6th Dec - Bike from Canberra to Goulburn

Up at 6ish to get my stuff together and check that my bike was all put together ok after all of te changes I made last night. By the time I had done that and had breakfast etc and said goodbye to Paul it was 9 and I wanted to get on the road. Ended up faffing for a while on the phone to Lebara to found why they had over charged me and I had run out of credit on my phone. Fortunately they reimbursed me some of it.

Ended up leaving leaving Jerroberra at 10.30. The road from Queanbeyan climbs for about 20km but then is rolling without very much traffic. I enjoyed the ride.

My hands were so much better with the butterfly bars. There are loads of different positions to ride with :-) Hardly any numbness in comparison to before.

Stopped for lunch in Bungendore and saw this awesome sign.

I tried to stop in time to rescue a tortoise crossing the road but did not make it and watched as a truck ran over it and the tortoise was pushed 20m along the road. I went to pick it up and see if it was OK. Unfortunately it was bleeding badly and could not even pull its head back in or breathe properly. I had to put it out of its misery :-( I really did not enjoy that. Fortunately I managed to rescue 2 other tortoises along that stretch of road and so it made me feel less bad about the first one.

It showered all day but the roads where quite and the countryside lovely.


My plan today was to bike 150km from Canberra to Bundanoon area and to camp there. Instead I ended up meeting David at the supermarket in Goulburn (110km into the ride) at about 5.30 in the evening and going back to stay with him and his wife and 2 children.

They are both cycle tourists and have done several years of touring over the years in 1st world counties. Their last tour was in Germany with their 2 young sons in bugies. It is encouraging to see that you can still tour with young children. They fed me lots of pizza and David helped me with a problem with my pedals and cleats. The kids are very cute. It was nice to spend time with a family. Made me broody.