What a bloody day – From the 12 hour day in the heat two days ago and feeling like this…..

to feeling on top of the wold. I woke up with not only more respect for this trail and feeling humbled but funnily enough with a newfound confidence (fake it till you make it isn’t it hehe) – I was ready to smash the trails again and beat that last day and finish on a high and that I did. My campsite last night was lovely and Rawnsley is nice…..

I woke up at 6am and breakky of two serves of my famous oats) and boy do they keep me going plus coffee and packed up my tent ready for the rocks again – those bloody rocks…..My mind was mentally prepared and so was my water bottles. I had some cloud coverage and nowhere near as hot so that was nice. The first 20 km’s was like the pic below and I was like – ‘here we go again’

But then after about 15-20km’s it was still rocky but not as bad and it was undulating (with some hard pinches) fire track with many river crossings. I was ok with this – I can do hills all day – it was a mountain bikers dream all day. Windy, wicked vistas and flowing curvy trails to get your groove on.I would highly recommend if you’re up near Wilpena to bring your bike and ride from wilpena to at least the killer lookout about 40km’s out of Wilpena. best views i’ve seen in a long time. There was about 10km’s of nice single track too which was so fun.

The day did have some climbing but thanks to the lack of huge rocks, the climbing wasn’t so bad – still over 1,000 vert but still – it was so fun I didn’t even notice. I rode through Wilpena, some single track, fire track, lots of creek beds then this big eff off hill at 17% to get to this AMAZING lookout – check this out – this was about 40km’s in…

I spent about an hour here eating a bit and just taking it all in.

I kept on riding through amazing creeks and some short but challenging climbs. I was in a gorge for a lot of the day and it was beautiful. Lunch was had (two boiled eggs and a cheese sandwich) here…

Just after here I saw a guy coming the other way and even from a distance I could see he was well kitted out with all the right gear. He was on his first day – we exhanged stories and bike porn desires hahahaha and he lives in Semaphore AND he designs and makes custom bike bags – I grabbed his details and said ‘well i’m going to be buying another touring bike so you’ll be the right man to design me something then’.

I saw his bike bags and they looked the shiz so i’ll hit him up when I get back and I am going to customise the shit out of my new beast. I really want to spend time designing something that will do road and trail as i’m really getting into this bike packing thing moreso than the touring thing (bikepacking is more minimal with frame bags and saddle bags) rather then touring which is panniers and more road like. I think i will also invest in a rohloff hub (sp?). No gears at all – a rear hub that is all the internal gears and german made – google it – they are sweet as. Moving along – I gave him some advice about the lack of water between certain places and he also only had 5 litres capacity so I said if it’s hot – perhaps camp here or there (half way). We parted ways and on I went with about 50 km’s to go, music on and nothing but dirt, amazing scenery and the hum of the tyres on the trail.

Saw some of these suckers on the way which was cool – the good thing about the bike is that you can get closer to wildlife before they notice which is nice to watch them bound along (or slither)

One more rest about 20km’s to go as I take in what an amazing journey this has been

I hit the tarmac with about 20km’s to go and I was ecstatic – I knew I had completed it by now. This tarmac was teh sweetest thing i’ve seen in a long time and boy did those tyres hum and I picked up my pace to FINALLY MAKE IT TO BLINMAN WOOHOOooooo

I will say that this has been challenging but yet so rewarding – I learned a lot about not only the small towns, south aussie history but also my bicycle touring knowledge and mental toughness has increased slightly. Thank you Mawson Trail – for teaching me so much. I always say that touring really teaches you about life in so many ways – lots of tools for everyday living such as:

– Maintain discipline for the long haul

– Stay focussed when you don’t feel right for countless reasons (hard day, family life, depression etc)

– re focus and positive self talk

– Optimism and self confidence go hand in hand

– You can do more than what you think

– Just START – get your shoes on – work out the rest with the above rules

– Talk to people and connect – the communities you live in (ride through) are a hub of life and knowledge and you learn so much from everybody

– Look at the little things, enjoy them and be greatful for what you have – they allow you to realise to separate the humdrum of life with actual excitement and pushing yourself to be uncomfortable. You need both Routine and also these kinds of things (whatever is not your humdrum or whatever your hobby/passion is) to feel like you’re ‘doing something AND the chores’

– Work/Play/be serious/be funny and move through it all

– teaches you routine – wake up early, eat well (or you can’t ride well), set appointments (or you can’t ride and have coffee with mates haha)

Im not confessing to be all high and mighty here – i’m just saying that these are the things that cycling gives me and not just pushing those pedals, although – it is that simple – head down – bum ummm down and just pedal – be present and take it all in.

