Two days ago (24/11/2012) at about 2pm I ventured out from Adelaide 20km along the River Torrens Linear Park Trail on my unloaded bike to investigate the start of the Mawson Trail, a 900km off road mountain bike trail going north from Adelaide through the Lofty Ranges, the Barossa Valley and finishing in the Flinders Ranges. My intention was to do the first 215 kms encompassing the Rattler Rail Trail and the Reisling Trail to Clare, before heading across to Wallaroo to catch the ferry to the Eyre Peninsula and onto Port Lincoln.
The ride out along the Linear Park Trail to the suburb of Highbury climbed about 100 metres, then shortly after I reached Gorge Road and the start of the Mawson Trail. I had intended on taking a small detour right at the beginnng to avoid a steep section on Bachelor Road but Jim a property owner there was quick to let me know that the detour was on his private property and that using the official Mawson Trail route was my best option. So up I went on the first section to 280 Metres to see how difficult it was. On an unloaded bike it seemed do-able even though I had to push due to the steep gradient, and I stopped at Jim`s vineyard at the top to admire the views across the hills back towards Adelaide. Jim had said that this was the steepest part and I figured even if I had to carry all my gear, I could make it up this far. I was still puzzled about the literature which claimed that the first climb was 600metres, but back I went to Adelaide to get my gear organised. On the way down I went via Jim the vintners hiuse to see if I could camp at the vineyard for my first night when I returned to start the trail with all my gear.
Unfortunately that day I underestimated the time it would take me to ride back to Adelaide and it quickly got dark when I still had 12kms to go and I was without my lights! I ended up having to retreat from the Linear Park Trail to the suburban streets and arriving back at the YHA around 10.30pm tired and hungry and another lesson learned.
The following day I did my food shopping then got ready for an early start on the Monday. Unfortunately on the Monday morning while changing over to my off road tyres, I noticed a broken spoke on the back wheel so headed off to the bike shop to get it checked out. The bike shop advised me to get a new back wheel due to problems with the aluminium nipples, so not wanting to take any risks, had the work done and headed off to the Mawson Trail, this time with my bike fully loaded, and hoping that this would be the last of my mechanical problems for a while!
It was around 30 degrees so a hot ride to the end of the Linear Park Trail in Highbury where I was certain that I remembered a place to fill up my bulk water containers when I had checked out the ride a few days earlier. However I was mistaken and as I sat in the shade contemplating my dilemma, Ryan, a council employee, drove through the park and when he heard my story kindly offered to drive to the residential area and fill up all my water containers. Before long he was back with my 12 litres of water for the next 3 days supply plus he insisted I take an extra litre of his own, bringing my total water weight to 13 kgs!
