Wednesday 3rd October
After a restless night sub-consciously planning fuel stops and dodging kangaroos, I got the bike ready and asked a neighbour to be my Start Witness for the IBA ride attempt. Departed home 10:50 to get fuel. The 11:00 launch was based on getting a fair bit of the 110 kph Newell Highway covered before kangaroo o'clock (sundown). Went through the new tunnel to get to Centenary Highway in about 20 minutes instead of the hideous goat track up over Bardon. Thence out to Ipswich and Warwick. Rode straight through there on to Goondiwindi for fuel and a bladder break. Then on to Gilgandra for petrol and my tasty ham and cheese sanger, nicely cool after thawing.
What to eat? You need convenient food, and must avoid fat that's hard to digest and sugar and carbs that make you sleepy. That leaves protein. So I went to Coles and found the health food section. Have you seen it lately? There are shelves of protein supplements, 90% flavoured with maltrex chocolate, whatever that is. One pack I bought had things resembling rum balls, or dog droppings. It doesn't taste like the former, and I still gag when I look at them.
Straight through Dubbo, Parkes and Forbes reaching Grenfell around midnight. Had called wifey in Gilgandra saying I didn't have a motel booked, and would be stopping when I needed to. SMS'd her in Dubbo saying not to wait up, that I was on a roll and would call in the morning. At that stage I still hadn't let on I was on an IBA award attempt. Before the naysayers jump in labelling the whole effort foolhardy, I'll make a few observations. Firstly, one is not forced into any particular timeframe like the Farrider RTEs. One can time the attempt to suit the weather, work, health, commitments and so on. Then there is plenty of expert IBA advice available about the hazards of fatigue. Regarding those two aspects, I needed to go to Melbourne to board the ferry on Friday night, but left on Wednesday giving me time to spare if anything worked against the safety or put pressure on to ignore common sense, e.g. bad weather, poor road or traffic conditions, mechanical problems or health/ fatigue. So it wasn't just an IBA ride, but it gave the ride a bit more value. Finally, to scandalise the agnostics and atheists of the world... my wife prayed for the ride regardless of its nature, just becaue I was out there and would need some real help along the way. I did not see one live roo all night. Just one little rabbit hopped across the road to say, "We're all out here- just not bothering you."
Some funny things happen on the road. It's easy to think of the B-Double drivers as the enemy when you're stuck behind one, especially if you're unlucky enough to be driving some poor powerless thing, not an ST which eats B-Doubles in seconds. I pulled in behind a big rectangular one at Gilgandra. The road was flat and he was driving the limit, so I was happy for him to deal with the fauna. We were barrelling along and I was on the truckie's channel but it was full of scratchy transmissions from all over the state. Suddenly there was one flash from his right indicator. I happened to be in his left wheel track (I swap around, partly to see a bit of the road ahead). A second later a big lump of unidentifiable carcase came through the right hand side. I don't know if that's a widely known message, but it forged a link between us in our isolated worlds. I gave him a hearty beep-beep thankyou when we parted ways. You probably worked out for yourself that one flash right and one left means it's clear ahead. Even if I hadn't been planning it, I take the opportunity to honour that offer. It might be the driver is sick of you tagging him. Provided the turbulence isn't an issue, it's noticeably warmer behind a big truck- maybe due to his engine heat, or just because he's wind -breaking for you. I'm definitely not advocating "drafting"- that's deadly dangerous. Sit back two car lengths or so minimum, and you'll still get some benefit. The aerodynamics are baffling, but some make less turbulence than most. It's like the ones coming towards you- some nearly blow you off the road, and some of the biggest go by with hardly a ripple.
Thursday 4th
After midnight it gets seriously cold, especially when there is no cloud cover and you're away from the coast. Valleys are worse than ridges. As it fluctuated between 5 and 10 degrees, I continued on through Young, Cootamundra and Junee, by now looking for a petrol station open. Junee has a card operated 24 hour pump, but I wanted the certainty of a docket for my documentation. With 65 kays left on the count-down I found a Coles Shell in Wagga Wagga, but they didn't have hot coffee, so I went up the road to the Caltex to get one there at 2:40. I know the purists avoid stimulants for their long rides, but it's fuel for me. I need three a day, and yes, I'm dependent. Go tell someone who cares.
Short break, then on the road to Albury and the Hume Highway. Badly needed a light breakfast but couldn't find a Service Centre so went into Wangaratta to the 24 hour Maccas. My wife is a Home Economics teacher, so I've been given all the lectures about the errors of fast food, but an Egg McMuffin when you need it is irreplacable. The great burger inspired the thought that I was way within the time-frame to reach Melbourne, making it a comprehensive SS1600 (Iron Butt Association Saddle Sore 1600K; 1610 km ridden in 24 hours). Back on the road I looked at how I was feeling and the distance, combined with the fact I was on a 110 kph highway and decided to bypass my target of Seymour and go for Melbourne. There were two aspects to that- firstly, the planned route was 1629 km by Google maps, but my Zumo reckoned it was a safe 1633. I had to have a solid minimum 1610, and I dreaded the thought that the IBA adjudicators would measure it differently and say I really went a shorter route and fabricated my claim, disqualifying me. The other things is, try telling a Queenslander that in 21 hours you rode from Brisbane to Seymour. "Why bother?" they'd say, "you can see enough here!"
I couldn't believe the number of speed cameras there were on the highway, with no warning signs except the usual general ones. They aren't just two poles as in Brissie- they have about eight poles with multiple cameras facing both ways. I hit Melbourne and the Ring Road decisions were thrust at me. I opted for City ring road which included the airport which I knew was away from the city but the rest sounded less useful. Got 100 metres along it and had to make another choice. Asked a grid-locked truck driver and he said, "Go left." It put me on Sydney Road, and 100 metres along it there was a Golden Chain Motel, for which I hold a 10% discount card. Got an early-occupy room and my Finish Witness and Finish Docket all in the same place. Fait accompli.
