Across a Continent in 30 days

G’day girls,
In April 2006 I rode across my homeland from south to north and absolutely loved it! I admit, I didn’t do it the hard way; with panniers and 40 litres water. Instead I jumped on an organized trip, called the ‘Bike and Wheels Expedition’. A total of 2300km (1,500miles) kicking off at the cool waters of Spencer Gulf, straight through Australia’s central desert, finishing a month later in the beautiful tropical (unfortunately crocodile filled) waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria. It was an amazing month.
Definitely my most epic trip! The best part was I didn’t have to worry about water, preparing my own meals and where I was going to put my tent up that night. It was more like 30 days of Sunday riding with friends while taking in this amazing shifting landscape and eventually arriving on the other side of the continent!
It was a trip of ‘highs’ and only a couple of lows, like those 2 days of headwind we had. The flat desert plains starting feeling like a mountain;)
There are some pics on Outbike’s flickr site, which are really nice, but hopefully I’ll get my own up soon:rolleyes:
Now what’s the challenge for next year? Any recommendations? Something amazing in your corner of the world? Or been on an incredible tour somewhere else?
Outbike has a bunch of other rides for next year, of which I’m sure I will do one, but I’d also love to do another autumn desert ride in another country…but where?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Bye

It looked like it was a blast! Here in the states there are so many bike adventures you could have I don't know where to start! The San juan hut tour is great! Takes you through Colorado to utah. You bike to a hut every day. The huts are fully stocked with wine a beer and all kinds of food. There is no car theat follows you though cause there are parts a car would not be able to do. just google San juan huts. Here is the title of my thread My hut to hut mountain bike trip! you can read about it!

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Originally Posted by Back on Bike

G’day girls,
In April 2006 I rode across my homeland from south to north and absolutely loved it! I admit, I didn’t do it the hard way; with panniers and 40 litres water. Instead I jumped on an organized trip, called the ‘Bike and Wheels Expedition’. A total of 2300km (1,500miles) kicking off at the cool waters of Spencer Gulf, straight through Australia’s central desert, finishing a month later in the beautiful tropical (unfortunately crocodile filled) waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria. It was an amazing month.
Definitely my most epic trip! The best part was I didn’t have to worry about water, preparing my own meals and where I was going to put my tent up that night. It was more like 30 days of Sunday riding with friends while taking in this amazing shifting landscape and eventually arriving on the other side of the continent!
It was a trip of ‘highs’ and only a couple of lows, like those 2 days of headwind we had. The flat desert plains starting feeling like a mountain;)
There are some pics on Outbike’s flickr site, which are really nice, but hopefully I’ll get my own up soon:rolleyes:
Now what’s the challenge for next year? Any recommendations? Something amazing in your corner of the world? Or been on an incredible tour somewhere else?
Outbike has a bunch of other rides for next year, of which I’m sure I will do one, but I’d also love to do another autumn desert ride in another country…but where?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Bye

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Wow sounds like a fantastic ride. Gotta love that red dirt.:D

Sooooo pretty! What an adventure! I can't imagine the joy (and pain) of riding across the continent. Sounds like you had an amazing journey, tho. Thanks for sharing!!! :)

Please be sure to post your pictures, you have a big audience here. Particularly in the northern hemisphere, where many of us can't ride because it's too cold, wet, dark & snowy.

Wow, that San Juan ride looks and sounds amazing,(a real wild adventure) but perhaps a little out of my league at this point. I'll definitely pencil it in for the years to come when I've riden a few 7000 feet mountains, as there aren’t too many of those here in Australia.
I have to say that one of the many perks of my trip is that it allowed you to get fit. An entire month were the days progressively got longer, with a few rest days when you needed them most.
As many of you 'long distant cyclists' would know, it was a wonderful feeling when getting up every day, pointing your bike in a direction and pedalling 60 miles felt normal!:eek:
Not having luggage made life easier, but even so I sometimes found myself counting every kilometre to the lunch stop. Then there were of course those beautiful tail-wind days where if the food wasn't so good I would have kept riding.
I luckily I didn't have to face any of australia's creepy and slithery creatures although there were a few small fresh water crocodiles to see from a safe distance.
As for now, the bike only ever gets out in the early mornings or the evenings as it is starting to get real warm here. A not so bad 36C (96) degrees today. While you girls up north are all freezing your fingers off I'm melting the rubber on my tyres. Have a great New Years and look forward to hearing from you soon:p