Simpson Desert Bike Challenge 2024

I’m racing across a desert… 🐪

Ok, so it’s happening. And I still haven’t mentally registered that I’m going to be there…

Each year a small group of intrepid cyclists set off across the Simpson Desert, tackling 2 gruelling stages a day to cover the 500km’s of baked dunes of the Mulga-Thirri.

Those days will not just see the cyclists pushing themselves, but it will see a whole dedicated crew coming together to support their loved ones, mates, friends and family in this insane endeavour. Arguably, they’re the ones who this challenge should honour - but maybe that’s a story for another day. In the meantime, the pursuit of the challenge calls — as does the hope that we can contribute a little to the flying angels that work across the most remote places in the world.

Last year alone, the RFDS reached more than 330,000 Australians with 24-hour emergency retrieval and primary health care. That’s one person every two minutes!

If you’ve got a spare penny, these guys could sure use it. Cheers.

Ngarkat preparations

Last weekend Shannon and I nudged down to the border track to get some practise on the dunes. This will be the first time either of us have embarked on riding and driving terrain of this type, so it was high on the list to get under our belts this close to the event.

There was some trepidation at the start of Saturday, but Shannon was soon wheel’n and deal’n like a seasoned trophy truck driver and we made good time to Red Bluff where we camped the night. As Sunday rolled around, so did the bitter westerly front that smashed SA. We battled back East across the park into the gusts of 90km/h wind, rain and sand. But we got there. All up, 3 x TT efforts, a sneaky trail run, a whole lot of 1HZ sutt and some comfort in our tools come October.

2024… a year to be remembered

After the border track weekend, I couldn’t help but sit back and reflect on the year that has been and the lead in to the challenge itself. So, sorry, this is a me post (yuck!).

Although there’s still significant hard work to do to even get to the start line — what a year it’s been. 2024 started with the most brutal consecutive bouts of illness and a nice dose of COVID. Then, I had to face the reality of my wisdom teeth. They’ve bothered me for years now, but it reached a point where I couldn’t avoid it any longer. I committed to all 4 coming out in one go. Simple! But not… my lower teeth had grown horizontally, and I’m thankful to have had a skilled surgeon who managed to pull them cleanly. That said, the swelling smashed my nerve on my left side (which is still recovering), and the clot on my right dislodged early. Some 5 months later, it’s still not all smooth sailing — but it’s so much better than it was, and I’m feeling good easing into the efforts that will carry me across the desert (hopefully!). Funny how fragile we really are. And I got to choose the time, place and person to perform the surgery! What a privilege it is to have that; a choice, a body, to breathe, to walk, to be…

Perhaps food for thought when it comes to the Flying Doc… we are fragile as human beings and the outback is vast. Forget my dental surgery, everyday people face unimaginable adversity. And we’re absolutely honoured to have guys and girls of the RFDS there, to perform lifesaving feats every single day of the year.

Rockleigh 105, a chance to test the legs

A couple of weeks back The Rockleigh 105 rolled around again — Adelaide’s annual premiere gravel event. It’s a grass roots fundraiser for the local CFS station, and brings a good crowd, smiles and plenty of champagne gravel. It was the event that I might even attribute my obsession with off-road riding to, after a long hiatus off bikes. (That’s despite a big crash on the first year I rode it).

Morgan (the ride organiser) always reminds us it’s not a race, but there IS a timer… so naturally, it’s a horsepower test for all 105km’s!

This year I was really excited to see how my legs were after the training I’ve been doing for the Simpson, and to their credit, I found myself in the front group, comfortable and settled. That was until I took a wrong turn, everyone in the group was kind enough to alert me, but unfortunately I couldn’t close the gap by the time I had gotten back on track. So there I was, less than 10km’s in, and set to individually time trial 95km’s in a savage cross head wind… I knew my chances were dashed then, but once I had tackled the frustration - couldn’t help but chuckle… no doubt a few stages will be like this in the desert, and this was just the warm up!

I pushed home, kept on top of nutrition and pulled in 5th at the end of the day.

Shannon rode as well and finished not far behind with a sore knee and bum after a fall not too dissimilar to the one I had some years prior. Not the day that either of us expected, but one to file under “resilience training for later”. Bring it on!

Credit to James Raison (@rideadelaide) for the snap! That’s me in the red 🤙🏽

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