Thanks for reading everyone – until my next adventure – could be the same in reverse or it might me my ruond Oz trip all over again – stay tuned

Don’t even know where to start with this one. All I can say it was definitely the toughest day i’ve had on the bike in my touring experience and can say that I was humbled and it was Mawson Trail = 1 – Adrian a big fat ZIPP. I was beaten mentally and physically. I thought that I had prepared by checking the maps, talking to a couple of guys that had previously completed the Mawson and checked the elevation. I was set with 5 litres of water and 75km’s to do – pretty easy right?? welllllllll NO I wasn’t prepared at all. I’ve had a lot of hard days on the bike before and I would say I have a fair amount of grit your teeth and just get it done mentality in me but today was not the case. Generally I can have a really tough day and still enjoy the views but today, the mawson beat me and here’s how.

I knew it was going to be hot on the trail with no shade and lots of water required. So I stocked up 5 litres and it was a nice morning and easy going for 10km’s then it started to get really rocky. I love that because it makes me feel i’m on a real adventure in the middle of nowhere and i’m really doing it. I was riding past some beautiful scenery and through LOTS of dry river beds. At time it felt like I was in the middle of butt end nowehere and it felt good to be actually doing this trail all on my own with my own mind and body. I was travelling along fine but really slow. The part from Hawker to Rawnsley station is REALLY rocky and technical, it was corrugated the whole day plus the headwinds, flies, approx (and no joke) 50ish river crossings that you have to walk through with huge rocks (my ankle was fatiguing from a fracture early in the year) and little to no shade. I think due to the massive amounts of rain – it made the roads really bumpy too with all the water flowing down everywhere creates these bumps in the road – all day. Below is a film of a downhill and even they were slow – if you look close I start the vid half way down

As you can see it’s pretty slow like the whole day. AMAZING views though and so picturesque. I knew that I had two choices of camping near the end of the day so all i knew is that I had shade and water at the end of the day. About half way through the day I got lost too. How did I do that I hear you say – well….my garmin said left, the mawson sign said right so of course I trusted the mawson sign……I rode along that for about 30 minutes and I didn’t see anymore signs and I was in rock hell on what seemed to be like someones property with what I thought was too much fencing with no signage. I decided to zoom out on my Garmin, find the trail (5km walk as the terrain was too rediculous to ride on) and get back to the trail – the correct one haha

After finding the trail I farmer came past (one of two cars I saw today) and we had a quick chat – he said he owns all this land in which I said thanks for letting us ride it – it’s so beautiful out here. We exchanged a few more words and he said If i wanted to swim in his damn I could. So nice but it was getting hotter and I knew time was a ticking to get to campsite plus it was stinking hot

I was about half way and so was my water – I did keep in mind that I need some for cooking and spare JUST in case there was none at the campsite. The flies were crazy – enough to get you commited to an asylum if you let them get to you – the heat was nuts and it felt like every pedal stroke was hard work and the concentration required all day to ensure you’re taking the right and least resistance kind of path was taxing. I was averaging 12kmph and that’s all fine when water isn’t an issue – i can do it all day if you know you have water.

Moving along – I finally got to my campsite after riding through some more amazing Flinders

Well the guys I spoke to who said the campsite was here and my maps said the same (stating water and shade) was not to be found. I had run out of water by this point (well 500mls left) which I was sipping just to keep the mouth moist. I saw the heysen trail on the map about 3 km’s away and thought it’s possibly a little up ahead on the trail as it’s common to have a hut right on the trail. I was debating that orrrrr head to rawnsley (3 hours away) – I decided to head for the Heysen. Obviously when the views are amazing, this means MORE HILLS. I was pushing my bike up lots of hills for 3 km’s – proper struggling and wondering what if it isn’t there. I was walking through dry creek beds with dead kangaroos everywhere thinking ‘where the hell am I’.

the campsite was nowhere to be found and that’s when I went silent and I know then that it’s action mode. I’m not silent very often (lol) but when I am I know it’s ‘action mode and grin and bear it mode’. It was 4pm and stinking hot (about 35) and I had been sipping for two hours by this point – I knew it was silent action mode because I had stopped sweating (not a good sign).

