Hey guys,
It came up briefly in gene’s “moving back to Perth” thread a few weeks ago, but I’d really like to give it a go. I’m hoping to get some time off work/uni in the middle of the year to ride Adelaide -> Melbourne as a prologue, but I’d like to gauge the level of interest in such a ride, and also to start thinking about what will be required.
No film crews, no documentaries, I just want to ride the shit out of the Nullarbor!
You may have some logistical problems. Think of the Nullabor Plain as Melbourne to Sydney . . . . without water, food or accomodation.
Days of this:
Not saying it can’t be done but be prepared.
I wouldn’t do the entire trip but if your going from perth to melbourne I’d be interested in joining you to Norsman(start of the nullabor). It’s a long way away so I’m not sure.
Once you pass Northam you start doing huge distances with nothing inbetween, how would you deal with the water supply?
. . . . and the total distance is approx 3500kms. It’ll take you at least three weeks.
PM user Lats. A friend of his did it a while back. IIRC He rode at night so that he could see the road trains coming and get out of the way. Plus it’s cooler.
I have a couple of people who may be interested in accompanying in a car, which would solve a few concerns. I also found this:
http://www.holidayoz.com.au/features/feature-nullarbor-WA-SA.htm
I’m sure it will come in handy, I’ll have to do a bit more research and find out how current the information is.
Hey mate, I’m riding from Perth to Brisbane starting May. I will be doing the trip on a dedicated touring bike. What bike do you intend to ride on?
The ride is definitely doable and there are enough service stations along the way (roughly every 150km) to survive, but you will have to camp in between stops along some of the legs. i.e. between Norseman and Balladonia which is 192km. And if you don’t like junk (truckie) food, you may have to post your own food to each stop along the way.
Depending on what time of the year you want to do it, you will need roughly 10-15 litres of water on you, so this will probably be the biggest problem if done on a track bike.
If going from Melb -> Perth during winter, the prevailing winds will be against you, but of course, don’t take that as a guarantee. Check out the Bureau of Meteorology website for more details.
This shows the wind roses for June.
Best time to ride it would probably be Spring/Autumn, Summer would really test your mental and physical abilities, and would just suck…
Anyway, hope this helps.
I’m interested. I think the guys are right, logistically it would be tricky, but, depending on when you were thinking of doing it, i would definately give it some consideration.
prawza, thanks for the info, that helps a lot! I will most likely be riding my commuter/track bike, and to be honest I’d much prefer to do the ride with a support vehicle.
Sime and I did Melbourne -> Portsea and back over Summer, which we worked out was around 180-190km, so as far as I can see, it’s just a matter of training to be able to do that same ride, day after day, in hotter, drier conditions. I know it’s a big challenge, but at the same time, I have no reason to NOT attempt the ride.
i’ve driven the nullabor, and been stranded in a small town on the nullabor for three days waiting for parts, and it’s a very boring place. at least 2 weeks of a very boring place. a one way flight to perth will cost almost as much as a return flight to somewhere in asia., and having been reading the cyclingtips blog, that seems much more attractive to me. i will say that gypsy and i were spending $50 to $60 on food per day, plus accomodation, and i imagine things are more expensive at some of those isolated service stations.
Oh, well if you have a support car, it would make things considerably easier…
LAM is correct in saying that everything will be more expensive, its a monopoly, you buy their product for their price otherwise you can simply ride to the next stop 150km away. Shit.
So yeh, it would be way cheaper to fly over than ride, however the ride will be far more rewarding.
Someone call mavic and get them to ship their neutral support vehicle asap!
i want to know more about this. blog address? seperate thread? national geographic articles?
Right now all I have is a very messy blog write up at psotmn.blogspot.com basically writing about all the equipment and planning I’ve done so far.
(start from the bottom of the page “holiday mode” and work your way up, or you’ll be reading it backwards)…
haven’t been in contact with mates over east, but would love to surf a few couches if I get the chance. will post further details when I get some rough dates of arrival.
Prawza are open to having people joining you on parts of your trip? Is this still your route?
now that’s a fucking beautiful part of the world right there.
So do I win if I live there?
wheel works im actually considering this, still undecided if i will ride the roadie or a track bike, but if your going fixed i would love to do it, i also agree with praw in that summer will be killer, i say waiting an extra 3/4 months till april would be a better time to start, but if your determined enough then im keen and will start building something worthy of the ride straight away, plus training like fuck
or go 2/3 months earlyer and do it oct/nov 09?
is this your route
No, thats not my intended route, I rode that route last year to Esperance. Took me 11days covering ~1100km.
Shit yeah, Esperance is high on the list of the best places I’ve ever visited. We drove from Perth to dive, absolutely stunning country (…and a biiig shipwreck at the end).