What No Spare Kneecap Tour!

Introduction

This tour came about due to a small joke. I rang Crank and the conversation went like this:

• "Hey Crank, are you still looking for a mountain bike?"
• "Yes!"
• "Wanna buy my Giant Boulder SE?"
• "Yeah, but how am I going to get it up here, it's 600 kms?"
• "Ride it up there, I'll come with you!"
• "Ha, Ha, I'll let you know."

A few days later, I recieved a phone call, to let me know that Crank was on his way down on the bus to pick up the bike and we are off on tour. I got my bike ready, and unpacked the rear panniers, as I was going to take the BOB trailer on this tour, plus front panniers to carry clothes for my short vacation in Kalbarri. I also got the bike set up for Crank as best I could before he got here. He was bringing down two panniers and a rack. I also had a spare set of panniers I was throwing in with the bike.

Once he arrived, we took off to the Local Bike Shop to get a few more spares, and another bolt on front pannier rack for suspension forks. He also pinched the large 34 tooth rear cluster off of my old Cypress Hybrid. After this, we took the bikes for a test run, and everything was operating as expected, so we set our departure for 5 AM the next morning.

My bike was set up for long distance touring, but I left the rear panniers off, and removed some of the water bottles. I also took quite a few spares and tools, which were in the BOB trailer. I took these in case we had any problems with either bike. I also decided to fit the big Thermos flask into one of the large water cages, thus replacing one of the 1.5 litre water bottles. I wasn't planning on going off road on this trip, so I didn't need all the extra bottles. This was to be my first long haul trip on the road with a BOB YAK trailer behind a mountain bike, so I was a bit worried about how it would go. In hindsight, I had nothing to worry about.

I did leave the twin 2 litre water bladders in my hydro back pack though, as I could fill one with water and the other with soft drink or fruit juice. The only other concern I had, was that in the past, I had toured either solo or with a large group. This was going to be different as I had never toured with just one other person before. I was worried, whether I would be able to keep up with him, especially with the weight I was towing.

Hide/Show Map

The route we took.

Day One

Right at 5 AM, it poured down. It was pitch black, and it was a torrential downpour. We decided to wait half an hour and it magically stopped. It was still dark, and fairly cold. With minimal lights, we set off for the nearest cycle path. This path took us all the way into and through the city of Perth, and then took us North East. We had to take the bikes outside and assemble the panniers and attach the BOB trailer to my bike. It was in the dark that I missed something.

Crank and his loaded tourer.

The alien is me.

It wasn't until we got to Ashfield when we stopped under the bridge so I could water the daisies, that one side of the trailer unhooked itself. I had missed putting one of the safety pins in correctly and it had come undone. Winding our way around back streets and incomplete cycle paths, we finally made it to Guildford, where there is a large park with a rotunda and somewhere to stand the bikes. We decided to stop for a break before riding up west swan road.

I had hot soup in the big thermos flask, and as it was extremely cold outside, as usual the top exploded when I opened it, and scalding hot soup went all over one hand. Luckily, there had been so much rain earlier, there was still large puddles of water in the park, and it was extremely cold water, so I plunged my hand into it for relief. It was OK, and just ached for awhile.

We rode up West Swan Road which wasn't too busy because all of the peak hour traffic was going in the opposite direction. In some parts there were cycle paths along the side of the road. We then turned left onto Great Northern Highway, and made our way to my son's house. He was at work, so we had morning tea on the front lawn. The sun came out, and the air temperature was starting to warm up.

After a break, some obligatory start of tour photos (it was dark when we left home) and some rearranging of the load, we made our way back to Great Northern Highway, and headed north. We passed the police who had pulled over a driver and took them away for a free ride. Meanwhile the odd road train would pass us. We turned left into Warbrook Road, which is a quiet road during the week and rode west to Railway Parade.

Railway Road took us all the way to Muchea, and was mainly flat all the way. There wasn't much traffic, and the wind was from behind. We finally got to the Brand Highway, and turned left and headed north. Back with the road trains, houses, and other large vehicles. We both had several mirrors and traffic was light so it was an enjoyable ride.

We stopped along the road in a roadside stop for lunch, and I got a good picture of Tux in the road. A bit further up the road, Crank yells out, there is a house coming up the road. We had to get off of the road and stop in the gravel for some of the large loads going north on the back of a truck. Some large loads have an escort vehicle, other loads are so big, that they have escort vehicles and also an escorting police vehicle. All traffic has to get off of the road in both directions.

There goes two halves of a house.

This is how busy the road was. Just a penguin.

It was as usual in the afternoon, as I was riding along, my steering felt all strange and wobbly. I looked down at my front tyre, because these tyres never go flat or get punctured, so I wasn't expecting a punctured tyre. I was correct, and the tyre was still pumped up. Then I remembered that on most tours, on the first day out my handlebar bolts always come undone. A quick check confirmed this, and after doing them back up, everything was fine again. Crank also had the same problem.

We made it to Gin Gin in good time and headed to the roadhouse for some food and drink. We asked if they had a caravan park, which they did, but the day was still early, so we decided to push on for Reagan's Ford, which would make it a total of 140 kms for the day.

