Saturday 20th October - Bad Luck – Good Luck

Saturday 20^th October

Victoria Falls but not THAT one. This one is in the Blue Mountains.

Another view in the rather green Blue Mountains

Looking for Rockwarbler.

I've still got my shorts on under my birdwatching gear. 

I can see Sydney where I'm pointing but it is over 60 km even as the crow flies.

Fixing the lucky puncture. 

Racing against time to get to the motel before the big storm happens.

A funny day today with some good and bad luck working in conjunction. After a short look at Lake Wallace I set off from the motel at 9 am for the penultimate day’s ride. I’m on the Great Western Highway which is one of the two routes over the Blue Mountains from Lithgow to Sydney. I’ve been told it is the better one to cycle as the other is narrow and has no shoulder in places. The GWH is nicely graded and again I’m able to complete the ride on the big ring.

I meet up with Mandy and we do a side trip to view a couple of viewpoints looking down into the canyon on the north side of the GWH. The views are good but the visibility is poor. Many other visitors as it is the weekend and this is only a couple of hours drive from many parts of Sydney.

I carry on with over 50 km largely downhill and I’m able to complete many kilometres without having to pedal. It is a very busy road, however and the surfaces and shoulders are variable to say the least. I don’t think it is a route you’d take twice. It is warm and there is a tailwind, though Mandy has heard there is due to be a thunderstorm later in the afternoon.

We stopped to look down from Yelomundee Regional Park towards Sydney and can see its skyscrapers in the distance. We can also hear the sound of Bell Miners in the distance. How did we miss them last time we were here? When I come to set off I find I’ve got a puncture. That is a bad thing but at least it didn’t happen when doing 67kph downhill earlier and it is a front wheel puncture which is easier to deal with and the tools in the car are here too. I change the tube and set off again stopping to see the Bell Miners we’d heard.

I keep the pace up as the skies are darkening and thunder can be heard in the distance. Then it gets really dark and lightning can be seen rather close and in the distance we are going. As I get towards Windsor where we are staying tonight I come to wet roads showing the puncture had delayed me to avoid a good soaking. I get to the motel and prop the bike up as the next shower hits and hits hard. There are some good heavy showers and a rainbow in an oddly yellow sky at one point. All in all it was a useful puncture. I still hope I don’t get another too soon.

103.84 km today in 3 hours 38 minutes – an average of 28.5 kph. Total so far 4130.18 km