There’s a Corroboree at Lake Cowal again this Easter, from the 6th to the 9th of April. You can read all about it on the website. It’s all about a Lake and underground water system on indigenous land being destroyed by a gold mine and the tonnes of cyanide the mine dumps into it.
Each year, traditional owners and activists and environmentalists from all over visit the Lake to help in the campaign against the gold mine. This time, there will be some people going by bike. It’ll be a good way to see the land that’s being degraded and the riding around the area should be fairly flat, not to mention scenic. So I’ve attached a little document all about the train/bike options available to get to Lake Cowal. Unfortunately due to Countrylink’s anti-bicycle policies, the options are fairly limited. Please have a read if you are interested in riding to Lake Cowal and make comments on this post so that others know that you are interested. From there we can organise riding together, booking trains etc.
You can read the document on riding options here: lake-cowal-bike-options.doc
-Maurice
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April 3, 2007 at 4:34 pm
bikeclub
for everyone’s information, the bus to Forbes on Friday mornign is booked out. We’re taking the bus in the evening to get there at 9:12pm. Aim to arrive at Lake Cowal early sat morning.
April 1, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Shane Bill
I’m keen bro and yes I’d rather do 65 KM considering the amount of screwed-upness of my leg at the momento!
Thanks for the consideration homie!
- Shane
April 1, 2007 at 5:01 pm
bikeclub
I’ve put up routes on Bikely: http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/srchkey/lake+cowal. Shit all hills on either route. Note that it could be up to another 15km depending where on the Lake we’re meeting.
March 31, 2007 at 6:22 pm
maurice
Okay, i’ve already asked Cheeky on their blog, but i’ll get onto them by phone or in person on Monday. As well as asking for big bike boxes, i can ask them tips on cramming bikes parts in funny places. I’d say provisionally at the moment to figure it out like so: we book a place for a bike + person on the bus to Forbes. We have a go during the week at my place (pyrmont – close to central) at putting two frames in one box and wheels in another bag. If successful, two can go like this. I’d say broken-legged Shane + one more. Then others can either go to Cootamundra and try to get teh 160km+ to Lake Cowal by nighttime and Shane will have set up the tent, or recall that there are two services to Forbes. One arrives at 9pm. That would be a 3 hour night ride to the Lake, which isn’t so bad, probably easier than cootamundra because cootamundra will involve night riding too. If we get teh bike boxes down, that’s 2 people that can go on each service, making 4 peopple for the 65km ride. I’m happy to do whatever ride, including the 160km ride. Keep in mind 160km in one day is HARD CORE and i’d prefer to do this one with experienced riders. if people haven’t done this kind of riding, it’s better to go to Forbes on the late bus. At least then there’s the option of going at dawn the next day.
So who’s down? I think we definitely need to book the early bus bike spot to Forbes immediately.
Here’s our list:
Shane, Andrew, Maurice
If you’re not on there and are interested, get in touch!!
March 30, 2007 at 11:11 am
Shane Bill
Two bikes isn’t really that heavy especially when you are carrying the wheels. But if we do roll that we can then take 6 bikes which would sweet. Dunno. Do you want to contact Cheeky Maurice since they are pretty tight with you bro? If not perhaps we can find another box from elsewhere.
Peace
Shane
PS – My leg is still a little messed so yeah I’m probably more for the short 60 KM ride rather then the epic 160 (although you know I’d been down in different conditions). If some of you know others going you could get them to take your tents and set them up so that when you rock up you can pass out in a pre-made bed?!?
March 29, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Maurice
Re shane’s ideas: good thinking, let’s ask Cheeky about big boxes. We don’t want to attract too much attention because it will also be very heavy for a biek (seeing as it has two). but it’s a good way to go. Then two can go to Forbes and up to 6 can go to Cootamundra. Also, if anyone is free on Thursday, they can go to Cootamundra and make two days of it from there to Lake Cowal. I’m not free till Friday unfortunately.
Re the truck: this is a good idea if there are enough people that want to cycle so taht it makes sense. We may be a bit too close to the event to make it worth organising but if someone knows anyone who can take a bike or two to the station that would be ace.
March 29, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Maurice
Look at the document downloadble from the post for train times. I think the 160km option arrives in Cootamundra around 12:45pm. Covering 160km in one day is BIG, especially leaving at 1:30pm (after putting the bike back together), but it can be done. We should probably check the prevailing winds from the Bureau of Metereology website and check the hilliness from bikely.com. I’m pretty sure it’s flat and if it’s not windy, then we can do the 160km in 8 hours riding, plus breaks = 10 hours. The problem is that we arrive in the dark and then have to find the site. And we’re knackered. We can camp when we get close maybe..
March 29, 2007 at 10:24 am
Ben Margetts
If you were to take the 160km option would you be hoping to cover this in one day? If so what times can we leave the 160km station?
I think we would need to start very early (or bring lights).
March 29, 2007 at 12:12 am
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March 28, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Shane Bill
Oh and before I forget perhaps there is someone out there who is interested in driving one truck with all our bikes on the back out to the 67 KM point. Then from there we can all ride our bikes thus reducing said vehicles on the road?
March 28, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Shane Bill
MMmm do they have dimensions on bike boxes Maurice? Perhaps we could get an oversized bike box from Cheeky Monkey (since we are planning a little early) and stick two frames in there. Then bring the tires on ourselves as carry on? Then that would mean that we could potentially bring 6 bikes on city link if we packed them properly?
Thoughts? I do want to ride this but my leg is starting to fuckin flare up again meaning that the 67 KM ride is prob. more doable. But we’ll see how all that goes.
Peace & bike grease,
Shane
March 28, 2007 at 7:16 pm
bikeclub
Hey Andrew, check out this: http://www.countrylink.info/travelling_with_us/luggage
They say that you can have 2 bags of this dimension: 70 x 60 x 50. that’s in cm. The way to go, rather than have bike-shaped stuff that tips them off, would be to genuinely disguise them. Say wheels in a big candy-striped bag and pad out with cardboard. Ive never managed to find a suitcase that fits a bike frame unfortunately. Maybe we could go in teams – each smuggle two wheels and two frames in one bike box that we pack ourselves. before arriving.
March 28, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Andrew
I’m definitely riding this. I’d prefer to do the shorter options but I’ll do any of the options except the 300 kms from lithgow. that’s too far for my tr-rusty wonderbike.
Has anyone checked out limits on baggage sizes? I’m thinking we could only take one bike box on board and just lotys of very large bike shaped garbage bags…