As we were riding along the roads, they looked flat, but it felt like we were riding uphill. Both Crank and I puzzled over this, and it wasn't until I rode back that I discovered that we were in fact riding uphill. Just before the roadhouse where we were headed, there is a good downhill to the river, but then you have to climb back up again. After a long day, 140 kms and the load that I was hauling, I was glad that we were stopping for the day.

There is a nice caravan park behind the roadhouse, and instead of using the tent, Crank shouted us to a cabin. There was cooking facilities, and after a hot shower and a cooked meal I was feeling better again. A quick check of the bikes, showed that they were invincible and we shouldn't have any problems.

Day Two

After a good night sleep, we awoke to a rather chilly morning. Crank was getting a bit of pain in one of his kneecaps, but said it would probably be alright once we get riding. After my usual hearty breakfast of hot oats, we set off, heading north up the Brand Highway again. The traffic was light, and we still felt like we were going uphill. The wind was from the east initially so it was a mild crosswind. It eventually swung around behind us later in the day.

We saw some interesting things along the side of the road. Mobile phones, clothes, shoes (never a pair) and all sorts of rubbish. We had a couple of reasonable hill climbs today, and on one good downhill, being bee territory, I ran through a bee swarm at high speed. Having another hat on under my helmet probably saved me from being stung, because several bees went through the vents in my helmet. Stopping a loaded touring bike and BOB trailer, whilst rolling down a steep hill with one hand, whilst ripping my helmet off with the other hand was fun.

Not long after starting riding for the day, a light truck came up from behind us tooting his horn. He passed us and went up the road a bit and pulled over into the gravel and did a bit of a skid sideways. I asked Crank if he knew the person, but he wasn't sure from the distance. Anyway once the guy jumped out, Crank knew who it was. We stopped for a chat, and he said he could see us from a fair distance because of the BOB trailer flag. He said Crank was a bit hard to see until he got closer, so he donated a nice fluorescent jacket to Crank. After a quick drink and chat, we got riding again.

Nice fluro jacket! Is he looking in his panniers or the bin?

Our camp for the night on Day Two at Badgingarra.

Also whilst passing through Cataby we had to run the gauntlet of a coach load of Japanese tourists all running out on the road to take photographs of two strange people riding north. Also through the day we kept seeing the same police car pass us, and then we would pass him further up the road, where he had pulled someone over for speeding.

Now this is where our stories may differ, but as I was riding along I could hear this grinding noise. Crank said he couldn't hear it, but his knee was getting worse. When we stopped for a break, he was walking around, and I said "there goes that grinding noise again!". "It must be my kneecap" he said. I started rummaging around inside the BOB trailer, and he said "What are you looking for?". My answer "I've got every concievable spare part imaginable in here, but no spare for that". "Wot? No spare knee cap!"

We decided to keep riding and head for Badgingarra and make it a short day. As we didn't know exactly what was wrong with his knee, and in a case like this, it is better to stop riding, than risk damaging it permanently.

It was shortly after I ran through the bees, that we saw a guy on the side of the road hitchhiking. He must have got a lift, because we saw him again later that day. We arrived in Badginagarra with plenty of daylight still left, and got a tent site in the caravan park behind the roadhouse. It had been a good day's ride, but the tail wind was cold, and my wind jacket has an open back, so around my hydro pack, my back had been getting cold. Because of the tail wind, the sweat would run down my face, and the flies would drive me close to insanity.

After setting up camp, we decided to see how Crank's knee was in the morning, but we started making phone calls to execute our emergency exit plan. The next morning, we had several choices, which was to keep riding, and risk doing permanent damage to the knee, or get someone to pick us up. Later that afternoon Bruce picked us up. It took several hours to disassemble two bikes and a BOB trailer to be able to fit them in his car and still allow three people to get in the car, but that night we were safely in Kalbarri.

It also took several hours the next morning to put the bikes back together, because the A-head neck systems never seem to want to go back together properly when taken apart. Crank also spent several hours cleaning the grease out of Bruce's car (or was it his wife's car?).

Badgingarra Caravan Park.

The Stowaway, shows his face on day one.

We decided to stop the tour, because it is really stupid to continue when there is pain in a body part, especially a knee, or there is an indication of mechanical failure on a bike. I once aborted a major off road trail ride on the second day because I could not identify the cracking noise coming from the headset. I returned home whilst the bike was still operating. I was not going to attempt to strip the bike in the bush unless I had to. I never did find the source of the cracking noise, and to this day do not know what it was.

In this tour's case, there was no medical services nearby, and continuing with knee cap pain can do permanent damage. Both of us were fit and had trained for the ride. It turns out it was the big muscle that goes up the inside of the leg. The solution is to do stretching exercises, or ride a more comfortable bike instead of a mountain bike.

In hindsight, we should not have done 140 kms the first day, but you know that feeling on the first day, when you just don't want to stop. Since changing to another bike, Crank has not had any further problems with knee or leg pain. It was an extremely enjoyable tour, and we are glad that we cut it short when we did. It may have led onto other problems.