Distance: 591km
Dep: 8:00am
Arr: 6:20pm
Temperature: 19°C - 29°C
Total distance to date: 1074km
Route:
- Portland, VIC
- Millicent
- Beachport
- Robe
- Meningie
- Tailem Bend
- Murray Bridge
- Strathalbyn
- Victor Harbor, SA
Caption: Reaching the South Australian border and the warm air that came with it
Coming off of caffeine is no easy feat.
When Victoria first started their recycling program and I started collecting every can of Boss Coffee I drank, my addiction became so apparent that I was almost too embarrassed to go and redeem the can refund every few months. In preparation for this trip, and due to previous knowledge of the standard of coffee in the Outback, I opted to put myself through a week of migraines and the 'runs' to wean off caffeine for the trip.
Today started with a stroll to the local, super-gentrified cafe in beautiful Portland. I grabbed an egg and bacon roll and a hot chocolate ("like a child", Taylah says) because I felt I need to appease my soul with some sort of brown drink to start the day.
Unfortunately my body continued to hate me, and my semi-frequent trips to the bathroom confirmed it. If you ever need to come off caffeine for whatever reason, be sure to do it over a timeframe of more than a week (depending on your level of addiction) and avoid doing it right before you start a motorcycle road trip with your partner and two friends.
Caption: Daria and Taylah celebrate even further
We hopped back onto the saddle and began a spirited and completely legal ride to the SA border to take some photos and celebrate the wall of warm air coming out of the state. It is further proof that Victoria has a forcefield that contains cold air and parking fines, and as soon as you leave the place, things get a bit more comfortable. We rode through Mount Gambier for a quick pit stop at Millicent. The sense of freedom and camaraderie had well and truly set in.
We swapped riding positions a few times throughout the morning, and as it happened, I was leading, followed by Daria, Taylah, and Steph for our run up toward Robe. I periodically check my mirrors whenever I lead, so it didn't take long to realise I was left with only 1 headlight in my rear view mirrors - two of them were missing.
I pulled off to the side with Daria, thinking it may have been something simple like a rogue earplug needing to be popped back in. Steph's face appears on my phone. "Taylah's chain has come off."
"Oh shit. Is she hurt?"
"No, she's fine."
"We'll come back."
One of my worst riding fears has happened. I thought this would happen to me on Day 29 of Sheba Rides Australia, and here I was living this reality with one of my friends.
Caption: A loose chain has come off the sprockets, but at least it's still intact. This is fixable.
Daria and I both spun a U-turn and backtracked, then discovered another rider was already on his knees at the swingarm of Taylah's bike. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that it had only come off but hadn't broken (which could have been a dangerous and painful disaster). I pulled the chain back onto the teeth of the sprocket while the Good Samaritan rolled the bike forward. In an instant the chain was back in action, but we're now left with the issue of preventing it from happening again.
The chain had become too loose due to wear, and the only way to get it back into spec is by loosening the rear axle nuts and pulling the axle back a bit. None of us had tools for a Honda, so Daria pulled up the details of a Mitre 10 [an Australian hardware store] in the next town - Robe.
"Closes at 12:30pm"
(I check my phone, and it's 12:13pm, and it takes 24 minutes to get there)
A quick call and the friendly small business owner acknowledged our trouble and says he'll stay late for us to pick up some tools.
Caption: Contemplating the next action, and it was getting warm!
They say if you want to travel fast, go alone, and if you want to go far, go together. So, I went alone, and teleported to the front doors of the Mitre 10 by 12:31pm. I grabbed a few suitable sized sockets and a socket wrench, and had the girls meet me at a nearby petrol station down the street.
As I pulled in, I realised it was a joint petrol station and auto shop, and Darren already had the tools for the job. With apparent godly grip strength he loosened the rear axle bolt without the help of a breaker bar, and Daria and I pulled the axle back and retightened it. We used a ruler to get it into 40mm of slack and checked for tight spots.
Caption: Daria and I doing an impromptu chain adjustment at a petrol station
I suppose some spare sockets in 19mm and 22mm never hurt anyone, and I wasn't about to return these sockets to a business that stayed open for us, so I left them in my panniers in case we need them down the track.
Within the hour, we were eating rice paper rolls at a restaurant in the heart of Robe. Taylah decided to make her way back to Melbourne to avoid going further on this chain, and vowed to get it changed when she got home. We parted ways with a few hugs, then noticed the time - 2:30pm and we still had 419km to get to Victor Harbor!
The northbound coastal run to Meningie was nothing short of breathtaking. The sun managed to scratch an itch I didn't know I had, lingering just past 45 degrees to the left of us. Sunlight bounced off the calm ripples of the ocean and into our visors.
Caption: One of Australia's many Big Things - the Big Lobster in Kingston SE, South Australia.
We pulled into the BP in Meningie to fuel up. Normally I am fairly surefooted and have never dropped any of my bikes at a standstill. I guess there's a first time for everything.
As I went to walk my bike away from the fuel bowser, I felt my left leg lose traction at a rate of 1cm/hour. It happened in slow motion, a bit like running in your dreams. There wasn't much more I could do but to just let it go. A large pool of oil had been sitting smack in the middle of the driveway, and I just happened to walk right into it with the bike. Incredibly, no BMWs were harmed in this incident due to the soft panniers holding the entire bike up. Winning already.
Our final run up toward Murray Bridge then on toward Victor Harbor was a race against the setting sun. Our pace was quick enough for one of us to lose a piece of our bike (I won't say who, or which bike) but it was satisfying rocking up to accomodations just as the sky turned to dusk.
Caption: Beautiful Victor Harbor, South Australia
Tomorrow we get to meet the legends from Women2Wheels Network South Australia for a ride around the Fleurieu Peninsula!
