Pert to Adelaide - Day 3 - Margaret River

Epic day. It was always looking like a long one so I was up at 05:30 and turning the pedals in the dark just after 6. No traffic and my hope was to clear town early as it's easter Monday and these roads are not great for cyclists.

Great progress for the first few hours, again pushing into a southerly though it was quite light. Out on the dual carraigeway and in the middle of nowhere, a car that had sped past pulled into the shoulder ahead and a guy got out waving me down. As a distrustful city dweller somewhat well versed in the art of Self Preservation your first reaction is MURDER... but a quick scan of the fella told me he was fine. He was in fact going out of his way to share some local info on B-roads to get to the next town.

Of course, he was an avid local cyclist and he'd ridden LeJog in the UK so we chatted roadside for a while sharing war stories as that was my first hard tour too. What a gentleman...not young by any means but looked highly capable of cranking out some decent distance and was probably fitter than most 20yr olds, though I doubt they would recognise it. So a few kms later I was off the main road which turned out to be very close to where I'd planned anyway. But the encounter lifted my energy way more than any plans.

I rolled into Busselton around 11am after having to stop for a puncture fix. 2nd breakfast was at a great location facing the truley massive wooden wharf, but a poor choice in a way as it was rammed with people and took ages to get fed and caffinated. The break was nice however.

Heading West out of town felt weird. Home, and my wife are not West. But at least no headwinds, just a climb out of Dunsborough and a pitstop for some tourism at Ngilgi Cave. The presentation was interesting with a strong focus on the first people in the region whose presence goes back an incredible 50,000 years. 50,000!! I remember visting a Dolmite in England that predated the Pyramids at Giza, but that does not touch on 50,000 years. This land and it's people are ancient.

It was a bit hard to appreciate the cave with a mob of people. When you think about it...a mineral infused drip of water that runs the same track over the limestone for thousands of years...totally untouched by us disruptive humans, to form a delicate spire of stalactite hanging from the ceiling underground. The beauty and awe of a cave is put into perspetive by time.

So anyway, I snuck off to the bottom, way ahead of my fellow tourists and there was not a sound. I've done some semi serious caving a bit off the tourist trail many years ago and have enjoyed the complete sensory depravation you can get underground, so it was nice to get a little taste of that again Plus, the guide was awesome. Back in the daylight I had a good chat to the staff about the ride, but I was too damned shy to bring up the charity which is just stupid off me. Bloody introverts.

I took lots of photos underground but can't post them till I get back as I used the proper camera which I've been hauling from Perth for such occasions.

Back on the road, the last 30kms into Margaret River were pretty hilly. I was following  an excellent suggested route from another blog...great riding so I will credit them and post the gpx files at the end of thr trip.

Tomorrow  is a designated rest day as I could not pass through this stunning area without trying local produce.  Starting tonight with this Cyclist sized portion of Bruchetta:

It was a longer day today...142 km done. My pace is way off but if I stick to my day 1 mantra, this is not important!

Perth to Adelaide - Day 2 - Bunbury

Last night's efforts to fix up the bike seemed to do the job and it was a largely drama free day. After 'the breakfast of champions'

I was rolling south with wonderfully clear sky but a bit of southerly head wind which kept me working all day. Being Easter weekend there was too much traffic for me to fully relax, but enough shoulder most of the time to keep out of their way most of the time.

I took the more coastal route and the only non freeway option but it was still dual carraigeway. Still, the area was pretty...low laying bush land, plenty of birds, the odd Skippy and some comfortable rest stops.

And a car full of people gave me the most OTT exuberant cheers as I trundled by fully laden, which put a huge smile on my face despite the embarrassment.

For other cyclists, if approaching Bunbury from the north, take Cathedral rd along the estuary to get out of the traffic...superb cycling too.

105km later I was in town and got to a camping store in time before they closed (you can't take gas for your stove on a plane of course). I will be camping soon, but took a b&b for tonight. Camp grounds in towns seem to charge the same to pitch a tent as getting a cheap room.

For dinner I went for a walk to the beach armed with a parcel of Fish & Chips...tick one more item off the trip Bucket List!

A plaque had some information  about the indigenous people first in the area so I'm off to read up more...as that's another item on the list.

Tomorrow, a longer day is on the cards and I want to be away on the road at dawn...it should be the last day of traffic for a while too!

