority of this stage. It was also interesting to witness some of the race tactics. There were 2-3 teams who were stronger than the rest of us, so there were a few breakaways who were then dragged back by the other strong teams in the peloton. At one point, one of the riders from the team who was leading the General Classification came down through the peloton and asked if any of us wanted to work. I thought that was pretty cheeky, considering we were working hard enough thank you very much just trying to stay with them. Everyone was pretty tired by this stage, particularly after the grueling Stage 3. 

Riding at the tail end of the peloton

The organisers had brought into the race a few pro riders, which various teams had bid to have riding on their team. On Stage 4, we ended up with Luke Durbridge riding in our peloton for about half the stage. He was riding with one of the slower men's teams so when we passed them early in the stage, he and a few guys from their team sat in with our peloton. I was thankful to have him there, as on one of the tougher climbs when I had been dropped from the back of the peloton, he towed a lady from his team back into the peloton, and I sat on her wheel and got back in as well. It's not every day that you get to sit on Luke Durbridge's wheel :) 

My legs were too tired to get out of the saddle and power up the climbs on this stage, so I was climbing in the saddle and using a high cadence to generate more power. On the last climb on Redgate Road before the finish line, the peloton pushed hard so I got out of the saddle and powered up the climb as hard as I could. I stayed with the peloton up the climb, but I didn't have anything else left to give, so they dropped me as they crested the climb. I also knew it was less than 5km before the finish, so I figured I could manage that on my own. Then a few other riders came past, and we worked together for a couple of kilometres, but as we were all so stuffed by this point, we couldn't push hard to hold the wheel in front. Our little group splintered, and I finished the stage solo, only 45sec behind the main peloton. I didn't realise I was actually the first woman in my age category across the line on this stage, beating the lady who was 1st on GC by almost 2 min. 

In the end, I finished 2nd in the General Classification for my age category, only 2:06 behind 1st place. I was very happy with this result, particularly considering I hadn't actually planned to do this event. I was in good form but I was also still a bit tired from doing Cape to Cape less than two weeks prior. Funnily enough, after the final stage, my teammate Annie and I had exactly the same time in the General Classification. She managed to stay in the peloton on the final stage, so that offset the time that I was in front of her on Stage 3. I finished 23rd overall in the women's category, out of 68 finishers. 

Podium for my age category 

Pretty chuffed with my rather large medal! 

Munda Biddi - Days 7-11, 16-20 July 2015, 220km

Start of the ride - smiles all round

16 July: Lake Brockman Tourist Park to Yarri Campsite

We set off from Lake Brockman at 11.30am. My bike rack was rubbing on the rear tyre so we had to stop and fix that after only 5km. We didn't re start again until 2pm, after Annie the mechanic worked some magic with a lot of patience and some selective use of scissors. 

Mechanic Annie

The trail was beautiful, nice trees, lots of small bridges over creeks.

Bridge over a creek

Emma walking / pushing her bike up
 a steep rutted hill

There was one steep section coming up and down to cross Harvey River - I had to walk up one rutted section but managed to ride the rest. 


The trail was not very technical - mostly on single lane vehicle tracks. Even the single track was not technical. Beautiful and we were able to go relatively fast to make up for lost time. Got to Yarri Campsite at 5pm.

Average speed 12 kph, 3:40 riding time for 45 km. 

Annie riding an uphill section of trail that I'd just walked up

17 July: Yarri Campsite to Honeymoon Pool

We left the campsite at 9.30am. First stop was after an hour and 8km of riding for morning tea. Before lunch there were a few hills, we crossed a railway, and we rode along powerlines in a few sections. 

Riding along powerlines

Crossing the railway

LARGE tree trunk

The weather was mixed with a few spots of rain and lots of sunshine. We stopped just after the turnoff to Collie for lunch. After lunch we found ourselves on a section of singletrack which was quite rutted and loose in places. Not much fun. And we somehow missed a sign so we spent a lot longer on the singletrack than we were supposed to. We finally got ourselves back on track by following a dirt road along a railway then taking part of a bitumen road to rejoin the trail. 

Rutted singletrack through lovely bush

Then there was some more nice trail and a narrow singletrack section through some very overgrown spindly shrubs. This section was quite undulating and by now I was getting tired. 

Narrow singletrack through spindly shrubs - lots of ducking! 

