Cycling Trip | RawFitBitch

Jul

Saturday – Texas to Inglewood

Some underlating hills to Inglewood but nothing drastic. Had Tony Robbins playing most of the time, I am enjoying learning new ways to improve my relationships during most of the ride.

About 10kms out of Inglewood I could see something moving on the side of the road up ahead, at first I thought it was a little puppy but as I got closer I could see it was a ‘kid’ (baby goat) all by itself. It was absolutely gorgeous! Must have only been a week or less old. I slowly walked over and sat beside it for a moment until it got used to my presence then grabbed it, it gave out a little squeel but relaxed and actually went to sleep in my arms after a while of stroking. I was not sure what to do with it as I couldn’t exactly take it to safety on my bike! I looked around for any sign of the mother, there was no other animals to be seen. I decided to wait for the next car, within about half an hour the neighbour on the opposite side pulled out of his driveway and headed towards me. I flagged him down and explained what happened, he said there is a goat farm up the road & I asked if he could take it to them, he was happy to do so. (& yes he did take it in there because I was behind him on my bike!) Just reinforces my vegan conviction, I was hungry when I found the kid but my mouth didn’t water when I saw it or my mind didn’t go to it being potential food…there’s no way I wanted to or could have killed that baby kid myself and eaten it raw -meat, blood, bones and fur as well just as a carnivore would…could u?

So once in Inglewood I grabbed some fruit & sussed out the caravan park, after spending the previous night freezing I was pretty keen to have a roof over my head! I explained to the lady what I was doing & she offered me a cabin for $12, thought that was a pretty cool deal. I took it was continued to numb my emotions that night with too much dried fruit! I was suffering a little bit of lonliness and the quickest way I knew how to drown those feelings was food…because once my belly is full there isn’t enough energy for the brain to entertain intense emotions.

Will finish this post later…

Jul

Friday – Yetman to Texas

Said the ‘goodbyes’ to my surrogate family and headed off to Texas after a leisurely sleep in till about 11am.

The start was a little hilly coming out of Yetman for about 15kms then petered off to a pretty flat ride. There was caterpillars all over the road, so most of the ride I was dodging caterpillars as they ‘sped’ across the road to freedom. I made a game of it, don’t think I ran over one the whole time which I thought was very vegan of me!

I just remembered I nearly had a potentionally fatal accident the other day that I forgot to post about. I was heading down this straight road about a metre from the side line with my head down because it was windy, something told me to look up & all of a sudden there was a P plater heading straight for me! He was overtaking a car at about 110kms & must’nt of seem me, I had to swerve to miss him & he had to floor it to get in front of the other car in time. Wow that took my breath away. I had a few times when people came closish overtaking, I guess they just don’t see me.

I arrived in Texas Qld at about 2.30 so I jumped on the net for a bit & checked out the town (which took about 5mins). I was very excited to be in Qld, wow I’ve come so far! I love drawing an extra line on my map when I get to a new town. I grabbed some watermelon from the local cafe, but had to decline the first one as she used the same knife she did to cut meat with!

Found a free campsite with a few grey nomads dottered around and rolled out my bivy. Before I knew it I had a bunch of interested ‘residents’ milling around asking me questions about my trip. That night I nearly froze again, my sleeping bag is definitely not warm enough so half way through the night I took my camp over to the undercovered picnic area ontop of the table. Most of the cold comes up through the earth so I thought I would be a lot warmer off the ground….not so I still froze & had to constantly turn all night to stay warm, another sleepless night.

The sunrise was beautiful and I felt pretty fresh anyway so I got up early & did a resistance routine of bench pushups, dips, lunges and a little yoga. Im so much less flexible then I was before I started and I can’t wait to get back into some sort of yoga routine.

I gave one of the lady some advice about her sick dog, not that I have experience in that area but I had a pretty good hunch that the dogs diet was not the best……I was right, cakes, processed foods, fav snack was lollie snakes. Not suprisingly though raw meat was one of its favourite foods too (maybe because that’s its natural food!?). I advised the lady to only give it raw meats & vegies/fruit from now on & to notice the difference in its health, Im pretty confident she will see massive improvements as she has tried every other lotion & potion with no success.

km: 47

Jul

Thursday – Spent a Day in Yetman

The lady at the Post Office in Yetman hooked me up with a lovely family to stay with. I was so fortunate (like I always seem to be!). A family of 6 just out of Yetman. They own 10,000 acres and are nestled right on a river. I basically had my own sleeping quarters, Sam & Jocelyn looked after me so selflessly even though they have 4 kids of their own! Jocelyn encouraged me to stay another day to rest….I couldn’t resist and I finally have a little sister! Claudia their only daughter has always wanted a sister and so have I, so why not? We had a great time making a raw cake together. I hit the nuts and fat a little too hard and today am paying for it but i had such a great experience and I don’t do ‘regrets’.

I babysat the kids for a little while, although they were very attached to the nintendo for the most part.

