Advertisement
Published: January 24th 2013
Edit Blog Post
The trick is not to over plan the trip. All you need is a reasonable level of fitness, a touring bike, a rough idea of the route you want to follow and a love of life.
I finished a contract on October 31
st, decided a break would do me good, cleared it with the wife and kids and flew out on November 12
th. So no drama but here’s the prep I did.
I looked at the typical weather and Australia in Nov / Dec is going from Spring to Summer. I was aware that South Australia gets very cold in winter and was happy that it may get hot. Having said that some days shade temperatures reached the high 30s to low 40s celsius. That means road temperatures were higher, although the ever present breeze acts as a cooling system and when very hot I found water dripped through my helmet kept me safe from overheating.
Which routes? Initially I looked at crossing the Nullarbor which I’d read about as a cycle challenge, but then thought why do half the job! That got me looking at
the various coast to coast options. I liked the idea of following the Murray river.
So I researched prevailing winds at that time of the year. I focussed on the Nullabor as looking at the map it seemed that being right on the south coast it would be most exposed to southerly winds. I discovered that the winds are strong and generally blow across from the East or from the West depending on the season (rather than South / North). In Nov / Dec they are generally easterly in other words they blow from the East towards the West. See this brochure for more information www.transport.wa.gov.au/.../AT_CYC_P_nullarborridebrochure.pdf. These winds range from 8-35 knots (9-40 mph)!!!
That was the major factor in deciding to start at Sydney and head west to Perth. It’s worth noting that Australia is big enough to have different weather zones as well as time zones! The prevailing wind from Sydney to Ceduna (the start point for the Nullarbor as you head west) is westerly.
I met three couples and one chap all going West to East. They were all crossing the Nullarbor as part
of longer round Australia odysseys, but the two Aussie girls had just spent 10 days cycling into a strong headwind every day and commented it was exhausting. They still covered 100kms a day though, and they were carrying most of their food as one was a vegan!
I had a text every couple of days from home telling me the forecast for wind and temperature, (willyweather.com.au ) and had two days of headwind (from Port Augusta and from Ceduna) and they were both a bitter battle of attrition in which I thought the Gods were against me. To put it another way if I stopped peddling the bike just stopped. Uphill was easiest as the hill protected me from the full blast of the wind and I had to peddle hard to make an average pace going downhill. All the other days I had a strong wind pushing me along and I have to say it was pure joy 😉
Australia isn’t mountainous but at the Eastern and Western coast there are some big hills. In between the terrain undulates and having sussed my route I went into bikehike.co.uk and mapped the route to
give me an idea of daily ascents (I don’t have a Garmin and didn’t want to spend £300 on one as I would possibly struggle with signal / power on the road). This immediately told me the first days out of Sydney would be steep hill challenge, the further hills as I headed west to the head of the Murray at Albury. This ascent data was invaluable all the way across. If it was a hilly day, there was a headwind, and hot I would know to get up predawn and be cycling as the light came up. Some days I cycled a few hours in the dark. Recognising that there are certain risks this was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the trip. A totally different experience from day cycling, it was a little edgy (bit like the difference between day and night diving) , listening for wildlife, keeping an eye out for roadkill, watching for truck lights. It meant cooler conditions and knocking out 150kms before lunch when the heat would build to an uncomfortable level.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.139s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 10; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0757s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 3;
; mem: 1.1mb