Then we got to a "hard" section. It was quite steep uphill and downhill along the side of a ridge. I managed to ride all the uphill and most of the downhill, but on the downhill sections there were lots of hairpin bends that I dismounted to take. By this time it had started raining in earnest and it was about 4pm and getting darker. Not much fun doing hairpin bends downhill in the rain and low light. After about 2km of the hard section we found River Rd, where we turned to ride to Honeymoon Pool campsite where we spent the night.  

Average speed 10 kph, 5 hours riding time for 51 km. 

18 July: Honeymoon Pool to Donnybrook

Mist / fog at Honeymoon Pool
before we set off

It rained all night but by morning the rain had stopped. Everything was wet and it was very misty/foggy. 

The first 4km today were tough - long hard climb (15%+) then switchback descent then much more climbing. We stopped at Nglang Boodja campsite after 4km to replenish water stocks then another 2km of climbing. By the time we left the campsite the sun was out and it turned into a beautiful day.  

Bush affected by fire

Today was a day with numerous long steep climbs interspersed with seemingly never ending flatter but still undulating roads. The scenery was beautiful, particularly in the morning - rolling green hillsides with black cows and white sheep. There was also a fun section of singletrack right before lunch at Crooked Brook Forest but by that stage I was tired and needed food. We had a mega feast for lunch which gave me some energy. 

Rolling hillsides

Lunch was at a picnic table in the sunshine where we spread all our wet clothes out to dry - much to the amusement of picnickers who came by while we were eating. It was so sunny I applied two coats of sunscreen for fear of getting burnt. 

Part of the trail - non-technical gravel road

Most of the afternoon was on bitumen through small towns - an excellent road surface which helped eat up some miles and increase our average speed from 7kph (first hour of the day) to an average of 12.5kph for the whole day. However, it was a hard slog mentally and it was a relief to get to Donnybrook by a record early time of 4pm. We then cleaned the bikes, had our first shower in three days, and had a lovely meal at the Apple Tree Café.

Enjoying the ride

Average speed 12.8 kph, 4:10 riding time for 53 km. 











19 July: Donnybrook to Nala Mia campsite (Jarrahwood township)

It started raining while we were in bed this morning contemplating getting up. We packed up and headed off to the Apple Bakery for breakfast - bacon and egg roll, coffee and apple slice to get through a few hours of riding! With rain forecast all day, our plan was to snack throughout the ride but not stop for a meal until we got to the hut. With only 45km of "easy" riding to do, we figured this would be achievable. 

Breakfast of champions at Donnybrook Bakery

Annie crossing a large puddle / lake

Thank goodness it was easy riding today, because it wasn't so easy with the trails so wet. SE training up gentle slopes through boggy wet sand. LOTS of large puddles to cross - one that had a boggy bottom that I almost fell into (had a bit of a paddle up to my shins). And as the day got later and the rain got heavier, the trail became more like a river. 

In spite of that, it was quite a nice day. A section of bitumen to help eat some miles, some riding near farms and through a pine plantation. And the singletrack sections were fun without being too technical. Quite twisty, and the first section was so new that it was marked with flagging tape. 








We reached the Nala Mia campsite by 1pm. A bit of an odd hut location as it is in the middle of Jarrahwood townsite - although the town is pretty tiny and there didn't seem to be many people about. Just lots of rabbits feasting on lush green grass and bird life.

Average speed 11.4 kph, 4:00 riding time for 45 km. 

Bike covered in dirt and making odd grinding noises

Gear and panniers covered in dirt and mud
- a good test. They are water proof even
when partially submerged in a large puddle! 

Emma covered in mud but still smiling
- happy to be under shelter and soon to
be in warm dry clothes. 

"Picnic" lunch at Nala Mia hut in the bed area - as the tables were in the rain

Our awesome tent set up a Nala Mia campsite

20 July: Nala Mia campsite (Jarrahwood) to Nannup

Another great day for a bike ride - intermittent heavy showers. Although we were lucky and had mostly dry conditions and sunshine for our ride.

The trail today was entirely on a rail trail, relatively flat and consolidated. The trail was slightly elevated from the surrounding land so it didn't have too many puddles. However, in one area the trail wasn't elevated and there were some large puddles - one which was quite deep and a bit soft on the bottom and I lost control and half dropped the bike in the water. Lucky my shoes were still soaking wet and muddy from the day before, so it didn't matter that they got another soaking in muddy water. 

