General busy-ness has delayed this post from our trip to Tasmania in April. There were some initial impressions in an earlier post – again I’ll let some more photos mostly talk for themselves – this was a very special journey.
A fuller article and additional photography can be found in Issue #2 of Cranked – due for publication this week.
GPS files for the route can be downloaded here.
bicyclenomad 
Wonderful photoessay guys. Around the same time 70 artists were also immersed in the Tarkine – both the coast and inland areas as well. I’m a North West Tassie local who also owns a fatbike and have been waiting for the chance to do exactly what you guys have done! Heading out this week for some snow action on that beastie.
I agree wholeheartedly with your opinion about fat biking being a superb alternative to the current 4WD/ATV issues we are suffering with. The tracks are there and fat biking is suitable to handle the soft sandy bits – I have tried to use a conventional mountain bike and it was a bit of a hard slog for this reason!
How did your chains cope with the sand and mud? Was much unclogging necessary?
Cheers,
Nicole Anderson
Nicole – the artists (or at least the one I know – Kate Case) arrived a couple of days after we left. I’m glad you like the way I’ve presented things. I do believe that foot and fat-tyres are the most sensitive ways to access that area of coast.
Tyre choice for sand, especially the soggy claggy type just above the ‘hard zone’ is very important. Scott had 5″ Surly Bud and Lou tyres and they grabbed and held onto large amounts of heavy wet sand. The older-style Larry (4″ and 4.8″ versions) are likely better.
We both ran Rohloff-based drivechains – dry lube is the way forward with regard to sand (less sticks) and wet lube if mud/snow is your mainstay. We didn’t have to do a whole lot of unclogging as we didn’t have standard rear derailleurs. People who’ve done coastal rides in Alaska quite often use single speed set-ups for this very reason.
Enjoy the snow – I’m very jealous (and hope to be back in Tassie again soon).
Tom
Hey Tom, thanks for the above advice. My fatboy does have the standard derailleur hence my hesitance for getting it into those holes on the Sandy Cape track you found out about! Another fatbiker wrote a post complaining about sand clogging the chain as well, but the dry lube makes sense. Hope you do get back to Tassie and get your rig into some snow action!
Hey Tom
I’m looking at doing a similar trip in this area over new years, how much of the route would be possible on 29x3in tyres? We aren’t looking to get far everyday so happy to wait for low tide and optimal sand conditions or even walk!
Will – it would work with 29×3.0 as long as you’re prepared to go slower and work with the tides and weather. The long (10-20km) beach sections are the bits that will be pretty arduous that way. The rest would be fine. It’s pretty easy to see what’s going to be hard using google earth.
Thanks mate, I figured as much, those few 20 km sections of beach on the satellite images do look like a slog! The route really appeals though, thanks for the info!