Tenterden to Mt Barker 2002

Tenterden to Mt Barker, DAY 1, WEDNESDAY 16 OCTOBER 2002. I left Liz’ cabin at 2:14 on a mild cloudy afternoon with some rain and a north-westerly gale blowing. The odometer read 1007. Rain fell as I crunched along the 3km or so of gravel tracks to get to the Albany Highway.

Mt Barker welcome

When I got to the highway and turned south the wind was a great help, which was good because I didn’t feel well – I had got a cold a few days before and it had reached the stage where one might take a sickie if at work, but I was on holidays and determined to proceed with my plans.

About a dozen km into the ride the main gear cable broke. I made a mental note to fit new cables as well as tyres on future rides, if any. It wasn’t a major problem just now because the wind was so strong that I could get up hills in top gear, but I would have to fit the new cable I had brought with me before going on in subsequent days.

I rested at 1024 and checked the cable. The little knob had broken off the top where the cable goes through the lever. This explained why gears had been hard to change for some days before – the knob would have been in the process of coming off.

As I resumed riding I had another idea – why not get out the spanner and do a quick fix, make the cable do more work before changing it? So I stopped at 1027, at a Westrail bus stop in Kendenup, loosened the cable at the derailleur end, pulled it through, doubled it over at the top, jammed it back in the hole and tightened everything up.

I now had four gears, which in the conditions, was enough to get me to Mt. Barker comfortably. Subsequent adjustments gave me the full seven gears and I had no need to fit the new cable.

I got to Mt. Barker at 4:11, 1041, and checked into the Valley Views motel which I had booked by phone on Saturday. My unit was No. 9 and was called ‘Goundrey’. All the units had names. The unit was comfortable and properly equipped, and there was of all things a hair dryer, which I have never seen in a motel unit before. I used it to dry my washing.

I walked down into the town and looked around and did the shopping for breakfast. I was pleased to see that the Mt. Barker railway station, whose ruined state I had criticised in my account of the 1987 ride, had been repaired and was now an environmental and tourist centre. I telephoned to book the Denmark hotel for Friday.

I walked back to the motel, then rode the bike down the highway to buy duck in plum sauce and fried rice for dinner, from the Wing Hing.

The weather forecast spoke of a great storm that would sweep over the south-west corner the next day, so I resolved to leave early and get to Albany as quickly as possible, before the rain fell and the wind turned.

Reading at Mt.Barker, end of day: 1042 km. day’s ride: 35 km. Speed to Mt. Barker: 17 kph.

Tenterden to Mt Barker 2002

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