This is a report about an unusual ride – far away from St Ives, on gravel, and with a SIC member – Peter Kemp – who now lives in Bellingen. It took place on Monday 3rd January 2022 while I was on holiday up at Coffs Harbour. I enjoyed the ride all the more because it so nearly didn’t happen. The weather in Coffs was wet most days, especially in the mornings making rides a matter of guesswork and obsessing over Rain Radar.
Peter and I were planning to ride together on New Year’s Eve but family circumstances caused a change of plan. So on the Friday I drove south to our Sawtell starting point planning to ride a shorter gravel loop on my own. No such luck. I parked on the Sawtell Lookout at 6:30am watching massive rain squalls sweep in from the ocean and smash down on the car, so I turned round and drove home. Then by 10am it was blue sky and sunshine for the rest of the day. Rats!!
The forecast for Monday and Tuesday included wind gusts up to 60 km/h so I mentally wrote off my chances of another ride following my soaking during another attempt to ride on Saturday. Then Peter texted on Sunday night and said let’s do it. OK I thought, he knows the local conditions.
Well we did have to battle into a boisterous headwind for the first 8km but as soon as we turned onto backroads and headed inland into the state forest the wind vanished and the conditions became cool, dry, perfect. Lovely winding gravel roads in pretty good nick with only occasional rough corrugated patches and no thick heaps of gravel. Super lush green vegetation very New Zealand tree-ferny due to the fertile volcanic soil. Following Peter’s lines I quickly built confidence in how my new gravel bike behaves on loose gravel. It is very stable.
Then trouble struck. I began to feel sharp bangs from the rear over every bump and stopped to investigate. Two problems – hardly any air left in the rear tyre, and a nasty big yellow-striped leech marching up the derailleur mech and seat tube towards my nether regions. The leech got the flick pretty quick. We couldn’t see any damage to the tyre or any reason for air loss so I just pumped it back up to 35 – 40 psi. The sealant did its job and the tyre has held pressure ever since. I’ve no idea what caused the air loss. Whatever it was I’m rapt with how well the tubeless sealant worked.
Emerging from the forest and back onto narrow tar roads brought us to the tiny locale of Gleniffer, then as we crossed a bridge over the Never Never Creek Peter pointed out his favourite swimming hole below. This is the start of the Promised Land, a fertile valley floor tucked in below the steep slopes up to the volcanic Dorrigo plateau above. The road does a 12 km loop, partly gravel, around the Promised Land. Half the loop runs beside the Never Never Creek with several little bridges on the way. The Promised Land is a beautiful lush green haven. It’s easy to see why it has attracted celebrity residents like David Helfgott and George Negus, as well as top end holiday resorts, and a few too many yobbos blundering around in 4WDs.
The ride back through the forest was a delight again, especially without encountering any more leeches or air loss. And we had the rocketing coastal wind mostly behind us on the way into town. A really enjoyable ride. Being based in Bellingen it’s pretty obvious why Peter puts a lot more km on his gravel bike than his road bike these days. What a great ride/adventure – a terrific day out and exactly why I bought the gravel bike.
Mark Reynolds