Day 6 was spent quietly sleeping in late after the wee hours arrival from the 400k. In late morning, I made it as far as a nearby supermarket, but not much farther. Our lodgings were a "backpackers" hostel in an old building with high ceilings and spacious rooms, across from a city park. Some of the surroundings are shown below.
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| The park |
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| Just down the street from the park |
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| An old row of residences with commercial building on the corner. |
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More old residential row houses ... one with solar.
(Here the put the solar panels on the north side of the roof!) |
The backpackers place was full of photos of Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake ... another iconic scene from Tasmania. You may have seen it if you watched the series "Please Like Me" on Netflix where, as a friend told me, in Season 2 Episode 7, the main character, a gay teen, takes a hiking vacation in Tasmania with his deeply troubled mom. On our 600k ride, we would be going to the Cradle Mountain lodge, only a short distance from the lake, but not get to where these spectacular photos are taken, or see the actual iconic scene. I guess I will need to go back again for that!
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| A scene even more iconic than Wineglass Bay |
On Day 7 many of the TdT riders and staff headed for the Evandale Village Fair and National Penny Farthing bicycle racing championships. A penny farthing is the dangerous bicycle with "direct drive" and a huge front wheel. They are the dangerous "bone crushers" that caused the bicycles we ride to be known first as "safety bicycles".
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Would hate to fall of one of those!
(At least they have helmets ...) |
Anyway, I decided to stay in Launceston and get a haircut. I ended up going to a hipster place in the middle of the shopping district, on a street otherwise full of outdoor gear shops. Kathmandu, Macpac, and bike shops also!
The barbers were all twenty something, lots of "ink" (tattoes) and bearded, muscular strapping young folk. Their beards were very dense and neatly trimmed -- maybe they are brothers?
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A$25, so less than US$18, or JPY2000.
Not quite QB House (1000 yen), but "free beer or nip of liquor with every haircut" |
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There was a Portland-style food cart in front of the barber shop.
In fact, the whole hipster vibe was very Portland. |
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| A cheesesteak and fries while waiting for the barber. |
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On the way back to our lodgings, I stopped in at a bottle shop.
They had a "mix and match" discount on four bottles ... so I got four. I recommend Wizard Smith's Ale. |
My other main "to do" for the day was to redo the wiring on my hub dynamo light connector. I did so, and it seemed to be working fine. I was relieved that the problem was so easily resolved. Nonetheless, I borrowed Mark Thomas' spare battery powered front light -- far brighter than my small spare Gentos light. Better safe than sorry.
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530PM rider briefing before dinner.
Everyone looked as if they planned to take the 600k seriously. |
The next day's 600k ride had around 8500 meters of elevation gain. An Audax 600k has a 40 hour time limit. A number of years back someone came up with a special category of "SR600". These are 600km courses with at least 10,000 meters of elevation gain. They are not for group rides, but rather "permanent" courses that can be completed by individuals or small groups who register in advance. When I did the SR600 Fuji, it had a 52 hour time limit and 12,000 meters of elevation gain. Subsequently, all SR600s have shifted to a 60 hour time limit. A 600km ride with 8500 meters of elevation gain is at the difficult end of the spectrum for non-SR600 rides. And 40 hours is not so much time when you factor in sleep and endless climbs.
Still, I was optimistic after having made it through the earlier rides without difficulty, and feeling as if I was coming into climbing shape.
So we went to bed early.
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