Maps

Until recently I've been planning this trip as best I could using the internet and a country map of Australia that I purchased on a previous trip to the continent. The map was enough to get me started, but not enough to adequately prepare for an unsupported bicycle tour. My original map lacked any indication of rest stops, and other such bicycle-important items. However, I eventually found an excellent source for maps, the Royal Automobile Association of Australia:

http://www.raa.net/shop_products.asp?SecID=56&CatID=4

These maps are a great resource for the touring cyclist, including accurate distance markings, rest stops, road houses, Railway sidings, etc. For this particular trip I ordered the South Australia and Northern Territories State Road Maps, as well as the Outback South Australia map.

You can contact the RAA directly by writing to them at:
Automobile Association of the Northern Territory Inc.
GPO Box 2584
Darwin NT 0801
Australia

It Snows...

I've had another minor training setback today that came in the form of about 8 inches of SNOW last night...And so it snows, aaand it snows. As such I again find myself riding my trainer in the basement at the end of April--amazing!



More of a concern is that I'm also experiencing some pain and instability in my left knee. This has me somewhat worried. I'm guessing that there is stress on the knee due to poor spinal alignment or poor hip alignment and that a chiropractic adjustment or two will set things right. I'll be making an appointment to see Doc Walton this coming week.

My countdown timer indicates only 40 days until I leave for Melbourne, and the closer the departure date looms the more I find myself fretting about even the smallest things. It will be a great relief to have the first day of peddling behind me.

The New Wheels!!

Of course the sex-appeal of these photos is probably lost on all but the biggest bike geeks, but I had stars in my eyes when Dave Sears (Ski and Bike Shop, Grand Forks, ND) unveiled them for me!!




I'll be putting them through their paces this coming week, and I can hardly wait!

Spring Training

Well the snow has been gone all of two weeks in northern Minnesota... or at least mostly gone. I'm currently putting about 100-150 miles a week out on the road, in any weather. This past Tuesday was a treat with constant 30mph winds gusting to 40mph!! Fortunately the typical winds are between 12 and 20mph and a bit more bearable, if generally irritating.

I'll be doubling my mileage within the next two to three weeks, ultimately ending each week with a century ride by the time I leave for Australia. I have not yet began riding with panniers, but that too is coming in the next couple of weeks as soon as I get all my gear sorted and packed in it's more or less final "trip" form.

I'm told that my new wheels will be ready this weekend at the Ski and Bike shop in Grand Forks, ND and I can't wait to get miles on those Phil Wood hubs! Dave Sears has generously come out of "semi-retirement," imposed upon him by his grad school commitments, and built the wheels for me. Pat is rehabing a his post-surgery collarbone after his winterbiking crash, and so wheel-building would have been a new form of torture for him! I'm also having a Phil Wood bottom bracket installed, and I've decided that the bar-end shifters are going on as well.

My big concern is just basically staying healthy. Everyone in TRF seems to be getting the annual transitional season colds, flus and such. I really can't afford to get sick at this stage of training. So it's early to bed, super healthy eating, and enough vitamins and suppliments to kill a charging rhino...and of course no "fun" at all. God, do I LOVE training!!!

Minnesota Biking

The temperature this morning was better than -20f and with a windchill of -47f ...Clear roads and spring temperatures seem a thousand years away today, but at least its sunny. I'm guessing that when I'm nearing the equator in Australia and it's 90+ degrees in shade that these chilly conditions will seem much more appealing!

Seeing Daylight

On a whim I decided to check on the sunrise-sunset times in Australia... and I realized that I'd forgotten to take into account that it will be WINTER in Australia and this of course means fewer hours of daylight! I was very unpleasantly surprised to realize that the sun will be setting between 5:10 pm and at the latest 6:30pm. Ultimately this means that I may have as little as 10 hours of daylight for riding. So I'm planning for a few more possible "bush camps" between towns on some of the longer stretches of 90-110 miles just in case I run out of daylight. I am very leary of riding on the Stuart Highway in the dark, and I've decided that unless there is an emergency I will not ride after dusk. Also, it'll probably be nice to have some light both to set up camp and cook supper by. So I'm tentatively planning to be done riding by 4pm in the south and 5pm after Alice Springs.

I pulled the following information off of time and date.com:
Sunrise/Sunset Information Australia 2008

June 08 Adelaide
Date Sunrise Sunset This day Difference Time

Jun 9, 2008 7:19 AM 5:11 PM 9h 51m 36s
Jun 10, 2008 7:19 AM 5:11 PM 9h 51m 04s
Jun 11, 2008 7:20 AM 5:10 PM 9h 50m 35s
Jun 12, 2008 7:20 AM 5:10 PM 9h 50m 09s
Jun 13, 2008 7:21 AM 5:11 PM 9h 49m 46s
Jun 14, 2008 7:21 AM 5:11 PM 9h 49m 25s
Jun 15, 2008 7:21 AM 5:11 PM 9h 49m 07s
Jun 16, 2008 7:22 AM 5:11 PM 9h 48m 52s
Jun 17, 2008 7:22 AM 5:11 PM 9h 48m 39s
Jun 18, 2008 7:22 AM 5:11 PM 9h 48m 30s
Jun 19, 2008 7:23 AM 5:11 PM 9h 48m 23s
Jun 20, 2008 7:23 AM 5:11 PM 9h 48m 19s
Jun 21, 2008 7:23 AM 5:12 PM 9h 48m 18s
Jun 22, 2008 7:23 AM 5:12 PM 9h 48m 20s
Jun 23, 2008 7:24 AM 5:12 PM 9h 48m 24s
Jun 24, 2008 7:24 AM 5:12 PM 9h 48m 32s
Jun 25, 2008 7:24 AM 5:13 PM 9h 48m 42s
Jun 26, 2008 7:24 AM 5:13 PM 9h 48m 55s

