Day 7 - Penong to Nundroo (and beyond)

The wind is still behind me!
Penong was the last true town before Norseman, 1200km West. The places in between are all roadhouses. Some are 180km apart from each other, so I'll have to bush camp in between.
I bought a 5L water container in Ceduna, so can carry 12L at most.
I met two English cyclists at Penong, who were riding from Albany to Sydney. The had just finished a ride through South America. They are both in their 60s. A friend of their son set the Guiness book of records by riding Sydney to Perth (assisted) in 9 days.
The hills have flattened out, and the trees are thinning out, so I'm approaching the true Nullarbor.
I won't be able to make any contact for the next 48 hours when I get to Nullarbor roadhouse.

Happy Halloween, I hope there are no vampires in the bush tonight.

Day 6 Ceduna to Penong 70km

Rob got to Penong okay but no internet access....Wendy

Day 5 Wirulla to Ceduna 95km

Thanks for all the comments and words of encouragement.
Today was fantastic. I had 95km of strong tail winds. This meant I could ride uphill at 20km/h, compared to yesterday when I could only manage 12km/h ... downhill.
Ceduna is the last large town before hitting the Nullarbor.
Yesterday I met the first cyclists heading East. They had left Perth 35 days ago enroute to Sydney and had nothing but headwinds.

 The inside photo of the helmet is of a curled up spider. I don't know where he hopped on board.

Occupy Kimba camp.

Ironic?

Alex, Dean and Greg - good luck.

Day 4 - Wudinna to Wirrulla 127km

Temporary entry until Rob gets to Ceduna - today he met some cyclists on their way from Perth to Sydney - they had been through 35 days of headwinds!

Day 3 - Kimba to Wudinna 105km

Today's cycling needed more effort than the last two days. I was riding into the wind, and there were many hills to climb.
Apart from these things, it was a pretty uneventful ride. The scenery was mostly wheat fields.

The road trains are getting bigger. Most of the time I spot them in the mirror and move off the road. Even so the drivers will still give me lots of distance, even crossing to the other side of the road. One time I mistook a road train for a car. He couldn't move over because of oncoming traffic and whizzed past me by the width of a handlebar. I was buffeted by the wind, but didn't fall off.

There still isn't mobile phone (Optus) coverage around these parts.

I've changed this blog's comments settings, so anonymous users can leave comments.

Day 2 Iron Knob to Kimba 90km

A very good day for cycling. The temperature was about 25degrees, and little wind. There were some hills to climb on the last 20km.
I had the first flat tyre. There wasn't any signs of a puncture, so I assume it was the valve.
Most cars and trucks approaching from behind me gave a very wide berth - often going on the other side of the road.
 Can't believe the amount of litter on the side of the road. I'd estimate a piece of litter every meter. There was a Mercedes logo and some plastic grille just before the body of a freshly killed kangaroo - very sad. Less sad though was that it was a Merc ;-). I carried the logo for a few km , but disposed of it after getting  the flat tyre, thinking it was generating bad luck.
Speaking of litter, I found a cassette from the Little River Band. It's title is "It's a long way there".
The blowflies here are as big a Kalamata Olives. And they bite. Lucky I had a fly mesh hat on, otherwise would have tasted a few along the way. 
Tomorrow is another 90km to Wuddina. There may not be internet, so updates may not happen until Ceduna in 3 days time

Day 1 - Port Augusta to Iron Knob 70km

Today was a test of the bike and equipment. Everything worked well. The winds were mainly Southerly, so I had some long distances with headwinds.
Average speed was about 16km/h .
The connection I'm using to the Internet is dial-up, so can't post any pictures.
My legs are a bit tired, but should recover by tomorrow.

Team Nuon - came second.

Bikes and Trains: a stress free guide.

Thank you to all the well wishers. I am in Adelaide and will catch a bus tomorrow (Mon) to Port Augusta.

There weren't any clear instructions at the train station about putting the bike on the train. So, it is advisable to get to the station early and have a ticket ready. I booked a ticket on the internet and had only a reference number, so had to queue to get the official ticket.

Am currently in an Adelaide hostel. There were some noisy German backpackers at 3:30am that kept me awake. A quick "Entschuldigung sie bitte, I want to get some sleep!" made them stop.

Packed and ready to go.

The bike is ready.

Thanks to Commuter Cycles in Brunswick for their hard work.
 Just need to pack up and start the ride on Tuesday 25th Oct.

Transplant

Parts from one bike are being transplanted to another bike. This should be ready by Monday.

End of the line for my bike.

Helaas,


My bike cannot be repaired. So, plan B is to use a second bike to see if it can be made Nullarbor ready.

4mm to stop 2400km

My on again off again on again off again trip is now... maybe on again .. or off again. The bottom bracket arrived on Tuesday - thanks to my cousins . Buuuuut it is 4mm too wide, so new cranks and a rear cluster are needed.
No problem here - as these were worn out already.

The big problem now is that the non-drive side of the bracket needs shims to make it all fit. There is a chance that these could work loose. Not something I want to happen in the middle of the Nullarbor. The Bike shop is working hard on a solution. I hope to test it this weekend.

Basket Bracket

Thanks to my friend and his milling machine for making a bracket to hold a basket.

Day-16

Hoi,

With much gratitude, my cousins will be posting me the bottom bracket for my bike. Once the bike has been repaired, then it is just a matter of assembling it and packing the bags.
  Current plan is to catch a train from Melbourne to Adelaide on Oct 22. Oct 23 is the end of the solar car race from Darwin to Adelaide. Go team Nuon. http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/ .
Oct 24, catch a bus from Adelaide to Port Augusta.

 Oct 25 - start of the ride. First destination is Iron Knob (68km), or if the wind is favourable, Kimba (159km).