The Cycling Adventurer

   Perth-Adelaide 1997

Day 15   

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90-mile straight and a dream ride

If yesterday was singularly unpleasant, then today was a dream come true. I had a nice early start at 7.25am after being awoken by an emu scratching and thudding around the tent at 5.30am.

I lay awake for a while to try to figure out what the noise was, and it wasn't until I heard the thump-thump of big feet running into the bush when I moved inside the tent, that I solved the puzzle.

When I finally emerged from the tent, I found the countryside shrouded in fog. The coals in the fire were still hot from last night (mallee is excellent firewood), and I put on my billy for coffee. The tent and bike were covered in a heavy dew, and I spent some time swabbing down everything to get it as dry as possible before packing up.

An early start was essential if I was to finish the 90-Mile Straight today. I only just made it, and arrived in Caiguna at 6.20pm. The sun was going down in a rich, red set.

I did not even bother to stop to change my sunglasses for clear lenses, and I had just enough light to see my way into the roadhouse.

Overall, today was the one I had hoped for since leaving Esperance. The road was either flat or gently undulating, the weather was warm at 30 deg C without being oppressive, and a tailwind scooted me along until about 25km from Caiguna when it became a seabreeze. If my butt had been more comfortable, the day would have been perfect.

Mist shrouded the plain at the start of the 90-Mile Straight when I awoke in the morning.

My butt continues to be a source of physical and emotional irritation. I taped up the affected area on both sides before leaving this morning. This turned out to be a mistake. The heat caused me to sweat a lot, and that in turn caused the edges of the tape to lift away from the skin. The movement on the saddle then curled the edges into little rolls. In doing so, the hairs were rolled in as well, adding to the discomfort.

Eventually I had enough, and stopped at a water tank. I had limited options. I could remove the tape slowly and pull out or break each hair as I went, all of which would have been a slow torture; shave the hairs and pull the tape away from the skin; or hold my breath and rip the tape off quickly taking skin and hair with it instantly. I tried a combination. To say the exercise brought tears to my eyes was an understatement. To aggravate it all, the hairs came out with their follicles. Finally, having put this unpleasant learning experience behind me, the discomfort improved marginally and enabled me to reach Caiguna in slightly better condition.

The morning mist was cleared by the wind that set in about 30 minutes after I departed. The breeze came from my front left quarter initially, then turned to the north-west or from my left rear quarter. This was not quite as beneficial as it seemed. I rode about the same speed as the wind, and that meant I moved in a stationary pocket of air that had little opportunity to evaporate the sweat from my skin, and therefore provide some cooling. However, the road was better than yesterday, and I had no trouble staying in the smooth tyre tracks on either side of the left lane.

I had two "photo calls" early in the day. The first came when a red station wagon went past, then stopped about 300 metres ahead. The driver got out, took his camera from the back seat and started shooting as I rode towards him. I stopped and we chatted. Ron Speed and his wife and child were on their way to an amateur photography conference in Mt Gambier, South Australia. Ron works as a nurse, but has a hobby interest in photography, a hobby that verges on the professional judging by the Nikon cameras and array of other quality gear he had in the car. We lined up another shot before he took off for the blowholes at Caiguna and Cocklebiddy, and his overnight stop at Ceduna some 600km away. Coincidentally, the Speeds live in Katanning just over the fence from where I pitched my tent in the caravan park. Ron took down my name and address and said he would send me a copy of the pictures.

About 20 minutes later, a VW campervan pulled over and a guy jumped out with his video camera. Again I stopped to chat. He said he had been on a round trip across the north and down the west coast since leaving his home in Queensland. He was accompanied by a mate who was following in another campervan.

Throughout the day, the people I met travelling east mentioned a man walking to Sydney. Ron Speed said he was only about 15km behind me and asked if I had seen him. I could not work it out immediately, but as I talked to another person at the Caiguna Roadhouse, I gathered he was the same man I saw walking in the bush yesterday whom I had assumed was one of the owners of Balladonia Station. I was told the walker was pulling a cart, and was wearing blue tracksuit pants and had a beard, which fitted the description of the person in the bush yesterday. I could not work out who the woman in the utility might have been because the man was said to be walking unsupported.

I had plenty of water to see me through to the Caiguna stop. I finished with about a litre, and on arriving consumed about 1.75 litres of Coke. Even though I was well off with water, I was inquisitive about two water stops in the second half of the day. The first one was easily identifiable, 500 metres off the highway via a roadside parking area, and had a corrugated iron awning. A big sign said "Boil water before use", but when I washed my face, the water seemed to taste fine. I did not top up my supplies, though, for fear of contaminating it with something nasty.

Two vehicles were under the awning when I arrived. The driver of one, a covered utility, was using a nebuliser, and when he saw me in his rear vision mirror, he held out a cold stubbie of light beer that was gleefully welcomed. "You looked as though you needed it", he said later in a broad Scottish accent. I didn't think I looked that stressed! He was on his way to Victoria to stay at his brother's farm.

The other vehicle, a van, was already set up by the lone driver for the night. He told me he was a retired garbage collector and had had a heart attack three years ago. He said he divorced his wife after she insisted they go on a world tour by staying in motels and hotels. All he wanted to do was see Australia in a campervan. "That's it," he said, "and I haven't looked back".

