Day 7 - William Creek to 26 km outside of Finke
The main memory that comes back about this day was the ride through Hamilton Station. The road got pretty technical (compared to what we'd seen previously anyway) after what started out as a flowing twin track. Soon it got boggier and twistier, and there were a few nasty holes around the place. At this time Herm (Nowra, NSW) started to follow and wouldn't pass me - mainly because he had his helmet cam running. Let's just say that I don't perform well under pressure and the result of his filming is sure to be pretty funny - my riding was definitely second grade at best. The DR soon became known as the Dancing Pig as I pretty much hardly sat on the bike for longer that 20 seconds - my arse was in the air around the same level as where my head should have been - and my legs were often higher. I hit a grid harder than all of the previous grids for the entire trip. After nearly coming off for the 4th or 5th time, I'd had enough - stopped and waved Herm through. I still haven't seen the footage yet, and if I do, I don't reckon I'll be showing it off anytime soon.
We had a refuel at the infamous Oodnadatta Pink Roadhouse (which is for sale if you're looking for an investment). According to several of the guys who bought coffee there - they serve the worst coffee on the planet. So if the colour of the roadhouse isn't enough to bring you to the middle of Australia, perhaps that claim to fame will interest you? It's a pretty big call compared to some of the coffee that I've had on this trip, but given that no-one finished drinking any of it - I guess they might be right. For once, I was happy not to have ordered a cup.
The pub of the day was the Transcontinental Hotel - we didn't stop for a drink, just to restock on cartons of beer for the next few days as Finke is a dry community.
We didn't make it to Finke this day, but it will only be a short ride in the morning
Day 8 - 26kms out of Finke to Finke River bed
Arrived into Finke very early - for those that know of the race, it's a pretty big deal to get here - but what greets you is very underwhelming. It's an Aboriginal community that consists of 20-30 houses, a community centre, a general store and a footy ground (grass? forget about it). We rode past the finish line and waited for the first cars to arrive.
The cars started at 8:30 and were arriving in FInke (220+ kms away over some pretty gnarly terrain) about 2 hours later. We were standing at a corner not far from the finish as the first buggy came through. A low flying chopper was the first sign that something was approaching. It was a twin turbo Nissan V6 that made the most awesome noise as it roosted most of us in sand. Everyone was psyched to be there - very cool. After a bit of a gap came the next truck - it was a thumping huge V8 that made a better noise than the first one! This was going to be a ripper day.
After watching the cars there was going to be a break for a few hours, so we moved down to the dry Finke River bed - the oldest river bed in the world. We made camp in the Finke River bed whilst watching the Finke race - that was a nice touch. We watched the last few cars as they drove through.
After the course had been cleared of cars and buggies, the bikes arrived - man, they haul serious butt. Coming over a rise, there was a corner which was pretty cool to watch the fast guys come over as they pretty much steered around just using the rear wheel as the front was still in the air. Unfortunately I didn't bother to take any pics of the actual race. I doubt I would have got anything decent anyway.
Oh yeah, earlier I said Finke was a dry community. However, for the race, they get a 3 day temporary alcohol permit so that degenerates like us can watch the race with a beer in hand.
Day 9 - Finke Riverbed to Lamber Centre
Another bloody cold night. Wore the beany to bed, with socks, and thermals (both top and bottoms). We had decided to make an early start and to be moving by 6:30 am so that we could ride on the racetrack before they closed it for the day's racing. We didn't quite make it so we rode down the riverbed for a few kms through some pretty deep sand, and then rode down this twin track of sand for a few more kms. Eventually we found the track and watched the first few cars come through. Again, we saw the twin turbo buggy, but the most impressive was the v8 trucks. The sound was awesome and all the weight was on the back so they looked like speedboats - rear squatted down and the front barely touch the ground. We started to move further along the track to find the famous whoops - big corrugations that can be as deep as 4 or 5 feet. Whilst riding along, several buggies and cars would fly past which did two things. One - they scared the bejesus out of me, and two - made me feel like I was racing as well - albeit very slowly.
Eventually we found a place in the whoops - but not the big one we were hoping for. The whoops are different year to year, and also, we might have had to go another 150 kms or so to find them - all the way to Alice. Anyway, we were pretty happy where we were - watching the last cars com through. Again, we had a long wait, so it was time for brekky. Magnus fired up the kitchen and we tucked in.
It was at this time that Gav decided he wanted to get back in to the "Big Kev" challenge. Magnus, and the other competitors decided on his 're-entry' penalty. It ended up being the following - plate of muesli, cup of soup with both chicken noodle and vegetable (2 packs), toast with vegemite (spread as thick as most tourists put on - ie. thicker than peanut butter), 2 sausages with hot english mustard, two eggs, toast and bacon, half a block of chocolate and, finally, a beer that had been warmed up next to the fire! (I think that was all?) Anyway, after all that - he had reentered the race to be a "Big Kev" finisher.
Anyway, it was pretty cool to be eating brekky on the actual Finke racetrack. Later on the bikes came through and they were as impressive as hell. Ben Grabham was the first to come through and was only hitting the tops of the whoops. The next few guys were doing the same. It sure would be nice to be able to do that. We watched the rest of the bike come through (seemed like hundreds) and they were progressively handling the whoops worse) before we moved on to our camp for the night.
We rode the 30 kms or so to Lambert Centre which is the geographical centre of Australia. The road into the centre was pretty interesting - more sandy twin tracks - good fun.
Gav on the Finke Riverbed
Me at the Lambert Centre - take a great picture don't I! :)
That's enough for now...
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