The 41483km bike trip has come to an end, and I have been working on the final video. It’s a long finale to this two year trip. I hope you like it.
Posts Tagged ‘Cycling’
Final video: Dilli (Timor Leste) – Adelaide (Australia)
Posted: October 7, 2016 in Australia, Cycling, Timor LesteTags: Australia, Cycling, Timor Leste
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Day 472. 7km. Novar Gardens – Brighton
Posted: October 6, 2016 in Australia, CyclingTags: Australia, Brighton, Cycling, Novar Gardens
They were all there. They used to call themselves Judy’s Remnants. All of mum’s friends that used to meet for coffee. Through them, mum was there too. Welcoming me home. It’s been a long trip.
The Arch of Remembrance
We adjourned to a restaurant for lunch and chatted. The afternoon was spent by myself – at the jetty, at the cemetery. I watched the sunset. I have seen so many sunsets over the jetty. Now, this is the last sunset of my bike trip. The end of this chapter of my life, and the dawn of the next one.
41483km
Brighton at sunset
Brighton at sunset
Day 471. 60km. Balhannah – Novar Gardens
Posted: October 5, 2016 in Australia, CyclingTags: Australia, Balhannah, Cycling, Novar Gardens
I took the lead today, navigating without a map. This was the tourist trail of Adelaide for Clement, and cycling in extremely known territory for me. Past Mt Lofty – the highest hill behind Adelaide. Past Cleland National Park where you can pat the koalas. Past the city, along the river, along the beach. It’s unreal being here. It doesn’t feel part of this world trip, so familiar is everything, but it is. It is the end. The final chapter of this life-changing journey.
Beach
Mt Lofty
Day 470. 44km. Williamstown – Balhannah
Posted: October 4, 2016 in Australia, CyclingTags: Australia, Balhannah, Cycling, Williamstown
We woke up in the rain. It was cold rain, and it continued all the way to my father’s house in Balhannah. No photos. It was a case of – let’s get this over with. The final run down to the suburb of Brighton where I was born can be done when the weather is better.
Day 469. 90km. Saddleworth – Williamstown
Posted: October 3, 2016 in Australia, CyclingTags: Australia, Cycling, Saddleworth, Williamstown
Sitting around the fire we both knew this was the end. The end of the trip for me, and also for Clement who wants to start working for a year in Australia. Over the last six months we have got to know each other like a married couple. Now this married couple is going to part ways as our common journeys reach their conclusion. Now it just feels like a void ahead. It is going to be a turbulent, self-exploring time.
Vineyards
Tonight we circled around how, deep down, everyone feels insecure and weak, and how this expresses itself so differently in different people. No matter what Clement does, he will only feel average. If he can do something, it must be easy. Quite simply, he is more technically skilled than me – at cycling, at fixing bikes, at lighting fires– you name it. He thinks that everything we do, as he can do it, it must be easy. The fact that I find it hard is impossible to fathom, and he repeats, over and over again, how easy it is, and how everyone can do it. This drives me insane.
When I was at school and university, I was one of the best academically. It was very important for me to be the top, and I worked very hard to get there. In the narrow field of solving academic puzzles that definitely had a solution, if I couldn’t find a way to use the theorems we had at hand, the problem must have been impossible to solve. If I was shown otherwise, I didn’t like it. This was something that I was good at – among the vast majority of things I was bad at in my mind, and I felt I needed external appreciation for this one thing I was good at. People had to think that I was good. Why I need this external appreciation I don’t know.
I am very happy, and also proud of this bike trip. I feel so free, seeing the world. I like to think that not everyone can do this (I need to feel good at something). Being reminded that I am worse than the ‘average’ Clement is hard to take sometimes. Feeling insecure expresses itself so differently in Clement and in myself. It is very interesting.
I left my job to go on this trip. For me that was the hardest thing to do. Would I be worthy of a job as good as this at the other end? I am now at that other end. I did not pride myself at being good at the job I did, so I was allowed in my mind to feel average about it. People confirmed over and over that I was good at the job. Why was my job not something I pride myself in like my academic success at university? Yes, this is all very contradictory. The end of this bike trip is a whirl of feelings and emotions in my mind. This will be a turbulent time ahead.
Today we cycled in the sun with Nico – the last little leg of our short stint together, and it has been a lot of fun. Nico brought new perspective on everything with lots of discussions. Yes – the cycling adventures, but today also a lot of religion and, in particular, Buddhism. Our paths diverged at Greenock where we had lunch and slept on the park lawn in the sun.
Lying in the sun
We then had a beautiful cycle through the Barossa Valley – Australia’s most famous wine area, including a fun wine tasting.
Seppeltsfield
Langmeil winery
Tomorrow is the final pedal to my father’s house in the Adelaide Hills, and from there it is a short ride downhill to the last metres of the trip – Brighton Jetty where my mother’s ashes are scattered.
Day 468. 75km. Spalding – Saddleworth
Posted: October 2, 2016 in Australia, CyclingTags: Australia, Cycling, Saddleworth, Spalding
We have inspired Nico who is approaching his 60000km. He twisted our arms, and so we did it. 60000km, 44000km and 41000km written on our bums. It was too cold to cycle today. It was just for the photo. I’ll have to get the photo from Nico.
