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Journal: |
I got up at 2:20am, after five hours sleep (I took an extra hour
because I was absolutely worn out after yesterday’s “time trial” to
get to Sandfire before it closed at 7pm), and was on the road by
about 3:20am heading westwards across the saltbush and scrub plains.
It was misty and I had to keep wiping my glasses to see, As
day broke the mist cleared on the slightly higher ground but
lingered, like a white lake, in lower areas. Very pretty.
I came across a very large cow and a calf, both dead on the road, in
the early light, presumably victims of one of the road trains during
the night. A combi van with some European tourists had stopped
to take a picture (it was a very big cow, right in the middle of the
road) and I later saw three police cars heading north, presumably to
clear the road.
I had pretty much made up my mind that my record attempt was
over. The time the broken rear spoke had cost me, yesterday
and the day before, was a couple of hours I could not afford to lose
if I was going to ride successive high mileage days. Although
I could make Port Hedland today, I would be there too late to fix
the spoke, rotate my tyres (the rear one was looking dangerously
worn), do my washing, and get on the road by 1am tomorrow for the
scheduled 330km which was to be followed by two similarly long days.
My decision was confirmed by the residual fatigue I felt from two
hard days (probably worse because it was hard to get pumped about a
futile cause) and a stiff headwind that sprang up as the sun rose.
I decided I would have two relatively short days, stopping at
Pardoo Roadhouse and then Port Hedland, and then continue on at a
slower rate that would get me home in around 60 days if I choose to
continue. The goal would be to still ride reasonably hard
(~240kpd), but slow enough to average 6 hours sleep or better, and
smell the roses a little. There are also arguments for just
jumping on a plane, bus or train and heading home. My primary
goal was to break the record, not just to ride around Australia.
I know I can ride around Australia at a slower pace, and I have
already driven or ridden along all of the roads I still have in
front of me. It will be a lot cheaper to call it quits now
than continue on for another month, and I have commitments that will
be made more difficult by staying on the road an extra ten days.
I’m very disappointed to give up on the record, but not
devastated. I feel I was physically capable of accomplishing
the goal, but made a bad choice about the bike to use. I
probably should have purchased a new bike before starting and had it
properly prepared. I think that would have avoided many of the
mechanical problems and, in hindsight, it’s possible the pedal
problem that led to the new bike, had its origins in the accident
last year when I was knocked from the bike at high speed by the van.
Everything hit the ground pretty hard that morning. Although I
ultimately bought a new bike last weekend, there was not time to
properly prepare it and run it in.
I arrived at the remote Pardoo Roadhouse around 11:15am and had
breakfast while deciding whether to continue on to Port Hedland
today. As I ate, I watched the strong wind blowing the trees
outside the roadhouse and worked out that I would not reach Port
Hedland until around 8pm in such conditions. I decided to stay
at Pardoo and booked a basic cabin. After a shower, the
afternoon was spent washing, rotating my tyres and repairing my
spoke using some borrowed wrenches. The latter is not
something I have done before, so I’m fully expecting the spoke to
break again once I start riding. Generally, I think the rear
wheel needs some serious attention and am wishing now I had kept the
rear wheel from the old bike, although this would have required
swapping the rear cassettes because of the different gearing on the
bikes, and it was too much to ask of Simon at 10pm last Saturday
night in the Darwin bike shop when he was already doing me a big
favour.
I had a very bland sweet and sour chicken at the Roadhouse for
dinner and resolved to be in bed by 7:30pm for a long night’s sleep.
I will keep riding for the time being and decide during the next few
days whether to end the venture or continue as a tourist.
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