i am off to cross the continent 28th sept 2015 4000klm fremantle to newcastle.

jond

Zen MBB Master
hi guys just got back from a trike tour very comfy and relaxing 400klm round trip at an easy pace camping out in the bushes hanging from a hennessy hammock. (posted to strava)

i used an app called roadid from the same people who make the road id bracelets for first responders to see where you are. it is free and well worth a look.

the app includes a handy home screen page full of your emergency contacts plus medical. the app tracks your progress and sends a tiny url to a mobile phone etc for the duration so your nominated (up to 5) contacts can monitor your progress.

good news is it would seem that strava's claim to cut down the thirst for power consumption is true.... and on my iphone 5s i was able to achieve around 8 hours before having to recharge at 20%. please note i have my screen off whenever possible.

the road id app seemed to work well and i will be using it as well as the strava route planner on my iphone to cross the continent. i know there are a plethora of other apps out there that may well be much better but i can alway fall back on google earth. too late to trial anything new.

for short ride you can turn an alarm function on that after 5 min of being stopped will send a text etc to your contacts unless you stop the countdown. i found that on my trike ride this was annoying and turned the alarm off.

my proposed start date is monday the 28th sept......... ouch not long to go now. i will be stealth camping and hoping to ride around 400klm per day to finish in around 10 nights and on the 11th day to beat the unassisted crossing record held by peter heal. see crazy guy on a bike post.

it will come down to a lot of luck with any bad weather or headwinds (highly likely crossing the nullarbor) impacting severely. if i get headwinds i will still just enjoy the ride of a lifetime. australia is the dryest continent on earth. i am somewhat apprehensive as riding 350-450 klm per day for 11 days is new territory for me. i am flying with the vendetta so lets hope the baggage handling is of a good standard :)

i am going light as i can afford to be.

i have radical design banana racer panniers and what will not fit in them will go in the ratz mark 1 storage solution and bike bag.

2.5 litres water.

spare tyre and 5 tubes.

energy bars and chocolate so mininal food will be stopping for b'fast second b'fast lunch and dinner.

vango blade 1 man tent. enlightened equip. down quilt and exped ul 7 med mat take care of my shelter.

clothes will be base layers and lycra.

minimal ablutions and toiletries so will be a sad state of affairs with anyone waiting in line for food surely to be offended.............

i see the main challenges apart from the mileage each day as sleep deprivation/ sun protection / road trains / sustenance and hydration / finding a camp site/ maintaining power supply to battery packs / keeping the weight of the bike down low as possible . but this is a just do equation and see what happens.

i learnt long ago that "what you can do in a week you can do in a day" and if fit enough you can do it the next day too and the next etc. i think this works down to 200klm per week and see no benefit past 400klm per week for me.

lots of grey nomads with no sense of smell will surely be willing to help.

hope to maybe rustle up a tolhurst when i am in WA and get John to sign my bike if he will.

anyhow now that i have blown my own trumpet blarppp flat note......... eek.......... i had better make it :)

riding home to my wife will be inspirational. day 12 i will get into trouble :)

pray for me.
 

Lief

Guru Schmuru
bloody hell.

jon,
Some things I learned in 3 days of sun.

Sodium - you need more of it than you might think. (and sodium does not equal table salt)
Some people have said you can't overdo sodium - I disagree - but depending on your normal sodium intake you will probably need to increase it.

and

Look up the signs/symptoms of
  • Overhydration and Underhydration
  • Overheating and Hypothermia
They overlap and can be confused, especially when you aren't thinking straight.
Write them down and refer to the written word as the truth when you are sleep-deprived and don't know what to do.
It might pull you out of a gutter.

and

Take good care of your face - it's notoriously difficult (for me) to keep my lips and nose from over exposure.
After just 3 days in Utah sun and wind my lips were cracked something fierce. It was painful and detracted from an otherwise enjoyable recovery.

and

make sure you can come back to ride another day.

and lastly

GO FOR IT MATE!
 