Perth to Adelaide - Day 1 - Perth to Mandurah

Well here we go! No more thinking about doing it...time to actually do it! The day started with a tough farewell  to my wife and our pets. My wife was a rock at the airport whilst I was a bundle of nerves...not helped by 10/10 on the Faff scale from airport staff with the bike.

The bike turned out way to big for their boxes...which I guess I should have expected. She's  not called 'Beatrice' for nothing...Anyway after a lot more disassembly she fit in the box eventually...albeit not padded as well as before, it turned out.

On the plane I calmed down a bit. I got out some pen and paper and jotted down a few ground rules to myself:

• Don't think too far ahead.
• Start slow
• It doesn't  matter how far youvride today, its how far you can still ride tomorrow.
• Eat well
• Payback peoples kindness and charity

If i can stick to those I should be fine!

The highlight on the flight was the clouds breaking at a perfect spot above Cape Arid...probably  the hardest bit on the trip. It looked very wild...cant wait to get there in a couple of weeks!

Upon landing it was time to put Beatrice back  together. The bad news was the front axel was severly bent at the end! The wheel would attach but I did not fancy being out in remote lands with a ton of weight on it....so plans to exit Perth quickly went on ice while I tracked  down a bike shop. They were awesome and had her fixed nicely but this all took a while and was quite a detour, but so glad to have it sorted before leaving town.

The plus to this was a peek at Perth and the cycle paths are top quality. Even saw dolphins swimming a few meters offshore.

After hooking up with the bike path running parallel  with the freeway running south I made fast time to Mandurah into a headwind but the sun out and great riding conditions. The delayed start meant I arrived well after dark. Campgrounds all full so I ended up in the luxury of a motel for the first night...and have spent the evening fixing up other bits of gear. A connector on the hub dynamo was loose and I was getting no power generating...so fixed that and a few other small things.

I am hoping that is it for mechanicals. But it is nice to be moving...darn tired now...

Total distance today:110 I think
'Where are you going on that'? Questions: 4

10 Days to go...

I'm counting down the days now will I board a plane and set off to Perth to start cycling back to Adelaide. It still feels like I have a lot of preparation to finalise so it will be a very busy 10 days...busy, and exciting!

Donations to Cure Cancer Australia have been steadily flowing in thanks to generosity of friends and coworkers...I'm hoping to pay back this kindness by getting those pedals turning ASAP! So a bit about this cause: I chose this charity because of the work they do to fund research from emerging researches who find it difficult to get financial support to pursue their brilliant ideas. They look at all kinds of cancer and you can have a peek at some of their fine minds here.

I still have a fair a way to go on my fundraising target, but this should pick up once I get riding...

Training

A few people have asked me how much training I'm doing. Well, I'm relying largely on my 68 km round trip commute to work, which has been good for getting through distance on top of a busy job. Most weekends I've topped that up with other riding, so all in all I've ridden 3700km in training since the start of the year, with the longest riding being 165 km.

March was a bit more like it

I had a good test ride a weekend back, a return trip down the Great Ocean Road to Lorne to try out the bike with close to a full load, including 15kgs of water. Such great scenery along there, especially good at the crack of dawn as I had the road pretty much all too myself.

Training on the GOR

It went well in terms of a gear test. I camped out and rode back the next day...but found it so much harder with the weight and was burning way more energy than normal for 2x 130km days. I've got to be disciplined on the nutrition front for the trip itself as I wasn't eating well enough that day...lessons learned.

Weather

I mentioned the season of Djeran in my last post and it really seems accurate right now in Melbourne. Right on cue in April the wind has dropped a lot, its colder at night and with brilliant still mornings...perfect for eating up serious miles so I hope this holds for a while longer!

Early mornings in West Melbourne

That's it for now, but just a huge thank you to everyone who has read this drivel and still been willing to support Cure Cancer Australia! You all officially rock...

Why Cycle Across The Nullarbor?

Perth to Adelaide....3500km of remote wilderness...not much water, lots of wind...and not much of anything else...the "Nullarboring" so they say?

photo credit: SA Tourism

I'm not so sure. Frankly the world is a small place...and our time on it, is short! There is something quite appealing about pushing oneself deeply...and stripping back life to the basics. We fill our lives with the noise and chaos of the day to day, and forget what living really is.

