Day 4 - Beauty to Bairnsdale
If ever there was an epic weekend ride, this would be it. I crammed it into one massive day in the saddle and it was doubly spectacular.
The afternoon and evening storms from the day before had gone, but the hangover of rain remained. Everything was glistening with the moisture that was falling. Clouds hung low in the valley and somewhere above them was my first point of call at the summit of Falls Creek. It’s a moderate climb immediately out of town for 30 km. Up and up the road goes with barely a moment to look at the bitumen as the amazing views change around each bend. By the summit I was soaked to the bone. Hands pruned, I squeezed the accumulation of water from the soggy mass that was my gloves and jersey. The toilets at the rangers station had a hand dryer and I used it to warm up. I sourced a local newspaper and shoved it down my jersey for the equally long but steeper and rougher descent to the Omeo highway. The “back road” down Falls Creek is rough, poorly marked and hellishly steep in parts. Visibility was down to 100 m as I rode back through the cloud line. The combination of burnt trees and thick mist was eerie. The temptation to go as fast as I could was culled by the thought of crashing and being stranded, possibly for hours, out in the middle of nowhere in the cold and wet. Been there, done that.
At the highway intersection I headed south for Omeo. The river never far from sight, the soil roadside was a vibrant red and the vegetation this side of the range was noticeably different. Far in the distance at the valley floor I saw a tractor turn onto the road. This would be my “ride” into Omeo. As the road became a rollercoaster, the tractor always seemed to pull just far enough away each time I nearly reeled it in. What I’d planned to be my easy ride behind the slow moving machine to “save” energy was the opposite. This seemed strangely familiar. As a kid I rode my BMX on the sidewalk each day to the local butcher and bakery at the end of my street to get sliced ham and bread rolls for my school lunch. One particular day a man on a