As the rest of the trail was straightforward and we were keen to finish up and get home, we pushed the pace quite high and worked hard. Our average speed was 18kph - flying! - and we did 27km in 1:30. Done by 11.30am.

Finished in Nannup after 5 days on the trail,
and still sort of smiling! 

Lunch in Nannup - we earned it! 

The completed section of trail (blackish squiggly line)

Munda Biddi - first overnight trip, days 3-6, 30 May - 1 June

Planning for the first overnight trip on the Munda Biddi started more than four months ago, with researching light-weight camping gear and racks and panniers for the mountain bike. Finally, it was one week before the first multi-day trip, which was going to be three days (two nights). The last batch of online orders arrived the day before the trip. It took me a whole day to plan and prepare all my food and decide exactly what I needed to take, then how to pack it into two panniers.

Food for three days - focus on lightweight, small volume and tasty 

Luggage for the Munda Biddi

Clothing - focus on layers, with only a change of base layers each day. Everything else was worn for three days. I was pretty smelly by the third day!

Luggage - included bike spares, first aid kit, cooking equipment, lightweight and compact sleeping bag and mat and a luxury travel pillow :)


My luggage all up weighed approx 16kg, which included 3L of water in my Camelbak and 2kg of food. My bike was carrying 11kg and I carried 5kg in my backpack. This was a good weight for me, although after the first day I took some of the heavier items out of my backpack and reduced the amount of water in my Camelbak as the straps were digging into my shoulders. I discovered that the weight on the back of my bike actually helped me riding through loose gravel, which was a nice change. It was definitely tougher and slower going up hills, but I never ran out of gears when climbing.

All smiles before we started

I had two travelling companions for this trip, Wayne and Annie. We left home in cars at 7am to drive to Lake Brockman (our finishing point), leave a car there, then drive in another car with bikes to the starting point in Jarrahdale. After getting our bikes all set up with luggage, we finally headed off at 11:30am.

The first things we noticed after starting on the bikes were that the bike handling was different with panniers, and it was much harder to go uphill!

On the first day, we did 33km to Dandalup hut. We did 615m of climbing in those 32km! Our average speed was 7kph with a riding time of 4:40. This was much slower than I had anticipated, as we averaged 10kph without the panniers. With breaks for snacks, this meant that we didn't arrive at the camp until 5pm (total time 5:40).

Catching our breath after a hard climb. 

The route was quite technical, and particularly the uphill sections were rutted and steep and involved a lot of walking and pushing a 20kg bike and luggage up gradients of 10-20%. There were at least ten sections throughout the day where I was walking and pushing my bike, and some of those sections were so hard that I had to stop every 5-10m to catch my breath and prepare for the next push. There was also a small "river crossing" (large puddle) and lots of deep pea gravel. By the end of the day, I learnt that steering is option through gravel, just relax and let the bike find it's own way.


In spite of the challenge of the route, we enjoyed the forest scenery and found some nice spots to stop for a picnic snack and some pretty rural scenery.

Morning tea

We take the green "touring route" option - which was quite technical enough, thank you. 

We were very happy to see the dam at the Dandalup picnic area, which was not far from our camp site. The weather was ideal, not a breath of wind stirred the waters of the dam.

Bikes at Dandalup dam

Happy to see Dandalup - nearly at the camp! 

View from the Dandalup hut

Sunset and stars coming out

I was so tired by the time we got the turnoff to the Dandalup hut that I decided to walk some of the technical downhill sections as I didn't trust my bike handling skills. It didn't take me long to get back on the bike though. By this stage it was only 30min before sunset so it was hard to see where the trail went with setting sun in our eyes. However, the campsite was in a terrific location - perched on the edge of the ridge looking west. It was so great to get there and discover we were the only ones there. In fact, we hadn't seen anyone else on the trail all day.

 Dinner was re-hydrated spaghetti bolognaise sauce, pasta and parmesan cheese. Followed by mini chocolate bars, milo and port. We earnt it! 

Dinner - re-hydrated bolognaise sauce, pasta and parmesan cheese. Yum! 

Breakfast at the Dandalup hut

Day Two - started with porridge on the camp stove. After a sleepin til after 7am, by the time we made breakfast, packed up camp, packed up the bikes and had a last toilet stop, we got going at 11am. We rode 45km in 4:20, with 680m of elevation gain. Average speed for the day was 10kph. With breaks, including a cooked lunch, it took us 6hrs to reach Dwellingup.

