Wednesday 29th December 2010 – Ride statistics:

Whyalla – Broken Hill
Distance: 478km
Depart: 11am
Arrive: 6.30pm
Total ride duration: 7.5 hours
Temperature: 37C (at Olary Hotel)

I almost cracked the 500km in a day mark, but not quite. The reason the ride took so long was because I had to keep stopping. First, I couldn’t figure out the best place to carry my water bladder. Initially I had it on my back, but it was very uncomfortable so eventually I settled for strapping it to my kit and leaving the tube out so I could drink from it whenever I stopped. Then I ran out of fuel. Somehow I managed to mistake a picture of a caravan on my map for that of a petrol pump which meant the place I expected to have a service station didn’t. Luckily the hotel owner at Olary, Sam, came to my rescue and sold me enough to get me through to the next servo. Then my hand kept cramping up so I had to stop every 40km to give it a rest.

Broken Hill seems like a really interesting town – a big mine is here plus its also HQ to the Royal Flying Doctors and the School of the Air. I wish I could spend time here but, alas, I must press on.