Two days saved up on the phone so it published them in the wrong order. Probably fixable but far too hard to do on a phone….

28 Sept 2003

To be fair they do warn you that the first stage is the hardest. Well, it took me longer than last time. A lot longer!

The difference? Temp was about 32C , it must have been dry for a while so there was a lot of pea gravel and sand to contend with and the bike – despite what I thought were my best efforts – is heavier.

The trail is all up and down as it crosses a river valley. This makes it very pretty but a nightmare for a laden bike as you can imagine. Having started at mid morning I crawled into camp at five having drunk all the water on the bike. Normally I’d try to keep a reserve!

As usual my ride was accompanied by wonderful tree smells, no Eucalyptus yet but I’m expecting it any time.

Also disturbed a kangaroo – one of the Western ones which are only a bit over a metre tall. And you can’t hear yourself think over the continual bird noises…..!

Quote a full hut tonight, one family with a youngster practicing camping and four blokes. And me!

29 Sept 2023

A bit cooler today!!! Down to the low 20s which helped the water consumption problem.

Very tired after yesterday, too many hills! But, there was a very nice windy downhill run through some forest. Obviously followed by another uphill bit….

Disturbed another ‘roo which scuttled off into the bushes. And the birds, hard to explain just how noisy they are and how prolific.

Arrived at the hut for the night at about 1:30 and tucked into a dehydrated meal which was described as “roast chicken.” Not going to win any culinary awards but packed with calories and hit the spot nicely!

Followed by M&Ms for desert.

Then got the cold weather gear out as there’s a chilly wind blowing and a hint of rain.

The mozzies are as prolific and evil as ever, time to get the repellant out!

Only two of us in the hut tonight, one from yesterday.

A problem with being in remote places is you’re lucky if you can get a phone signal. Today is so feeble and slow that I’m not even going to try. But keep watching this space!

Oh, all ok though very tiring….

Done some shake up rides, bought some gear, quailed at the quantity and weight of it but it all fits on the bike…. probably.

And the plan is to head off to Mundaring, the trail head, tomorrow morning. And the weather men have assured me it’s not going to be 34 again like it was today.

The story so far.

The Munda Biddi trail. 1000km of track through the forest – mostly. It seems to have become a bit like hunting the Great White Whale. I originally came across it because I was looking for things to do in Western Australia. (W.A. From now on…) It sounded like the perfect bit of fun to try out my new bike on. Now, like said whale, it seems it’s going to haunt me until I complete an end-to-end and harpoon the certificate…..

Attempt one: was aborted because I hadn’t factored in the desert climate in W.A. It gets REALLY cold at night! In my defence, I have camped in the North of the state where a cold night is one where it drops to 40C so didn’t give it much thought. Between not being able to sleep properly because I was shivering and being tired after a day on the bike I could see that this was not going to end well. So I bailed out and went and purchased a decent three season, down filled, sleeping bag.

Attempt two: continue from where I left off. The new sleeping bag was a great success! The next showstopper was that the trail came to an abrupt end at km540 (of 1000). It was due to open officially in a month or so so there was bound to be a trail of some sort, I thought. Well, I couldn’t find it. So that was the end of that attempt.

Jump forward 11 years.

Attempt three: Well, nobody told me that there was going to be a global pandemic which would shut the World down for several years.

Still, that gave me time to (including retiring and other stuff) to buy a new bike. The previous one was, by now, somewhat worn out. In fact, it probably wasn’t worth what it would cost me in new parts to bring it back to fighting fitness.

So, new bike: titanium frame, fatter tyres, tubeless tyres, wider gear range and so on.

Last time I was in W.A. I suffered big time from the thorns around Perth. Evil things that nature seems to have deliberately designed to always fall with a point upwards. Which breaks off in the tyre. If you don’t find it you’ll just get another puncture. Fortunately technology has moved on. Inner tubes are a thing of the past and have been replaced with a liquid sealant which solidifies in any punctures and seals the holes. OK, there are some downsides such as the chore of replacing the sealant every few months, messy, but fairly easily done with a syringe through the valve stem, and tyres that are really hard to fit. But, lower tyre pressures for comfort and handling and (probably!) no more punctures make them more than worth it.

So here we are, ticket booked for mid September 11 years later!

But hold on a moment. Fortunately I decided that the bike was getting a bit grubby so ought to have a wash. To my horror I noticed that the rear rim was cracked around the spoke holes in several places. So with only ten weeks to go they went back for replacement under warranty – the spokes had obviously been over tightened when they made the wheels. The replacements are due on Monday which gives me a bit if time to test them – hopefully not to destruction this time – before I have to strip the bike down to fit it in it’s transit box.

The wheels turned up in good time. Only… yes there had to be an only, they were so badly packaged that the axle ends had found their way out through the sides of the box. And one had come adrift and gone missing. so they are sending me a new one.

It’s a week later and I now have a new through axle. Which isn’t what I need. It’s also for the wrong bike so wouldn’t have fitted anyway. The new (what I’m going to call a stub axle for want of a better name) was due to leave their warehouse on Friday. I wonder what surprises the new week will bring?

And when that’s all sorted there’s the small matter of getting the bike, hold case and cabin bag within the weight allowance. Which is looking like an even bigger challenge. But does have the upside of forcing me to really focus on ultralight everything for the bike. Being a bike it’s tempting to squeeze those just-in-case items in because you’re not carrying it on your legs like hikers do. But you still regret them when you get to the hills…