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Category: electric bikes

Ups and downs

Dec 6, 2013 | bike travel with dogs and small children, bike-camping, creative frugality, electric bikes | 3 comments
From 34 degrees celsius in the shade at Colac Colac (note the bike rider’s stockings),

to an overnight low of 6 degrees at Paddys River Flats free camping ground, just shy of Tumbarumba,

it has been a short leg of ups and downs, but mainly ups.

We left Colac Colac refreshed and recharged ready for what we knew would be a few big days in the saddle, regardless of which route we took.

We wanted to go through the Snowy Mountains (Khancoban, Thredbo, Cooma etc), but we have Zero with us and (the long and the short of it is) dogs are only permited to pass through National Parks in climate changing cars. Say it like it is Zero!

So we headed north, crossing the Murray into New South Wales at Towong,

and climbed and climbed and strained and at times got off and pushed our heavy loads

right up into the clouds

so we could look out across to Tidbillaga, one of the many Indigenous names for the Snowy Mountains,

and like true ecological mammals, return some precious nutrients to the soil before tackling the afternoon’s ascent.

It was an extrutiating 64 kms to Paddys River Flats where the weather turned cold and wet and Woody experienced rain on a tent for the first time. Things got a little wet overnight so we packed up and cooked breakfast in the camp ground amenities,

before we realised Patrick’s bike had more issues, this time electrical. With the climb up such ascents as Clarkes Hill (742m above sea level) we’ve been relying on some electrical assistance. Now we’re in NSW the stretches between towns is greater and the chance to recharge the bikes reduced.

Out of the half dozen or so campers at Paddys River Flats was Graeme, a fully licensed electrician. We couldn’t believe our luck.

Graeme scrutinised the root cause of the problem while his partner Julie brought us all cups of tea. He ascertained that moisture had got into the controller, something not fixable in the bush, so he offered to take Patrick’s panniers into Tumbarumba when he went in to do some shopping and we set off to climb another 18 km into town and find a camp spot here,

hidden behind the melaleucas in the town’s park, nestled among the leaf litter

where we can fish for trout, use the municipal BBQs, toilets, power, playground, drinking water, wake with the birds, wait for a new controller to arrive, and

generally practice our particular form of creative frugality.

Free food – our new adventure project

Aug 19, 2013 | bike travelling with dogs and small children, bike-camping, electric bikes, foraging, free food, social warming | 4 comments
We’re getting prepared to rent out our house and head off for a year of bike-camping along the east coast of Australia, extending our knowledges of free food that we will forage, hunt and hopefully barter for along the way.

Photo: Dave Cauldwell

We’re loading our most essential tools onto just two bikes that we’ve recently had converted to electric to help haul on the hills, and we’re doing plenty of practice rides before we go.

Photo: Dave Cauldwell 

With successive GFCs looming, climate chaos and the end of cheap crude oil, Artist as Family want to take the gloom by the handlebars and extend our everyday art practice of resource generation and accountability into evermore ‘social warming’ opportunities. This new adventure will be a kind of biographical nomadism where we will share our experiences weekly (from mid-November), recording recipes, making ecological notes, airing our dirty laundry and generally performing our unique form of art based on our family’s idiosyncrasies and taste for permapoesis. At the end of our travels we will compile a book and possibly even stage an exhibition that will include videos, drawings, photos and writings we make along the way. We aim to show that it’s possible to live without being entirely dependent on the monetary economy, as we adapt to change and engage further with lean logic.