(written by Dave)

Nice to sleep in a bed last night, very luxurious. And not having to “discuss” tent packing strategies this morning was a special treat. We packed our bags last night with the hope of an early start. In fact, we were ready to ride at 7AM, only to then sit and watch it rain hard for 1.5 hours. We debated staying another night but the rained eased and we knew our friends in Portland would never let us hear the end of it if we opted out because of a little rain. As we departed the hotel manager offered us a free room for Sunday night (not Saturday as it was busy). Tempting as it may have sounded, we headed out into the wet.

The plan was to ride up as far as Long Flat where there was a pub with rooms. Only 30k but at least we would be making progress and the pub sounded like a nice place to enjoy a Saturday night. The terrain to Long Flat was undulating with quite a few short steep up hills. It rained most of the way – light, but steady. A few kangaroos were still up and about. The traffic was light as you would expect on a Saturday morning – and the cars that were out were amazing polite. Most slowed before passing us, some even put on emergency flashers. Sydney drivers could learn a thing or two.

The Long Flat pub was open but had no rooms. They were renovating some and the rest were full. We headed for the café, for one of those “I need to think Egg and Bacon rolls”. Nancy spotted a sign for a resort further up the mountain so we looked them up on our iPhone. They were another 30k but they had rooms. As it was early, we decided to go for it. If it cleared we could still camp, if the rain continued, we would at least have a dry bed and not have completely wimped out on the day.

The 30k from Long Flat to Jasper was relatively flat. The rain continued and we were both pretty soaked. More cars slowed and passed with great care. I was wearing my new day-glow green rain jacket – perhaps it helps. The last couple k’s to Jasper were the start of the climb over the escarpment, steady but manageable.  We had to laugh at one of the ‘Fire Danger Rating’ signs today – showed a very high fire danger but I don’t think much of anything could have started a fire today it was so wet.

We reached the Jasper turn off to discover we have to ride down 2k off the highway – we hesitated but took the plunge anyway. It was still raining pretty hard and we reminded ourselves that this is not an expedition of do or die!

Jasper Resort is a nice place – somewhere between an eco resort and wellness retreat. The people seem nice and it is homey, complete with a resident mob of kangaroos. We opted for the bunk room but splurged and decided to eat dinner with the group. They are cooking Indian, in somewhat family style. Nancy decided not to partake in the 4PM yoga and I’m probably going to skip the 7PM drums. Our bed is dry, that’s the main thing.

Longish day tomorrow if the weather permits. It’s a little over 100k to the next big town and there is not much in the middle. We have what we need to bush camp along the way should we need to but are going to try to make it to Walcha. Rain is forecast but should be a bit less than today.  After making it through the rain today at least we won’t be shamed out of the next Portland Wheelmen ride we try to join.