May 24 - Airlie Beach to Guthalungra - 130 km

Woke up to another grey day however we stuck to our schedule and were on the bikes by 7.30 am. With fresh legs and some wind assistance we powered along until we were approaching Bowen. At this point we were held up by roadworks. We had to ride about a kilometer of slippery muddy unsealed road to get into Bowen. Fortunately no accidents and we reached the city center by 10.00 am having covered 80 km in 2.5 hours.

We found our way to Jochiems "Award Winning Bakery". We were somewhat cynical about the awards however morning tea was excellent and the bakery was very busy. We sat outside in the sun for 45 minutes before we reluctantly hopped back on our bikes. 

In order to avoid having to go through then roadworks again we followed a road passed Bowen's northern beaches back to the Bruce Highway. The wind strengthened and we were travelling so well that we kept on riding until we reached Guthalungra about 2.00 pm. Just before we got there we passed a Japanese cyclist towing a big trailer against the wind. We applauded him at the same time thinking he was crazy. He really was doing it the hard way.

We had late lunch before setting up our tents. The wind was getting stronger so we tried to site our tents "into the wind". 

The rest stop was very popular and I counted 15 camper-vans and caravans at one stage. A number of our fellow campers came to chat to us about their cycle touring experiences and to check out our bikes. 

As usual we had an early dinner because of the fading light. We weren't particularly hungry because of the late lunch and we were attacked by mosquitoes as we ate. Another early night.

CYCLING HAZARDS
Obviously a pretty boring day today, so I thought I would update you on some of the cycling hazards we come across.

This one is real common.  Parts of truck tyres are littered all over the shoulder as we ride.  sometimes just bits like this, at times, most of the tread.

One of my pet hates is going across bridges.  Most bridges have these expansion joints and they ALWAYS raise at the edges in the shoulder.  Bridges are often at the bottom of a downhill and you want to maintain momentum so you are going fast. When you hit the ridge, the panniers jump and can really throw the bike off.  Not fun when you are going across the bridge at the same time as a truck.

This picture shows the ridge a little better.

Tractors and boats lying on their  sides on the road are a real problem. Glad it doesn't happen too often.

Water over the road...not good.  You never know if there is potholes or gravel under it.  Swerve around it you say, no worries unless you've got cars or trucks beside you.

Queuing for roadworks.  I really don't like going through the roadworks with a giant Kenworth sitting 5 metres from my bum revving its engine.

Narrow shoulders, eroded shoulder and rumble strips are all shown in this picture and all are hazards for cyclists.

This doesn't look too bad, does it?  But when you are riding across a narrow bridge with ridges at the expansion joints, a narrow shoulder and then there is this dinky barrier that is about calf level (thigh level for Joe) I get paranoid.  A truck going either way generates soooo much wind and vacuum that they regularly move us around as they go past and could easily blow us into the rail. Give me a shoulder high barrier.

Cars and especially trucks overtaking coming the other way.  Scares the fecal matter out of you when you see a Kenworth and a Mack racing down both sides of the road at 110 + km.

 All trucks generate a "bow wave" as they move along and also create a vacuum behind them.  So a truck going your way initially pushes you along and then you get this pull towards the rear of the truck as it passes.  The worst trucks we have noticed are the low loaders that seem to generate twice as much wind as a normal semi.   One of these trucks going passed can push you forward at least 5 km faster as they pass.


When the truck is coming towards you you get the initial "bow wave" then 5 seconds later a major blast of air that can drop you speed by 5 km.  When a number of trucks are travelling in convoy it almost seems to generate a small localised hurricane.  Some of the worst trucks we came across are pictured here.  They were common around Gladstone and Mackay and often travel in bunches.  Wrong collective noun for trucks I know.  What is the correct one?  A fleet of trucks? A convoy of trucks?  


We come across these all the time as we get further north.  Not a major problem, we just lift the front wheel and bunny hop across the croc.  Potholes are the bigger problem.  Wouldn't want to hit one of those at speed.