Day 327 | Algamba Creek: water, but not many miles

52 km | zzOz total: 8261 km

Mechanical issues, a bit frustrating.

Yesterday was somewhat slow, more effort expended for less gain than I thought.

This morning was worse but it was the softest road yet encountered, from the Tarlton Downs station boundary to Arthur Creek really dragged, the road was narrow and badly smashed by the very heavy rain two years ago then the mustering roadtrains.

I seemed to be following other bike tracks, later found to be 2 heavily geared gentlemen heading west about a month ago.

I checked something wasn’t rubbing on the trailer wheel or if it had gone flat.

By 1 30, just outside the Tarlton Downs homestead turnoff, I’d dome 31 km for the day, a spoke was gone, fallen out, all the others so loose I wondered how I had managed to ride the bike, man they were floppy.

At least I’d worked out the issue.

I tightened them up, trying the musical method to ensure even tightness but still needed to disconnect the rear brake.

Wow, such progress, but the road had improved dramatically as well.

Made the 3 watertanks by 3 pm and ran into Steve, the station manager, 3600 square kilometres, not so large around here, around 5000 head of cattle. He was originally from Curtain Springs, the station and roadhouse near Yulara, and spoke of his early money making ideas, bottling water from a local bore with a great drop, $32k for the plant complete and he then just needed to build a shed. Talked out of that by the family even though he had the bank manager’s support and the roadhouse was selling up to 1000 bottles of Mt Franklin water a day at times for $3.50 a pop.

His ice making venture paid off when he found a small $600 machine that could do 60 bags in 12 hours all of which sold for $3.50. But the money went to the family business and even though he located a much larger machine to fully supply the Yulara resort he’d lost interest when the gains weren’t his.

Two great ideas not fully realised. Guess you need family support to make things happen.

And on we talked.

2 hours later we decided to fill most of my water containers, 16 litres in total, it’s dragged up from around 100 m down using diesel pumps, too deep for solar, but it’s limestone country so the water is pretty nice.

Eventually I retired to the adjacent creek bed to start truing the wheel, never as easy out here in the field as in the workshop with the proper callipers and experience.

Unfortunately when the rear hub was changed the level of care in setting the correct spoke tension, well, maybe Mal had other things on his mind.

Mal, you are a goose.

If you can’t true a wheel in a fully equipped workshop then you can’t call yourself a bike mechanic.