Planning
I make a point of saying that I put little thought into planning a trip. We have flown into many places with no accommodation booked and with little idea of where we are going. For instance, once we flew into Ho Chi Minh quite late and assembled our bikes to the pounding of pile-drivers. We then cycled the 30 km into town, found accommodation and sat on a verandah eating dinner and marvelling at the scene below. We set out a few days later to cycle through the Mekong delta. What a trip!
What I do plan, however, are individual legs of a trip. In Australia, especially, distances between supplies can be long and conditions hard. Thus, it is worth knowing how far you can cycle under different conditions and how much food and, especially, water you need. I might add that I mix about half of my water with cordial so that I replenish water and carbohydrates simultaneously. The other half is for cooking and for hot drinks.
Early on in my ride from Canberra to Singapore last year, I was heading to Nymagee - 150 km away, and had about 100 km of dirt road. I had no intention of doing it in a day so I needed food and water for the night too. I could get water in Nymagee but probably no food until Cobar, 250 km away. I might add that I have travelled on the road before both by bicycle and motorcycle but not for some time. I assumed that the heavy rain of the past couple of years may have made the road worse. So why not get road conditions, say from a local council? Could anyone other than a cyclist tell me this?
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I left Condobolin with far more food than I needed and with about 8 L of water. I counted on cycling at least 100 km and perhaps drinking half my water. That would leave the other half for dinner and breakfast, including drinks. I doubted that I'd need to drink before getting to Nymagee, even if I had 50 km on the second day.
As it turned out, I cycled 129 km on the first day and cruised into Nymagee early on the second and still had 2 L of water. I replenished supplies and got to Cobar that night.
Obviously, the heat of summer alters the situation. I'd certainly require more water but the days are much longer so I'd make a very early start and perhaps rest in the heat of the day.
What about this trip? I'm grateful that Winston is fine with us having a rough plan that allows for ebbs and flows. Perhaps that's a product of us both being retired scientists and used to results disproving hypotheses!
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