THE END

May 29, 2021

Mundaring to Perth

Today is the final day of “The Against the Wind” fundraising ride. It’s been quite a journey from conception well over a year ago, through to the final kilometres today.

We’ve arrived safely (though very wet) in Perth after cycling about 3,800km from Canberra over 42 days.

Thank you to my family, “Against the Wind” cycle tour mates Joel, Ian and John and the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. A special thanks to all those who have donated to the ARLP scholarship.

Thanks also to the many wonderful people we met on the journey from Canberra to Perth.

And thank you for reading my journal.

Donations?

There’s still time to donate to the “Against the Wind” scholarship. For Australians, donations are tax deductible.

Details are available via this link.

https://rural-leaders.org.au/against-the-wind/

The alternative is donation by EFT. The details are:

Bank: NAB; Name: Australian Rural Leadership Foundation; Account: 442672912; BSB: 082 902;

Reference: Donor first name, Donor last name.
And if you email:
finance@rural-leaders.org.au

when you make the donation, they will confirm with a receipt.

And please consider donating to this CycleBlaze site. Without CB I would not have been able to journal this special ride which started well over a year ago.

The Canberra to Perth Against the Wind Ride Stats:

Tour duration: 42 days

Rest Days: 3

Total distance ridden: 3823 km

Total ascent:
8667 metres (according to Google Maps)

Longest full day ride: 147 km

Shortest full day ride: 42 km

Overall average daily distance including rest days and short days; 91 km

Average daily distance excluding rest days/ and the 1/2 day: 99.6 km

Days riding 100km+ = 18

Media (ABC radio and rural newspapers) interviews = 10

Todays ride story in pics:

We’ve had 41 days of mostly dry weather. That dry run ended spectacularly last night and today.

Before long we’d departed the bushland of the Perth hinterland and found a trendy coffee shop.

Over 15 km of today’s ride was on this brilliant urban bike path. It led us to the city centre during heavy rainfall.

We took some time to find a site which said “Perth” for the photo shoot.

Today's ride: 39 km (24 miles)
Total: 3,823 km (2,374 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	3
Comment on this entry	Comment	6

John SaxbyWell done, guys! Have to say, weird tho' it sounds, that we could use some of that Perth rain. This May is the driest on record in Eastern Ontario, about 12 mm. The tree cover has its usual early-summer 50 shades of green, but the forest floor is dry-dry-dry.

Spiffy bike path into the city -- rivals some of the best I've seen.

Safe journeys home, John
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2 years ago

Graham SmithTo John SaxbyDeclining rainfall, rising temperatures and drying soils are the long term trend here John. There are brief La Niña driven reprieves like we are having in SE Australia, but overall climate change is having observable impacts. The northern wheat belt of WA is badly affected. Other areas less so. We saw lots of healthy crops in the Central Wheatbelt.

I’m pleased the ride has finished safely. Donations are also coming in according to my former work colleagues back in Canberra. This is good to hear as it was a major reason for the ride.
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2 years ago

Rich FrasierCongratulations on arriving in Perth! I’ve really enjoyed following along on your adventure. Great photos and writing. Thanks and hope to see another journal from you in the future!
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2 years ago

Graham SmithTo Rich FrasierThanks Rich for following the journal. It has been an interesting and challenging ride. Thankfully it wasn’t too epic.
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2 years ago

Vince McCarthyWell done mate!!
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2 years ago

Graham SmithTo Vince McCarthyThanks Vince. I’m glad to arrive in Perth.
It’s been an amazing experience but I was ready to finish. Most of the route was fairly ok with a couple of exceptions.

As you probably already know, the Norseman to Coolgardie section is high risk. Do you best to do it at a weekend, or get local advice on when the mine trucks are less frequent. Roadworks are under way there, and it will be safer when they have finished widening the road.
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2 years ago