Day 11. Friday 10 March, 2023. Robinvale to Mildura

     Nb1:  This blog is being created by an AI chatbot (ChatGPT)

Nb2: Click on photos to enlarge.

A short 85 km ride today to Mildura - hardly worth getting up for - unless you wanted to view the sun shining on the bridge over the Murray River

taking us back into NSW. But get up we did and took off down the Sturt Highway.  Grand Pooh Bah Chalkie sensibly set us off early at 7.30 to avoid as much traffic as possible but it was still an uncomfortable ride with monster semi-trailers rushing past us.  99% of them gave us a wide berth but there was one small-minded cretin who flew past as close to the white line on the edge of the road as he could get and frightened the bejesus

out of us.  Kaybie, who was leading the group at the time,

took off into the scrub as the truck nearly sideswiped her and it took us five minutes of searching before we could locate her.

 

Mildura is a major horticultural centre notable for its grape production, supplying 80% of Victoria's grapes. Many wineries also source grapes from Mildura. It is very close to the New South Wales border and only 140 kms from the SA border.  Many Aboriginal people lived around the site of Mildura because of the abundant food. Local tribes included the Latjilatji and Jarijari.

The first Europeans in the area arrived in 1857 and brought sheep to graze the rich pastures.

The centre of Mildura has been modernised

and Faybie found something there

to excite her.

Great conditions for riding with a cool day and cross tailwinds saw us arrive for an early lunch soon after 11.00 a.m. at Gol Gol.  It was straight to the bakery

for pies and milkshakes

while the bikes appreciated a bit of a breather

as did some of the riders.

At lunch, Chalkie finds himself pretty well ostracised by the rest of the group

and we associate with him now only on an 'as needs' basis.

This follows Premier Parrotheads announcement last week,

and Chalkie declaring that after due consideration, he was going to put his hand up and apply for the position.  

Back on the road again and very soon we  crossed the Murray River again and were finally out of NSW for good. Time for one more rest

before arriving here

for the night.

Kaybie and SASMan soon set to work unloading the trailer and watching them in action is to view a well-oiled machine.  The teamwork is impeccable.  After SASMan takes out all the luggage, Kaybie swings the gate shut

while SASMan waits patiently for it, 

secures it,

they reach for the cover

and voila, all snug and tight.

Following 'happy hour'

it was over to the Golf Club restaurant for dinner.  Salad seemed to be the only menu item

but after some discussion with the chef

he agreed to provide us with some options and we all ended up with a most enjoyable meal.

There has been a lot of discussion about riders who use titanium bikes. There are various claims that the bikes go faster, the riders are better looking, they dress better and are more intelligent than your average rider.

These are the three riders (above) in the Source to Sea group who have titanium bikes so you can judge for yourselves.

Similar claims are made for riders who ride bikes with tubeless tyres. The riders below are the ones in the Source to Sea group who ride tubeless.

Well, straight away intelligence can be ruled out.  The one on the right is so lacking in it that for the first eight days of the ride he rode around with this

bloody great rock stuck in his saddlebag but didn't even notice it.  He did comment a few times when climbing that his bike seemed a little sluggish but did not investigate any further.  Doh!

Selfish Rider Award
Name	Kms ridden day	Total kms ridden	Name	Kms ridden day	Total kms ridden
Antonio	85	701	Ms Tradie	38	280
Chalkie	85	701	Ms Twinkletoes	47	556
Cockie	47	460	PubServ	85	701
Faybie	29	294	SASMan	47	395
Ganners	85	512	Twinkletoes	85	670
Kaybie	38	306

Helpful Driver Award
Name	Kms unridden day	Total kms unridden	Name	Kms unridden day	Total kms unridden
Antonio	0	0	Ms Tradie	47	471
Chalkie	0	0	Ms Twinkletoes	38	145
Cockie	38	241	PubServ	0	0
Faybie	56	407	SASMan	35*	287
Ganners	0	189	Twinkletoes	0	31
Kaybie	42*	370

·         Includes agreed reduction according to formula