Back to the room I've just left to repair the double pinch punctures I got running over a stone 3 km from the start. I'd let some air out of the tyres to cope with the rough roads, which makes pinch punctures more likely.
In several places on the road the road is marked as a runway for use by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
The start of the longest straight road in Australia and possibly the world. The hanky shows it is a sidewind which I was not impressed with at the time but better than some headwinds later!
The road is straight but the white line man has not been told!
The other end of the straight section in late afternoon light. Our next roadhouse is only yards away.
A cold warm down beer, Nobby's Nuts and for once, no flies.
When you plan a ride from Perth to Sydney you most want to
do the 90 mile straight and today is the day I am to do it. At 7pm I start
early in pleasantly cool sunshine in case the temperature gets up to
yesterday’s levels. I only get 3km down the road when I lose concentration and
run over a stone on the hard shoulder. I go over it with both wheels and get a
pinch puncture on both the wheels! Happily Mandy has put her phone on early so
I get her to come out to bring me back to the motel to change both inner tubes
and repair the punctured ones that will be my only spares until we get to
Ceduna.
Mandy puts me back to start again at 8am. The wind is light
and it is tailwind for the first time on the trip. I’m flying along at an
average of 20 mph (32 kph) for the first half of the day but by noon the wind
is increasing and becoming a side wind from the South. Why is it over the last
few days the wind did not budge when it was a headwind?!
Take pictures at the start of the 90 mile straight than
settle into the long straight ride.
The vegetation is heath and light mallee all day with no
variation. Very few birds seen but I do see 2 or 3 Brown Falcons at one point.
I catch up with a young Japanese unsupported cyclist that
was mentioned by the Irishman Mandy met the other day. He has a large load and
despite working hard he is going much slower than me even though he is going
doing the same trip as me today. He must have started earlier than me and when
we meet up later at Caiguna he has spent more than 50% more time on the bike
than me plus of course he has not got the luxury of cold drinks in a support
vehicle. I really don’t envy the unsupported cyclists at all.
The wind steadily strengthens and gets gustier. On the plus
side the traffic is quite light with hardly any road trains heading east and
those that do pass give me a wide berth. The road trains the other way almost
blow me to a stop but at least I’m ready for them. Every driver asks about the
road trains but they really aren’t a problem so far.
The end of the 90 mile straight is immediately before the
entrance to the BP John Eyre Motel, Caiguna so pose by the sign before checking
in at a pleasantly early 3.30pm. List of chargeable offences is long and room
is at best so so. Plenty of room for the bike in the clean bathroom.
Have a look out at the Caiguna Blowhole that is under
whelming and does not blow at all! Back to motel where we see the Japanese man
arrive and there are two other bikes outside another room, presumably heading
the other direction. Large but rather dry meals of Meatballs and pasta or Spicy
chicken and boiled rice. The blowhole and food would not be enough to justify
coming here!
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