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

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