Monday, 30 July 2007

Motel in Georgetown

Riding from Mount Garnet to Georgetown

4:30am

3:15pm

213

2,858

11,553

-148

218.7

24.67

Cold at first, but then sunny and very warm.

For Brunch, a big brekky.  For dinner, fish & chips, salad and yoghurt.

None really

Early morning riding in still conditions by the light of the full moon was spectacular.

None really.

I set out at the usual time, very tired from yesterday’s ride and with only five hours sleep.  The prospect of 361km to Croydon was quite daunting and my fatigue made it hard to focus.
 
I’m now in road train country (prime-movers with three trailers up to 50 metres in length) and they travel at all hours.  Although I didn’t see that many for the day, I carefully left the roadway each time one appeared when the road was narrow.  Often the sealed section on these outback roads is only wide enough for one vehicle, and the road trains don’t like to leave the sealed surface because it makes the trailers, particularly the third one, unmanageable.
 
I made steady progress in undulating recently volcanic country.  The Undarra Lava Tubes National Park is nearby and volcanic rocks are in evidence.  Otherwise the countryside is lightly timbered with very brown grass and occasional grazing cows.
 
I stopped for a late breakfast around 10am in Mount Surprise (122km) and rethought my strategy, helped by a voice-mail from Dr Jon expressing concern that I wasn’t managing my nutrition very well.  I decided that I needed to start much earlier each day, say soon after midnight, and stop earlier in the day so that I had time to find a bed, get dinner and buy supplies to see me through until the next town.  If I rode into the evening, I couldn’t be as sure of any of these things.
 
So, with that in mind, I rode to Georgetown (213km) and checked into the motel there, bought supplies, had a very early dinner and did a load of washing (my first for the trip, other than the rinse out of cycling gear most nights).  Although this puts me half a day behind my schedule, if I have luck with winds and the bike, I may be able to get the half day back after Mount Isa.
It’s nice to be riding in the outback where traffic is light, the weather clear and sunny, and the bush extending as far as the eye can see.  Hopefully I will make it to Normanton tomorrow afternoon (300km).