Bentas

Well-Known Member
Crikey Jond,
This will be epic ,I'm not I.T savvy at all but if there is a simple way to follow your progress I'll be all over it.
Your already a hero in my book for even planning and committing to this.
You do realise Pete Heal is more machine than human!
And yes I'll be sending a few requests for safe travel and all other awesomeness up to his awesomeness for you
Have fun ,enjoy the journey, from what I remember of Novacastrians ,you work hard and party harder,I lived in Newy a few years back ,go hard mate! But most of all enjoy yourself
Cheers Rob
Ozzy ,Ozzy,Ozzy
 
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DavidCH

In thought; expanding the paradigm of traversity
Gosh, epic ride for sure. I enjoyed what trplay had with moose ... even wrote it down Apidura saddle pack and serfs 550 light system. Try doing the riding whilst its not so hot and pace yourself mid-day. All the best for sure. I have been to Australia many times. Its a most beautiful place. Take loads of pics.
 

DavidCH

In thought; expanding the paradigm of traversity
I use a GPS offline mapping system app called "Here maps" from Nokia. I just downloaded the whole of Australia and pinned Freo to Newcastle. Minus toll roads and motorways. It gives me 47days and 5 hours if you walk it. (4125km). I have found this app very good as it doesn't suck the battery down like other GPS maps. From the looks of it you are either going to hate or love Trans Access Road. Watch out for any big reds jumping out.
 

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Wow, Wow, Wow Jon - It will be epic no matter what!
Hey, but last I heard, I thought you where going to do it next year: around March or April so I could come and do it with you! BUMMER!!! (I am sure I could hang on at least for the first 2 days at least!)
I will be praying for you daily Jon, and will also be riding my last 6 days of my (10 days for Honduras) during your ride, so we will be co-laboring a good bit of the time - however you much more than I, since I am only doing 100 miles per day.
Hmm - average 400 km per day. You are such a brute Jon, that should only take you about 12 hours at an easy 32kph pace, so you should get plenty of rest in between all the riding mate!
This is so cool! If you find a way that we can follow you on-line please let us know.
Take care my awesome Aussi friend!!!
 

jond

Zen MBB Master
sounds impossible to me.
Riders on PBP average speeds of 20 km/h (RAAM record 25 km/h). To reach your goal you would have to ride 20 hours per day.

all it will take is a big headwind to not make a record. i am prepared to give it up and just enjoy what will be the ride of my life so far. i have ridden for four days on 8 hours sleep on what other international audax riders of vast experience have nominated as the toughest audax of all. 1200klm 14000m climbing but it was tough and my bike weighed 9kg total. amazing how you forget the tough times........ but this ride is flatish with max climbing of 2200m per day with some days only 1000m and if winds are favourable then nothing is impossible with vendetta speed. i am hoping for an average of 25 to 30 klm per hour. i rode last night on my usual terrain ride which has 33% more climbing than i will encounter and rode at 26.9klm per hour average carrying most of my gear i need at audax effort. 150 watts. so maybe it is not impossible we shall see. the bike is just that good. the record stands at 11 days 17 hours and 8 minutes and was completed between the 26th july and 6th august 2009 by pete heal on a velokraft vk2. as pete stated on his blog he was lucky with conditions and wind direction and never faced a headwind . i hold no allusions and can only manage what i can .the record is unofficial and i have spoken with pete. i have therefore decided to complete my ride at newcastle my home city rather than bondi beach like pete. pete then amazingly rode home to canberra....... yup he is a machine.

my calcs on the route reveal 4000klm coast to coast same as pete so as far as i am concerned the record attempt is on. :)

thankyou david for the tips and i will look at here maps .

Lief i hear you brother. i use sun protection whilst not exactly becoming it is very effective.

i use uv leggings and arm protectors by netti. white as white. a uv jersey yellow bright. i use an outdoor research sunrunner cap and couple it with a 4" da brim. look like a clutz and uncool but when it comes to sun there is no hiding and you need protection. with this set up i dont need sun tan lotion just lip balm.

i am apprehensive about this ride even though there is no point in being so. what will be will be and i will give it my best shot. i am determined.

i have booked and paid for the flight arriving at perth airport on saturday 6 pm. assemble bike ride to start point 30klm away and wait for midnight to start the ride on a sunday the 27th.

larry thank you for your blessings. i think that you may have overstated my ability by a great margin or two. i reckon on 17 hours per day if i am busy.

i think the hardest part will be missing my wife.

larry without doubt the best time to go is May despite the cold. however my family found this time to be the best so that my wife can be catered to. so off i go. it would have been great to have you with me Larry but i would have slowed you down. having your ride your epic at the same time as me will be uplifting and i am sure we both shall be praying for each other and seeking divine help :) .

i will be posting to strava every day my progress depending upon no technical/communication issues.

thank you for your kind support and i assure you i will be riding for the cruzbike tribe and our brand no matter how it pans out. now to the bike for a ride and fun.

all the best gang.
 

super slim

Zen MBB Master
Jond,
GO FOR CRUZBIKE!!!!!
I hope yet another record will be broken!!!

