OpenStreetMap
Today I went on an adventure ride: 70km of sealed and unsealed roads (~20km unsealed total) from Lismore to Protesters Falls.
The ride itself was stunning. This part of the world has astounding natural beauty and as such the Nightcap National Park is classed as a world heritage area.
New map data will include Terania Creek Road and a couple of parks/toilets etc on the way. As yet the data isn't uploaded.
Now for the adventure part: about 1km away from the picnic area near the falls a rear spoke snapped. So I rode home 34km down one spoke.
Then at The Channon 2 chainring mounting bolts sheered off. One got left in the never never, the other was *just* hanging on. So I spent 40mins removing the larger 2 of my 3 chainrings and cycled the remaining 20km home on just the small (28T, I think) ring. Max speed was ~12-14km/h :p. I attempted to use cable ties to bend the 2nd chainring back so the small ring could be used but this only lasted about 40m before the ties snapped.
The bike's mechanical problems were a great lesson in ingenuity, problem solving and learning the first rule of being stranded: don't panic.
Now: The Camelbak!
The camelbak performed brilliantly. It had enough room for a small camera tripod, tools, spare tubes, lunch, camera/phone/GPS and 3L of water. The main drawback is that there *is* some flavour in the water. It's not so much a plastic taste as much as a "disinfected" taste, so it may be a by-product of the bladder's anti-bacterial coating or maybe even the region's over-chlorinated water. I can try boiled water at some stage to see if that helps.
One thing that does help though is filling it with cold water and ice. Thankfully the bladder opening is the best part of 10cm in diameter so it's trivial to throw chunks of ice in it. Upon leaving home it had ~750mL of ice in 3 chunks (froze water in party cups). Currently there's still a good 200-400mL (hard to estimate) worth of ice in it. That's after five and a half hours in the sun and against my sweaty back, although the air was cool (~20C max). Ice also has the added advantage of keeping your back a bit cooler, but the pack is more than insulated enough to stop it from becoming uncomfortably cold.
Anyway, on with some obligatory pics:
A view along the way. This was near the top of a hill in the full sun, hence the sweat. So although the Camelbak's "air flow" backing helps it's not perfect:
Terania Creek near Protesters Falls:
Discussion
Comment from awesm on 18 July 2009 at 12:29
It's an amazing place and road there. I must get back there with a tent one day soon. I guess now it's mapped that's slightly less appealing, though your photos entice me more.
Comment from Biogenesis_ on 18 July 2009 at 12:49
I guess it would be *possible* to camp there, but not after much rain. There weren't any "no camping" signs but the ground is seriously mushy at the moment.