Canning Stock Route by Bike - advice please

G'Day Mike,

CSR on a pushbike sounds like a real challenge as its not easy riding on sand. I just read an article in the Australian Trailrider mag about a solo guy doing it unsupported on a dirt bike. I suppose if you had 4x4 supporting you it would be possible as you would never carry enough water & supplies without a support vehicle. Anyway good luck if you do it, I plan to one day but from the comfort of a 4x4.
BTW. Two guys died from dehydration out there last year when their poorly prepared LandRover broke down.
Cheers
Mark

are you completely mad?
seriously though, there are about 900 sand dunes and mostly soft sand tracks.
i am going to look into jakub's 'solo and unsupported' effort as, even if he took 10 days,how would he be able to carry enough drinking water given the effort of riding a bike on sand.
if you are mad, please return to this site for advice, there are a lot of us who have drove the csr on here.
ps have you got a hiclone fitted to your bike?

>Canning Stock Route by Bike - advice please

Don't.

Mike Harding

G'day Mike.
I've come across some of your fellow English ultra cyclists in my road racing days, and a tough lot they were too... far from "mad". As you say, you have ridden some distances here already, but they are very civil routes. I've not been to the CSR yet, but know enough of the region in general terms. As you say, someone has ridden it solo, but he'd need to be in the "John Muir*" class of adventurer I'll wajer. For anyone a bit closer to "normal" it could be suicide. Far as I see it, its not the distance - its the sandy and stony terrain, the possible heat levels (even in winter), the isolation (no supplies) and the lack of safety margin. With a support vehicle or two, it might be a goer, but you'd need quite a bit of spare hardware for the bike I reckon. And.... the vehicles need to carry so much gear for themselves due to the vast un-serviced distances, they'd need to be really big to carry bike gear as well !There is a bloke in WA who does bike tours all over the center of Oz - [ I know him as VKS737 HF Network - Whisky 67 - Terry ] - site address is here [ http://www.cycletours.com.au ] - Doubt if he is onto the CSR but he goes in and around similar regions.
*
Muir walked from around Menindie I think, up to Burketown, with a small dog, a small cart of goodies and a rifle - unaided the whole distance - lost about 15 Kg or so - 4 months later he joins a group for a stroll into the North Pole - he could ride the CSR unaided I guess !
Cheers.......

Mike,

When we were on the Canning last May (North - South) we kept hearing of a Swedish cyclist ahead of us and kept expecting to meet her. We thought she must have been mad, but it turned out she was riding only a bit of the trip each day - the easy bits like the long flat runs between the dunes where the sand is harder.

We never did catch her though we often saw tracks.

That's about the only way you could do it realistically in any reasonable time frame.

Covering 80-100 km a day with 2 4wds and 3 dirt bikes was a big effort.

We took on 600 litres of fuel alone at the half way mark!

I would encourage anyone to get out and see it. It is an amazing place. But go prepared with good support, the ability to carry 4 - 5 days water supply at a minimum, good communications (HF or Satphone) and a medical evacuation plan that covers looking after a patient for at least 2 days if required to get the patient to an airstrip.

Regards,

Dave

As they often say Down Under ..'.Mad Dogs and English Men' ....you are joking really ?...solo on your bike !!!

YOU ARE 'FLOGGING' KIDDING ????

Gooday,
Am a very social cyclist, just to keep alive, read recently on bicycle forum about a group ride later this year via Great Central Road to Ayers Rock which may be a much more sane experience, drove this road last August approx 1200km dirt/desert.
Will try to look back thru history tomorrow when I get some peace & will spacemail you direct yo the address on bottom of your post if I can resuscitate the info.
Cheers, Boroma604

Mike.
The time it will take to cover the distance may be a month? If so your support vehicle would have to carry several tones. It is possible with a Mitsubishi Canter or very similar fuel efficent truck, a unimog can not carry enough fuel for its own use over that time. Its like sending a rocket to the moon, the more you carry the more fuel you have to carry, there is a limit. If you want to provide more detail on your likely average speed we can do the sums to see if it is possible. Eric.

>As it has already been completed solo and unsupported by Jakub Postrzygacz

That's bluddy amazing, I like to read more on that.

Mike
Im sure its been done a few time already. Ill ask a few of my adventure racing mates and see if any of them know any more. You could also ask the same question in http://www.sleepmonsters.com.au/index.php forums

regards
rs

This has been tried in 1999 by robert bogeggi (Spelling??) It took 2 months of searching to eventually find him. He didnt make it far by bike and became lost. I reeely hope you have rich parents coz the search for him was eventually called off and it was a tv helicopter following the private search team funded by his parents that found him................................................ Get the picture??

Mike,

It sounds like an exciting thing to do. Some careful planning is needed and it can be done.

For all you non believers in the thread above, type Jakub Postrzygacz, into GOOGLE and go from there.

He did the trip solo, unassisted ( Makes us armchair airconditioned drivers pale into insignificance...LOL)

Cheers

Jakubs site --- details

Did you see the fresh Kangaroo ribs in the photo's ready for cooking?

Wonder if the roo was push bike road kill. LOL

Robi Rishworth (of Rooftop Maps fame) completed the CSR on a pushie. Several magazines had write-ups about it. It was 2 or 3 years ago. He can be contacted at Rooftop Maps.

The glass is half empty attitude of alot of the people on this forum is amazing.

Your bloody unbelievable,

Baz.