It wasn’t panic stations because all in all I had 3 hours to ride and even if the park was closed – i’ll be banging on doors for water. You know i’m really needing water when you start getting cold when it’s so hot and you’re not sweating. I couldn’t get over how hard I had to work through this part of the terrain and how much water I needed. I felt a bit silly to be honest with all my touring experience.

I hadn’t eaten because I knew that if I did I wouldn’t be able to stomach it and it would just come up. I also needed water for cooking so there was no way I was just going to camp when I was so dehydrated with no water. So on went my game face and action mode was set in.

After an hour I made it to the road and ONE car went past and I flagged it down (with my water bottle hahahahah). The lady stopped and I asked for water in which she had a cold 500ml bottle. At that point it felt like 500ml was anough for an ant – in hindsight I should’ve asked for a lift but I was so excited for water I thanked her and knew I was 2 hours away from rest and water.

Onwards I went – of course the headwinds were still crazy in your face and it was all uphill. I said if I see another car – i’m getting a lift…….of course no more cars hahahaha

Those two hours were the longest of my life and my body was definitily packing up – I could feel that i’ve never had to dig this deep before….SAS training had nothing on this hahahaha still no panic because I knew where water was I just had to get there which from your sofa seems so easy huh – yeah I thought so too – until a mix of things happen and bang – you don’t. Harsh trails, hot weather, headwinds, non existent campsites, corrugations out the wazoo, flies, hills, no shade and miscalculating water, dehydration and you have yourself a a nice mixture of things to challenge you

The lights went on front and back – shirt off – grimace on.

I FUCKN MADE IT – yewwwwwwww i had to walk the last pissy little hill to what I saw was lights on in the restuarant which is 1.5km’s from the caravan park. I walked in, the whole place turns around and looks at me – I nod and head to the counter – the guy takes one look at me and no word of a lie – fills up my bottles with COLD WATER, grabs two solos from the fridge – hands them to me and quietly says ‘don’t tell the boss, I can see you need this – on the house mate’ – My mouth was so dry I couldn’t even say thanks – I had to clear my throat and attempt it again.

I walked back outside and slammed those drinks so fast and tears ran down my cheeks which was unexpected. I think because I was all in action mode for a while, the weight of the day and how hard it was really hit me.

I think if i was lighter (no tent and sleeping gear) today would not have been a problem – but that’s the thing with loaded touring – you don’t mind going a bit slower to take it all in – just take more water hahahaha.

I suprised myself at how much today beat me – I’ve done harder longer days end on end – just one of those those mixtures of things plus the harsh terrain I think – I’ll bag this one down as ‘what doesn’t kill you’ kind of days.

After i slammed lots of water and solo I was so sick hahahahah I walked in and thanked the kind man so much and he said that his house is near the caravan park and fill up all I need – how bloody kind is that…..

There was no way I could eat but I managed some chips which i poured A LOT of salt over to replenish a small amount back hehe and put two of my hydration tablets in two litres of water and sipped that slowly for a few hours. I managed to at least peg my tent down and without putting the poles up I layed down and looked at the stars but they were moving a little (not good) so I kept drinking and I fell asleep on TOP of my tent until 3am in which I then felt a lot better. I downed a lot more water and ate some sultana cake and a muesli bar and was feeling a lot better. I set up my tent properly and jumped in and just zonked until 830. I’m ok with being truly beaten once in 15 countries of touring – i’ll own that 🙂

Woke up today feeling so much better – it’s 35 degrees today – no riding for me – there’s a pool here and i’ll be there alllll day if you need me – 75km’s to go until I cracked the Mawson Trail and hit Blinman. Only 75km’s he says hahahahaha

Side Note: I was wondering why (on the small amount of flat road today) why my head was bopping and bocking like a chicken whilst riding – I found out that the rear tyre was placed on incorrectly making a small ‘chicken bokking’ kind of bump – So i had to reseat that properly too – I didn’t notice due to the rocky trails. Must’ve been from when it was replaced – he was in a bit of a hurry.

My front tyre is leaking near the valve too and the brakes are less than desirable. This bike is really supposed to be a city dweller so it’s done well to be honest to do almost complete the pounding of the NZ Tour and the Mawson.

This means I HAVE to buy a new bike don’t I….see the following principles apply with cyclists…..

