MILDURA TO BALRANALD – DAY 25

Today, 10th September, has been a good but tiring day for many of the team. The distance for the day turned out to be 164km and there was very little wind assistance for the riders. The shoulders of the road were generally rough and jarring for the riders and they have more aches and pains because of it. In some places, the shoulder disappeared altogether and the riders were forced to cycle on the main roadway. There were plenty of cars, caravans and trucks throughout the day, sometimes crossing each other at or near to the cyclists. That is tolerable when the trucks or other road users are going slowly, but when they do it at 100km/ph or some such, it is downright scary.

I am typing this under a light in the grounds of Balranald Central School. The afternoon was pretty messy today and the bus needed to be refuelled in addition to all the other activities. It has come from Port Augusta to here on what the bus holds in its own fuel tanks – I suspect it is the most economical of any of the vehicles we are using on this ride. We had our dinner at the local RSL Club and then came back here to set up beds and have our devotions – but the hall where the team is sleeping was in use and we were unable to set up until about 8.30pm. Jim B seems to think that is about bed time! Anyway, the hall lights are out and the occupants are probably complaining about the amount of light which is shining in from the security lighting which is all around the school. I don’t mind the light – it is helping me to type this blog entry! As you might have already worked out, I sleep in the bus!

Tomorrow, we are to be up at 6.30am. The team will pedal to Hay tomorrow and is to have a rest day there. The Hay Show is happening this weekend so we might have some interesting things to look at. We will be staying at a facility which used to be used for accommodating school students – it has real beds and bedrooms and a kitchen and a real dining room – things which we have not seen for some time!

One more thing – we have had some of the team unwell on occasions throughout the ride and I have told you of these folk from time to time. Everyone is on the bikes full time now, although there are still a couple of the guys who are suffering somewhat with colds.