Distance: 76.43 km
Ridetime: 4:09:16
Average: 18.5 km/h
Max speed: 27.9 km/h
Total distance: 14985 km
When you cycle in the Outback you need to think a day or two ahead and ask yourself: Where is the next water tank, the next roadhouse, the next rest area with some shade. The plan today was to reach Coober Pedy, a tiny mining town in the middle of nowhere, before the midday heat sat in.
I’m happy that the plan worked. Just before noon I was riding into town and heading straight for the first supermarket in 700 km.
I bought a cold drink, sat down on the road outside the supermarket, and opened my computer to check my email. This was the first time that my mobile phone would work since leaving Alice Springs.
Many houses in Coober Pedy are built underground to escape the intense summer heat – the same heat I had been fearing to encounter for the last weeks. I was lucky. When I arrived in Coober Pedy it was just 35°C. It could easily have been 10 degrees warmer.
I decided to stay in an official camp ground. 20$ to pitch my tent there was the cheapest I could find in town. In Asia 20$ will get you a very nice room. Oh well, I did enjoy to have access to power, a nice kitchen, a swimming pool, and TV room, and not at least a shower. The 20$ suddenly seemed worth it.
I spent the rest of the day in front of the computer. The other people at the camp site would have thought I was a somewhat antisocial person, but I had many things to catch up on.
The final goal I had in Coober Pedy was to eat as much food, candy and ice cream as I possibly could during the next 24 hours. The joy of being a cyclist!
