Date Published: 13 Nov 2010 8:34pm
Author:Steve Moore
The day started around 7:00 am with a temperature of 34oC. After brekky the Blue team boys wandered over for a visit and swapped a few stories. Cars were fuelled, ice packed into Eskys and the first pair were on the road.
Driving out of town there were wild brumbies on the side of the road. The views and the landscapes are constantly changing as you move along, from flat plains to rocky outcrops and then back to the plains. This is our second day in this sort of heat which is drier but feels hotter than Darwin, the temperature quickly reached the 40’s and the road temp touched 50oC all the time with a strong northerly wind which equalled a head wind. The riders tucked in behind the trailer where they were kept company by the latest member of the team – Kenny the Koala from Kununurra. Kenny is strapped to the back of the yellow peril and never takes his eyes off the riders, eye like a dead fish someone said. Its nice to have something different on the back of the trailer as I reckon I could recreate the Pedal 4 Prostate sticker without having to refer to it after 14 days of staring at the trailer.
We haven’t seen too much wildlife along this road. I think it’s too hot for them. Just about every corner you turn the road stretches off into the distance and usually disappears into a heat haze. As I said yesterday, everyone is keeping the fluids up and the support crew of Bill, Lisa and Paul are ensuring that the eskys are stocked with plenty of bottles. While in Halls Creek this morning Lisa and Paul disappeared in the Territory and hit the supermarket. They bought the makings of salad rolls which they prepared in their “Territory” kitchen. Thanks guys it was fantastic to have a nice fresh ham and salad roll for lunch.
The rotations of riders kept turning over. Axe had a problem with a tyre which had a cut to the sidewall. Paul replaced the tyre and everything was good. Conan & Sam were still turning in amazing times averaging in the high 40’s low 50’s in this heat. Their theory is that the sooner they can get out of the heat the sooner they can recover. Steve M and Mark were on their second ride when Steve snapped a spoke at the 8 km mark, the Caribou boys had the spare out of the car and changed over in race pace time. Unfortunately I dropped the nut off the speed sensor so didn’t have a speedo for the rest of the day.
The last pair of riders rode into Fitzroy Crossing 2 hrs early. Burgers were ordered for tea and the red team hit the road for Broome after eating possibly the best burgers on the trip from the local roadhouse.