I walked at least seven sections on the second day, and I lost count of the number of times I came off my bike. No major damage, but lots of bruises. Reasons I came off included climbing on technical sections and losing my nerve or not being able to keep the bike on track, and skidding too fast in gravel. I learnt that faster is not always faster, if it means that you come off and have to take the time to pick yourself and your bike back up, dust yourself off, ad check for damage.

I was very happy to reach Turner River mountain bike park, where we stopped for a cooked lunch. This meal was two minute noodles with tinned tuna, plus rice cakes and peanut butter. Followed by a cup of coffee and a mini chocolate. Enough fuel to tackle the rest of the trail!

Picnic lunch

Sadly, one of my companions didn't continue on after our lunch stop. Wayne pulled out as he was totally cooked. This was his first back-to-back days of hard riding, and he didn't have the energy to continue on. He phoned his dad, who had his car, to pick him up.


Annie and I continued on to Dwellingup. There was a long tough hill after lunch, so it was a good thing that Wayne did pull out. However, after that we had some long sections of downhill and rail trail, which helped our average speed. There were also some beautiful fast and narrow sections of singletrack winding through the forest between Turner River and Marrinup. After Marrinup, the trail was closed so we had to take the roads to Dwellingup.

In Dwellingup, we were staying the luxury of a motel room (thanks to Wayne who booked it a few days earlier!). We arrived at 5pm, so it was great to not have to put up tents or cook our own dinner. Shower, then to the pub for dinner :)

The next morning, we set an alarm so that we could get going early and finish at a reasonable hour. We started at 8:15am after a coffee at the local cafe and it was cold! We had all our layers on, and we needed it as the day started with a long downhill.

Setting off from Dwellingup

Day Three was a long day - 62.5km at an average speed of 11kph with 890m of elevation gain. Our riding time was 5:30, with total time from start to finish 8hrs including stops for food and approx an hour looking at maps and trying to figure out where the trail went.

Annie cresting a long climb - note the steep descent
sign (for the reverse direction) - 10% gradient. 

Emma enjoying the trails

We had some beautiful riding on the third day. It started with a non-technical trail through the forest, but there were some hard climbs to contend with.












We then headed past and through Lane Poole Reserve, where we got mislead by some confusing signs. Thankfully we spotted a Department of Parks and Wildlife Ranger who pointed us in the right direction.

Enormous mess made in the road by 4WD vehicles. 

After that was a quite fun section on North Junction Form, which was a highly compacted road used and abused by 4WD vehicles. It was easy riding but you had to watch the trail the whole way as pot holes would appear out of nowhere in the shadows.

We saw more than a dozen 4WD vehicles in an hour on the road and as we stopped for lunch at a beautiful granite outcrop. Picnic lunch included a cup of hot milo, rice cakes and peanut butter and cream cheese.

Technical downhill section  with rocks and gravel

Right next to the granite outcrop was a technical section of downhill. The photo doesn't really do it justice. The tricky thing about technical downhill sections is choosing a good line, as you are going downhill and trying to maintain the right speed. Then applying your bike handling skills, carrying 15+kg of luggage, to get your bike to take the line you have picked. Momentum helps with rolling through but it meas everything happens more quickly!

Tunnel with bike lane

After the 4WD road there was a lovely section of singletrack alongside Nanga Road. It was fun with a few tricky bits that made it interesting. We also went through a tunnel with a dedicated bike lane. There should be more of this in Perth!





The next 15km were unsealed roads connected by fun singletrack. Some sections of sand, where all the riding though pea gravel paid off with my bike handling. Annie and I were both getting pretty tired by this stage, with a few stops for food to replenish the stores and give us energy to get to the end.

The last 8km of the day were on an unsealed road, which was a detour due to construction work on Logue Brook Dam. It was definitely the least fun part of the three days, as we were tired and it was a corrugated unsealed road with sections of deepish pea gravel. Tiring after 55km and 4 1/2 hours already on the bikes.

Finally we reached the car - what a relief!

It was a fantastic trip. I couldn't have done it without my travelling companions Wayne and Annie, who were very keen to take up the challenge of three days off-road. It was much harder physically than I expected and I certainly appreciated reaching the end every day. I was also surprised how long each day took - next time we will try to leave earlier in the day so that we are not feeling rushed at the end of the day to reach our campsite before dark.

I'm six days into the Munda Biddi adventure of 2015 - and already planning the next multi-day trip!