I hope the wind god is gentle with you!!! and ALL winds are to your back!!!!

Are you going to use a hub dynamo to power your GPS and mobile phone, or use replaceable alkaline batteries?

That's a good light waterproof tent!!!
 

jond

Zen MBB Master
slim i will be using a couple of 10000ma battery packs for my phone but they recharge slowly. there is a lithium polymer battery pack with a 1.5 hr charge but it ships by sea only. and it is 300 dollars locally so no way . i have a gomadic aa alkaline recharger for my garmin edge which does not put it into mass storage mode. i have a son hub on my trike with a charge system but it will not power the i phone rather i have to charge another battery via the hub. thanks for the well wishes.

slim for the money $150 the tent is a great option and it is only bested by the $600 options. i will be weighing all my gear soon.

i have made contact with john tolhurst and great news he is going to meet me and see me off though i do not expect him to hang around of course. what a very nice gesture. going to get him to autograph my bike frame. sappy i know but it means a lot and will be a real shot in the arm for the start on sunday morning.

the road id app i am using will allow five mobile phones to be kept in the loop as to where i am. if any one is interested locally in australia in keeping the tribe up dated i can include their mobile as a reference.
 

jond

Zen MBB Master
thankyou all.

today i fitted new tyres and cleaned up "mission" for her meet and greet with john t.

i have weighed most of my gear now and it comes in around 25kg including bike panniers sleeping shelter clothes electronics lights etc spares incl a tyre and four tubes 1.2 litres of water (capacity for 3.2) . so i will be hauling around 110 kg all up including by backside. i have allowed around 4 kg of extras in that 110kg. the bike weighs 12.6 kg with 32 spoke training wheels power tap hub three bike bags pump water bottles and cages empty and couple tubes spares insided frame. one week to go.
 
thankyou all.

today i fitted new tyres and cleaned up "mission" for her meet and greet with john t.

i have weighed most of my gear now and it comes in around 25kg including bike panniers sleeping shelter clothes electronics lights etc spares incl a tyre and four tubes 1.2 litres of water (capacity for 3.2) . so i will be hauling around 110 kg all up including by backside. i have allowed around 4 kg of extras in that 110kg. the bike weighs 12.6 kg with 32 spoke training wheels power tap hub three bike bags pump water bottles and cages empty and couple tubes spares insided frame. one week to go.
Did you forget the partridge in a pear tree?
 

super slim

Zen MBB Master
Jond started at Midnight Saturday and reached Merridin WA at 9.30 pm Sunday night, and stealth camped after having a hot shower at the Merridin BP service station.
This is 100 km short of his target of Southern Cross, but 35kph gusting head and cross winds was blowing him all over the main road, even with a total loaded bike weight of 25 kg.

The wind gods were NOT on his side on the first day!!!

On day 2 he started at 4 AM and had no wind until 9am when it was 19 kph NE so a side wind, and at 3pm the wind changed to 16 kph NNW at Kalgoorlie, so a tail wind to Norseman, his next targeted overnight stop.
He rang at 11.00am WA time and was sitting on 30 kph (19 mph) and MUCH happier as a slight cross wind.

He was pleased with the bike and camping equipment, and himself!

He bag arrangement looks very good with a low C of G and minimal cross section area, and light!


His URL did not get through to my phone (which is with Optus and he is with Telstra), or my phone Trend antivirus stopped it, so I am relying on text , and media messages from Jon.

SS


IMG_0763.jpg IMG_0762.jpg
 

DavidCH

In thought; expanding the paradigm of traversity
All the best mate, that second day was a tough one... do some stretches before you start out.
I reckon that second day was like 459km (Merredin to Norseman) if you took the Great Eastern Hwy.
 
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