It was a cold, misty and over cast morning. We were out the door before 8am and the idea was that we were riding half way to Aileron, and then camping (about 43 miles). On my way out of town I went to pull in to a service station to buy an iced coffee and had my first flat tire! My back tire suddenly went completely flat... I found a small green piece of glass was lodged in the tire when I removed the tire after completely unpacking the bike. The kid working behind the counter really tried to be helpful, but was unable to assist me with any of my requests. It took me until 9.30 to change the tube and tire, patch the damaged tube, and then repack the bike. Once I was rolling it was a full 10 miles of hills to get out of Alice Springs, even though Dave as assured at the bike shop that there were only 10 km of hills... but no matter I was well rested and they were actually a lot of fun. An added bonus was that at the first rest area about 20km outside of Alice I crossed the Tropic of Capricorn!
Dave Stayed behind to sort out his flights home, having gotten a bit carried away on Facebook during the previous days. Prior to leaving we agreed that if conditions were "perfect" that Andrew and I might decide to ride all the way to Aileron. At 2:30 pm I caught up with Andrew and we decided that the conditions were as perfect as they could be expected with a moderate tailwind and flat roads! So, with the daylight clock ticking away, we made the commitment to ride another 50 miles to Aileron. We left Dave two notes indicating our intentions to ride on in our customary manner - paper note weighted down with rocks all around and left on the shoulder of the road.
Andrew was of course off in a flash, and it was a huge effort on my part to make it to the Aileron roadhouse before dark even with the tailwind. I rolled into the roadhouse after having to ride the last 10-15 km in almost total darkness on the Stuart Highway...there was the just barest hint of light and color in the western sky. That 10 km was the scariest ride I've ever experienced, going from pitch black illuminated by my helmet light, to blinding light and noise as roadtrains roared on past... I rode hard relying on adrenaline and huge mouthfuls of raw honey to keep me moving.
Exhausted, I arrived to find out that Andrew had purchased two campsites instead of a room... soooo with an attitude as black as the surrounding environment I drug out my tent and began setting it in the lights of the parking lot, and then moved it over to the campsite. After a shower we went in for a bite to eat, but I was nearly too tired to eat and felt nauseous. We struck up a conversation with an Aussie telephone worker named Greg Gilbert. He insisted on buying us a beer, and was great company as well as a wealth of information! The beer seemed to settle my stomach (or perhaps it was the atmosphere), so I had a small meal and was off to bed.
