Day one: Canberra to Crookwell
The morning was pretty cruisy with some light showers and the odd patch of gravel. James mentioned that we were
"gunning for Gunning". I later found out that a colleague was on the road at the same time and with the Strava Flybys feature, one can even work out when we passed. We rolled into Gunning and had lunch at a very casual 2PM.
The afternoon was a bit more of a struggle. Showers became more continuous and the temperature dropped rapidly. I absolutely don't like having no plans so Spud Murphy's Inn was our target for the night. I thought it was good to have a known location to travel to, rather than wander around for half an hour like in Eden. It turned out to be a good move as wandering around town in the dark and rain would not have been pleasant. James was only wearing shorts and was getting shakey hands. He needed help getting his torch mounted because his fingers weren't working properly.
Finding the entrance was a bit of a challenge. It turned out to be around the back up stairs. Barry, the owner, was surprised by our appearance and had turned off the heater to the room thinking we wouldn't be silly enough to ride bicycles through this weather. We then appear to be in a room with a heater with tea, soup and bread. This temporary room appeared very dainty, apart from the LCD TV on top of the wall gas heater, and was furnished with a four-post bed. We grab dinner at the pub and try to arrange everything else to dry for the next day.
Day two: Crookwell to Wombeyan Caves
Barry mentioned the locals are much more supportive of bicycle riding and we noticed this with the very generous overtaking clearances. Rather than repeat yesterday's miserable end, we prepared with multiple layers of clothing and looked for supplementary supplies. Overpants, beanies and dishwashing gloves were procured in town to augment our existing weatherproofing.
We encountered sticky clay roads on the way to Taralga. There was a fair bit of intermittent cross wind to keep us lively, along with constant drizzle. On the home straight to Taralga, we were pushed along by a tailwind. This wind kept up until after lunchtime and made it rather unpleasant to stay outside. Portions at the pub were rather ridiculous. I don't like to see waste so I helped clean up two slices of Andi's pizza, after finishing my own fish and chips.
Our destination for day two was a friend's shed near Wombeyan Caves. It was a gentle descent but the road surface changed from sealed to gravel then narrow clay track. I managed to lose a bolt from my rear rack due to all the corrugations in the track. Once the gate was persuaded to open, we dealt with a misbehaving generator and low power on the solar/12V system. Even so, we had a fantastic fire and great supplies that Andi had conveniently transported by car a few days earlier.
Finding Foycett
Day three: Wombeyan Caves
Much of the morning involved coaxing a blunt chainsaw into cutting wood for the night's fire. Of course, it had to continue to rain for the whole day. After lunch we went for a visit to the Wombeyan Caves. On that journey I managed to lose the screw on the other side of my rear rack! We went for a self-guided tour. It seemed like sensors weren't set up correctly in that a voiceover would be triggered for a second round before you have time to move away. We also had trouble getting in touch with Jenolan Caves House, where we intended to stay for the following night. The main switchboard reported power failures during the day. Also the Telstra payphone was not working with a coin jammed error message, so we had to use the park ranger's phone. James bought more diswashing liquid as the gift shop happened to be selling some. There is no mobile phone reception at Wombeyan Caves.
Day four: Wombeyan Caves to Oberon
This day was originally intended to finish up at Jenolan Caves. Despite the best of intentions and waking up at 6:30, we didn't leave until 9AM. There was a fair bit of preparation, packing up and cleaning to do. Once on the road we made little progress in the morning due to niggling mechanical issues with one rear derailleur. I came off my bike when I tried rolling over a branch that was a bit too thick with not quite enough momentum. Andi tried to warn drivers about the tree that had fallen on the road near a corner. A few did stop to listen. We enjoy a nice descent to the Abercromie River, where the water is just under the bridge. I get to use my air horn at blind corners.
