Fixing Australia presented by Rapha - across the continent on a fixed gear bike

Coober Pedy

Ross — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:08:28 +0000

Coober Pedy is a strange little place and hard to get a grasp on. It’s the Opal capital of the world, Australia produces some 90% of the worlds Opal and Coober Pedy is responsible for most of that. I personally don’t see the attraction with the gem but good quality natural opal doublets are worth more than diamonds carat for carat!!!

The name Coober Pedy comes from ‘kupa piti’ which means white man in a hole. The opal is mined from seams below the ground which are accessed through small holes. A hole about 1 metre in diameter is sunk into the ground and when the hole reaches opal dirt, the mine then branches out following the opal level. The aim is to locate a seam of a glassy gray potch which hopefully will take on quantities of gem opal. There is no sure way of finding opal, all you can do is sink a hole and hope for the best. And thats exactly what they do, in the mining area around the town there are thousands and thousands of unmarked holes everywhere so be very careful where you walk.

The mining in the town is exclusively small claims only - no big businesses. Anyone can stake a claim for a nominal fee and have a go. Sounds good but there is a large investment involved. Buying or renting equipment isn’t that cheap. Fuel is the huge cost now too, one miner told me that on his last forray he spent $40,000 in 6 months on diesel alone. Thats a large hole in the bank account for a small hole in the ground!!! He managed to extract about $100,000 of opal but you can see how it is a bit of a risk.

Hard Work

Ross — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:04:00 +0000

This evening I made it to Coober Pedy. I’m going to take a few days here to explore a little but I’m really looking forward to some rest. The wind has been making the ride north very hard. The last two days I’ve been averaging only 17km/h. According to the newspapers the wind is averaging over 30km/h with gusts of 60+.

This morning in particular was tough, it was very cold and raining when I got up. It wasn’t raining heavily but enough to get wet and really feel the cold. In the first two hours I only covered 29km with no stops but it eased a little after that thankfully. With about 30km to go to Coober Pedy and still raining, a guy in a pickup truck stopped and offered me a lift. I was sorely tempted, but 30km wasn’t too far left to go. I’m not sure what would have happened if I was 130km away :).

Struggling a bit

Ross — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:23:09 +0000

The nice conditions of yesterday were just an anomaly. Again today it was back to more of the same, grinding away into the wind. I didn’t make bad progress, covering just about 100km today. I had two punctures today. I was almost glad for the break from the wind. I’m still on the same tyres from Melbourne and the rear is showing the strain. I should get another few hundred clicks before I retire it.

Being on a fixed gear bicycle I’ve got to keep the cadence at a reasonable level, when it drops below 50-55rpm it gets really hard to keep the momentum going. I was worried about conditions like this, and how I my knees might struggle turning such a low cadence but so far apart from being tired there have been no issues. At times I was moving along at barely 12km/h.

North

Ross — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:29:55 +0000

From Port Augusta the Stuart Highway travels straight through the centre of the continent up to the coast in Darwin. As far as I’m aware there are no hills or ranges to cross on the way to Alice Springs, which is 1200km away and 500m above sea-level. So it’s not an exaggeration to say it’s going to be a pretty flat run. And for the first three days thats exactly what it’s been. There have been a few little lumps along the way, nothing worth taking about.

My second day north of Port Augusta I passed Woomera and stopped at Lake Hart. It was a pretty roadside stop, with loads of good quiet camping areas. Not long after I arrived, one guy stopped on his way to Darwin and he gave me some apples, oranges and a little chocolate. Some of the people I meet are brilliant.
Next morning there was barely a puff of wind and it felt wonderful. I got to the roadhouse at Glendambo in just about three hours, I was absolutely flying and after all the days struggling into head winds it felt good to be moving at such a nice clip. I was spinning at about 110 - 120 rpm. Honestly I haven’t felt this good on a bike in a quite some time, it seems that I may be getting some benefit from the windy conditions.

