Outback Odyssey - Mini Mawson 2 - Day 4 - Laura to Melrose

Final day of riding, so despite all my aches and pains I felt that I was confident of getting through this like all the previous days.. slow and steady. Even with this being a shorter day of 57km I was probably already coming to the realisation that my goal would be simply to finish and that doing any of the awesome trails at Melrose would be taking things a bit too far.. as it turned out, even finishing todays ride was going to test me  

Saying good bye to Laura we headed along a section of the Mawson trail that runs parallel to the highway. I've passed this section plenty of times in the car, so it was a real treat to be able to roll along here. We resisted the temptation to deviate from the trail and head to Stone Hut Bakery (best pies in the universe!) and headed into Wirrabarra Forest. The trails through Wirrabara were both a highlight, and a frustration. While todays ride was relatively short, it was basically undulating all day. So i was experiencing some of the most incredible trails, while at the same time feeling my knee rapidly deteriorate. I adjusted the saddle height up a few times during the course of the day, but eventually, at about the half way point my knee started telling me enough with some unpleasant stabbing pains  

Mt Remarkable in the distance

A group of ride marshals came over to assist, as well as the sag wagon. I sat for a bit, we made a few more adjustments to the saddle, i put on an adhesive ice patch and took some voltaren. I also unloaded my heavy bag into the sag wagon to lessen the load. Then.. tried to limp to lunch. Having come so far, i think stubbornness may have been overriding intelligent decision making. Exiting the forest, I could see Mt Remarkable in the distance.. our destination! so i pushed on with the marshals and Miss V supporting me along the way.. and the sag wagon stalking me  I finally made it to the lunch stop after a long smooth downhill run. Less than 20km to go!

   

nice downhill run

Two of my saviours for the day

 
I stuffed the lunch roll into my gob and was waiting for Miss V to finish hers. All the while I could feel my knee stiffening up. So i made the decision to go ahead, knowing that V would catch me up the road. I figured as long as I could keep moving, I'd be ok. I passed a few people on this stretch, which made me feel better mentally, but at the same time I was pondering if I was doing damage to the knee at the same time. That said, while it felt ok, I was moving ahead. 

Home stretch into Melrose!!

With about 10km to go Miss V caught me on one of the long downhill stretches with a massive grin. She'd chased for around 10km and finally caught me! nice riding  for the final 10 km we rode fairly steadily together, just making sure I could get to the end. There was enormous relief once we started riding familiar roads just outside of Melrose, with the final two to three kilometres filled with a mix of elation and relief. Super fast road descent into Melrose and into the camping ground completing our journey. 


Getting off the bike i was starting to appreciate the extent of my knee issues as i was having difficulty bending it due to the inflammation.  I hobbled around and helped Miss V set up the tent, and then sadly watched her ride off to have a play on the Melrose trails. I think one of the biggest disappointments of the entire trip was not being able to join here on even one loop of her favourite Weaving Camels trail loop  

Strava Data - Day 4

Melrose turned out a delicious roast lamb and beef dinner with apple crumble for dessert. With no more riding to do, I made sure to (repeatedly) "sample" the excellent wines from the nearby Bartagunyah winery  

We said a few goodbyes to the people we're ridden with that night, and then in morning after breakfast we packed up our stuff and headed back to Burra. Amusingly (for us), the weather was terrible before we got there, sensational while we were there, and is forecast to rain for the rest of the time people are riding.. we must be good luck  

Having done this event once, sitting at home struggling to walk due to the knee inflammation, the question is whether i'd do it again? I think I would. I'd definitely do some things differently though. For one i think i'd avoid the large beam rack bag and settle for whatever I can carry in a camelbak. Probably more significantly, I think i'd look at getting a XC 29er bike to use for it, rather than my All Mountain 26" bike.