With every descent comes the hillclimbing on the other side. I can't recall at which stage of the day James and I confiscated Andi's half kilo of sunscreen, sleeping bag and first aid kit. Anyway, I recall starting to worry about timings after lunch. This was the first cycle tour that I hadn't tried planning into submission. I really didn't like the option of travelling through a forest on an unsealed road in the dark. The fallback option of going to Oberon was made more final after making a gravel skid entry to a group of parents waiting for the school bus. I found that I performed better with less waterproof gear that day, perhaps due to the slightly higher temperatures. I did, however, have to remove my glasses as the water collected between my prescription and outer lenses. It made for interesting riding in the dark and wet, but we were gliding along a forestry-maintained road.
Upon reaching Oberon I used my internet-enabled phone to find lodgings. The first Google search result turned out to be a fair way out of town, and Google Navigation suggested we cut across a street-end reserve, which was difficult to find. We had dinner at Oberon RSL, which happened to be run by migrants from Hong Kong.
Abercrombie Descent
Clockwatching into Oberon
Day five: Oberon to Jenolan Caves
This wasn't originally planned as a journey but turned out to be simple enough. Before we left Oberon, the motel let us know a pair of shorts had been left behind. There was a bit of climbing before we got to the Jenolan Caves descent. Andi thought my hillclimbing tactic was a bit strange. I try to rush hills but tend to climb really slowly if it's beyond a certain distance (with the random sprint somewhere in between).
The descent itself was quite challenging as my bicycle had trouble going at a sensible speed. One really has to slow to walking pace in order not to run out of road on the switchbacks. There were also some very inconvenient speed bumps near the bottom. When Andi stopped at the bottom, his front inner tube failed. The rim was quite hot from all the braking and probably played a part in the tube bursting. When replacing the tube and inspecting the rim, Andi says to James, "Can you put your finger in there and tell me what that feels like?" Oh my...
We took it easy in the afternoon and went for one cave tour. Apparently the group of three girls on that tour were checking us out but I was oblivious to all that. I finally had a use for my Telstra dongle that I purchased on sale last Christmas; there was no Optus or Vodafone signal at Jenolan Caves. As James and Andi investigated their options for the weekend and checking out more caves in the morning, my planning instinct kicked in. Using average speeds from the Oberon afternoon, the fallback option of returning to Canberra by the end of the day required an 8AM start. This was moderately tight with the buffet breakfast, and no other options available, starting at 7:30AM.
Jenolan Caves from Oberon
Day six: Jenolan Caves to Lithgow
It seemed like the Jenolan Caves hospitality operation employed more people from overseas with accents. Anyway, terrible coffee aside, I got a decent feed out of it, but probably not $25 worth. Oh well. Starting at 8:07 had me worried. It turned out to be a reasonable ascent. My air horn came in handy to alert other vehicles of our presence, especially around blind corners. There was one truck in particular which probably shouldn't have been going as quickly as it did around the two bends. It was James' turn to stack, with a low speed one in unexpected soft, gravelly shoulders. Only in these last two days did we have non rainy weather.
Rather than stay on Jenolan Caves Road, we took a more direct approach to Lithgow. At the turn off, we nearly get taken out by a ute coming travelling in the same direction. It was a pretty fluid descent to Coxs River, however, the road condition was very patchy. There's not much to say about the rest of the way to Lithgow, except that we arrived with about an hour to spare. I did struggle a bit on this day as I had offered to take Andi's D-lock and cable. I think that put me over the threshold.
The noodle shop in centre of town made me quite a salty char kuey tiao. They didn't seem to have much business. Perhaps an 'investment' for citizenship...
I think we caused a bit of distress for other bike riders by using up most of the bike racks on the train. The views on the line were nice but I nodded off. It was a ridiculously long train ride. I don't think cities should be this big.
There was just under two hours at central station before our Canberra train departed. We used up that time pretty well with buying tickets, and informing the staff that we would like to use the buy-one-get-one-free offer that they failed to consider when giving us a total price. Getting bicycles into boxes was good fun as always. The boxes they have are ridiculously small. Andi and I get caught up at Hungry Jack's queue. James avoids the queue and ends up with an unreasonable amount of sushi handrolls. I say to James that it isn't mandatory to finish all of them before boarding the train.
Coxs River 
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