One of the major worries I have for the trip is the distances required to be travelled each day if I am going to achieve the objective of doing the trip in 14 days. Actually, it is THE worry that I have. Everything else is of considerably less importance, even the reliability issue. Covering more than 1,000 km per day, for 14 days...
In order to gather fresh data to help me decide how this might go, I decided to make a test run through the southwest of Western Australia on Monday 18 May. This day was chosen due to the relaxation of the coronavirus restrictions for travel through parts of WA, with the southwest being opened up on the 18th.
I came up with a route that allowed me to do the 1,000 km. Now it was a matter of seeing how long it was going to take for me to do it, what issues I might have, along with gather some up-to-date mileage (or kilometreage?) data.
The route I chose was, firstly, down to Albany, then across to Denmark and Walpole, then up to Bunbury through Manijimup and Bridgetown, and returning home from there. Allegedly 958.7 km, with an estimated time of 12 hrs 10 minutes. Could I do it?
Of course I could. Just a matter of how long it would actually take!
I planned to leave at 6 AM. Of course when the alarm went off at 5.30 AM I was fast asleep, despite having expected to wake before the alarm. Underneath the covers was nice and warm, while the arm I stuck out to test the temperature found it to be a bit cold. Maybe I could just go back to sleep and head off tomorrow instead...
After closing my eyes for 5 seconds and seriously contemplating the idea, fortitude arrived and I got up, showered and breakfasted. I woke up properly about half way through breakfast.
Given the cold, I threw on an extra jumper - an old hoodie - really by chance. Once I got outside, I was pleased I did. The hood fits nicely under the helmet and keeps my remaining hair nice and warm. All suited up, I went to switch the GPS on, only to find that I'd not installed it onto the bike last night, and it was still in the house. Cursing, I had to find the keys (which of course had hidden themselves in the bottom of a pocket underneath everything else) go back inside, find where I'd left it, install it on the bike, find the power cable, fit it to the unit, get everything back on until, FINALLY, I was ready to go.
The bike fired up at the first touch of the starter and I rolled away from the from gate at 6.31 AM. Only half an hour behind schedule. Good start...
Despite the early hour, there was plenty of traffic and I seemed to catch just about every traffic light on the way to Armadale, where I'd swing off the suburban roads and on to the real beginning of the Albany Highway (from Victoria Park to Armadale, it's only the signs that indicate it is a highway).
At about this time, as the sun began to make its mark on the day, I was beginning to think that it was a bit foolish of me not to have taken into account the early morning temperatures, which although expected to be relatively low, were in fact rather cold. The temperature gauge showed 6-7 degrees C and it certainly felt like it. My head was warm, my torso was fairly good, feet were OK, but hands, arms and legs were cold.
As I headed south and the sun rose higher above the horizon, the situation did not improve very much at all. Occasionally the temperature showed as 8 degrees, then 9 degrees, then back to 8, depending on the topography, shadow. I also realised that I had forgotten to buy a Camelback - a water pack worn as a backpack, with a long hose to drink from - so I was thirsty. A headache increased slowly but surely, a combination of thirst and (probably) eye strain from my stupid multi-focal glasses - a rant for another day.
I eventually stopped after two hours for a drink and to change over to sunglasses. Drink was achieved successfully, however at the first instant, one of the lenses fell out of the sunglasses. Fortunately they were an old pair, so no major problem, other than I didn't have any others to change over to. There's a lesson right there for the longer trip!
I pressed on to my first refueling stop at Kojonup. After paying for the fuel, I tried to enter the data into my preferred app for tracking fuel useage (www.fuelly.com). My hands and body were shaking so much - shivering - that it was really difficult and I realised I was quite cold, despite my head being warm and thinking that my torso was fine too. Obviously the cold blood from my limbs was having an effect on the rest of me. I made a mental note to bring more clothing next time!
Shortly after I left Kojonup, I ran into the first major bug for the day. It was a big, juicy one, presumably a bee, that hit my visor squarely between my eyes. The smear was a considerable inconvenience, but not terrible enough to stop and clean it off. Fortunately a short distance further, it commenced raining. My earlier mental note now had waterproof pants added to it as the rain increased in intensity. Fortunately the bug had not dried completely so the rain, combined with a 110 km/h wind, washed the spatter off and visibility was good again. The rain also stopped after a few minutes and the sun came out. The riding position on the Stelvio is quite protected, so as it turned out, those exposed legs didn't get wet at all.
