It’s late summer here in The Bush Capital of Australia and the weather is perfect for local cycle touring. My old friend and cycle touring mate John suggested we do a Sunday ride to the tiny hamlet of Wee Jasper which is embedded in a deep valley over the ranges to the north west of Canberra. Wee Jasper is about 90 km distant as the crow cycles, and there’s about 900 metres of ascent, and a 1000 metres of descent involved in a Canberra to Wee Jasper ride. I rode through Wee Jasper about four years ago on my way to Adelaide. On a fully laden touring bike in hot weather, it was a hard day ride.
Today’s ride was much easier because we only carried light loads, and the late summer weather was benign compared to the heat waves of previous summers. Rather than camp at Wee Jasper, John’s daughter kindly taxied us back to Canberra. Caitlin’s fiancé David also rode with John and me to Wee Jasper.
The summary is that today’s ride to Wee Jasper was close to a perfect day ride. The company, the weather, the scenery, road and traffic conditions were ideal. I departed home about 6:30 am, and was home by 4pm.
The photos below tell the story of the day.
My light bike ready to roll to Wee Jasper. The titanium Leap Performer has been underused in the past few years. It excelled on today’s ride. Previously I’ve only used it for long distance, audax road events
There are a few different ride routes to Wee Jasper. Our route today wasn’t exactly any of these. We... three riders... met at Stromlo Forest Park then headed for Uriarra Crossing. From there we followed Fairlight Road, Mountain Creek Road and Wee Jasper Rd. All the route was sealed.
Lednar De NallohMaybe the Frilled Neck Lizard can live in Canberra because of all the heat generated by the politicians composting bull dust. I think it's an Eastern Bearded Dragon. Reply to this comment 3 years ago
How good is this Buick? We called into Yass’s best cafe on the way home for a milkshake and a toasted sandwich. This eye catching vehicle was in the car park.
