Australia: Canberra to Melbourne by backroads and bikeways

[Vintagetourer]

We have just completed an early spring (Australia), fully loaded tour by backroads and bikeways from Canberra to Melbourne.

1000 km 15 days on my Thorn Sherpa which behaved beautifully the whole way on some very testing surfaces.

The route crossed the high Snowy-Monaro region and then down the Gippsland coast and via Phillip Island into Melbourne.
We used the remote Barry Way and Snowy River Road to get across the divide.
A very enjoyable ride. Very little traffic the entire way.
This is an ideal Thorn Sherpa ride. It has a bit of everything along the way.
A full route description, photos, references, accommodation list etc are available in this journal.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/laketolake

[Andybg]

Just started to have a look at your tour. Bike looks fantastic and well up to the adventure. I am sure a lot of the memebers on here (including me) will be drooling over the pages for the days to come.

It must be nice for it to be spring and the main cycling season coming up.

Those of us in the northern hemisphere are discussing waterproof shoes and cycling hats.

Looking forward to spending some well deserved time investigating your tour

Kind Regards

Andy

[Danneaux]

Graham!

Wonderful to read a follow-on to your earlier House-to-House tour report; I've been eagerly anticipating the next chapter in your Australian journeys and it is here at last with Lake-to-Lake! Annnnnd...with a really severe finger injury as well.

I very much enjoyed your Australian Alpine journal as well; the Graymare trail was spectacular! I also liked the newspapers on the hut walls, and this has made it a "must go Someday" destination for me. See the power of a well-written and photgraphed story?

Really nice to see the evolution of your Sherpa to better meet your needs as you use and adapt it over time, and nice to see more of the derailleur Thorns on the Forum. The Sherpa is a corker of a heavy touring bike, and is ideal for the sort of tours you're doing -- as you well know!

Thanks so much for sharing. Looking forward to the "next chapter".

Best,

Dan.

[Vintagetourer]

Graham!

Wonderful to read a follow-on to your earlier House-to-House tour report; I've been eagerly anticipating the next chapter in your Australian journeys and it is here at last with Lake-to-Lake! Annnnnd...with a really severe finger injury as well.

I very much enjoyed your Australian Alpine journal as well; the Graymare trail was spectacular! I also liked the newspapers on the hut walls, and this has made it a "must go Someday" destination for me. See the power of a well-written and photgraphed story?

Really nice to see the evolution of your Sherpa to better meet your needs as you use and adapt it over time, and nice to see more of the derailleur Thorns on the Forum. The Sherpa is a corker of a heavy touring bike, and is ideal for the sort of tours you're doing -- as you well know!

Thanks so much for sharing. Looking forward to the "next chapter".

Best,

Dan.

Thanks Dan. A significant change on this tour was changing the 2.0" Marathon XR tyres for 1.6" Marathon Supremes. It was a great improvement and the narrower tyres without nobs made for much easier riding. They also stood up to quite a hammering from the rough, rocky, dirt surfaces on part of the ride.

[jags]

supreams are great except for the sidewall ,i managed to rip a nice 3inch slice into my front tire going over gravel had to send it back to chainreaction ,mind you having said that i think i was kinda unlucky because since then i have gone over loads of rough tracks with no hassle ,yeah would be my favourate all round tire for the sherpa.