10 Deserts Solo Cycle Epic

If you want to see what his trailer looks like - I found this photo on the web before he left Alice.
Photo of Trailer

The following update was provided by Russell when he called me on Saturday. Sorry if this sounds a little disjointed – he gave me the key facts to convey.

First of all – he says a big HI to everyone.

All in all the first part of the track was relatively straight forward. The bike is awesome and made the riding a lot easier then it would have been on a conventional bike. He has been able to do 160 kms per day. On a normal bike he would have been forced to walk large parts. The roads are very sandy and definitely only suitable to 4WDs. He has been riding quite a bit at night and so quite often he will leap frog motorists. They seem very surprised that he is passing them – and probably thinking that they are seeing a mirage – another cyclist…?

Only two small incidents to report of. The bike trailer has detached twice – both times when the front wheel washed out on 4WD ruts at high speed. This is a safety feature of the trailer fork though, so he didn't crash himself.

As for wildlife, he has seen Rock Wallabies, brolgas and quite a few camels. He saw some dingos – a little too closely - as they chased him for 3 kms – luckily he was able to ride 35km/hr to shake them off his trail.

At one point, Russell stopped for a quick snooze by the side of the road – only to wake up 6 hours later.

The water management is going well - consuming only 18 liters on his longest stretch without water - 313km. Food is also going well. A bit concerned when he got to Halls Creek only to find just cans in the first shop. Luckily his specialist food was there and he was able to find some other options.

From here the next part of the trip is the Canning Stock Route (CSR). This is 2000 kms over the next 3 weeks. During this part he will have to do quite a bit of navigation via the GPS as many of the water stops are bit off his track. Russell was particularly conscious to not lose much weight. Not only will the deserts be a challenge, there is no shelter so he will have to pitch his tent a lot more. He is planning to only do 100kms per day.

Best of luck Russell

P.S Keep those donations to the RFDS coming in and if you want to track his progress – click on the Spot Tracker tab.

Russell's post from Saturday morning 9th May

Follow up:

Hi Folks, I made it. Safe and sound. Whoowee, that last 15km or so into the headwind on the black top hurt just as much as a 100km corrugated sandy stretch between the border and the aboriginal community at the head of the CSR.

1100km in 6.5 days. Unfortunately this will have to be a very brief update as I'm rushing around trying to get everything sorted for the CSR. My specialty food is here in Halls Creek. Thanks Dad.

The CSR has only ever been ridden once unsupported to my understanding. It is the first of the 'A' class desert crossings. It'll be full on for the next 3 weeks; nearly 2000km, and 900 dunes. I don't expect I'll see 4WD's every day like I did on the Tanami. I have tomorrow off to rest, eat, clean and maintain bike, eat, washing, eat, recharge batteries, eat, internet access if I can get it, eat, repack, eat, eat, eat

I'll ring either Adrian or Pete for a verbal update of my adventures which they can elaborate on in the interim. Thanks guys. I'll also post a memory card back with some photos. Please be patient here. It'll take some time for these to arrive back in Brisi and get loaded up.

The Tanami is a beautiful place; well worth a visit if you can, but far easier in a 4WD than by bike I found time to get off the track in a few places, and that seemed to be where I saw most wildlife. Sharing the top of a small rock monolith with a rock wallaby was nice. We could see for miles and miles (haha I think there could be a song there). I also met lots of nice people on the way; travellers and people working in the area.

I did a sat-phone interview with Mel & Koshi on Sunrise this morning. The update from Charlie at RFDS is that we've raised $1000 so far. That's roughly $1/km travelled. Thanks so much for donations received to date. The RFDS is a very worthy beneficiary. By the end of my ride I'd like to get this up to $4/km, for the full 7500km. $30k total .... so please let any friends, family or work colleagues you think may be interested in following know about this fund-raising effort.

The great work the RFDS do every day ....

At Rabbit Flat on the Tanami, the proprietor at the fuel stop told of his harrowing experience (many years ago now) with the birth of his twin sons. Weather was bad at the time. The RFDS couldn't fly in to help (due to weather), but instead talked him through the birthing process. I think my ride sounds easy by comparison.

Take care and safe travels till my next update in 3 weeks time I hope. I'll try to give one of the guys a heads up about any future sat-phone interviews. Thanks for everyone's support and terrific comments. Cheers, Russ.