Another Cyclist

Ross — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:48:38 +0000

It’s rare that I bump into other cyclists on the road but today I met a German called Michael. He’s been in Australia for 10 months when we met, his route taking him from Adelaide, around the east coast and back down through the centre. Safe travels back to Adelaide.

I’d left Port augusta in the morning, it was drizzling a little but the wind was a very gentle north-westerly unlike yesterday’s gales and I was grateful. The road is almost pan flat and for the first 40km there is just desert grass befoe the scrub starts to turn to Mallee bush. 80km north the road rises up a little onto an almost imperceptable plateaux - 20m rise if even that - but the change in vegetation is huge. Suddenly the bushes are gone and all thats left is spinifex and stony gibber desert-like patches with nothing growing at all.

I kept going ’til dusk giving myself just enough time to get my tent up before it got pitch black. I headed about 150m away from the road, far enough away to make the traffic almost silent. I picked a nice level spot too and after a quick bite to eat fell asleep.

Damn wind!

Ross — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:36:58 +0000

What an absolute crock of a day. The wind was so bad as to make it dangerous to be on the bike. So bad that I came off twice! The first time was a nothing slide on some gravel, but the second resulted in my camera bag hitting the deck hard and breaking my videocamera. My other camera is also reporting a lens error intermittently. That and I fell on my left arm again. Kudos to the Rapha Fixed shorts, even though my hip took a beating they have no visible damage. I’m pretty sure that it’ll be hard to get worse, the only way is up from now on… I hope (incidentaly thats the way the route is going from here too! )

I left Quorn in the morning having seen on the news that there was warning about possible structural damage due to strong winds!!! Not exactly what I was hoping for and better still was that it was a westerly which meant a headwind. In the first hour I covered only 14km and some of this was downhill! To see how bad the wind was on a straight part with about a 5% gradient I clipped out and took my legs off the pedals. Speed went from 21km/h down to 9km/h. Ordinarily I’d be spinning out on this. But my little experiment was a mistake, a bullet gust caught me off guard and I got pushed onto gravel where the wheels went out from under me. It happened slowly though so no big deal, just a scratch on my shin. The second incident was much less pleasant.

I was riding down the Pichi Richi pass into a stiff wind. In a valley I was turning right (and so leaning to my right) when a gust coming up the valley hit me so hard that I didn’t even have time to counter-steer left and it pushed me over. I hit the ground pretty hard, my hip got the worst of it and my left arm took another knock, but the damaged cameras was the most irritating bit. Upon inspection of the bike I noticed one of the clips holding a pannier is cracked so I’ll have to keep a close eye on that. When I cleared the hills and got near the coast the gusts became less of a problem and when I got to Port Augusta, I cut my losses for the day - 44km covered.

Hawker & Quorn

Ross — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:58:24 +0000

The next day I did some more bush walks around the station. I wandered off the trails but it was impossible to get lost with the huge escarpment of Wilpena Pound always in sight. I was really enjoying myself. I got back to the camp the afternoon, had some food, packed up and hit the road south. Hawker is only 40km away and with only around 2 hours of full daylight left I wasn’t going to be going much further than that.

Next day I only made it as far as Quorn, another 66km south-west. Ordinarily I’d even think this was a nice ride but the wind was stong and it was just a long, hard slog. By the afternoon when I arrived in Quorn I’d averaged 19.4km/h and apart from tired legs my left shoulder was in agony. It had been pretty good the last few days but by the time I got to Quorn it hurt to hold my arm in any position other than with the fingers hooked onto the collar of my jersey. There is a hostel in Quorn and I figured that maybe sleeping in a bed might help so I checked in. Or at least I tried to, the place was open and no one about so I made myself comfortable. I’m pretty sure if I didn’t call in nextdoor when a car arrived around 10pm, I could have stayed without anyone knowing. I need good Karma though, I want this problem in my shoulder to go away….

