We have just returned to Tasma after a 70 kilometre ride along the Murray to the Mountains Railtrail over 2 days with our wonderful mates Karen, Peter and Indi Mara Bodin Stewart.
Extra Large thanks Karen for organising everything, and to Pete for all the help with the bikes, and to both of you for your super-ace company.
Railtrails are unused railway lines converted to bike paths. I want to write more about this experience later but first I gotta show you a picture ethan (4.5 yrs old) made when he came home. It’s a super memoir and a map all in one. Here is how a traditional cartographer represents the ride. Ethan did it better. You will need to click on each image to see it at full scale.
Here is how Ethan drew it:
The overall image seen at this level of detail represents the party of seven riders on three bikes ascending the most challenging part of the ride; A 4 Kilometer ascent to Taylors Gap. There we are, almost at the top! He’s captured it: IT REALLY FELT LIKE THAT.
I have indicated some of the detail in his artwork below:
Here are all the riders shown. Karen and Pete’s daughter Indi-Mara, who was actually in a seat on their tandem bike, is shown out of order, as Ethan forgot to put her in at first. Ethan’s Tagalong bike which clips onto mine has a flag on it, which he has shown.
Karen, Pete and Indi Mara on the Tandem.
Ethan’s drawing shows the three bikes really well. So he has the basic narrative details covered: 7 riders, three bikes, a big hill. But he’s telling you what it was like, too, he’s mapping the experience, not just the topography:
the big hill. I THINK I can, I THINK I can!
followed by a bumpy bridge which we took too fast which almost threw us both off!
There were also lots of smaller hills.
On the descent into Everton, Ethan was pelted with small stones from the wheels of my bike. He was on a tagalong, a kind of articulated tandem arrangement, in shorts. He has drawn in the painful missiles which struck his legs.
Aftermath.
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