Adelaide to Darwin MTB - Alice Springs to Ti Tree

Day: 011
Date: Saturday, 3 September 2005
Start: Alice Springs
Finish: Ti Tree
Daily Kilometres: 194
Total Kilometres: 1751

Journal:
Got up at 4am after a restless night (too much caffeine?).  I left about 4:45am with what seemed to be a very heavy load.  I guess I had seven litres of fluids plus more food than I really need.  Maybe I'll ditch some later.  In the dark it was hard to tell, but the road seemed to climb out of Alice Springs and the going was slow and hard.  There was also a bit of a headwind.....again!  Eventually, as it got lighter, the road seemed to flatten out and the going was better.  I aimed for a rest stop, which was 95km from Alice Springs, for breakfast and got there around 9am, which wasn't bad given the weight on the bike, the climb out of Alice Springs, and the increasing wind.  It was a very nice morning, but rapidly getting warmer.  There was more vegetation, mostly a cross between scrub and trees and there were frequent cattle stations and the occasional road to an aboriginal settlement.  The road had some undulating sections passing through low ranges but was mostly long straight sections with low crests.  Despite the increasing wind I made reasonable time and arrived at the Aileron Roadhouse just before 12pm.  I had lost radio reception so knew I wouldn't be able to listen to the Geelong vs Melbourne football game which I thought started soon after 12:30pm.  I had pretty much decided to have lunch at the Roadhouse, take a break from the wind, and watchthe game on TV while having a few Cokes.  However, it turned out that the game started later than anticipated so I decided to ride the last 60km to Ti-Tree where I planned to spend the night despite the very warm sunny conditions and the headwind.  Again, I made reasonable time (got a text update from Aaron on the footy score en route) despite a few breaks and reached the motel at around 4:15pm and caugh the last 10 minutes of the game which Geelong won comfortably.  I washed out my very sweaty gear, had a shower, and watched the first part of the Wallabies vs All Blacks rugby game before heading to the Roadhouse for an early dinner where I watched the last half.  After dinner, I watched the first half of the St Kilda vs Adelaide match before going to bed at 8:30pm.