I can’t say “Dalgety to Jindabyne” without thinking about the steep hill after 14kms. Maybe that’s why I was happy to stay at the campground and talk this morning. In fairness, I slept until 9am when the sun hit my tent. Prior to that, it was a very cold night.
After breakfast and a bit of a talkfest, I went to the coffee caravan for a coffee and to get my lunch. It took ages. At least 30 mins, but I’m not in a hurry.
Then it was onto the 35km ride. It was a pleasant first 14kms which went from gentle and undulating to savage and steep in about 50 metres. I’m not into savage or steep. Especially at my current state of fitness, where my watch is telling me to have another rest day … every day.
So I got off and walked, and walked. It was immediately 17% and I walked until it was only 10%, then rode a bit. It looked almost level by comparison 😁.
I stopped, got my chair out and had lunch in the shade by the road. It really is beautiful and stark country. It’s quite dry too.
All things come to an end, even the painful things, and when I rode over the top, at least the trend was downhill. My remaining easy ride into Jindabyne was punctuated with a few too many tough climbs which although minor by comparison to earlier ones, took all my effort to ascend.
My shoes have been disintegrating over the last day or two and some nice Gorilla tape that I applied gave up the ghost at the outskirts of Jindabyne. Luckily there are some bike shops but the only shoes in my size in this town are flat soles and ugly. In the end, they’re still preferable to these ones. The uppers are falling apart and the soles are peeling away. (Note from future self – I bought the flat and ugly ones the next day).
After my search for shoes fizzled into confusion, I went to the campground which wasn’t full by any means. I went to my assigned block with a great view of Lake Jindabyne. On the way, there were quite a few grassy unpowered tent blocks but mine was covered in gravel. Why would you rent that space out ?
So, it was back to the office armed with the numbers of better, unoccupied blocks. Sure take 62 no problem. A wasted 20 minutes of life.
Jindabyne has a craft brew place that serves food, so that was dinner sorted. Luckily tonight was much warmer than last night.