The Cycling Adventurer

   Perth-Adelaide 1997

Day 26   

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On the move again then holed up in Ceduna

I'm on the road again... as the song goes, and while I feel tired now, I am delighted to be in Ceduna at the backpacker hostel. However, my problems with the rear axle and bearings and, now I suspect, the front wheel bearings, are still far from resolved.

I may have to cool my heels again in Ceduna until Monday morning to see what the bike shop can do.

The strategy of using the Penong engineer failed before it had even started. When Danny called the guy, he said he would be going out for the rest of the day, and could not help. Fair enough. After all, it was Saturday. The only other solution was to go back to Nundroo and the mechanic, Reg Davies, who assisted me with tools when I removed the rear gearset.

Danny drove me the 45km to Nundroo, and Reg had two sealed car alternator bearings that could be pressed into the 30mm openings on the hubs. Reg was reluctant to press them in for me, because he feared taking responsibility for distortion or breakage of the hub. I was beyond the point of worry and Danny and I pressed the bearings past the ridge on each side of the hub. We may have distorted the hub slightly in doing this because the gearset has an odd wiggle as it rotates. The bearings also have some lateral movement. Danny said bearings like these do not like much lateral pressure applied to them. "But I know of harvesters which rely on side pressure to bearings. It's all that keeps them together. I call it faulty design," he said.

I was really keen to get going again and take advantage of the westerly winds, and I did not pay as much attention to detail as I should have. I mislaid my riding gloves, left the gearset remover in Reg's workshop, omitted putting on the plastic protector that separates the spokes from the chain and gearset, lost the little frame that hangs down to protect the rear derailleur assembly... and left my watch sitting on the window sill of Danny's bathroom after I had a shower.

I will have to do something about replacing the other stuff on Monday in Ceduna. The gloves are important as protection for my hands from the sun, vibration and splinters. The lost pair were filthy with grease and grime, so they might have been due for replacement, anyway. The tool and derailleur protector should both be reasonably easy to replace. But at a cost of $25 to $30 for the gloves, $13 each for the tool and protector, around $6 for the bearings sent from Ceduna yesterday, $15 for two alternator bearings from Reg Davies, and $20 in petrol money for Danny, the whole deal has cost me more than $80, and may cost me a fair bit more yet.

I took apart the front bearings and found one ball missing, and another broken ball. I put the hub back together because there was nothing I could do about them except leave out the broken ball.

The big lesson here is to ensure the bearings are of the best possible quality when leaving on a big trip. It's important to carry a spare set of bearings for the front and rear, try to work in clean conditions on a flat, smooth surface (a large rag or plastic sheet spread on the ground is an ideal starting point when a bench is not available), pack a small amount of grease, or at least a small can of lubricant such as WD40 or RP7, and try not to get flustered when confronted by a monumental problem. Keeping a mental list of what has been disassembled and in what order is very useful. Patience seems to be the ultimate virtue, and in my case, the loss of around two days out of an intended 45 days for the entire journey is not much.

I grabbed a quick bite to eat before bidding my farewells to the Mahar family. I then held my breath and negotiated the track back to the highway. Not a wobble nor any serious binding was evident. "Well, let's go for broke and see what this baby can do now," I thought to myself. I started to pedal hard. There was some slight binding that I could not work out, but I really did not want to stop the momentum. About two kilometres down the road, I discovered that I was not wearing my watch. I retraced my steps in my mind and determined it was on the bathroom window frame, but I was not prepared to add another four kilometres to my journey today by turning back to collect it. I will eventually get it back through the post from Danny.

I estimate I left Boobakie at 1.30pm, and I arrived at the Ceduna hostel at 7.30pm in darkness, so I averaged around 17km/h for the day. In a way, it was exhilarating after the frustration of the past two days.

The binding did not seem to get any worse. A metallic knock started to come from the rear axle not long after I started, and a clicking that was in the front end for some of the past 3½ weeks also reappeared, justifying my concerns for the bearings there. I can imagine what was happening inside the rear hub as the bearing casings moved around, but while-ever I still moved with some ease, plus had a 25km/h tailwind, I was not going to fiddle.

I made Penong in reasonable time, and stopped to inspect the Penong Woolshed, which was okay, but not particularly outstanding in its displays of arts and crafts. However, I did get some information on the history of the Bookabie School. Then I moved on to the roadhouse for a milk drink and to get some energy bars.