The net is about to throw me off for real this time so better run

kms: 48

Jul

Wednesday- Warialda to Yetman

Stayed in a Caravan park in Warialda, paid $15 for a peice of grass….but as the council lady was leaving she snuck over and gave me a key to a unit & said ‘I didn’t give you this’! Wow so lovely, I was nice and warm in there. I left her a recycled thankyou card.

Had a melon breakfast and headed off at about 11 towards yetman. Got to Coolatai, after battling some challenging hills. The hills were the size I actually enjoy and underlating so the trip went fairly quick, it was still definitely a workout! At Coolatai a ute drove up to me when I was munching on lunch in the local park, 2 guys said hi and asked me what I was doing. I told them & one said ‘Wow you must like exercise’? I said ‘yes love it’, he replied ‘i like exercise too, but making love is my favourite form’….I said ‘oh that’s great, im happy for you’…..He said ‘Hey chuck your bike in the back & we’ll drive you to Texas’….(yeah sure I wasn’t going to go after that call!) I think they were harmless enough but hey you never know!

I got to Yetman a bit over 4hrs which was good going and pulled into the Post office/corner store/bottlo, the first thing the lady said was ‘Your mum rang here last night’. That spun me out! Mum had delivered some yummy dried goodies there for me and had rang to see if they’d arrived….

Oh have to jump off as the net is going to run out, the lady here at the library donated $6 to my hour on the net

Im probably heading to Inglewood tomorrow then towards Toowoomba as Im going to visit my cousin.

kms: 87

Jul

Tuesday – Bingara to Warialda

Had a great morning helping Jo on the farm. We did some milking (although I don’t agree with the taking or the consumption of the cows milk) and moved the electric fence. Sounds as though everyone in the family and a couple of neighbours have had a little bzzz from the fence so far!

I made my fav breakfast – banana, celery and water and shared it around with the kids. They really loved it and Thomas wanted more and more! Its such a beautiful, light hydrating drink.
After an ultra warm send off and many blessings from the family (i could have easily stayed another night) I headed off at about 12 through town towards Warialda. Decided to drop into IGA and grab some melon as its been quite good and this time was no exception. Also cleaned out the fruitshop across the street of ripe ripe bananas for $1.50 a kg.

The days are definitely getting a lot warmer. The last couple have been ultra sunny and pratically no wind. The ride to Warialda is relatively easy except for a steep rise on the way in, ended up taking me about 2hrs.

I spotted a fruitshop when I arrived and found an awesome seeded (finally!)melon. It was delicious!! I asked the shop owner where they came from and she said ‘Down the road love’! Oh yeah I’m coming into the warmer weather and better fruit!

Well got to go, the kind lady at the library has let me on for over an hour for free and now its 5pm.

Kms: 49kms

Jul

A Day in Bingara…Day37??

Decided to stay in Bingara for 2nights, the family I am staying with are so amazing. They are beautiful & generous people. There are 10 of us in the house at the moment! But it all works so well. Jo’s son Brendan and I have been having some amazing deep discussions, I really love a thought-provoking convo.

I helped Jo on the farm today, milking the cows, chopping up pumpkins with the machette and picking beautiful tender greens from their organic garden for dinner. I have truly never experienced greens this amazing and full of life-force, I really believe its because Jo is so peaceful & sings as she picks! I really enjoy being around Jo and she has a wicked sense of humour. The family is Christian and before we sat down at the dinner table they sang me a beautiful song with my name in it! Oh it was so priceless I will never forget it.

I have to go for now but I am heading for Warialda tomorrow which is only 40kms away but apparently a little hilly, looking forward to a workout.

Ciao for now

Lovefreexo

Jul

Barraba to Bingara -Sunday

Woke up at about 730 (seems to be the time I naturally wake these days). Headed for the local IGA for some fruit. The lovely owner John donated my fruit to me after he heard what I was doing, he was impressed with my bike setup as well as a lot of men seem to be. I just tell them my boyfriend set it up and it does the job!.

I filled my tyres up at the local servo and went back to the caravan park then continued to fill up my belly with about 8pears while I watched Bob darting around from cabin to cabin. I have photos too which I will get up soon. I was quite full after breakfast and headed off towards this infamous killer hill….I was determined to give it my best shot. After about 10kms I could see it looming over the hills. I was told it was about 1.5kms long and boy it looked it. I ended up getting 3/4 of the way up which I felt very impressed with but I started to feel like I wanted to vomit & nearly fainted so I got off & held myself up with the bike. I really think I ate too close to tackling a climb like that. The last quarter I walked up (although my ego was complaining, wanting me to get back on) but I couldn’t I was spent and feeling ill.