On to Albany with only one additional brief rain shower and no further problems. I found my turn-off to Denmark and Walpole and headed off in that direction. I then managed to miss the turn to follow Highway 1, but shortly afterwards lucked on to a scenic route that parallels it for about 30km or so before joining back on to it.
Temperatures had risen to about 15 degrees on the coast, so I was feeling relatively warm, but the southerly wind had increased significantly in intensity, so I was buffeted quite strongly. Throughout it all though, the Guzzi behaved very well - certainly no worse than other bikes I've owned in a cross-wind.
I decided that I'd make it to Walpole to refuel and this turned out to be correct distance-wise, but unfortunately discovered that they only have 91 RON unleaded fuel and not the minimum standard 95 RON (let alone 98 RON) available. Bit of a nuisance, but nothing for it - in it went. I also had a pit stop for a bathroom break and a bit of lunch. A nice, hot, warming chai and a pie and sausage roll from a bakery. All were quite good, although the tea was certainly the highlight. The shaking appeared to have gone by this stage!
Rolling on to the north through Manjimup, Bridgetown, etc. through to Bunbury was relatively uneventful, apart from the magnificent stands of massive trees in the forest along the way. I passed the Valley of the Giants tree-top walk and reminded myself never to bother going there again. My other discovery was the 40 km/h speed limits through some of the towns, which made this segment quite a slow one.
I eventually got to Bunbury and needing fuel, started heading north out of town. Not remembering how far it is to the next service, I paid a relatively exorbitant price at the Shell on the north side of town. I then measured the distance to the next service (Puma Energy), which is a bit less than 30 km to the north and much cheaper, especially with the RAC discount. Next time I will remember!
The road back to Perth and home flowed quite smoothly as one would expect. I arrived home at 5.30 PM, after exactly 11 hours and 946 km completed. The last part of the trip through Perth traffic was exceedingly slow and the seemingly interminable traffic lights made it feel like I was crawling.
Fuel consumption for the day averaged about 17.5 km/L, so with a tank capacity of 18 L, that should give me a range of 315 km. Tolerable.
Lessons for the day;
In order to gather fresh data to help me decide how this might go, I decided to make a test run through the southwest of Western Australia on Monday 18 May. This day was chosen due to the relaxation of the coronavirus restrictions for travel through parts of WA, with the southwest being opened up on the 18th.
I came up with a route that allowed me to do the 1,000 km. Now it was a matter of seeing how long it was going to take for me to do it, what issues I might have, along with gather some up-to-date mileage (or kilometreage?) data.
The route I chose was, firstly, down to Albany, then across to Denmark and Walpole, then up to Bunbury through Manijimup and Bridgetown, and returning home from there. Allegedly 958.7 km, with an estimated time of 12 hrs 10 minutes. Could I do it?
Of course I could. Just a matter of how long it would actually take!
I planned to leave at 6 AM. Of course when the alarm went off at 5.30 AM I was fast asleep, despite having expected to wake before the alarm. Underneath the covers was nice and warm, while the arm I stuck out to test the temperature found it to be a bit cold. Maybe I could just go back to sleep and head off tomorrow instead...
After closing my eyes for 5 seconds and seriously contemplating the idea, fortitude arrived and I got up, showered and breakfasted. I woke up properly about half way through breakfast.
Given the cold, I threw on an extra jumper - an old hoodie - really by chance. Once I got outside, I was pleased I did. The hood fits nicely under the helmet and keeps my remaining hair nice and warm. All suited up, I went to switch the GPS on, only to find that I'd not installed it onto the bike last night, and it was still in the house. Cursing, I had to find the keys (which of course had hidden themselves in the bottom of a pocket underneath everything else) go back inside, find where I'd left it, install it on the bike, find the power cable, fit it to the unit, get everything back on until, FINALLY, I was ready to go.
The bike fired up at the first touch of the starter and I rolled away from the from gate at 6.31 AM. Only half an hour behind schedule. Good start...
Despite the early hour, there was plenty of traffic and I seemed to catch just about every traffic light on the way to Armadale, where I'd swing off the suburban roads and on to the real beginning of the Albany Highway (from Victoria Park to Armadale, it's only the signs that indicate it is a highway).
At about this time, as the sun began to make its mark on the day, I was beginning to think that it was a bit foolish of me not to have taken into account the early morning temperatures, which although expected to be relatively low, were in fact rather cold. The temperature gauge showed 6-7 degrees C and it certainly felt like it. My head was warm, my torso was fairly good, feet were OK, but hands, arms and legs were cold.
