Well Wednesday turned out to be very eventful. I left my house wobbling side to side like a new born calf. I have never had that much weight on the bike before so I decided to cycle on the backstreets till I adjusted to the weight. Some of the suburbs I cycled through looked amazing, it was 6 am the sun was coming up, the sprinklers were on, each house looked like a pristine oasis. It's a an attractive landscape but one which you know is fake and relies on WA's depleting water supply.
I soon joined a bike path which follows the train line, I got some strange looks from cycle commuters on their way into Perth. After the bike path finished, to my disappointment I was left to join the main highway which was quite busy. The road climbed for a few km till Perth disappeared into the haze. I managed the climb well, some of the large trucks seemed to be struggling more than I was. Soon enough I cycled
Into Mundaring sculpture park where the real adventure began.
After taking some pictures of the sculptures I started on my way down the Munda Biddi track. It started off quite nice and smooth, like the cover photo of this blog, but quickly it degraded into a gravel soup and rocky impasses. I stuck with it as I struggled with my bike sliding out from underneath me, the weight of my bike meant I was just sinking into the sand or sliding sideways. Determined I carried on thinking it must improve it can't all be like this, how naive I was!
As I carried on down the trail the path became narrow and overgrown, I was collecting a large sample of the bush on my pannier bags. The path soon turned into a small ravine, the rain and run off must have washed out the middle of the paths leaving a small gorge and large boulders. My bike bags constantly
hit the rocks and would end up in my wheels or I would get stuck in between the two sides of the crack. I was soon spending more time pushing my bike rather than riding it. I then bumped into the only other person I saw all day, he told me I was currently in a dried up
river bed and told me that the next few km would be hard for me, he also informed me that most of the Munda Biddi is made up of pea-gravel (funny they didn't put those pictures on the front of maps). The midday heat was upon me and I had to push my bike for 3 or 4km up a massive rocky hill, I was having to stop every few metres to rest and breath. After reaching the top I found a way I could cut through on some roads but would still have 12 km left of the trail left to reach the campsite. The last 12km can be summed up by one situation. A small tree had fallen across the very narrow path, it sat 12 inches off the ground with no room either side to go around. I couldn't lift my bike over, I had to unpack my bike piece by piece and then lift it over and re-pack it. It doesn't seem that difficult when you put it in to writing but In my mental and physical state it was the biggest of challenges.
It was getting late, I was becoming concerned with how long it was taking, I knew I only had 2 hours of light left. Soon I hit a road that intersected the path, I knew then I only had 1.5km to the hut/camp. I got on my bike and decided to steam roll the parts of the section that I could, which resulted in me bailing a few times. Stupidly I saw a camp sign with no direction, so thought it must be up ahead. I walked a further 1.5km before I realised it must of been back where I saw the sign. I walked back completely exhausted and
mentally drained. I sorted some tinned beef ravioli for dinner and got my maps out to re-asses the situation.
I came to the conclusion that I couldn't continue on the Munda Biddi as it was not suitable for a fully loaded bike,
I don't think it's fit for any bike and it would take much longer than I had planned for. The Munda BIddi route also left me isolated from main roads, shops and phone reception. If I had got bitten by a snake. So this morning I packed up and decided to get on the roads and do a massive horseshoe to a small town south of where I had began my ride to YHA. What a days ride, this was what I wanted. I managed to bang out 60 km in a couple of hours (it took me 6 hours to cover 30km on the Munda BIddi) along some amazing roads with views looking over farmland and vineyards, which reaffirmed my decisions to get off the Munda Biddi and onto the roads. I can't explain what a contrast the two days of riding was like. Why anyone would want to cycle through the bush when the roads offer such a brilliant way to see the landscape I don't know and I know now.
Anyway, I'm disappointed that the Munda Biddi wasn't what I expected, the literature says you can tour it and makes no effort to explain the terrain. I am happy with my decision making, even when fatigued and drained I made good decisions, apart from when I walked past my camp! I know leaving the Munda Biddi is the better choice to make but it now leaves me with some decisions to make. I can head North East to kalgoorlie (my original plan before someone told me about the Munda biddy), South East down the highway to Albany or South to Albany. The weather and wind are really
conspiring against me, there are three days of 40c coming up which means I can't be pushing big km's, ( I did my test ride in +38c and it was hell and pretty dangerous. I drank 8litres and didn't do wee all day, kind of proud of that don't know why)
So with big decisions to make I will leave you with a revaltion I had in a dream: tarmac is god, I love Tarmac
I would eat it, if it went with milk!