N+1

N = My current number of bicycles.

+1 = the number I need to have a happy fulfilled life.

Some call it an addiction. I call it normal.

I’m definitily going to get a beast of a tourer next and come back and do it in reverse ‘Blinman to Adelaide’ and smash this beast of a trail once more – face the last two demon days again and smash it.

Thanks for reading peeps – as always – it’s been a pleasure – 1 more day of riding and the Mawson is DONE!!!!!

Well the day off in Quorn was well planned – it rained most of the night and half the day. The morning was very windy and a tad sunny which means hopefully a dry (ish) track. I spent the day in Quorn walking around every street and reading the signs, doing most of the heritage trail, laundry, some well needed bike maintenance and sample the local goods. I didn’t know this but Brian Powell (and the CSIRO) domesticated the ‘Quandong’. It’s was bushtucker for a long time but supposedly, Quorn (where Brian was born) helped make it become a tree of significance and hence Quorn has a lot of Quandong references (keep your mind out of the gutter). Therefore, i HAD to sample it didn’t I as I’ve never had quandong before. The ‘Desert Peach’ apparently has higher nutrition than the blueberry with high vitamin C as well. I can say I really enjoyed it (slightly sour, sweet and salty – kinda of like rubharb to me). The Indigenous apparantly highly value it also for it’s medicinal purposes. I learned this walking through the Quorn Botanic Gardens where a lot of Australian Native trees are planted.

I stayed at the Transcontinental Hotel which for a bargain price of a pineapple per night, it was quite nice – the food was good too. Not bad for a 150 year old ish pub.

I wanted to do the Pichi Richi railway too but that only ran on weekends and is so far booked I had no chance…maybe if I summons up the energy to ride all the way back (which is a possibility) I’ll book a session. So after all my chores and wandering, a good sleep in the bag, I was off – no rain, wind in my favour and a few days of actual outback which I was pumped for

So – hawker Headed I was – until I woke up and checked out the tracks – was still boggy – I wasnted to enjoy these parts and don’t want to be battling mud all the way so decided to stay another night and definitely was a good idea. When I said I was staying another night mate and his missus came up and we had a good wander, a great feed near his campsite and watched the light show on the quorn silos. Things happen for a reason and it was a great night – thanks for coming up guys – really made my night

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

So after that awesome side trip – it was time for bed and early rise for a big day. 530 am rolled over and so did I – up and attam (sp?) – the cleaning lady had a quick chat to me and gave me 5 chocolate bars for the road which was super nice – it was a hot day – i knew they had no chance of surviving so it’s probably a late night tent snack all solid and melty hahah. Today was amazing views all damn day. The roads were firm, hot and ok to ride on today. I was happy about that – means I can just soak it all in. I saw a grave of a 24 year old who drowned in a flood trying to save his cattle. Apparantly his family from England in the 1800’s shipped a 1.5 tonne gravestone to the site – imagine the cost and the troubles involved in that.

The next site not too long up the road was the town that never was…check out the vid

It was a kind of eb and flow kinda day – I got chocolates, I got a flatty (Stupid tubed tyres hehe), found a really good rear bicycle light. I lost my cheapass tripod – so ya win some ya lose some LOL. I got my feet weet going through Willochra Creek (where proby died)

it was only 28 today but boy it was hot on the trails – I did not see anyone or anything for almost 100km’s – I did stock up on water and food knowing that there’s not much up here so we are good in that arena. The elevation was kind to me today and that meant just pedal and enjoy. After 100 clicks I saw a pub in a town called Cradock – literally the ONLY thing in the whole town – the chef was about to go home and they were going to lock up but he insisted I can order and hanmg and rest which I found so nice – just made me breathe a sigh of relief I can have a cold one and a nice meal – get out of the heat. So the chef whipped up an awesome baramundi for me to get me through the net leg hehehe

Apart from it being a tad too hot (and flies to the billionth degree) today was spectactular. You know I would say that the trip so far started off being ‘Awesome’ and its now trending to ‘Magnificent’ the further north I go. It’s like a seinfeld episode….there’s so much of NOTHING here but when you look at all the things there actually is – it’s amazing. SA really kicks ass here

So another 25 clicks from cradock pub and I made it to Hawker. I’m done – setup my tent, cooked my meal, wrote this blog and it’s pretty mich hit the hay – today was exhausting but so so MAGNIFICENT – here’s some more pics of the day

thanks for tuning in again and reading my blog

VANDERPANTS OUT!!

