Hills? I could easy enough do the 15km trundle to Maffra from here, and then do this ride:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Maffra-Licola-loop
The loop depicted in that ride doesn't really get any further than the foothills, but there's still plenty of climbing in it. I'm only 200km (crow route) from Australia's highest peak, and there's a helluva lot of rugged country between here and there.
I truly feel blessed to be living here, where this extensive valley meets the Gippsland Lakes system and coastal flats between two ranges. It's in a region which contains some of the best natural beauty Australia has to offer.
Actually, you have accomplished quite a lot and made an important move into long-distance cycling. A metric is an excellent place to start. When you ride your first double-metric you'll find that nutrition and hydration become more important.
Who knows what the future might hold? At this point in time I suppose that I could probably be fairly confident that at some stage I'll end up doing a 'Century' ride, just for the sake of doing it, but to be quite honest I have to admit that I've now reached the point of proving to myself that I can do the riding I want to do. I can't see that the touring around I'm looking forward to taking on will ever really require me to travel much further than 100km in any one day. My next 'goal' is really developing the stamina to travel this sort of distance whilst riding through hillier country and/or over unsealed hard gravel roads and tracks.
I'm really appreciative of the advice, encouragement and praise received from you people here on this forum board. I've 'travelled' around the internet a fair bit in the past few years, whilst earning pocket money writing IT related stuff, and I've no hesitation in stating that this is the friendliest and warmest online group I've ever come across. You should all be proud of that. You deserve to be!
