Carnarvon
Mechanical Failure
I was up and moving before the sun peeked it’s head over the horizon. There was just 170km to get to Carnarvon and with an early start even it is a slow day I reckoned I’d have enough time. Not too long after I got going, I hit a particularly nasty grid on the road. This led to the first non-tire related mechanical failure since I started.
The impact was strong enough to send two of my water bottles flying but more worryingly a bolt on the front rack sheared off. This was something I considered might be a possibility before I started riding so I changed the original ones for bolts that were a little longer. The longer blots had a little bit poking through near the spokes but enough to grip so I could remove them if the worst did happen. I gave myself a good pat on the back for my forward thinking and set about the job of repairing my steed.
I might have been a little quick with the self congratulations because although I was able to get the remains of the bolt out, I couldn’t find a spare in my little bag of bits. After a little bit of vented frustration a second search through my bag resulted in a miraculous discovery of some nuts and bolts under the liner. Soon after I was on rolling again. Progress was slow, the wind was being a real pain in the ass. At times on flat road I was struggling to maintain 14km/h which is depressingly slow given how hard I was having to work for it. By the time I made it to Carnarvon it was after 5pm and everything was closed. I did get a single room for the cost of a dorm room at the Old Port Hotel which was nice but my food options for Christmas dinner were now limited to pasta and noodles. Not exactly what I was looking for.