Sydney to Melbourne BNT by MTB - Day 007 - Khancoban to Mount Hope Track

Day:  007
Date:  Sunday, 14 November 2004
Start:  Khancoban
Finish:  Mount Hope Track
Daily Kilometres:  72
Total Kilometres:  883
Accommodation:  Tent
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli
  Lunch:  Bread and peanut butter
  Dinner:  Bread and peanut butter
Animals Seen:  Kangaroos

Journal:
I decided to watch the Australia vs France rugby game which was on TV at 7:00am before leaving, so got up at 6:40am.  While I watched the game, which Australia lost, I packed up and had breakfast so left right on 8:30am when the game finished.  I rode to the Khancoban general store and bought stuff for gorp and had an orange juice.  I left town at 9:00am and was immediately confronted with a very long hill.  I cycled a bit, but walked a lot as well.  I quickly realised that with my late start and all the walking I would be struggling to make Tom Groggin by lunch and Benambra for the night.  I plodded on.  There were lots of motorbikes coming the other way.  The weather was better than yesterday but still cool, overcast and occasionally drizzling.  The forest was alpine and the scenery pretty.

Eventually I reached Tom Groggin picnic ground around 1:30pm and had lunch.  I read the notes and looked at the maps and checked out the ford across the Murray River.  It looked dangerous to ford and eventually I rode back a couple of kilometres to Tom Groggin Station and crossed the river on their causeway and then found my way to the Tom Groggin Track.  I stuffed around for a while before assuring myself that I was on the right track and headed south-east.  Immediately I was confronted with a huge boggy red clay hill.  It was extremely steep and I could only make progress one step at a time.  If Tom Groggin Track was going to be like this all the way it was going to take me days.  There was no alternative but to keep going.  Eventually I reached Boggy Creek and filled my water containers.  The Track became less muddy but was incredibly steep.  It went up from 500m to 1,400m in a few kilometres.  I had to rest every 100m or less to recover and did almost no cycling.

At last I seemed to reach the top and got to do more riding.  Earlier than expected, Tom Groggin Track turned into Mount Hope Road and I knew I was through the toughest bit although I was still walking up the bigger hills.  At 7:00pm I stopped in a saddle and found a place to camp.  It was quite cold but I got everything done and was in bed by 9:00pm.