One worthwhile tip is to be aware of the road surface. The truck wheels generally wear a smooth path about half a metre in from the edge line, and riding on this makes for faster running on the bike. Sometimes though, there are corrugations in the road surface, even on new sections, and the ride gets very choppy. You will really appreciate a section of good flat smooth surface when you find it.
Then there are the cattle grids - hundreds of them. I dismounted and walked over most of them or at least slowed right down, being worried about punctures or broken spokes. This wasted a lot of time and energy getting back to speed again, but sometimes we could use the occasion to have a drink stop.
We generally tried to keep up a good pace without really stretching ourselves; we hated to get below 20 km/h. On a good surface, with a little bit of wind assistance or slightly down hill, we could easily cruise at about 25 to 30 km/h. Some cyclists will be able to go faster than that, but whatever your level of performance, it seems to be useful to keep an eye on your cruising speed, otherwise it can drop right off and is hard to get back to.
Trevor rode a higher gear than I did, with frequent periods out of the saddle if going up hill or into a wind. I tried to keep seated and spin a little faster, but after a few hours often found I needed to get off the saddle too, with short bursts of higher gear riding.
We tried drafting each other, particularly into the wind, and it did help keep up speed. If feeling a bit tired, it was good to tuck in behind the leader and have a rest, before taking the lead again. It also kept your mind active, trying to estimate how long you should rest before getting out front and working hard.
I think I cycled better when out the front as I felt I was setting the pace and I sometimes got well ahead. The same happened to Trevor when he was leading. We both went through patches of good and bad cycling, but for the most part we worked along well together.
We tried to leave before 7am and get most of the day's cycling done by about midday, before it got too hot. If we could get 100 km up before lunch we felt confident we could knock off the next 40 or 50 easily enough if required. A lot depended on the wind- if it was right behind us we bowled along but usually it was more of a crosswind.
I found it important to have a break after two hours, as I felt my energy fade about then. Trevor could go longer, and liked to press on, but a bite to eat and some energy drink was almost essential for me. Towards the end of the ride I found I could go for three hours without a stop. According to nutritionists you use up all the glycogen in your muscles after one and a half to two hours and you should eat some carbohydrate regularly to replace it. I lost about 5 kg over the trip, but was still a little fat around the middle. Must have been all the food I consumed on the way.
One thing lacking along the Track is seating! If you are looking for a spot to get off your bike and have a break on a comfortable seat, forget it. Usually it was a matter of standing up with the bike and having a quick drink or snack (or pee). The roadside was generally sandy or scrubby or rocky and not conducive to sitting down. Thorns were also common, so it was not wise to push your bike off into the scrub. They didn't seem to be a problem on the road itself, but other cyclists have complained about them.
Often the changing scenery was intriguing and fascinating and drew us on, but there were some long straight stretches that seemed closed in by scrub and never ending. To relieve the boredom on these long stretches I would do calculations of distances or speed, or try to remember songs. Somehow I could forget everything else - I rarely thought about work or the problems of the world or even home.
The birdlife was wonderful, with budgerigar flocks, wedge tailed eagles and many other types of bird. I rescued an injured boobook owl from the road one-day. We only saw one or two kangaroos, as the season had been good and there was plenty of fodder away from the highway. I rode over one snake, mistaking it for a piece of black tyre casing, and saw a few more on the road. Another day we came across a whole load of beer cans that had fallen off a truck - hundreds of full cans glinting silver in the sun. A car had stopped and the occupants were stocking up on the windfall. We couldn't carry any, and the beer was warm - so we passed on. The train line between Adelaide and Alice Springs runs close to the Track in some places and occasional trains provided some interest.
|1 Intro|2 why and when to go|3 what to take|4 Water and Road Trains|6 places along the way|7 distances and water|8 web info|9 Trevor Briggs|