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Elephant Road, Milton NSW – Swimmers Bike Ride

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John Louth filed this following report: Twenty hardy riders set off into a roaring wind that slowed us down quite a bit during  the first part of the course. Thankfully, as soon as we hit Elephant Road and entered bushland, the wind eased and it was a scenic though somewhat rough trail ride all the way around and back to Croobyar Road then up to Milk Haus for coffee and cakes. Along the way, a few of us took a side track and visited Pete and Jan’s old Springwater Farm.  The farm is set in a beautiful location and we made friends with the resident Emu.

The crew on this ride included, John L, Sean P, Bobbie W, Cheryl G, Pete & Jan H, Mark & Heather S, John Reed, Isabel, Wendy J, Mandy & Wayne, Ben, Sue & Chris, Mike & Julie, John & Nikki. All twenty arrived back in one piece except Pete who did sustain a cut leg but not too serious thank goodness. A big welcome to new swimming / riding friends Mandy and Wayne. Well done Jan, Julie and Pete who are all recovering from illness and did well to complete the course. Special thanks to Pete and Jan for suggesting this particular ride, Bob for heading up the peloton and Sean for test riding the route with me.

All in all a fun day and a few folk even suggested we have one of these rides once a month, so any route suggestions are very welcome. Regards John L.

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Mark Stewart sent through this route information downloaded from his GARMIN navigator.

Vital statistics include:

• Distance – about 19 km (forgot to turn it on at the start!!)
• Elevation climbed – 416 metres
• Temperature – 24 to 29 deg C
• Energy expended – 684 calories
• Max speed – 54 km/h
• Duration – about two hours including stops

Underneath the route map you can see the elevation map – the steepest pinch was 17% (short but tough) – there were quite a few at circa 7.5% to 10% – notably Evans Lane climb (500 m @ 10%) and Mid Croobyar climb (1,000 m @ 5%) and Croobyar Road climb (1,100 m @ 6%).

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Hola from Chile

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Heather and Paul just prior to them heading across the border from Chile into Peru. Heather said “it’s been amazing so far although some tired moments! The Andes are incredible (and so to is the food) hope your all well”

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