The second water stop comprised a single rather than double water tank, and was only 50 metres off the highway. It also had a permanent awning over the tank, and there were picnic tables. This is where I removed the first troublesome tape on my backside. The tank outlet was in the shade instead of the full sun as was the case back along the road, and the water in the tank was icy cold. I doused my cap with the water, a practice I think is worth adopting when the temperatures start to rise, and water is available.

I stopped at one point to watch two wedge-tailed eagles that were on the road then took flight as I approached. They circled in the thermals, gliding effortlessly with outstretched wings. A crow harassed one of the eagles, "cutting" it to the opposite side of the road, and harried it for the next 10 minutes until they both went out of sight about a kilometre away from me. A couple heading west in a station wagon stopped to check if I was okay, and to see if I needed water. We chatted briefly until a vehicle appeared on the horizon, and we moved on with our respective journeys.

Another vehicle to stop was a panel van driven by a man heading east. He checked to see how I was off for water and offered me some ice. I politely declined his offer. I think cyclists should show that they are capable of being self-sustained and not have to rely on offers of goodwill from passers-by. Anyway, the good Samaratins may need themselves what they are offering further down the road.

One of the guys at the first water tank told me that a couple on bicycles had stayed at Norseman. He asked if I knew anything about them. He obviously talked to them at some length, and from his description, I presumed they were a couple I had seen in Esperance. They had said then that when they started their trip around Australia, they could manage only 40km a day, but they were now averaging between 100 and 120km a day. That made me feel ecstatic about my daily distances of up to 150km.

Despite the reasonably easy conditions, my legs are feeling the pinch. The strain in the left quadricep caused me a few hassles today. The left leg is the one I use to push off when starting to pedal. Once I get going, I can cope quite well, but changing my position on the seat, a frequent event today to ease the butt pain, put extra strain on it, and the pain felt like a long needle being driven through the muscle. The discipline of changing to my right leg to push off is quite difficult to achieve.

The muscles above each of my knees are still sore, and I have trouble getting up from a squatting or kneeling position. I suffered my first cramp of the journey during the day, in my left calf. It probably protested at the extra effort to compensate for other discomforts in the quadricep above it. My elbow also was painful early this morning, but was not a major problem afterwards. Finally, I cut the nails on my big toes for two reasons: the pressure forward in the toe clips has resulted in the nails wearing through the ends of my socks, and the pressure caused discomfort back to the quicks.

I have become a patchwork of brown and white since starting the trip. The browns range from light tan to copper. The most unusual is on my hands that are brown across the top halves of my fingers and white to the wrists, but with an oval patch on the back of each hand. The areas correspond to the parts uncovered by my gloves. I have been meticulous in applying sunscreen, especially on my lips which have been at higher risk because of the headwinds.

I noticed today a substantial decline in the number of roadtrains and semi-trailers. It was a pleasure to be on the road with all but one of the heavy vehicles giving me a wide berth. The caravanners were out in force, though. In a fortunate piece of timing, I pulled to the side of the road for one of my many recovery stops; when I turned to look behind me, I saw a pilot vehicle approach, followed by a police car, then two low-loaders with a bin on each as wide as the road itself. Overall, I had to pull off the road only once to avoid a triple-passing encounter.

The countryside is remarkably green. To the uninitiated, it looks like rolling Savannah to the horizon. But it is stunning to know that within months, or even weeks or days, the green grass and other plants will dry off and the scenery will turn brown with only widely scattered trees to offer relief. The wildlife also is less common now, although I did have a kangaroo bound across in front of me this morning, and of course, there were the wedge-tailed eagles. The roadkill is still frequent enough.

The campsite tonight at the Caiguna motel cost $8.00, and included unlimited showering. I have bought two 1.25 litre bottles of Evian mineral water and I will stock up with some water from the ablutions block before leaving tomorrow morning. There are quite a few vans in the park, and heavy transport vehicles stop regularly at the front of the roadhouse. At one stage, there were four Kenworths lined up, all similar in their bright white paintwork and chrome. They left for Perth in file, and looked very impressive.

Despite my urgency to arrive in Caiguna, I did stop about three kilometres from town to have a look at a blowhole. The Federal Department of Tourism has erected a description board on the feature. The area comprises limestone karsts, and if the rainfall was any greater than its annual average of 250mm, the terrain would not be nearly so flat and benign for cyclists like me; it would be river valley after river valley to cross. The limestone has numerous blowholes, and the speed of the air at the openings can reach 70km/h. Some of the caverns have very big lakes inside, and a French team set a world record in the 1980s for the deepest caving expedition.

The information board mentioned that Balladonia's claim to fame is being the closest settlement to the impact point for pieces of the US Skylab spaceship that fell to earth in the early 1980s. Large pieces of the spacecraft are displayed in Esperance. Another significant event today was passing the Central Western time line, and that meant putting my watch forward 45 minutes at Caiguna. I suspect, however, that the time line is not officially recognised, because this is the first I have ever heard of it.

The day was one of achievement. I had my earliest start of the trip. I completed the 90-Mile Straight. I arrived in town just before dark. I met a variety of people. And I had some delightful encounters with wildlife. I am very tired in the legs, and I am fighting off the odd back spasm. But, I have a relatively lazy day tomorrow. Some washing and sauntering along to Cocklebiddy should do the trick.

It has been quite warm, even into the night, but it is starting to cool down now. I am looking forward to a reasonably comfortable sleep, but unfortunately, the caravanners are expected to start early again, interrupting my lie-in tomorrow morning. C'est la vie!

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