60000, 44000 and 41000 from home
Today was the Riesling Trail in Clare. Wine tasting and then lunch in the rolling hills of the Clare Valley. Again, a lot of laughing. We’re a funny threesome. I didn’t have time to get emotional today. It’s a new dynamic with an extra team member, and so I don’t notice how the kilometres remains are dwindling rapidly. Before I know it I will be standing on the beach in Brighton, and that will be it.
Clare valley
Day 467. 67km. Laura – Spalding
Posted: October 1, 2016 in Australia, CyclingTags: Australia, Cycling, Laura, Spalding
‘It is not normal to come into a pub, breathe our air and enjoy our warmth and not drink or spend money. It is just not normal.’
Was it that we didn’t spend any money (although I bought a coffee)? Was it that we spoke with the new barlady in Chinese, and amongst ourselves in French? Whatever it was, we removed ourselves from the bar in Spalding. The atmosphere was poisonous.
Me and Nico
None of us liked forcing our bikes through the mud today. It is OK on the Oodnadatta Track in the middle of the desert, or in central Africa slogging through the mud where there are no other roads. Pushing 2km from one bitumen road to another in the drizzle isn’t fun. I’m glad we all agree on that.
On the other hand, eating a value-pack bag of Violet Crumbles for lunch was all our definition of fun. But, most fun today were the conversations the three of us had around the fire. No stories of adventure but stories on spirituality, Chinese politics, the future of the human race and also about sex. A thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Day 466. 46km. Melrose – Laura
Posted: September 30, 2016 in Australia, CyclingTags: Australia, Cycling, Laura, Melrose
‘Do you know Daniel Goodburn? He works for DSTO.’
The cyclist we met looked at me in amazement. His best friend had talked about me and was following my progress.
‘So, you’re the cyclist friend he has been following?’
We had run into Peter now twice on the Mawson Trail. Can one say it is a small world, or that Adelaide is near?
Peter
I packed my tent in record time this morning after I was woken up from the claps of thunder and the flicker of lightening. I made it to shelter just as the rain started where I stayed with Clement and then Nico for most of the day.
We spent the morning telling stories – Nico’s were of slogging through 20km of deep mud in the night with stampeding elephants to get to the border in time in the Central African Republic. Clement’s eyes were lighting up.
‘Do you want to do something like that?’ I asked Clement later.
‘Yes! Yes!’ he said. He was born to have this kind of life, he said.
‘I don’t’ I replied simply.
I realised that for me the trip is winding down, and stories of epic adventure sound too uncomfortable. I have had two years of what I call adventure – pushing my boundaries. Boundaries are a personal thing, and my boundaries are definitely not Nico’s or Clement’s boundaries. Maybe after some time in one place (possibly in only 3 weeks), my feet may be itching again, but right now, this chapter is drawing to a close, and that is OK.
We decided to leave along the main road today to Laura, where we had been invited to stay with our Warm Showers friend Andrew. I cycled slowly, engrossed with myself in my cocoon of music, but was much faster than Nico and Clement who were telling stories behind me. The rolling fields approaching Adelaide were lush and beautiful, and I wasn’t feeling like talking.
The road to Laura
We had a lovely evening in Laura with great food, drink and music with Andrew. Thanks for the great time!
Day 465. 82km. Olive Grove Cottage – Melrose
Posted: September 29, 2016 in Australia, CyclingTags: Australia, Cycling, Melrose, Olive Grove Cottage
The sun was shining and the road was lovely through the green fields, lush with grass and bright coloured flowers. We left the cottage of my past and cycled through the rolling hills.
The Mawson Trail
Just before Melrose I passed 41000km from Eindhoven. This will be the last 1000km milestone (kilometrestone) before the end of the trip.
41000km from Eindhoven
As we were riding through Melrose, we saw a heavily laden bike parked out the front of the café, and got talking to Nico. He’s been on the road for 4 years now, and has some amazing stories to tell. We will ride the next little leg together, but may be stuck in Melrose tomorrow with the next bout of rain. We’ll see..
Day 464. 14km. Quorn – Olive Grove Cottage
Posted: September 28, 2016 in Australia, CyclingTags: Australia, Cycling, Olive Grove Cottage, Quorn
I opened the door of the cottage of my youth and walked in. Nothing, but nothing had changed. The rustic farm-cottage kitchen. The beds that swallow you up. The living-room with the topographical map above the fireplace – the one we had donated all those years ago. And mum’s handwriting in the guest book. Our names were in that book going back to 1980. Now, in 2016 I stood here and breathed in the spirits of the past.
Our second visit in Olive Grove Cottage
We cycled to the end of the dead-end road that we had driven down so many times before, and put the bikes in the outhouse of the cottage as the three of us – Dad, Clement and I – walked to Mt Brown – one of the standard walks we used to do. Now part of the long-distance hiking trail – the Heysen Trail – the path took us along a creek, and up through the wooded landscape with beautiful views over the rugged Flinders Ranges mountains. From the windy and cold summit we could see Spencer Gulf – our first sight of the sea since Darwin. We have really crossed the continent from sea to sea.
Bald Hill lookout
View from Mt Brown
The walk took quite a while and it was getting late. Just after leaving the summit, Clement left, running back to the cottage to get our headlamps, and returned to Dad and me who were taking it slower just as the last photons of light were disappearing. Without the headlamps the last 2km would have been very dark.
We cooked sausages and marshmallows on the fire, and the bush damper (yeastless bread) in the oven as we didn’t have any aluminium foil to cook it in the fire before crashing into bed. A fantastic day with Dad, who is now no longer on the opposite side of the planet to myself.
arctic-cycler.com 