July 31, 2024
Cycle day 70 - BC Fraser Range to BC 12km past Balladonia RH
Cycle day 70 - BC Fraser Range to BC 12km past Balladonia Roadhouse = 105km. 5518km cycle toured so far on this trip.
Woke this morning and it was warm - around 7 degrees. Just a sprinkle of rain throughout the night so nothing was overly wet.
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On the road at 7.15am and the forecasted winds were suppose to be the same as yesterday - a north westerly so again the wind would assist us. It is a sunny day and very warm with the forecasted high being 22 degrees. Light traffic throughout the night with the occassional truck and this morning there wasn't much around that I took advantage of it and took this selfie!
as you can see from the photo below this is what we did all day - just up and down for about the first 60km. The hills are not steep just alot of them as steps - at the bottom you think this is the last and then as you get to the crest you can see the next one - it is like going up steps and then all of a sudden you can see ahead for the next series of ups and then you drop down to the bottom of the steps again.
After one crest we came to an opening on both sides of the road and there were no tall gum trees but only small shrubs and all of a sudden you spot this bright red flower growing as a ground cover and it is unmistakeably a Sturt Desert Pea - the are so vibrant and really provide the outback with a splash of colour.
In this area where no gums were growing there were heaps of them as the grow best when they have full sun and it was fantastic just seeing them all. However of the 100km we did today this was the only patch we saw them growing. Maybe we might see more further on.
Alot more caravans on the road today and going in the same direction as us. Plenty of trucks too.
Our shoulder since starting the Nullabor hasn't been great and for the most part we end up of the shoulder and riding on the dirt when something is passing us on a crest or corner as they and we can't see ahead. It is disappointing that the shoulder is too narrow to ride in as the rumble strips take up a huge portion of it and for us to ride in to these rumble strips is where we are likely to loose control of the bike as they are very pronounced. Even some parts of the shoulder are like the photo below -they have widened it marginally but not bothered to fix up the original road when doing it!
Now as cars pass this at 110km per hour they think this shoulder is very adequate for us to ride in and since they are an expert on our cycle safety they think it is safer for us to be in this shoulder than on the road!
We passed the Balladonia roadhouse at 90km and since it is alot warmer than we anticipated we had to buy some water - $6 for a 1.5 litre bottle - we bought 4 plus $8 for a loaf of stale white bread! However not too dispare - after coming back from the toilet we realised the water at the hand basin was alot clearer than what was used to flush the toilet. Remember water along this Nullabor is bore water and incredibly salty and costs places like this a fortune to make it potable so they don't bother hence why it is cheaper for us to buy the water and bushcamp as to camp at this Balladonia roadhouse is $50 unpowered and we don't get water with it - we still have to buy it - hence why we just bought our water and bushcamped. Anyway the basin water was clear so Neil filled up 2 x 1.5 litre bottles we had spare and we will use it for washing tonight and tomorrow night - bonus!
Dinner tonight is a mixture of freeze dried mince and a Heinz pasta meal. Despite how the freeze dried mince looks it is quite tasty. Bearing in mind this is not artificial food but actual food that has been cooked then freeze dried. This packet of mince weights 160g and will produce 500g of cooked mince once you add 1.5 cups of boiling water. We are only using half tonight and the other half another time. I can see why these foods are so popular with hikers and bike packers but unfortunately you can't get them in supermarkets and only in camping stores - Anaconda and BCF stock them too. But you do have to sell a kidney to buy them as they are not cheap!
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I tell you tonights meal was surprisingly nice -I wasn't quite sure if the mince would go well with the pasta meal but it was delicious.
Tomorrow we will begin the worlds longest straightest stretch of road (editted to add: no it is no longer the worlds longest straightest road but Australias longest straightest road. Saudi Arabia now holds that world record!) Not sure if we will get to do the 100km as it looks like we are going to have a wind change to the north east direction which will mean a cross headwind for us.
Today's ride: 105 km (65 miles)
Total: 5,518 km (3,427 miles)
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