129.9 km ridden today
657.4 ridden so far
2091.5 est to go.
522 m up
570m down
4016 calories burnt
4/10 pain factor
Something I learnt today: Ephemerals are a bitch
Strava that shit: https://www.strava.com/activities/18064323460
Alarm goes off at 5:30am. Fucker. Sorry. But that is the best way to describe it. Possibly one of the hardest days of my life to get out of bed. No physically. Mentally. A bit of realisation about how far to go and particularly what lays ahead in the next 4 days. One roadhouse and nothing else for 374 odd km’s. After hitting snooze a few time’s I dragged myself out of bed and had a mostly cold shower, coffee and oats. I’d largely packed up the night before (heavy again with added supplies). I needed two days water but carried a day in anticipation of creeks and two rest stops with non-potable water (which I could boil).
On my way back to my home (The Gregory Development Way) I spotted a cafe open and couldn’t resist. Eggs Benny and and a large coffee (large in these parts is 1 litre).
I remember on my Brisbane to Sydney, the wizard of riding, Santo, would say to me the first 20mins riding are the worst. He was right. Again. The diesel engine warmed up and I was actually soon enjoying the riding. Engine room is holding up fine, albeit getting rather tanned.
The whole body is actually holding up well. Even the bum. While still sore at times I genuinely think it is going numb now. Which suits me fine.
Today was slightly cooler with virtually no wind. It was also very flat so I reeled off the km’s pretty quickly. The roadhouse was 200km up the road. I didn’t have any intention of getting there, but wanted to reel off the majority today. Fairly quiet on the roads. I’m sure diesel prices have kept all but necessary traffic off the road. Roadtrains, maybe every 30mins or so?
Highlight of the day were two VERY large haulers. That had both front and rear pilot vehicles. One in particular was hauling what looked like the front scoop for one of those massive mining trucks. It didn’t just have pilot vehicles, it also had 2 police cars as well. The lady in the pilot vehicle told me to move off the road (but also the two cars that were approaching me from behind pulled right over as well). We waited and I could see why. It took up the entire road!
Anyway, I sailed on after that. Waving or thumbs up to vehicles as I went. I stopped at a creek under shade, where I was about head high with the road. I assume the truckers that saw me simply thought “dodgy mofo” as I thumbs up’d them here…
So the ever reliable Wikicamps had provided me details on camps and water. At about the 110km mark I hit the rest stop with toilets and non-potable water. I proceeded on to check out the Cape river just 2km down the road. It was in a sorry state. Ephemeral indeed. I went back to the stop to take water for boiling later. Briefly musing the idea of camping there I decided to head for a camp site. Known as Telstra camp site on Wikicamps.
So for this journey, I was wondering when I’d get phone coverage and at the start often would check the phone now and then. Well, idiot me should have realised there isn’t much more than a few hundred meters from the road. Need phone reception? Just look for a tower stupid. So basically the Telstra campsite is so named because there is a tower right next to it. There is no one at the camp site and I hear a truck every 20mins or so. So basically, I have my very own 4g tower for this evening. How cool is that! The camp site is just a big open flat area. With some cows. I asked if they would pose for me
I specifically hauled an extra 3 or 4 litres of water with me for the last 20kms or so for a shower. Maaaan it was awesome. I also took it naked. I was suprised the ladies.. I mean cows… took no notice.
So, I must get off my laptop and lay and gaze at the insane clear night sky.
Song of the day. A ripper from Metallica, in reference to the obscene amount of calories I am taking in and burning…. Fuel.. “Ooooh, on I burn, Fuel is pumpin’ engines…”