Perth to Sydney Cycling, Aged Sixty

Wednesday 19^th September – Rough roads south and east

Early birdwatching followed by taking the bike to Narrogin where I restart my ride at 11 am to ride to stay in holiday cottage near the settlement of Kukerin. It is sunny but cool enough for a long-sleeved jersey and never get over heated. 50 km south to Wagin a town we visited on a previous trip and never thought we’d return. It is home to an enormous Ram statue which gives an indication of what is important round here! It is a farming and railway town. The main street is from the early 1900s and apart from changing the windows they’ve done little else since! Have a filling Lasagna at the Lamb Shank Café which I fear may be the best in town. Head east to Dumbleyung where there is a lake where Sir Malcolm Campbell set records in one of his Bluebird boats. There is a replica in a memorial in the centre of this very small town. Then it is just 36 km to a small collection of new holiday cottages. Sit on the patio with a cold Emu lager and watch the sun set before the temperature drops. Main problem today was the rough granular road surface on the main roads here. The last 50 or more km were very harsh on me and the bike. I put foam pipe insulation on the handlebars to help iron out the vibrations from my wrists. My small bike computer that measures the speed and distance packed up. A battery change seemed to solve it but then it happened again, so I fear the vibrations may have damaged it. This will be a problem as it tells me when to expect turns etc. As I end the day I have no internet again so cannot update the blog. I reduce my tyre pressure to try to cope better with the rough surfaces tomorrow. It was nothing like this on the USA roads, not even in Texas which had the roughest roads we encountered.

Small scorpion in room tonight and a possibly live snake on the road today.

126.6 km today. 322.6 km so far (bike Odo reset to zero today)