This is no mid-life crisis for me, I've felt the need to do this kind of adventure for a very long time...

Maybe out in the expanse of outback Australia I'll get a reminder of how small and insignificant we are, how we need to make the most of our time here? Hell, I may even inspire others to do the same?

And on that note I have another, slightly less selfish, reason why I am doing this trip. Sometimes we are reminded of ,the fragility of life when we see others stuck down by the immense misfortune of illness. My wife, who works in the medical industry, must see this every day, and has had to develop deep professional fortitude to handle it. Her and her colleagues, are all hero's in my mind!

Most of us are not up close to such pain most of time, and when we see people suffer, it hurts. Rather than wallow in this I'd prefer try and do something more proactive about the situation: and that is hopefully raise some money for a very good cause.

So that is why I'm riding for Cure Cancer Australia...maybe that money will save someones life?

Anything you can do to help this cause would be fantastic, you can donate here if you feel like it...

About My Route

The Nullarbor itself is only one section of this whole journey. Starting in Perth, I plan to ease into things with some shorter days while I head south through Margaret River and down to Cape Leeuwin. After that there are some hills and spectacular forests to negotiate, before joining up with the southern coast and the first really remote section out to the oasis-like town of Esperance. 

If the weather is good, and the bike and I are in OK condition, I'll consider a very remote route up a 4WD track through Cape Arid, but more likely: I'll take the more well beaten path north up the highway to Norseman which is the last chance for decent supplies before the scarily long and remote Eyre highway cuts across the plains towards the Nullarbor itself. There are roadhouses about every 200 km here and I'll need to carry enough water to get between them no matter what the conditions. Food is equally a problem as there is only "trucker" type food available at these outposts and I'll be burning huge calories each day.

But of all the concerns, its the wind I'm most worried about. The theory goes, the area experiences a prevailing westerly wind...but it can seriously blow, and from any direction in reality. Look at the last 2 weeks for example:

Source: http://wind.willyweather.com.au

Not many Westerlies! But I should hit at the area at the calmest possible time of year on average, so that at least improves my odds. Indigenous Australians in South West Australia have ‘season’ for this short period of relatively calm weather in April and May, it’s called “Djeran.”

Should I make it through all that, the route ends after turning south from Port Augusta, and I'll probably head through the Clare Valley to finish up in Adelaide...3500 km later.

6 Weeks to go....training!

Departure day is approaching fast...and there never seems to be enough time to train! But that has been the focus, along with collecting various bits of gear needed to do this safely. The big purchase was a new bike which I'll give a full rundown of a bit later. But the reason behind this was that my tried and trusted "Bianca" which I've ridden already from Adelaide - Melbourne and Melbourne - Sydney, and across England and Scotland on my first fundraiser. I just don't trust she will survive hauling a heavy load across the outback:

Bianca on the Great Ocean Road

Bianca is a modified cyclecross bike with racks added...she's fine for week long tours but too liable to break down for me to risk a really remote trip with.

As for training: well to get a good kick-start I gave up alcohol for two and a bit months and kept increasing my distance each week since Jan. That helped me lose a fair bit of weight and get me focused properly. My long commute to work is my training base...and I've been adding on one bigger weekend ride most weekends, up to about 145km so far for those and about 150-180km covered on the weekdays. Doing all that on top of a full time+ job isn't so easy but not too much I can do about that...

Of course no amount of training can really prepare you for the sustained nature of a long tour hauling heavy loads, so, my strategy on the trip itself has to be to start slow and build up fitness as I go. Cue laughter from my wife who knows how impatient I am!

The next big job on the list is to do an overnighter somewhere to test the bike fully loaded and see if I can remember how to camp!

Perth to Adelaide this Autumn

Its been quite some time now since I had a good tour...way too long! I hope the legs can remember what to to do...and of course that means some training now to at least get a reasonable fitness base ready.

The plan this time is to fly out to Perth, head south through Margaret River and Cape Leeuwin, then veer east through Albany, Denmark to Esperance and then across the Nullabor Plain to Augusta, before turning south and heading through the Clare Valley down to Adelaide.

It's about 3500 km all up, and I have a 5 week time limit. I'll also be fundraising for a charity so a little more on that later...so many details to plan now but it's just very exciting to have a big goal again...more to follow...Game On!