Day 9. Wednesday 8 March, 2023. Barham to Swan Hill

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Nb2: Click on photos to enlarge.

Seventy-seven kms from Barham to Swan Hill, a small, agricultural town of approximately 12,000 people situated on the banks of the Murray River.  It was established (by Europeans) in 1846.  In the local indigenous language the area was called "Matakupaat" or "place of the Platypus".  The morning was cool and it was arm-warmers all the way for most of the group.  Twinkletoes had his on nice and early as well as his vest as he checked out the direction of the ride.

The whole day was ridden on flat roads with a fairly rough surface and into light to moderate headwinds or cross headwinds.  Not the easiest day's riding but the distance was not too great.  The area we rode through seemed to be mostly farmland.

The occasionally winding road

was followed by long straight stretches.

As usual, SASMan lead us out as we turned the corner

while everyone else was in close attendance.

before re-grouping

and speeding off again.

It was a do-it-yourself morning tea again at

with riders standing around and contemplating the crosswinds ahead.

The place was a veritable gnomesville

though there is one less there now as someone knicked one 

when they thought no-one was looking.

The country ground was full of the cyclists' nightmare -the dreaded

and sure enough, careful though she was, Ms Twinkletoes managed to find one.

Not to worry though, in honour of International Women's Day (Mar 8), the boys were soon onto it -

and when the tyre proved a bit hard to get back on the wheel, SASMan was there

to lend a hand.  Job almost done until Cocky stuck his big butt in

and held us up for another 15 minutes.

Another couple of hours of riding and we were over the bridge

and over the river

and headed for

This was formerly a pioneer village 50 years ago and they are still in the process of updating and modernising the accommodation.  We were lucky enough to score one of the more rustic huts

with full period charm such as tin bathtub, outside dunny and a hand pump for the water.

After settling in a few of the boys went uptown looking for a bit of light relief at the Thai Wellness Centre

but came back very frustrated.

The afternoon meeting was a very sombre affair

with everyone studying the map book for tomorrow's long ride as Grand Pooh Bah took us through every twist and turn and corner of the 144km route.  

There was a joyous note at the end when Ms Tradie was honoured as the current holder of the Helpful Driver Award

and allowed to hold and cherish the trophy for a few precious moments.

Unbelievable

In a very disturbing incident, it seems that after only a short period of marriage, OneOfThem has already been corrupted and gone over to the dark side. Here we have photgraphic evidence of her quite blithely

taking orders from the riders for the drugs they want to order for tomorrow's ride.

YOU LEARN SOMETHING EVERYDAY

Twinkletoes is demonstrating the correct technique for compressing a bottle of tonic water so that it doesn't lose its sparkle.

It seems like it works 'cos he said he'd had this bottle for five years and when he opened it this afternoon, it was like

'Whoooa there'.

How uncouth

We went out to dinner tonight and were highly embarrassed by one couple who proved totally inadequate at using a knife and fork, like civilised people.  Instead, they were reduced to stabbing at their food

with a couple of little wooden sticks.  

The Selfish Ones

Below are the 3 leading contenders for the Selfish Rider (Mouldy Raspberry) Award.

Is it co-incidence they are the same three riders with tubeless tyres?  When asked to comment on why they were able to keep riding while others were sacrificing their rides for the good of the group, they replied that firstly their bikes were a lot lighter as they didn’t have any tubes; and secondly, they were selfish bastards and didn’t give a tinker’s you-know -what for anyone else.

Selfish Rider Award
Name	Kms ridden day	Total kms ridden	Name	Kms ridden day	Total kms ridden
Antonio	77	616	Ms Tradie	35	242
Chalkie	77	616	Ms Twinkletoes	77	509
Cockie	42	413	PubServ	77	616
Faybie	35	265	SASMan	42	348
Ganners	45	427	Twinkletoes	77	585
Kaybie	35	268

 

Helpful Driver Award
Name	Kms unridden day	Total kms unridden	Name	Kms unridden day	Total kms unridden
Antonio	0	0	Ms Tradie	42	424
Chalkie	0	0	Ms Twinkletoes	0	107
Cockie	35	203	PubServ	0	0
Faybie	42	351	SASMan	33*	252
Ganners	32	189	Twinkletoes	0	31
Kaybie	38*	328

·         Includes agreed reduction according to formula.