Wilpena Pound

Ross — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:13:05 +0000

Today I got up at dawn and rode to Wilpena pound. Most of the walking trails are based from here so I picked up a map and set off to Marys Peak, the tallest point in South Australia. What I didn’t realise until I got to the first good photo opportunity was that I’d forgot to put the memory card back in the camera after I finished copying the last set of images. Thats the second time this has happened which is not saying much for my mental well-being! What I have now discovered is that this camera does not give any indication that there is no memory card present until after you’ve taken a picture, and tried to review it. Not the best design decision but still no excuse for doing it twice in two weeks!

From the Northern end with the sun behind the views were stunning, it was a quite hazy due to the strong winds rising dust into the air. In the afternoon I got back to my camp, grabbed a memory card and started out up Rawnsley Bluff on the southern end of the Pound. If you look at the images I took later in the day from there you can see just how hazy it was, the views are incredible but colours are washed out and highlights are blown out. My camera doesn’t have great dynamic range and suffers a little in exactly these conditions. Still got some nice sunset shots.

On my was back from the Bluff, it was dusk and along the trail which runs through grass pastures back to the camp, there was wildlife everywhere. No exaggeration, there were at least 100 kangaroos and wallabies in the first clearing I walking into and a little further on I saw an Emu with five little ones in tow. I’ve seen more Emu since leaving Mildura than I’ve seen in the entire rest of my travels. Maybe because this area is inside the Dingo Fence they are less suceptable to dog attacks? Whatever the reason, there are plenty around.

The Flinders Ranges

Ross — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:06:33 +0000

As promised by the met service, the winds had changed. When I got up there was a gentle breeze blowing from the south west. Even though the third night is free, I was eager to take advantage of any tailwinds which promise to be very rare until I get north of Coober Pedy. The prevailing wind in this region is west or north-westerly.

The ride north to Hawker was excellent, smooth road, rolling hills with a few short sharp bits for good measure and a nice tailwind. On the flat parts compared to previous days it felt like I was barely touching the pedals and still cruising at 30km/h. At Hawker I picked up a few provisions and headed out to Wilpena Pound another 60km away. The wind had switched again after lunch, a northerly, not too strong but enough to make me sweat a little. I wasn’t making great time so in the afternoon I stopped at Rawnsley Park Station for the day. They have 100 acres set aside near the homestead for bush camping so I made thet my base and paid for a few nights. I could have camped in the National Park but it’s actually more expensive with entry fees etc for fewer facilities. The station is roght outside Wilpena Pound on the southern end and only 23km from the resort which is just a short spin there and back. Makes perfect sense to stay here

Peterborough

Ross — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:35:43 +0000

Next morning at the supermarket in town, I was collared by a woman who noticed I was riding a fixed gear. She said she hasn’t seen one on the road at all since leave the UK 30 years ago. She claimed to have been a former female British Time-Trial Champion, I never got her name so I can’t check but I’ve no reason to doubt it. Anyway, just as I was leaving the supermarket to go and fix breakfast I bumped into a few people I’d spent a few days with in Broken Hill. I offered them some tea which wasn’t the best idea seeing as I’d only one mug for the three of us

After a prolonged breakfast I eventuallt left town just before lunch time. I followed the most easterly sealed route north into the Flinders. It was beautiful riding, the air was cool enough but the sun was warm on the skin, green fields, rolling hill and almost no traffic at all. In a little place called Orroroo I sent a postcard home for the first time ever on my travels, I’ll be they’ll be surprised to see that! I continued onto a little place in the hills called Carrieton. The old school, long since closed had been converted into a Caravan Park and some budget accomodation. $15 a night for a bunk is pretty reasonable and as I was the only person there I had the place to myself. A Queensland couple were caretakers of the place and in the evening the offered to let relax in the office which had a fire and a TV, which was really nice.

Next day the winds were evil, it was a northerly and strong enough to make even walking in it a chore. The forecast promised a shift in direction so I stayed another day. Hmmmm, inside with a cosy fire and a good supply of tea or grinding into a brutal headwind - it didn’t take long to decide what to do.