Bevan, Bon Rouleur
26 July 2005 | Perth, Western Australia
We leave today! We finally bring everything downstairs and load up the bikes, and I get on my fully loaded rig for the first time. Wow! It handles extremely differently than my racing bike. I don't think it's possible to ride at all. Alex is having similar problems. Unlike me, he's carrying all his gear in a B.O.B. Yak (a one-wheel trailer behind his bike.) After a few miles, we get the hang of it, and it seems that my set-up is much more stable than Alex's. My IRD racks and Ortlieb panniers balance the load evenly on the bicycle, whereas Alex's trailer puts tons of weight on the rear wheel. Also, if the B.O.B. starts tipping, it's going down, and bringing the bike with it. Alex cuts his legs up trying to right the falling Bob. Alex wishes he had Ortlieb panniers too! They are completely waterproof and very spacious; ideal for this sort of touring. I'm very glad I didn't get non-waterproof ones, as we're expecting a bit of rain later on. Another great thing about my panniers is that they allow quick access to anything I'll need. With the B.O.B. trailer, there's just one big compartment you need to sort through, which can be extremely challenging if it's not leaning against a wall or something.
My bike is also ideal for this trip. From Soma Fabrications of San Francisco, my black "Double Cross" frame is built for cyclocross or touring. It's a really sturdy steel frame, and takes my 100 pounds of gear like a champ. My IRD components are also really tough; in particular, I like my steel IRD Teflon-coated cassette; it's gonna last a long time.
My Shimano XT rear derailleur (provided by Cycle Sports of Oakland) is also working flawlessly with my downtube shifters. I'm lucky to be outfitted so well. Unfortunately, Alex isn't so lucky; ten miles from Perth, Alex's derailleur shifts into his wheel, and we eventually get him a new one (a Shimano 105 short-cage derailleur to replace his Ultegra). This sets us back like 5 hours (we tried to fix the old one first). After that, we eat a lot at a fish and chips at a fast food place. They give us obscene amounts of food and I feel piggy eating it all, but it turns out it was the right move; I wouldn't be eating dinner that night.
After lunch, we biked up a big hill (the only real one in Australia?). There was tons of traffic; must have been rush hour. Very, very dangerous travel, especially since we weren't really used to the bikes. Beep beep! At the top of the hill, we deemed it unsafe to continue, so we pulled off into a national park. Luckily, there was a tavern there and a few people. We set up camp (illegally, but we had no choice), and went into the tavern. We introduced ourselves to the guys, and Steve bought us two rounds of beers. They offered us more beer, smokes, and cannabis, but we turned it down. We eventually succumbed to peer pressure and played a round of pool against the reigning bar champion. That was a mistake. They have smaller pool balls in Australia but I wisely held my mouth... And they had a pet kangaroo outside that me and Alex thought was wild, and we got all excited when we saw it. It was funny.
We didn't sleep well that first night in the tent. It seemed a lot smaller than in the store, and it got really cold (it's winter here in Australia.) Also, I had to pee during the night, but couldn't muster enough energy to get out of the tent (this happens a lot, to both of us). It was very uncomfortable.
← back to table of contents
|
|
|
