Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 088 - Kernot Range to Erldunda

Day:  088

Date:  Sunday, 27 September 2020

Start:  Kernot Range Rest Area

Finish:  Erldunda

Daily Kilometres:  101 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  8992

Weather:  Cool early, then mild, sunny and windy

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Muesli

  Lunch:  Pie/Chicken & chips

  Dinner:  Hamburger & chips/Beef schnitzel, salad & chips, ice-creams

Aches:  Nothing significant 

Highlight:  Arriving at the Erldunda Roadhouse after eight hours of gruelling headwind riding

Lowlight:  After yesterday's headwind, we were hoping for a reprieve today, but it wasn't to be.  The easterly wind blew all night and was blowing when we began riding this morning, only to worsen as the sun rose.  It was even harder than yesterday and made riding a real grind.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 5am and were on the road soon after 6am, hoping that the early hours would be calmer, but the wind had blown all night and continued blowing.  Our tentative plan for the day was to ride eastwards on the Lasseter Highway for 100km to Erldunda, and then turn south on the Stuart Highway and ride 75km to Kulgera.  However, we knew that if the easterly wind continued to blow, we might have to bail out at Erldunda.

The first hour's riding in yet another beautiful desert dawn, was into the cold wind and slow.  We hoped the wind might ease as the sun rose, but the reverse happened and it got stronger.   Our plan had been to ride 40km before stopping for breakfast, but with the wind howling across the red dirt scrubby plain, raising dust clouds and blurring the horizon, there was nowhere protected to stop.  Instead, we persevered another 5km to the abandoned Mt Ebeneezer Roadhouse and sheltered behind a corrugated iron fence while we had breakfast.  It was a forlorn place with a row of motel units, doors open, some windows broken, and unknown things banging in the wind.  Nobody was about.

We realised that, based on the three hours of very hard riding it had taken to cover the 45km so far, and with the wind showing no signs of abating, we had little chance of getting to Kulgera for the night, even though the wind should be neutral for the last 75km.  Just getting to Erldunda, 56km away, felt like it would be a Herculean task, when on almost any other day it would be easy-peasey.

After a 30-minute breakfast break, we emerged from our fence shelter and resumed riding across the windblown plain.  It was cattle country, though we didn't see any and there seemed little for them to feed on.  The road undulated mildly, passing over low ridges, but there never seemed to be any downhill.  Every metre required applied muscle and it was exhausting.

After another two hours and 28km, we took a mid-morning break in the shelter of some trees, dreaming of the morning being over.  Thirty minutes later we were back in the wind, willing the roadside 10km markers to appear in the distance.  Each marker took an eternity to appear, and once seen, took an eternity to reach.  It was character-building.  We had one uplifting moment when the same indigenous truck driver who stopped and gave us water yesterday, overtook us and pulled off the road and gave us another 1.5 litres of cool water, most of which we drank on the spot.  The kindness of strangers.

Inevitably, as we knew would happen if we just kept plugging away, we reached the Stuart Highway and the Erldunda Roadhouse around 2pm.  What a relief.  We checked into a nice motel room, somewhat shell-shocked after our morning, and revived ourselves with a shower and then some lunch at the large, busy and seemingly well-managed and maintained roadhouse.  After that we retired to our room to do some chores and watch some TV.

We later ordered an early dinner at the roadhouse, planning to take a look at the sunset from their "sunset viewing platform" afterwards, but when dinner (very good) finally arrived an hour later, the sun was well set.