"Somewhere over the rainbow"

Ok, we haven’t posted for a while, but that doesn’t mean we have put the cue in the rack and stopped........The weather has taken a turn and instead of nice mornings of 17-20C and beautiful sunrises we are now greeted with 6C and darkness, which isn’t very motivating to get out of a warm bed to go for a bike ride.......Afternoons for some, weekend rides and wind trainers are now the training times and styles of choice with each member of the Rock Riders doing their own thing.

The Fundraising has been amazing, as a team we have now raised just over $21,000 which is incredible considering where we live and that we still have 6 months still to go before the ride! Every month we hold a Sausage sizzle in town square (just like you see at Bunning’s...LOL) and at the last two sizzles we have cleared just over $1,800 in sales.....that’s a lot of snags!

The Rock Riders NT now total 9, with another cycling convert in Alex Earl joining us after purchasing a road bike and deciding he wanted to do the ride as well....we hope we can grow our membership into double figures soon

Last weekend, we were in Alice Springs for a family visit and decided to take our bikes along.....plan was to go for a nice ride on Sunday morning, nothing strenuous, along the Simpson Gap bike track....A nice track specifically made for bike riders and walkers to go from Larapinta Rd (Flynn’s Grave) to Simpsons gap, a ride of approx 17Kms one way, 34 return. Over coffee and breakfast on Sunday, before the ride, with some friends we discussed the ride to Simpsons gap and decided we could do a more interesting ride the following day to a place called Rainbow Valley. Our friends got very interested and decided they would ride with us and we would make a day of it, pack a lunch etc and so it was...No ride today, but tomorrow it was on.

We stocked up on drinks and energy bars and decided not to make sandwiches due to the fact when we finished we would have lunch at Stuarts Well before driving home to Yulara. About 11pm Sunday night I received a text stating...There  was a slight discrepancy regarding the distance into Rainbow Valley...instead of the 13-15km ride into the valley it was more like 23kms...a 46 Km round trip, which our friends didn’t believe they were up to and that they would catch up with us for a ride sometime in the future....oh well, just Mandy and I off to explore a new part of the Territory where we had not been as yet.

9:30 am Monday morning we left Alice Springs and headed south down the Stuart Hwy and just short of Stuarts Well (Jims Place)was a turn off to Rainbow Valley. The big sign stated “4WD Recommended” not to be deterred we drove in the gate and up the track for 2kms and parked...we drove in 2 Kms as we didn’t want to leave our car on the side of the Hwy, it might not have been there when we got back....at 10:30 am we were changed and bikes assembled out of the car and 5 drink bottles on board for what we thought would be an enjoyable ride with new scenery......8 kms into the ride Mandy made the comment “it’s a nice ride, we must have completed about 3kms?” I informed her we had just completed 8 Kms and that we would be there in no time as the track, although corrugated was firm and pretty good going......at about 10kms in there were road signs advising to take caution...and here’s where the sand started....average speed of 23-25kph dropped to 12-13kph and it was a hard slog...temperature was about 29C and a still day.......

15kms into the ride and the heat, the sand, the corrugations and dust flying in the air as tourist cars went past was turning the enjoyable ride into a bit of a bugger of a ride with no end in sight....we did not have an accurate distance to begin with and just thought...”It can’t be that far”



At about the 20km mark, I got a glimpse of what I hoped was the “Rainbow valley” and so it was...When we got there we agreed it was worth the ride, we sat had some water, a few red frogs (lollies) and some melted chocolate energy bars before willing ourselves to head back. The 24kms had taken us 2hrs 15 mins......we still had to ride back to the car, in the midday heat before driving back to Yulara...not a very well planned trip by us.....Severely underestimated the ride or was it over estimating our ability....?.

Upward and onward.. and off we went...we agreed that I would ride ahead and when I got to the car I would drive back and meet Mandy somewhere along the track.....the day got longer, hotter, dustier and I don’t know how but the sand softer....just over 2hrs later I was at the car...absolutely spent and only an inch of warm water left in my drink bottles....I could not see Mandy anywhere and made quick time of getting my bike in the car and opening a can of Pepsi and a bottle of water from the back of the car and off I went to find Mandy....14kms ,..... Yes 14 Kms down the track I came across Mandy sitting under a tree in the shade, when I pulled up she informed me it was quite nice sitting in the shade with a slight breeze and that she could doze off very easily if she wanted to..............

So...If you want a nice Sunday ride with breath taking scenery and live in the Alice Springs area....I thoroughly recommend you ride Simpsons Gap bike track!  If on the other hand you want to work your butt off, shake every body part you have to near breaking, get sunburnt and eat heaps of dust.......ride Rainbow Valley!