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CSR Report

With delerious satisfaction I awoke from the longest and deepest slumber I've had in 3 weeks this morning.

I don't think it's all sunk in just yet. To complete the CSR "by bike" is a sweet dream. Although there are a million blurry visions flying around in my head at the moment, here are just a few to summarise this leg of my epic ride and help put things in perspective:

Riding off into the middle of nowhere, all alone, my heart in mouth. What would the next 3 weeks hold for this loneley desert rider.
Amazement that my amazing Fatback bike, Crosso panniers and Extrawheel trailer can actually hold and transport this massive 3 weeks food and water supply over such soft sand.
Not seeing a single 4WD for as many as 3 days at a time
Only seeing 3 4WD parties in the first week
Brilliant red sunsets and golden sunrises. These were my "constant" and balancing moments.
Relaxing campfires under starry nights; the clarity of which you only witness in the Australian bush
Exhilaration at weaving through massive desert rocks on deeply rutted 4WD terrain, again amazement at what my Fatback bike and Extrawheel trailer combination on 4" hoofs can do. No other bike performs like this.
Seeing 11 camels (inc 2 calves) parade past my tent whilst I sit on top of Thring rock at sunset
Absolute frustration at the endless miles of soft sandy 4WD corrugations that reduce my riding to an irritatingly slow 5-9km/hr. I ride off-track where the vegetation permits but this is not often. My only come-back is to ride long hours to cover the required distance each day.
Seeing 4 dung beetles working together to roll a dingo turd down a sand dune
Rounding another tight corner and glancing up at the next sand dune. Would I be able to ride this one, or again be reduced to pushing bike, and then trailer one more time.
Reaching the summit of the final dune in a seemingly endless ocean and peering for miles over the vast emptiness of inland Australia. I may have completed this wave set, but would I be so fortunate on the next???
Witnessing first-hand the struggle for life as a dingo scare away finches and hornets that had been lapping up one small murky puddle of water after a very light and brief desert rain
Cherishing a desert rainbow after a heavy desert rain and howling, freezing wind
Feeling like a koala in a Japenese zoo with all the photos taken of "this lonely desert ride"
Meeting so many very nice 4WD'ers, and hearing all their own reasons for taking on this desert epic
Nervousness at the thought I may run out of food ahead of time. I am riding too slow.
Self doubt as my water supply runs low ahead of well 41. Can I really do this? I fall in a heap at the top of a dune. Moments later I startle to the sound of a little crinkling in leaves near my ear. It was a scorpion. More self-doubt and scalding. I should have checked where I layed my weary body. Can I really do this?
Confirmation that yes I can. I can, step by step, baby steps. Don't look too far ahead.
Practising desert survival techniques; sourcing water from trees captured after a light rain.
An exhaustion beyond any I have ever felt before.

The above is just a blurry summary of what the last 3 weeks has produced. With limited time I must now scurry off to finalise preparations ahead of the Anne Beadell Highway. I will forward on some photos later today which may take a couple of weeks to be posted to the website. I hope my amateur photography skills do some justice to the marvellous terrain I've witnessed in the passing weeks.

Permalink 12/06/09 11:24:53 am, by admin Email , 633 words, Categories: Welcome , 7 comments »

7 comments

Comment from: outdoorgaz [Visitor] · http://outdoortypes.blogspot.com
Fantastic effort Russ !!
Your SPOT has been a great tool for us mere mortals following your adventure. To zoom out on Google Earth showed just how many sand dunes there were and how absolute the isolation was as you pedalled through some amazing country.
Looking forward to the photos which I'm sure will be excellent.
May the wind be at you back for the next leg. The Fatback sounds like a great bike but by itself, it wouldn't get very far. ;-)
12/06/09 @ 13:31
Comment from: Brad Poidevin [Visitor]
Congrats on this chapter of your ride. Good to hear you actually do reach exhaustion from time to time. Hehe. Thanks to the crew in charge of the updates and website. Stay safe out there scorpionboy.
13/06/09 @ 14:11
Comment from: Greg Gibbs [Visitor]
Hey Russ,

Been catching up with your progress every day.
Keep up the good work mate, you're a champion.
And yes good to see you get exhausted like us mere mortals :-)

Cheers
GJG
13/06/09 @ 18:25
Comment from: Paul KELLY [Visitor]
Awesome stuff Russ. Keep those baby steps happening :) Any chance you want to tow me through XPD next year :)
13/06/09 @ 20:52
Comment from: David Mckinnon [Visitor]
Good work Russell. I do a stretch class with Brendan and John Purcell every week and we laugh with admiration at what you are doing.
13/06/09 @ 22:46
Comment from: Jakub Postrzygacz [Visitor] · http://wildworks.co.nz/csr
GOOD STUFF! Welcome to the club :-)
19/06/09 @ 20:31
Comment from: Ceclia T. [Visitor] · http://www.flickr.com/photos/30079014@N3
Unfortunately our group did not catch up with you as we did not follow the CSR right to Well 2 and left the CSR earlier.
Very impressive how much distance you covered every day under difficult conditions.
Every now and then we noticed the bike tracks though and I kept reminding everybody to make donations to the RFDS and check up on your progress when home.
Some people coming from the south told us that they met or saw you, "that cyclist".
At every sand dune we crossed by 4WD, or walked across, I wondered how you kept going, dune after dune after dune, in those corrugated, deep and sandy tracks dug by 4WDs, and how you manoeuvered bike and trailer in those tracks, or off-track amongst the spinifex! Must have been very hard! Congratulations on completing the CSR.
Good luck for the rest of your desert journeys!
You're a star!
25/06/09 @ 18:28

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