Flea The Race

Day	18	Date	26th May 2015
Distance Total Distance	111.2km 1,037.5km	Weather	Cold Start, Sunny Afternoon
Rolling Time Total Rolling	06:39:32 59:21:21	Terrain	Hilly
Climbing Total Climbing	899m 8,585m	Spend	Mc Donald’s Brekky $4.99 Groceries $40.00 Mc Donald’s $1.50
Average Speed	16.7k/h	Sleeping	Camping
Max Speed	47.9k/h	Difficulty	Tough

On the road again at 9am and it was bloody cold, I was mumbling and complaining continuously for the first 10km, all my sores, and aches are multiplied on the cold, my hands were sore with the cold.  Luckily I hit Bandon after about 15km where I stopped in Mc Donalds and ordered an egg mc muffin with coffee where I thawed out for 40 minutes, next I headed over to safeway and did a grocery shop as all my food is gone again.  This food shopping is getting easy now as I know exactly what I can and can cook, I had a hankering for english muffins but I forgot to buy them! Oh well.  The guy at the till badgered me into becoming a safeway club card member, I didn’t do it before as I thought i needed an address but he was able to do it there and then and gave me 5 bucks back off my bill once he signed me up and gave me the card, sweet!

When I got back on the bike the weather had warmed up a little, the mornings are always slow to get started as regards heat around these parts but when they get going they get pretty how quite quickly.  I took off the layers and hopped up on the bike an got going.

Later on when I got to newport I  wanted to get out of the heat and sit for a while so I made another mcdonalds pitstop for tea and wifi, mc donalds is a dump but tea and wifi for a dollar you can’t really argue with, I indulged here and got me some apple tart for 50 cent.  I decided to book an airbnb for crescent city to give me a rest day in 2 days time, 100km today 100km tomorrow and 40k the next day will get me there with a good day to explore and relax.  It did wonders for the remaining days ride as I was looking forward to the rest and I had a goal to reach.

The last 30km of the day were the toughest so far this trip there was short sharp hills and lots of them, at some points I thought i was going to have to walk with the bike they were so tough.  I climbed and climbed and was riding through the top of a mountain for a while where I would accelerate down one hill and try and keep my momentum to get back up the crest of thinnest hill, never quite making it without having to flex the ass muscle to get me up the last little bit.  These hills really show you how underpowered the engine is, i’m more off a steerer than an engine.

Finding a camping place was also thought, all the places I passed were residential for km after km and my back wheel was down on pressure, the rim thumping the road every so often that I really needed to stop.  `i eventually settled on a not so ideal place between to rresidential properties just off the roadside that I mange to hideout in for the night with a little camouflage.  There were 2 crows above me screeching with young as a lay down in my tent to take 5 minutes, they kept at it like I was going to climb up there and eat their young, had I had a little more energy I might just have done it the noise they were making.  Even though it was a sketchier campsite than usual, it worked well, I cooked up rice, beef mince and asparagus soup all mixed, it was pretty tasty and knocked me out for the night.

Today I crossed the 1,000km mark, I’m not sure how much I have left to go but it’s definitely the same again plus some more.  My knees are in need of some emotional support at this point, I wonder what they’ll be needing after the next 1,000km!