Indian Pacific Wheel Race - IndyPac - IPWR

Yes, came back a bit earlier than planned after it all went wrong last Friday. Got back last Tuesday night and have been gradually getting on top of the jet lag, accumulated fatigue and general major brain distraction that comes from doing one of these things. Hands and feet are a bit numb. Typing the letter 'a' is my main issue as little finger on left hand seems not to work any more.
It was a hell of an experience - great to see Australia but where were all the fucking kangaroos? I saw about 5 in the whole country, and zero koala bears. Plenty of flies, though.
Nice people, shame about the driving.
Wouldn't recommend the Nullarbor (at least not for anyone who likes other people).
Mt Lofty, Great Ocean Road, etc - they were good, but probably better in the daytime!

where were all the fucking kangaroos?

Haha the missus would piss herself hearing this. I mean, we had to cull loads of them because they're eat everything and die off. Then she visits and there's none, anywhere. We went out looking for them and after two weeks found a pair miles away in a wheat field. In the end we went home via Castlemaine and the old man took us via a place we used to go gold panning which always had some - we got really close, which is odd for wild ones.
On a subsequent trip to the dunes we found some sleeping under scrub during the day but it does depend on where you go.

koala bears
koalas, they're not bears (said every Aussie everywhere)

Koalas are harder to spot since they're up trees and don't move much and they blend in - so not something you'd see while trying to focus on the road.

Flies defo! Mozzies too if you're near any water.

GOR is beaut in the day and where you would've seen koalas if you knew where to look. Not sure I've been to Lofty. I'll have to do IPWR if it runs next year.

How'd your bike setup go? What would you change?

I saw 5 live kangaroos altogether. And about a thousand dead and decaying ones in the Nullarbor. The last live one I saw was bouncing down the road in front of me and kept tripping up. Didn't seem the smartest of animals. Eventually went off the road to the right and smashed into a fence.

I did see most of the GOR in the daylight but there were a few hours in the middle where it got dark so I missed some of the scenic bits like the 12 Apostles.

There were warning signs round there about koalas, but I wasn't sure what the risk was - were they going to cuddle me or what? It was so cold the night I "slept" at Lavers Hill that I wouldn't have minded a couple of them for warmth.

The flies were everywhere in the daytime but they were hardly any at night so bivvying was no problem. The daytime ones were bastards; one type could keep up with me at c.20kmh and could bite, even through shorts and jersey.

My bike was good.
I'd panicked a bit about water as it wasn't hot across the Nullarbor, so a normal setup would have been fine with, say, 3 bottles - which is what everyone else had. Still, better to carry more than run out.
I didn't use the aerobars the last couple of days as I was worried about Shermers: neck got sore and I couldn't fully extend so couldn't actually see from the aerobars. I would set them a bit higher in future.
I had some foot / achilles / shin issues which meant I had to keep adjusting stuff, like cleats and saddle height, all the time.
Was pleased I used my best wheels: road surfaces are really smooth and maintenance is good - 0 potholes in WA and about 3 in SA. Wheel covers were good: nobody else used them and, because they don't do TTs in Australia, no-one knew they don't affect handling, so I got asked a thousand times how I had managed to control the bike with my 'disc' wheel. Managed to knacker my back tyre - sidewall puncture - just like TCR, only this time I had tubes. Had to do a boot, then begged a spare off 3 tourists going the other way, who had stopped to give me a cheer and an energy bar!

Jesse is up for doing it again, but he's obviously got to let things take their course following Mike's death, and decide if it's sensible to put it on / what casualty rate is acceptable, etc. Rapha seemed to be ok with doing it - I had thought sponsors might run a mile if / when someone got killed. Also he said he needs to work out how much money he sunk into it, which must have been a fair bit.
I have to say I'd be wary of doing it again from a traffic danger point of view (everything else about it was great), but you've got the experience of riding there and will have worked out survival strategies better than I did!

Lochie Kavanagh, the 18 year old that basically took up serious riding just to do this without any prior experience is now in Melbourne, and seems to be hell bent to carry on even though he came off and smashed out his front teeth. Crazy mofo.

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12 Apostles

Or about 6 now? :)

Warnings to drivers probably because they'll sometimes cross the road to get to another gum tree. Or could be joke warnings for tourists. Drop Bears, the silent killers...

I felt bad about giving you the fear about water but it could've easily been 10deg hotter and estimates of time to services goes out if you get fierce headwinds.

road surfaces are really smooth and maintenance is good
Yeah, I used to bitch about Melbourne roads... until I moved here.

I got asked a thousand times how I had managed to control the bike with my 'disc' wheel

I had your back on that question for twitter, etc :)

My survival strategy was to move here.. I'd still kill about 3 drivers a day if they were legal..

Aussie hardnuts rule

...actually my left hand is more fucked than I realised. Just went on old bike to the shops and can't do front upshift, not easily, anyway. It is from a day when I had to ride for about an hour in a storm with a strong crosswind on the way into Portland. Hands went numb from cold but I had to squeeze hard with left hand to keep control of the bike. Hope it recovers soon, or i'll have to roll out Di2 across the fleet.

I thought you had aerobars? Why so fucked?

Do the Di2 anyway... it'll help drop component prices for me..

Maybe if he spent less time on his phone while cycling, he wouldn't crash?

The storm. Not exactly Croatia, but not aerobar conditions!

Yeah but for the most part you're in the aerobars. How long did the storm last?

He's clearly determined but I reckon smashed front teeth is probably a good reason to stop and get fixed. Especially as the race was cancelled 9 days ago.

We're all young once.
I'd probebrly do the same.

You still are!

He wasn't on his phone when I spoke to him in Adelaide. Kid was switched on and likeable. Hope he stops to get the teeth fixed before he carries on though. Must hurt a bunch.

I was only playing.

An hour. I think prob was it started raining then the temp dropped 10 degrees in an instant.
I put waterproofs on but not warm gear, got cold, hands numb, then gripped bars way too tight as I couldn't feel anything. Should work itself out in a few days (I hope!).

It was pretty windy, got blown off the road once, hence the death grip

Frank - I get the same thing on long rides too ( not as long as yours ) - it does pass, just takes a while. Well done by the way, I don't think I could cope with the sleep deprivation.

Doug Midgen, who I ate with, along with Mike, at the pre-race party, has just made it to Sydney

I've done nerves before - mine took about a month to get back to normal but they were quite damaged, ie. not firing at all.

Look up ulnar nerve flossing on YouTube. It really helps fix it.

Also ulnar nerve stretching. My favourite is standing facing a wall at arm's length, place one palm on the wall then rotate your body away from it.

My god, how didn't I know about this. Just did some exercises, instant relief. Thanks

I've tried nerve flossing exercises for hip flexors and never really noticed any difference but perhaps it depends on the nature of the damage.

Yeah it's good. It helped me a lot, I seem to lose most use of both my hands. Plus making the glasses face just makes me laugh.