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Social Rides 2007 WY YUNG & BRUTHEN - OMEO, OMEO - BRUTHEN & WY YUNG SOCIAL RIDE Saturday
morning 7.30am Leigh Thompson (Bairnsdale Riviera CC) and Wayne Tunks set off
from Bruthen for the long gradual climb up to Omeo. It was a beautiful slightly
overcast morning with a slight crosswind as they started the small climb out of
Bruthen. The remaining riders Dave Shanahan with Roland and Sue Elsdon on the
tandem if you don’t mind and support vehicle driven by Linley would be
departing from Wy Yung at around 8.30am. Meanwhile
Thomo and Tunkys were slowly picking their way up the climb to Walshe’s
Cutting and were soon plunging down an exhilarating descent at between 65-70kms
per hour towards the valley that carries the Tambo River down to the Lakes, then
speeding past the totem pole on the side of the road and then over the Snakes
Back and around ₤1000 Pound Corner before riding through Double Bridges
then around St Patrick’s Bend and through Tambo Crossing. As we climb towards
Battle Point and Wattle Circle Corner the group would have been leaving Wy Yung
around one hour and some 55kms behind us. Next we ride through Ensay South and
then Ensay where we have a pit stop and take in some food. Continuing up the
road we pass through Doctors Flat as the road seemed to level out bit but still
slightly climbing we pass through The Walnuts and then a few kilometers up the
road Swifts Creek. Then out off the blue comes a loud squawk from above and yell
of “ Piss off maggie” as a magpie half heartily swoops at Tunksy. Leigh says
the really big climb is just around this corner as we sweep around a bend, but
no he has made a mistake it is further up the road. As we ride past Bindi Road
turn off the road begins to slant upwards very seriously. Leigh make the comment
“This is the start of the climb” and just as he said that squawk another
maggie, this time having a crack at Leigh, but again only a half hearted attack.
As the road ascends towards the now bright blue sky, Leigh riding at his own
pace and Tunksy at his the pair began to part company as Thomo’s climbing
ability being much strong than Tunksy start to pull away up (I do mean up) the
road. The time was around 11.15am and with only around 17 kms to Omeo we were
going to be there for and early lunch, or so Tunksy thought but at 12midday and
only three quarters way up the climb it looked like it would be afternoon tea
rather than lunch. Thomo was climbing well and was out of sight to Tunksy. Leigh
had reached the top at 755m and had turned around to see how far Tunksy was up
the climb. After reaching the top of the climb it was a nice easy descent into
Omeo some 10kms down the road. Meanwhile back down the road Dave Shanahan was
putting space into Roland and Sue on the occasional hill but they were regaining
lost time on the descents with their great combined weight. Thomo and Tunksy
were now at their accommodation (Golden Age Hotel) for the night but were unable
to have a shower and change into warm clothes as they waited for the support
vehicle that carried their gear to arrive, but they did manage to get a couple
of cups of coffee and toast while they waited. Then at around 1.30pm the support
car arrived and with that both enjoyed a lingering hot shower. Not long after
Shanahan arrived and then around ten minutes later Roland and Sue rolled in. The
average speed of Thomo and Tunksy was around 22km/p/hr for the 95kms trip. Dave,
Roland and Sue’s average was a bit higher but was over a longer distance some
35kms further. Roland informed the group that we had climbed a combined height
of 1655m on the way up to Omeo. The
group then went across the road and tucked into some fine food from the Omeo
Bakery before walking around the historical Chinese Gold Diggings just out of
Omeo. We
had dinner at the Golden Age Hotel Restaurant, which was very very nice, the
meal that is. Shanahan and Tunksy orders a Scotch Fillet Steak and when the
waitress brought it to the table Tunksy said to her “That half a cow” and
the waitress replied “We breed them big up here” or something to that
effect. Most of the group were in bed by 9.30pm some earlier, ready for the ride
back to Bruthen and Wy Yung leaving at 9.00am Sunday morning. The
return trip back to Bruthen was much faster than the ride up to Omeo, which took
around 5 hours from Bruthen. The return trip to Bruthen took around 3¾ hours.
Sunday
morning, a nice sunny morning with a slight north-easterly blowing the group set
off as a group and climbed steadily out of Omeo towards top of the long descent
to come. At
the summit the sign read 755m as the group prepared to descend at a rapid rate.
The first to head down was Dave Shanahan, followed by Leigh then Roland and Sue
with Tunksy right on the their tail. Reaching speeds of 75-80kms/p/hr the group
plummeted down the 5-6km of the descent, with Shanahan reaching the bottom first
from Roland and Sue who had rocketed past Leigh next to reach the flat land with
Leigh and Tunksy bringing up the rear. The group stopped just out of Swift Creek
to shed the wind vest and warm gloves ready for the long gradual descent with
occasional climb. That was the last time we saw Dave Shanahan who is in training
for the Melbourne to Warrnambool at the end of the month until Roland and Sue
were several kilometres short of the Wy Yung turn around near Bairnsdale. The
group was spread out along the road leading back to Bruthen passing all the
wonderful named places and bends and turns that were seen on the climb up to
Omeo. Then
the second last climb of the ride for Tunksy and Leigh the climb back up to
Walshe’s Cutting where the support vehicle was waiting with some refreshments
and a chance to catch the breath. Then
another exhilarating plunge down towards Dead Horse Flat before the final climb
towards Bruthen and the small down hill past the cemetery and into Bruthen for
the total of 190kms of hard tough riding for the weekend. It was over for both
Leigh and Tunksy, but Dave, Roland and Sue still had 30 odd kms to ride. Leigh
and Tunksy parted company at the Bruthen pub where they had parked their cars
and picked up their gear from the support car. Meanwhile Shanahan was powering
towards the Wy Yung turn around, as Roland and Sue were slowly getting closer to
Bairnsdale. The support vehicle had gone ahead to catch up with Dave while
Tunksy drove behind Roland and Sue. Dave had reached the turn around to Wy Yung
and then immediately turning back towards Bruthen to ride in with Roland and Sue
giving them a combined ride for the weekend of around 230kms.
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