Ride #6 - The Chilly Willy Ride
A change in my family's social commitments meant that a 5-day window of opportunity opened unexpectedly, and to make things even better, the BOM weather forecast was for fine and dry weather for 3 of the 5 days.
Here in Oz, the month of May is the final month of our Autumn which means that our Winter is just a few weeks away.
So when the BOM says "fine & dry", what they really mean is "fine, dry and cold", but I am a hairy chested "tough as nails" biker and I can handle "cold". Besides, heated grips and thermal underwear also help.
I suppose I should define what I mean by "cold".
On the Northern Beaches area of Sydney where I live, cold means 15*C / 65*F, while over the other side of the Blue Mountains on the Western Plains, cold means 5*C / 40*F. These are the typical Winter mid-day temperatures.
Overnight the temps on the Western Plains will get down to -5*C / 25*F, with a light frost or an occasional dusting of snow.
As I mentioned in my previous blog, Planning - New Strategy, my main focus is now the large grain silo murals located in various farming areas.
At last count, there are 54 grain silo murals in Oz. Of those 54, only 9 are located in my home state of New South Wales, and as I have already bagged 6 of them, my route for this ride was designed to allow me to bag the remaining 3 silo murals, plus an assortment of murals from towns that I passed through.
All up, I planned to travel about 1,300 km (810 mi).
And as is usual, I made my way out of Sydney along the M2 & M7 motorways and then down the Hume Hwy for about 160 km to Exeter for hot coffee and apple crumble muffin at Maccas.
This first leg of my trip took me through the Southern Highland area, where cold means 0*C / 30*F, so the hot coffee was consumed quickly.
Having regained some blood circulation to my frozen fingers, my next stop would be in the township of Goulburn for a small selection of murals, and while there I was able to snap a photo for the Photo Tag game being run by GLMC.
From Goulburn, I took the old Hume Hwy through Breadalbane to Gunning for the mural on the side of the local pub.
By now, it was close to mid-day, and it was as warm as it was going to get, a pleasant 15*C / 60*F.
The township of Yass was nearby so I made my way to a nice warm cafe there for lunch, and a quick photo of a mural under the bridge.
As I mentioned, my main focus was the grain silo murals and the first one for this trip was located in Harden, about 60 km to the west.
This artwork is by acclaimed Mongolian street artist, Heesco, and depicts the Harden flour mill's history and the golden grain that delivered prosperity to the region.
The original flour mill was completed in 1865, but in 1919, a major fire occurred on-site and the mill was destroyed. Between 1919-1922, the flour mill complex was rebuilt, including the building of the concrete twin silos within the complex.
One silo down, two more to go.
My original ride plan was to head to the township of Temora for an overnight stay, but a mining operation in that area had stopped operations for required maintenance and all Temora's motels & hotels were fully booked. So, instead, I headed to Cootamundra.
After checking in at the motel reception, and then enjoying a hot shower in my room, it was beer o'clock so we headed down to the local Service's Club for a few drinks and a spicy Schezwan Chicken dinner.
This meal was described on the menu as "Medium Heat", but I think the chef may have lost count of how many red chillies he had added, because the meal was more like chicken-flavoured chilli than chilli-flavoured chicken, and "Medium" is not how I would describe it.
Wednesday dawned to a cold morning fog, with temperatures around 0*C / 30*F, and visibility down to 50 metres, so there was no rush to get rolling before 8:45 am.
Cootamundra is located in a valley, so the fog tends to linger longer there, but as soon as we crested the surrounding hills, the fog lifted and we had bright sunshine, albeit not that warm.
The next stop was the Lleyton Hewett mural at the Temora Tennis Club, before turning due west to the grain silo at Weethalle, about 150 km north-west. Along the way, I bagged the mural on the Rural Fire Service building at Mirool.
The Weethalle grain silo mural was also completed by Heesco in June 2017 and is a tribute to the rich agricultural heritage of the small community of Weethalle and the surrounding Bland Shire communities.
After enjoying the silo mural for a few minutes, we turned around and headed due east, back to West Wyalong for lunch, fuel and a couple more murals.
After lunch, we headed towards Forbes before turning off onto Mid Western Hwy and on to the grain silo in Grenfell, picking up the bird mural at Caragabal along the way.
The Grenfell grain silo was the last of the 3 grain silos I was after on this ride, and it completed my collection of all 9 NSW grain silo murals.
From Grenfell we headed to the township of Cowra and a few more murals, including the just recently completed twin Water Towers.
Thursday dawned bright and clear, but there were two unwanted matters to deal with.
The first matter was that the overnight temperature had dropped to -3*C / 26*F and there was a heavy covering of frost / ice on the bike. No big deal.
The second matter was more of a concern, bordering on a disaster.
When I returned to my room after dinner the previous night, the car parking space next to my bike was empty. Now there was a frigging SUV parked within 15 cm / 8 inches of the side of my bike.
A few more few inches to the left and my bike would have become a very expensive "hood ornament" and I would have been driving a Hertz Rental car home.
From Cowra, with a 8:30 am temp of minus -1*C / 30*F, we headed homewards, stopping off at Blayney for a school building mural called "The Hive".
From Blayney, we rolled into Bathurst ( 2*C ) and onto Portland for a couple of town murals and then a hot coffee at the Wallerawang Bakery.
The leg from Wallerawang to home was along the Bells Line of Road into Richmond, and all the new housing estates that are being built there. From Richmond it was an uneventful ride home, where I rolled into my garage in the early afternoon.
Phase 1 of my New Strategy, the NSW Silo Art Murals, is now complete, so my focus will now switch to Water Tank Art, of which there are around 40 examples in NSW.
June, July and early August are our coldest months, so while I wait for the weather to warm up, I will have plenty of time to plan my next riding adventure.
So many opportunities, so little time . . .
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