The rest of the trip was mostly underlating hills except for about the last 15kms which was flat…beautiful I earnt it! When I rolled into town I was feeling very spent so I looked for somewhere to stay pretty much straight away. I came across the salvation army, it seemed to be the only place really open so I popped my head in and ran into Jo. Her husband is the minister here and he was giving a serman (spellng?). Jo offered me her lounge room to crash in as she already had a family of 6 staying in their guest room. Wow such a lovely family. I was lucking out a lot lately and really enjoying meeting so many new people. I picked my own organic greens and oranges from their beautiful garden….the taste is amazing! I wish I could give you some to try. The greens were so sweet. They also have plenty of other amazing fruit trees that aren’t in season at the moment.

Jo & her family moved here from Sydney and are really enjoying country life…here here. Anyway everyone is watching a movie so I better be more social!

kms: 70

Jul

Manila to Barraba – Saturday

Had a reasonably challenging ride to Barraba as I had a pretty intense head wind. It was only about a 45km ride but the chillout wind makes it feel like a lot more!

I pulled up at the local caravan park & straight away got chatting with the owner Bob. He is a lovely man who can certainly talk! After about 20mins he asked me if I wanted somewhere to stay, I explained that a cheap place preferably inside would be great. He said ‘no worries I have a cabin you can stay in’, I asked him how much, he said ‘its on the house! You’re having a go and I like to support people having a go in this life’… I was blown away, the cabin had an ensuite, tv etc and could comfortably fit 6! usually its upwards of $55. I was definitely spoilt. The weather predicted -5 that night but it didn’t get that low, maybe zero if that.

Bob tried to feed me but I explained my lifestyle & he was pretty confused but we got through it! Bob really takes pride in his park & he lived there for something like 17years in a little caravan before he bought the place. I really think he needs a rest as he is on the go 24/7 looking after everyone, he is a very generous man. I highly reccomend staying at this caravan park (will get name) as it is very clean and the vibe is fantastic thanks to Bob.

I asked him what the road to Bingara was like (hill-wise) and he offered to drive me up the first one 10kms away! He said a guy came through on his bike once with a similar setup & Bob drove him up this hill because its such a killer! I thanked him and was honestly tempted but that would be cheating and I couldn’t live with myself.

My speedo gave up a couple of times on the ride so my dial calculations will be out. Also I’ve noticed that the back tyre tread is coming off, may have to change that soon.

I have a bit of a rash of my hands which Im not sure of, maybe it is from too much conventional produce or a certain chemical in a soap I could’ve used as my system is very used to clean organic products. The skin is very inflamed, itchy and looks like I have been burnt.

kms:

Jul

Manila to Barraba…

Had a great sleep last night thanks to Vicki at the local pub. Apparently it got to about -4 deg last night! I am so glad I was inside. Yesterday after an easy ride (pretty much downhill into town) I headed for the information centre to ask about accomodation. The ladies quizzed me where I have been staying and I told them ‘various places’ and that some lovely people have been taking me in!…I guess there may have been a hint of suggestion there which they clued onto and pointed me in the direction of one of the local pubs ‘The Royal’, seems to be a Royal Pub in every town! I was a bit reluctant to go to another pub but didn’t want to freeze overnight as well… I asked for Vicki and told her about myself and my journey, she was intrigued, I queried her on the possibility of a cheap room and she said ‘yes, no worries follow me’ and took me upstairs to the loveliest pub accomodation I’ve ever seen. There was definitely a womans touch going on up there. She gave me a large room, with a heater (which I didn’t use), 2 beds, a tv and in a quiet spot. I asked her how much & she said ‘nothing’! And I could have breakfast included if I wanted, such a kind offer but I’m sure catering for me and my fruity ways for breakfast would send them broke! (I ended up eating a whole watermelon the next day, bout a 5.5kg one).
Thankyou Vicki you are such a star!
Classy pub accomodation from Vicki at The Royal

Local proud pumpkin grower!…

Belly shot

I met a few interesting locals, especially Dave who is a handglider. Manila apparently has the best conditions for handgliding in the world and I believe the world championships are held near here. He told me about how he has handglided non-stop for 400kms before! and how he was up there with the birds flying beside him, he said it is such an awesome high. Dave is also a fellow cyclist and stayed up till 2am this morning watching the Tour De France, he told me how Australia is flat compared to Europe and I will have no probs with the rest of my trip (hill-wise) well we’ll see!
Heading off to Barraba today, its only about 40kms so I am spending a good few hours on the net before hand to catch up on everything. The best thing is its free here.

kms: 58

I’ve just been busily updating my photobucket account so I can download some photos on here and also go back to previous days and update so scroll down and check it out.

Jul

Heading for Gunnedah

Mum Im heading for Manila instead…

I spoke to the local info centre & they said if I want to avoid the highways & find cheap camping then Manila is the way to go & there is only a few decent climbs through there….we’ll see. Well gotta go & do this!
Just gave an email interview to New Vegetarian so look out for the article…

Heading for Gunnedah

These clouds broke into a downpour soon after

Finally in Gunnedah

Tam & Me

Tam, me & Simon