Day 29 – Happy days with the desert storm trooper

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http://www.justgiving.com/William-White4

Great times. Final day out in the bush, and caught up with the man I’ve heard about since before Sydney. You’ve got to be happy that you live on planet Earth at a time when something like this exists. If you look at the picture above and don’t love the pure genius of a man who makes a stupid bet then, sod everything, goes and follows through with it to spend 18 months of his life walking round Australia dressed like a Storm Trooper, then you may want to consider seeking professional help. This is pure joy.

Happy days

He’s called Scott, a 45 year old from Melbourne. He is 9 months in, aims to raise AU$100k for a Children’s hospital and has cheered up more people than you can count. Amazingly he’s also a really normal decent bloke. Not a nutter, not a bore, just a normal bloke who made a silly plan, then for once went right ahead and did it. Simple as that. People like this make the world a better place to live in. Hero.

Meeting him was a midday treat on a cracking day’s riding. There’s not a lot to write about in terms of the landscape. Till the last five miles it was just 110 miles of outback road, telephone pylons on the left, water pipe on the right, then thick bush as far as you can see. No human life off the ribbon of tarmac, but the hills, the wind and the heat were all down, meaning I could truck through mile after mile at a good steady pace.

11hrs of the day

Main reason today was so great is it was my final bush day. Five miles from Southern Cross dense scrub and trees suddenly cleared and I was out onto the vast bleak fields of the Wheatbelt, the 250 mile wide doughnut of intensive agriculture that insulates Perth from thousands of miles of bush and desert in all directions.

Farms, fields, villages, human life. It’s been two weeks and over a 1,000 miles since I saw anything like this. If my slightly over emotional reaction was anything to go by I’ve been missing the human touch far more than I’d realised.

Getting here to Southern Cross is also the final big milestone before Perth. From here on the ride is basically supported. Villages, towns, shops, petrol stations, everything you need to get through the ride come up every 10 or 20 miles. The 95 mile crossing from Coolgardie to Yellowdine (20 miles short of here) was the final of the trip. It’s been enjoyable and challenging being this remote, but am done with it now, and just keen to fire on into Perth.

Big enough drill piece for
a police escort. Nice

Five straight days riding at 100 miles or more having risen at 04:00 has definitely taken it’s toll. My legs are shot and I’m feeling properly tired. As a result, have decided to reroute into Perth, taking in a half day tomorrow before pushing hard for Cottisloe beach for the final two. The end is definitely in sight, just don’t want to blow it with an injury now.

Only slight dampener on the day is as Perth gets closer the roads are noticeably fuller, even though the roads themselves are still pretty rough and ready. There’s still no hard shoulders. With heavier traffic some people are are cutting it too way too fine, leaving me spluttering in red dirt strips more than once every hour. It’s unnerving and a little draining concentrating that hard on the mirror for hours on end.

Wheatbelt good times (1)

But this is a minor glitch in a good news day. And to top it off have a rather geeky brag to share, with between 230 and 240 miles to Perth, either last thing today or the first thing tomorrow I’ll have ridden further than the 2013 Tour de France in only five days longer than it took Chris Froome et al, which is rather satisfying.

Miles: 116 – Coolgardie – Yellowdine – Southern Cross

Breakfast – Standard (which btw is cereal and peanut butter toast with coffee in case I never spelt it out)

Wheatbelt good times (2)

Lunch – Someone (thanks AW) pointed out by email that I may have got a little OCD about chicken sandwiches for lunch, so went for beef and chutney today. Change is a good thing. Plus S&V crisps and a some beef jerky, healthy.

Dinner – It’s Sunday so everything’s closed in town. Had the yummy beef teriyaki trekkers freeze dried pack in my room. Eaten with a plastic tea spoon on a motel bed it’s a rather depressing way to live. Roll on Perth.