As I headed south and the sun rose higher above the horizon, the situation did not improve very much at all. Occasionally the temperature showed as 8 degrees, then 9 degrees, then back to 8, depending on the topography, shadow. I also realised that I had forgotten to buy a Camelback - a water pack worn as a backpack, with a long hose to drink from - so I was thirsty. A headache increased slowly but surely, a combination of thirst and (probably) eye strain from my stupid multi-focal glasses - a rant for another day.
I eventually stopped after two hours for a drink and to change over to sunglasses. Drink was achieved successfully, however at the first instant, one of the lenses fell out of the sunglasses. Fortunately they were an old pair, so no major problem, other than I didn't have any others to change over to. There's a lesson right there for the longer trip!
I pressed on to my first refueling stop at Kojonup. After paying for the fuel, I tried to enter the data into my preferred app for tracking fuel useage (www.fuelly.com). My hands and body were shaking so much - shivering - that it was really difficult and I realised I was quite cold, despite my head being warm and thinking that my torso was fine too. Obviously the cold blood from my limbs was having an effect on the rest of me. I made a mental note to bring more clothing next time!
Shortly after I left Kojonup, I ran into the first major bug for the day. It was a big, juicy one, presumably a bee, that hit my visor squarely between my eyes. The smear was a considerable inconvenience, but not terrible enough to stop and clean it off. Fortunately a short distance further, it commenced raining. My earlier mental note now had waterproof pants added to it as the rain increased in intensity. Fortunately the bug had not dried completely so the rain, combined with a 110 km/h wind, washed the spatter off and visibility was good again. The rain also stopped after a few minutes and the sun came out. The riding position on the Stelvio is quite protected, so as it turned out, those exposed legs didn't get wet at all.
On to Albany with only one additional brief rain shower and no further problems. I found my turn-off to Denmark and Walpole and headed off in that direction. I then managed to miss the turn to follow Highway 1, but shortly afterwards lucked on to a scenic route that parallels it for about 30km or so before joining back on to it.
Temperatures had risen to about 15 degrees on the coast, so I was feeling relatively warm, but the southerly wind had increased significantly in intensity, so I was buffeted quite strongly. Throughout it all though, the Guzzi behaved very well - certainly no worse than other bikes I've owned in a cross-wind.
I decided that I'd make it to Walpole to refuel and this turned out to be correct distance-wise, but unfortunately discovered that they only have 91 RON unleaded fuel and not the minimum standard 95 RON (let alone 98 RON) available. Bit of a nuisance, but nothing for it - in it went. I also had a pit stop for a bathroom break and a bit of lunch. A nice, hot, warming chai and a pie and sausage roll from a bakery. All were quite good, although the tea was certainly the highlight. The shaking appeared to have gone by this stage!
Rolling on to the north through Manjimup, Bridgetown, etc. through to Bunbury was relatively uneventful, apart from the magnificent stands of massive trees in the forest along the way. I passed the Valley of the Giants tree-top walk and reminded myself never to bother going there again. My other discovery was the 40 km/h speed limits through some of the towns, which made this segment quite a slow one.
I eventually got to Bunbury and needing fuel, started heading north out of town. Not remembering how far it is to the next service, I paid a relatively exorbitant price at the Shell on the north side of town. I then measured the distance to the next service (Puma Energy), which is a bit less than 30 km to the north and much cheaper, especially with the RAC discount. Next time I will remember!
The road back to Perth and home flowed quite smoothly as one would expect. I arrived home at 5.30 PM, after exactly 11 hours and 946 km completed. The last part of the trip through Perth traffic was exceedingly slow and the seemingly interminable traffic lights made it feel like I was crawling.
Fuel consumption for the day averaged about 17.5 km/L, so with a tank capacity of 18 L, that should give me a range of 315 km. Tolerable.
Lessons for the day;
- Must have a camelback to drink from during the day
- Must have waterproof / windproof pants
- Must respect low temperatures One more jumper might not be necessary all of the time, but when you need it, it will be appreciated.
The human on the bike certainly had a sore bum at various stages, but a bit of fidgeting sorted that out. Most surprisingly my shoulders were quite sore at various times. My back held up well.
I take from all this that yes, I can do the required 1,000 km in a day reasonably comfortably. The Perth traffic on departure and arrival certainly slowed me down across the day, so in more isolate parts, I should be easily able to get an additional 50-100 km in. I also stopped at 5.30 PM, so in reality, I could have ridden for another hour or so as well. The only uncertainty now is whether I can do this for 14 continuous days. I imagine that after a few days, I will be accustomed to it and it won't present any great problems.
Time will tell.
