I’ve always wanted to go to Australia. Who knows if it is ever going to happen now. But I can tell you this much: I will not see Australia the way that Rupert Guinness did.
In 2017, he joined a group of endurance cyclists on a trip across Australia’s southern coast. They started at Freemantle, near Perth, and planned to travel to Sydney, almost 3,000 miles away. Most of the route was through desert lands, forcing the riders to deal with extremes in weather, not to mention the occasional adder at the side of the road. Overlander: One man’s epic race to cross Australia
This particular event was billed as the Great Indian-Pacific Wheel Race. It was supposed to be the first run in what would be an annual event for extreme athletes from around the world. Unfortunately, one of the lead riders was struck by a truck and killed. The race was held unofficially in 2018 and 2019. An unofficial attempt was begun in 2020 and stopped due to Covid-19.
The riders agreed to do this race with minimal assistance. They carried all their own gear and had strict instructions not to accept outside support along the route. Some riders, like Guinness, chose to stop at a motel or guesthouse to sleep each night. Many others, including the race leaders, decided to catch a little sleep by side the road.
The surprise to me was that succeeding in this race is as much about skipping sleep as it is about cycling. An ultra-endurance event like this stresses everything. Riders need to manage their diets (consuming thousands of calories a day), their sleep, their injuries, their bikes, and the tedium of riding for hours every day.
In fact, there isn’t as much description of the country as I would have liked. Instead, we hear a lot about endless miles of blacktop, or rather, kilometers or bitumen. Of course, most of the story takes place in a region known as the Nullarbor Plain, “nullarbor” literally meaning “no trees”.
Australia has much more to see. And someday soon, I hope to see it.