Hi there,

Today felt long and hard although km’s wise it was not. That headwind was soul crushing. Not really a technical kind of day or the types of sweeping vistas all day that I’ve been lucky to experience (except for one major one) where I actually started to see the Flinders today and it was a beauty

Today was a red dirt, white dirt, red dirt, white dirt kind of day on secondary dirt roads until the last ten km’s where it turned rocky out of Wilmington and hilly. This trail continues to dish up a different experience every 30-60 minutes and you can never ‘settle in’ mentally because you know something different is about to happen within the hour. Was hard to get any speed on at all with this rocky terrain and the flinders were in sight so for about an hour today I hopped off the bike and walked the steed just so I can take it all in and go slower(er). Was really beautiful

some terrain for the day:

So, back to the start, I wanted to get an early start today as I ‘thought’ it was going to rain from 1pm and then all day tomorrow so I woke up at 5am and had a coffee and my oats then packed up the tent and I was off by 6. I brought a few portions of my famous oats on the trail for when I know I want to get away early and I just add water and go….Oats, nuts, my own dehydrated apple and banana, cinnamon and milk powder. No dishes, add water to the bag, wait 1 min and off you go. They are so filling and I really think although oats are the most boring breakfast in the world it’s quite a tasty mix AND definitely the best energy giver for the day hands down. I stay full for much longer than anything else on the road when I have that in my gut.

The sun was just rising over the hill after I left Melrose and it was a peaceful morning. It was basically all secondary roads from Melrose to Quorn and half was the red dirt (dry roads only).

I made it to Wilmington at 10 for my second breakfast and i’m glad I did. The cafe there was unassuming and didn’t look like much BUT boy did it deliver. They had three things on the menu and the main one was ‘Chops and eggs on toast’ hahahaha. I opted for just eggs on toast and out came these huge bricks with two lovely eggs on top. Half way through the owner came out and asked what did I think of the bread. He made it himself and said the the flour comes from the flinders and that made me think ‘this is what it’s all about’ hahahaha. It’s about experiences be it the trail or the food and don’t forget the coffee hahah. My father was a baker so I KNOW what good bread is like and this was up there (nothing beats my dads bread rolls though) just sayin 🙂

I got to talking to a gentleman (as I do) and he used to take the horse to school in Wilmington but now lives back in Adelaide. He was saying that it’s now mating season for snakes so I better watch out.


My second breakfast went down without touching the sides – Thank you Rusty Kate Cafe – and off i went and boy did the wind kick up even more than the brutal beginning. I thought today would be an easy day gradient wise but when there’s no gradient there’s wind haha. Soul De-Stroy-Ing……

Up and over a 15% rocky hill and over the side and I was not too far from Quorn when I stopped for a quick spell and a snack at this lovely spot. not one car all day – so quiet. Actually one car passed me and it was fully kitted out with i don’t know what but the banner on the side said ‘Outback Ghost Hunters’. A small part of me had a chuckle and said to myself ‘THEY ARE NOT REAL – you’re hunting the nothing’ 🙂

Side Note: I saw a lot of ants here and gave them a bit of apple. The buggers were walking right by it. So I thought ok mate, here’s a choc bud try that on for size. Hundreds and hundreds were walking right by (and around) both items. If this was the city, the alley cat ants woulda snapped that up right away. Must be the country in them that said ‘we don’t want no crap – we prefer bush tucker’

So I agreed with the ants, nodded my kudos to them for wanting better and off I went.

I could tell the surface was getting rockier the closer i was getting to Blinman which made it hard to get any speed on at all but still it was lovely then a small decent into Quorn and I still had to pedal on a 2-3% downhill – for some reason I was spent today – that headwind is a mind game…….Here in the last few km’s i couldn’t think of anything else then sitting down and having a coffee. I was happy it actually didn’t rain but tonight it will so I think i’ll wait one day then have a look at the tracks – I overheard a few convos in the pub tonight about a few diff farmers getting bogged around Quorn and also a motorbike too hahaha so waiting a day after the rain is a good idea I think

So tomorrow is a rest day plus might go check out pichi richi, go for a walk and do some ‘home chores kinda stuff’

Have a great night all

VANDERPANTS OUT!!!