2015-04-05 -38 145

Sun 5 Apr 2015 in -38,145: -38.1333651, 145.2982086 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

In a field with long grass just off the South Gippsland Highway a bit beyond Cranbourne.

Participants

John

Expedition

Written up in June 2022 - no documentary evidence survives

It was Easter Sunday. My family were away, probably down in Tasmania. I hadn't joined them for some reason, but I was doing honours that year, and perhaps I just wanted to stay home to be productive with that.

This particular day however, I decided I needed an adventure instead of productivity. The nearest hash was out beyond Cranbourne, but the ride, at least most of it, seemed like it would be nice enough. It must have been just after a bit of lunch that I headed off from Footscray on my road bike.

I had had the bike for just over a year by this point, after my previous bike, a blue hybrid, was stolen when I had left it locked up over night out on the street while I attended and subsequently spent the night at a house party in Port Melbourne. My mistake was locking it to a post that could easily be lifted from the ground thus freeing the bike. Your lock is only as good as what you lock it up to. I had done plenty of riding on my new bike by this point, (including a "ride to Canberra", that for me was a train to Castlemaine, a ride to Albury, followed by a train to Yass, and a ride into Canberra) but this was to be the first geohash that I attempted with it.

After getting to the city, I think I went along the Yarra trail, joined the Gardiner's Creek Trail, and then found my way to the Dandenong train line, which you can fairly easily cycle alongside. Beyond Dandenong, I'm not sure which way I went, but I got through to Cranbourne somehow. From this point I think there was no other option beside joining the South Gippsland Highway, which wasn't ideal to ride along, but it was not far I had to go by now.

I turned left down a little dirt track which I only needed to follow for 50m or so before leaving it to the right to get across a fairly unthreatening wire fence. And it was only about 15m into the field from here. The field had some grassy plants up to about knee high I recall, and the kind of plants that left you with burrs attached to your socks. I don't know if I had a phone with functioning GPS at this time, but I was confident that I had reached the point.

I consumed a considerable amount of dried fruit and nuts that I had brought with me before moving on. I had done about 70km by this point and I had to decide whether to head back to Cranbourne for a train home, or to do some more riding. I decided to head for the coast, to ride up the edge of the bay, knowing that I could pretty easily get a train home from any point along the way, if/when I had had enough of riding.

On the way across towards the bay, I stopped at the Aldi in Carrum Downs for supplies to continue to fuel me on my way. I bought liquorice and chocolate. After consuming a fair amount of both, on top of the earlier fruit and nuts, my stomach was feeling very heavy, laden with such dense nutrition.

I reached the coast at Seaford and started to head north. The sun was setting and the riding I had done was starting to take its toll. At Mordialloc I found a cafe that was still open even though it must have been after 6 by this point. I ordered a pot of tea, and drank plenty of water. When the tea arrived it was a satisfyingly large pot, and I managed to get three cups out of it.

Caffeinated, and hydrated, and rejuvenated by this little rest, I was feeling good to push on. I might even make it all the way back to Footscray I thought. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. At around Beaumaris, I was struck down by a flat tyre. I had a puncture repair kit though, so I didn't head immediately for a train station. But first I had to find some light. It was quite dark, it must have been at least 7, and daylight savings had ended during the previous night. I found a bus stop which was suitably lit up, and got to work. I got the wheel off, the tube out and I located the puncture hole. I roughed up the section of tube where the glue was to adhere, and went to squeeze out the glue. But none came forth. To my dismay the little tube of glue was empty/completely dried out. That put an end to that. I had no option but to head for the train now, once I had got my wheel back on the bike.

To make things worse, here in Beaumaris, I was about the furthest I could be from a train station at any point along the ride up the coast. The Frankston line had headed inland, and I was yet to reach the Sandringham line. Alas. I think it was Cheltenham station that I ended up heading for, back on the Frankston line, but it was a few Ks' walk.

I got the train home, in what I believe was a fairly uneventful fashion. To console me somewhat when I was plotting out my route after the fact on google maps to work out how far I had gone, I realised that I had at least just got to 100km of riding before the flat struck.

Looking back at my emails now in 2022, the only evidence I can find of this bike ride is that the next day I ordered 10 new bicycle tubes, so that I could carry spares and not need to rely on repairing punctures.

Achievements

Johnwrw earned the Bicycle geohash achievement by cycling 100km to and from the (-38, 145) geohash on 2015-04-05.