Two More Days and a Major Milestone is Passed

Caiguna to Madura

Due largely to climatic conditions there are no cycling photos from these two days, so I thought I'd stick this photo of a section of the Eyre Highway into the blog. If only we had these conditions the past two days! Never mind: there is still hope for some sunshine, but perhaps not until after tomorrow.

A section of the Eyre Highway from the air

Yesterday began with Peter dropping by our tent to say he wanted to have a chat about the weather. He was concerned that one of the three major rainfall events that affects the Nullarbor each year was headed our way, and we had the longest day - 157 kilometres - of the trip ahead of us. This major weather event had significant thunderstorms embedded within it, and that was what was most concerning Peter.

After we had a discussion with Collis we all agreed to head out. The weather wasn't looking too bad at that point, and we had the option of stopping at Cocklebiddy if the atmospherics really played up. Not long into the ride it started to rain but it wasn't cold and the wind was slightly over our left shoulders - so not a hindrance at least. It rained all the way to Cocklebiddy, but never hard enough that we couldn't see where we were going, and the light northerly that was blowing took the clouds of mist raised by the road trains away from us.

Di wasn't feeling great after another bout of indigestion, so when we arrived she decided to ride the rest of the day in the truck with Collis. That decision made, we enjoyed a hot snack courtesy of Collis: thanks Collis! We five cyclists left a significant pool of water inside the snack bar, which the proprietor wasn't that happy about; but c'est la vie!

It had stopped raining while we were in the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse, so when I got back on my bike I thought I might as have a bit of a hit out, and set off pushing the pedals with some purpose. It stayed dry for most of the 45 or so kilometres to the designated lunch stop and I found myself soon stripping off my warm gloves and hat en route. 

When I did arrive at lunch Di was trying to get a fire going and, with a few tips from the peanut gallery soon had some flames licking the twigs she'd assembled. However, the rain started tumbling out of the sky and put paid to her attempts. I decided there was no future hanging around in the rain and, after a 20 minute break and a few mouthfuls of nutrition, got back on my bike to finish the day's ride. Still feeling good, I hammered it all the way into Madura and arrived just before Collis and Di rolled in. There was a fantastic descent from Madura Pass down into the "oasis", which pushed my overall speed for the day just over 26 kms/hour. Remarkably, it took just under three hours for Di and I to do the first 65 kilometres and just a shade over three hours for me to do the remaining 92 kilometres. I was chuffed - and stuffed!

Here's a graphic of the day's ride, put in perspective by some of the country so you can get a sense of how far along we've come, bearing in mind that this is the 6th day of riding since leaving Esperance and the 16th since leaving Perth (which is out of the picture to the west) ...

Caiguna to Madura

As it turns out, we were extremely lucky (yet again) as far as the weather goes. Get this: once we were settled into Madura there was a tremendous thunderstorm that lasted for six hours from 6:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m., and it rained pretty much continuously right through until about 5:00 a.m.

The first thing I noticed arriving at Madura - and only thing I took a photo of all day - was this old car, which pretty much sums up how my legs felt at the end of the day ...

Like my legs ... going no further today!

Actually, I was on a bit of an adrenaline buzz and felt a bit sorry - just a bit, mind - that the day fell short of an imperial hundred. Not sorry enough to ride another 2 and a half kilometres down the road and back again, though.

Madura to Mundrabilla

Roadhouse to roadhouse. That's pretty much what it's all about if you're travelling on the Eyre Highway and are on anything more than a day and a half schedule. The good thing about these places is that they pretty much all do good meals of sizeable proportions. Basically, they know they have to keep the truck drivers happy or they won't stop.

On paper, today's ride doesn't look very daunting. Even on the map it looks pretty straightforward ...

Madura to Mundrabilla

If you looked closely at the image above you'll have noticed that there is no profile: instead it just says "Mostly flat". Well, that's what it was like. Unfortunately, we had a headwind of about 15 km/h all day, with gusts to 20 km/h. It was dry when we started but rain set in almost immediately.  Slog, slog, slog. That's about all I can say about the day, apart from the consensus amongst the group that it was the hardest stage to date, despite it being so flat. Unlike most days so far on the Eyre Highway, a majority of the road surface was really dead, which meant that it was difficult to maintain any sort of momentum.

The great thing about the day was that Di felt quite chirpy this morning and was determined to ride. The roast pork and veggies she had for dinner last night didn't aggravate her gut, and the porridge she shared with Peter and Jim also stuck to her ribs, so she was full of beans. In fact, she swung turns with Peter and me for the whole journey and finished strongly. Peter started cramping up with about 15 kilometres to go and urged Di and me to keep going without him so he could just roll the cranks over and work out his cramp rather than having to keep up. He rolled in about 15 minutes after us, with Jim and Jacquei pulling up a few minutes later. We were all a bit weather beaten and very glad to arrive. Once again, Collis shouted a hot drink and a bite to eat upon our arrival. It was good to put this day behind us, and it looks like the weather will improve tomorrow.

I spotted another old car here at Mundrabilla ...

Going nowhere

... but thankfully my legs feel much better than this old dear looks despite, today's unrelenting slog into a headwind on dead roads.

Another neat little touch can be found just inside the door to the bar ...

A sign of days gone by

Rabbits have been a significant problem in Australia, ever since being stupidly introduced back in colonial times. It would be really interesting to know the provenance of this door, and if anyone can help me out in that regard I'd love to know about John A & G. McCraith and their rabbit exporting business. 

We are currently sitting in the roadhouse waiting for our dinner. Everyone is pretty chirpy with the knowledge that we only have 65 kilometres to ride tomorrow.

And the major milestone passed? Well, we are now beyond the 2000 kilometre mark for the journey. Not bad, eh!