June 08 Alice Springs
Date Sunrise Sunset This day Difference Time

Jun 17, 2008 7:15 AM 5:56 PM 10h 40m 35s
Jun 18, 2008 7:15 AM 5:56 PM 10h 40m 29s
Jun 19, 2008 7:16 AM 5:56 PM 10h 40m 25s
Jun 20, 2008 7:16 AM 5:56 PM 10h 40m 22s
Jun 21, 2008 7:16 AM 5:56 PM 10h 40m 22s
Jun 22, 2008 7:16 AM 5:57 PM 10h 40m 23s
Jun 23, 2008 7:17 AM 5:57 PM 10h 40m 26s
Jun 24, 2008 7:17 AM 5:57 PM 10h 40m 30s
Jun 25, 2008 7:17 AM 5:57 PM 10h 40m 36s
Jun 26, 2008 7:17 AM 5:58 PM 10h 40m 44s
Jun 27, 2008 7:17 AM 5:58 PM 10h 40m 54s
Jun 28, 2008 7:17 AM 5:58 PM 10h 41m 05s
Jun 29, 2008 7:17 AM 5:59 PM 10h 41m 18s
Jun 30, 2008 7:17 AM 5:59 PM 10h 41m 33s

July 08 Darwin
Date Sunrise Sunset This day Difference Time

Jul 1, 2008 7:09 AM 6:33 PM 11h 24m 34s
Jul 2, 2008 7:09 AM 6:34 PM 11h 24m 42s
Jul 3, 2008 7:09 AM 6:34 PM 11h 24m 51s
Jul 4, 2008 7:09 AM 6:34 PM 11h 25m 01s
Jul 5, 2008 7:09 AM 6:34 PM 11h 25m 12s
Jul 6, 2008 7:09 AM 6:35 PM 11h 25m 24s
Jul 7, 2008 7:09 AM 6:35 PM 11h 25m 37s
Jul 8, 2008 7:09 AM 6:35 PM 11h 25m 50s
Jul 9, 2008 7:09 AM 6:35 PM 11h 26m 04s
Jul 10, 2008 7:09 AM 6:36 PM 11h 26m 19s
Jul 11, 2008 7:09 AM 6:36 PM 11h 26m 35s
Jul 12, 2008 7:09 AM 6:36 PM 11h 26m 51s
Jul 13, 2008 7:09 AM 6:36 PM 11h 27m 08s
Jul 14, 2008 7:09 AM 6:37 PM 11h 27m 26s
Jul 15, 2008 7:09 AM 6:37 PM 11h 27m 44s

Water Tanks along the Stuart Highway

I plucked this information off another page. I would give credit to the author, but their home link is damaged and I couldn't find the information. My apologies to the original writer(s)! Anyway, this could be some lifesaving information to future travellers. But as with most information of this type, use it as a reference but don't count on it, some tanks may be empty. Be sure to fill up those water bottles EVERY chance you get! I have added the mileage distance in parenthesis for those of us that no habla metric.

Port Augusta - Darwin Water tanks:
120km (74 miles)South of Pimba. At rest area where railway crosses road.
102km (63.5 miles)North of Port Augusta 3rd parking bay on left.
Pimba Roadhouse
42km (26 miles)North of Pimba. Parking bay on left.
Glendambo Roadhouse
83km (51.5 miles)North of Gendambo. Parking bay with emergency telephone.
160km (100 miles)North of Gendambo. Parking bay with emergency telephone
Coober Pedy
80 km (50 miles)North of Coober Pedy. Parking bay with emergency telephone
112km (70.5 miles)North of Coober Pedy. Parking bay with emergency telephone
Cadney Park Roadhouse
120km (74 miles)North of Marla. Tank in rest area.
SA/NT border. Tank in rest area.
Kulgera Roadhouse
Erldunda Roadhouse
35km (22 miles)North of Erldunda. Tank in rest area.
74km (46 miles)North of Erldunda. Tank in rest area by Finke river.
Stuarts Well Roadhouse
Alice Springs
Conners Well rest area. 93km (58 miles)north of Alice Springs.
Aileron Roadhouse
13km ( miles)north of Aileron. Tank in rest area.
Ti Tree Roadhouse
Barrow Creek Roadhouse. Very salty well water, ask at bar for drinking water. Wycliff Well roadhouse
Wauchope roadhouse. Fillup here if camping at Devils Marbles, a great place to camp but no water.
90km (56 miles)South of Tennant Creek. Tank at Bonney Well rest area.
30km (19 miles)South of Tennant Creek. Tank in rest area.
Tennant Creek
72km (45 miles)North of Tennant Creek. Tank in rest area.
Renner Springs roadhouse
Elliot
25km (15.5 miles)North of Elliot. Tank in rest area.
Dunmarra
29km (18 miles)North of Dunmarra. Tank in rest area.
Daly Waters Junction
Larrimah
40km (25 miles)North of Larrimah. Tank in rest area.
Mataranka
58km (36 miles)North of Mataranka. Tank in rest area.
Katherine
42km (26 miles)North of Katherine. Tank in rest area.
This is last tank before Darwin but lots of small towns or stores where you can get water.