Gunbarrel Highway

[Markf]

Back in the '90's a group of us old enough to know better thought we'd try the Gunbarrel Highway unsupported.

Anyway over the last little while I've done a bit of a write-up of the trip. It's at The Gunbarrel Highway by bicycle - Mark's Stuff (https://jandmf.com/index.php/2020/12/14/the-gunbarrel-highway-by-bicycle/) if you're interested.

We had to leave out the "original" Gunbarrel Highway between Giles and Warburton because we couldn't get a permit for the ends - Giles to Lake Christopher and Jackie Junction to Warburton.

Anyway, if you're interested, have a read. SWMBO and I have an ambition to do it by D2 some day - probably 2022. When I did the trip in 1994 we saw a lot of Defenders of one description of another. We also saw a number of series Land Rovers as well My SIIA was sitting in my driveway in Essendon.....

[Arapiles]

Epic.

[Tins]

It's Land Rover ownership that does it, sadly. It usually ends in insanity in one form or another...

[Markf]

It's Land Rover ownership that does it, sadly. It usually ends in insanity in one form or another...

Dunno. Did the insanity cause the Land Rover ownership or did the Land Rover ownership cause the insanity ? I suspect that sanity was all gone before I got my first LR.

I know that the seeds for the Gunbarrel trip were created and sown by a large quantity of Guinness on a Thursday night following a Melbourne Bicycle Touring Club meeting.

That trip gave birth to many more including the Old Strzelecki Track, the Birdsville Track, the Oodnadatta Track and a couple of trips over to Perth from Melbourne and back all solo and unsupported.

The bloke who originally proposed the Gunbarrel trip decided to do a lap by bicycle solo and unsupported in 1996 I think it was.

[Tins]

The bloke who originally proposed the Gunbarrel trip decided to do a lap by bicycle solo and unsupported in 1996 I think it was.

Think I may have passed him in 2012.

[goingbush]

certainly are some nutcases out there !

[Tins]

certainly are some nutcases out there !

Yep. However.. I once came upon a couple, maybe mid 30s, on some tandem arrangement with a trailer. Dutch, German, I don't know, but lovely, they were somewhere between, I dunno, Wilcannia and Broken Hill, and the hard surface had cut their tyres. No problem, they had spares, but their pump had broken. Scanias come with a tyre inflator hose ( Why? ), and I was able to get them inflated and on their way.
Thing is, I easily had room for them and their b-triple bike and offered to take them to the Hill, but no, they wanted to do it themselves. I considered them to be nuts, but I absolutely admired their commitment to achieve their goal, whatever it was.

Course, maybe they'd seen Wolf Creek.

[Saitch]

I nearly cleaned up a bloke on a track, in the middle of Whoop Whoop.
He was on one of those reclining type bicycles with the front mounted pedals, in the middle of the carriageway and just over a slight crest.

With the height, or lack thereof, of his setup, I couldn't see him until a VERY short distance away![bigsad]
I did suggest to him, whilst having a coldie, that a sand flag would be a good accessory.

[rick130]

I nearly cleaned up a bloke on a track, in the middle of Whoop Whoop.
He was on one of those reclining type bicycles with the front mounted pedals, in the middle of the carriageway and just over a slight crest.

With the height, or lack thereof, of his setup, I couldn't see him until a VERY short distance away![bigsad]
I did suggest to him, whilst having a coldie, that a sand flag would be a good accessory.Far out.
Even the recumbent tragics peddling around Canberra (I often thought they were probably ANU lecturers [emoji848][emoji23]) run flags so they don't get mowed down.

[Tins]

Far out.
(I often thought they were probably ANU lecturers [emoji848][emoji23])

Or pollies off the cross benches..

[Saitch]

Aah, thanks, Rick. Is that what they're called? "Recumbent'! [thumbsupbig]
Learn something new every day on this forum.

[Tins]

"Recumbent'! [thumbsupbig]


Does that mean "I never learnt to ride a bicycle"? Or " I have no sense of balance"?

[rick130]

Does that mean "I never learnt to ride a bicycle"? Or " I have no sense of balance"?Recumbents still have two wheels so you need to balance, but are bikes for those that like to make a statement about being quirky and different, that think Safari Suits are still fashionable, and an exposition on the mating habits of the Spotted Quoll makes for interesting social discourse at parties. [emoji16]

Actually that sounds like your typical Series or Defender owner...[emoji848][emoji23]

[Graeme]

My wife with her dud back uses a recumbent exercise bike as the design doesn't flex the spine.

[Arapiles]

Recumbents still have two wheels so you need to balance, but are bikes for those that like to make a statement about being quirky and different, that think Safari Suits are still fashionable, and an exposition on the mating habits of the Spotted Quoll makes for interesting social discourse at parties. [emoji16]

Actually that sounds like your typical Series or Defender owner...[emoji848][emoji23]


Some recumbents have two wheels, the trikes don't. Because they have three wheels.

What's wrong with Safari suits?

[rick130]

Some recumbents have two wheels, the trikes don't. Because they have three wheels.
Quite true! Although most of the ones I saw running around Canbraaaa were bikes.


What's wrong with Safari suits?

[emoji50][emoji50]
I thought you had a Disco, not a Deefer? [emoji848][emoji23]

[Arapiles]

Recumbents still have two wheels so you need to balance, but are bikes for those that like to make a statement about being quirky and different, that think Safari Suits are still fashionable, and an exposition on the mating habits of the Spotted Quoll makes for interesting social discourse at parties. [emoji16]

Actually that sounds like your typical Series or Defender owner...[emoji848][emoji23]

Recumbents are much faster and more efficient than standard bikes .... until you get to a hill. Then they stop working so well, unless you have some very low gears.