Day 16. Wednesday 15 March, 2023. Swan Reach to Wellington

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

Nb2: Click on photos to enlarge.

Nice Try Chalkie

In an early morning incident, Chalkie again tried to eliminate his main rival for the Selfish Rider’s Award, PubServ.  In a hotel with shared bathroom facilities, Chalkie saw PubServ headed for the washroom with his toothbrush, leaving the door ajar.  Surmising he may have left his key inside, Chalkie slipped in, released the door latch and shut the door.  In the ensuing hullabaloo when PubServ found himself locked out, Chalkie (would you trust this man?  We certainly don't)

appeared looking concerned, said he had rung the management and the cleaners would be in the hotel at 9.00 and would open the door. As the ride group was leaving at 7.30, he suggested that PubServ then get a lift with a support vehicle and catch up with the rest of the group.  It would be terribly bad luck about the forfeited kms, but as Antonio always says in Italiano, ‘c’est la vie!”.  Chalkie, however, didn’t reckon on Captain Twinkletoes, who, drawing on his extensive experience in his previous career as a cat burglar, was quickly out of his window, onto the roof of the annex and in through PubServ’s window,

which was propped slightly ajar by a bible, and had the door opened in no time.  Some are now calling this divine intervention a miracle.  Luckily, the hotel has CCTV footage of the incident, and after reviewing it have reported that while they cannot see Chalkie walking into the room, the film shows an obnoxious-looking creature

bearing a strong resemblance to him slithering along the ground into and out of the room at the exact time of the reported incident.

Meanwhile, the bikes were all lined up ready to go

on a long (130 km) ride to Wellington, 

as SASMan was released from the SASMobile 

where he had spent the night after Kaybie had slammed close the trailer gate too quickly the previous night and forgotten he was still there.

Before we set off we spoke to the resident scarecrow

and asked him how effective did he think he was? and he replied he was very much so as100 metres round him was always a bird-free zone.  Yes.  We can understand why.

And we were much taken by an impressive modern art installation

in the grounds of the hotel, intriguingly titled 'Study in Bulldog Clips.  You decide!'

The first 20kms seemed to fly by until we halted for Kaybie's Gel Stop.

How this works is that every 20km we stop and Kaybie downs a gel then after 5kms when it kicks in she sprints off and we spend the next 10kms chasing her down and she rides with us for the next 5kms when the cycle repeats itself.

Today this went on for 52 kms until we came to a lovely little coffee shop at Bowhill

where we re-fuelled in the little park

and admired the bugler of Bowhill

and his companion in arms overlooking the Murray River.

The devestation from the floods is still evident in this community 

with the picture showing the level the water reached and the rubbish still waiting to be removed.  The cafe owner said he was not allowed to serve meals as he still did not have sewerage restored.

Riding out of Bowhill after morning tea, instead of continuing straight up the hill to the planned route, the group decided (?) to turn right at the crossroads and take the 59 km scenic (i.e.very hilly) road instead of the 45km very flat road to Murray Bridge, where we waited 5 minutes to cross the bridge

and then had lunch.

while the bikes once again waited patiently

for our return.

Another 34 kms down the road to our night stop at

and our very comfortable cabin

superbly placed overlooking the river.

Lots of impressive scenery again today:

Roadside art abounded

while PubServ prayed there'd be no more photo opps like this ...... but to no avail.

The walking wounded.

Nurse Sandrino points to her handiwork

as she surveys the wounded warriors she has nursed all the way from Corryong to Wellington.  Thank you nurse for your wonderful work in keeping us all going.

Parmi Count

We have been intrigued and disappointed by SASMan's failure to maintain his lifetime average of 90% for chicken parmigiana meals when dining in a hotel.  Indeed, on this trip he is at a puny 20%.  When interviewed to find out what was the problem, he referred to the incident at Corryong where Cocky cut off, cooked and devoured the leg of Luna

the famous Corryong mouse catcher and declared it tasted just like chicken.  SASMan said that ever since then he has been put off ordering it as he could now never be sure if he was eating parmi or pussy.  

Tubes or tubeless?

After 13 days' riding and a collective total of 10,200 kms ridden, the group has had nine punctures.  Of these, only one has been on a tubeless tyre, and that was only caused by a broken spoke resulting from an accident which allowed the air to escape.

In addition, three of the leading four contenders for the Selfish Rider's Award (i.e. those riders who have ridden the most kms without a thought of helping out and doing some of the driving, thus allowing those drivers to do a bit more riding) ride with tubeless tyres.

You decide?  Time to change?

Selfish Rider Award
Name	Kms ridden day	Total kms ridden	Name	Kms ridden day	Total kms ridden
Antonio	147	1262	Ms Tradie	34	471
Chalkie	147	1317	Ms Twinkletoes	95	1010
Cockie	111	899	PubServ	147	1317
Faybie	34	503	SASMan	95	716
Ganners	52	859	Twinkletoes	145	1286
Kaybie	52	567

Helpful Driver Award
Name	Kms unridden day	Total kms unridden	Name	Kms unridden day	Total kms unridden
Antonio	0	55	Ms Tradie	113	737
Chalkie	0	0	Ms Twinkletoes	52	255
Cockie	36	364	PubServ	0	0
Faybie	113	674	SASMan	49*	438
Ganners	95	365	Twinkletoes	0	31
Kaybie	85*	576
·         Includes agreed reduction according to formula.