Danny said I could expect to climb most of the first half of the ride to Ceduna, then it would be downhill for the remainder. He was not wrong. I had a good long climb out of Penong and seemed to keep going higher and higher until 28km from Ceduna when the ride was mostly downhill. Even though the road changed its general direction towards the south-west late in the afternoon, the wind still seemed to remain behind me, and gave me some excellent lifts up the inclines.

I did stop a couple of times. Once was to chat to a couple who went past me in their vehicle towing a trailer. She waved madly out the window. They stopped about 150 metres ahead of me, and took some photographs. We talked for about 10 minutes. They were headed to Adelaide for a visit from Perth. They seemed to be very impressed by my ride across the Eyre Highway from Perth in just three weeks. I stopped a second time after spotting a sign out of the corner of my eye, and found it detailed the history of underground water tanks on the Eyre Peninsula.

I drank a lot of fluids today. I filled all my bottles with rainwater from the Mahars' tank, and because of the tailwind and strong sun, I sweated profusely.

I was quite sure I could make Ceduna, but it was going to be touch and go when darkness started to fall. I was about five kilometres out when I turned on my tail-light and I could no longer see the figures on my computer. The last five kilometres were the toughest part of the day as the road turned more to the west and I started to pedal into a cold headwind. I also was concerned whether the rear bearings were going to last the distance. Of all the road surfaces on this trip, I travelled over more resealed sections than before. There were some smooth parts that had been resealed some time ago, but the newer stuff with larger aggregate that had yet to be pressed down into the tar base, caused a constant vibration that encouraged the bearings to move much more inside the hub that on the super-smooth surfaces.

The grinding seemed to worsen when I leaned forward on the aerobars, which I needed to do fairly often when pedalling uphill or to change the pressure on my backside and hands. The cold wind in the last four kilometres was a real energy-sapper, but I eventually made it through the fruit inspection station and on towards the Ceduna backpacker hostel that had been recommended to me by Sue and Kevin Trewartha at Nundroo.

I rolled up to the front door, which was locked, and was greeted by two young women with North American accents. I found out later that Serri Freidman, of Denver, and Lisa Riehl, of Vancouver, were on their way to Perth. They had joined forces in Adelaide and were driving Lisa's car, left to her by a departing boyfriend. The hostel owner's two dogs also provided their own greeting.

The place is one that should not be judged by its cover. Vaughn Waye has been here for about a year, having taken over an old and virtually derelict caravan park, and he has done a lot to improve the presentation, create a reasonable atmosphere, and provide "value-added" extras. On this occasion, those extras included tea, coffee, an evening meal, and half a dozen oysters each. The cost for me was $15.00 a night. The women did not eat all their oysters and left the balance for me to enjoy on top of my own half-dozen. The hostel is best described as being comfortable and relaxing. Vaughn is keen to keep it that way.

Lisa has been in Australia for about 12 months and in fact has to leave at the end of October when her visa expires. Serri is travelling through on her way to South Africa and on to Europe as part of a big world trip.

I am feeling quite contented with the day's efforts, thanks to the patience of Danny Mahar, who did whatever he could to get things going again, and offered me great country hospitality. I could have gone straight back to Reg's in the first place, but I would not have met the Mahar family and renewed my acquaintance with the resilience and sense of humour people on the land have to maintain if they are to survive and make a living.

I made excellent distance today under the circumstances despite my record late start. And I still had time to stop and obtain some information on various features. I did not have to put up a tent tonight, I have a chance tomorrow to get clothes and other gear clean, and I can see if I can keep the bike together long enough to get me to Port Augusta where there is likely to be a better range of spare parts.

I still have got a fair way to go to Adelaide and I have yet to confirm when my children will be there. I have decided to bypass Port Lincoln, although I will go to Streaky Bay to gain relief from the heavy traffic before cutting across inland to join up again with the Eyre Highway.

The young couple who stopped to take pictures of me said the pair on bikes I met in Esperance were about four car hours behind me, so despite the lost days of riding, I appear to be maintaining or increasing slightly the gap between us. It is something that has added some interest. My legs are sore again above the knees because of the extra effort today. And I got a muscle spasm in my left shoulder overnight, which made turning my head and upper body to left uncomfortable.

My backside, however, obviously appreciated the enforced "holiday" and is feeling much better. I had a long shower on arriving here at the Ceduna hostel tonight, and at least my hands look almost civilised again after a good soaking and scrub to get rid of the grease and grit. I will inspect the rear axle tomorrow to check the damage to the inside of the hub and see if it can survive any longer. If so, I will be away again first thing on Monday morning. If not, I will check at the cycle shop. My plans, as usual, have to be flexible.

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