Australia’s Postie Bike Challenge
This article was written by Malcolm Percy. It’s a different look (for this blog, anyway) into a cool motorcycle ride that probably few in America know about. Many thanks to Andrew for sending it along.
2011 POSTIE BIKE CHALLENGE
The Event: Brisbane to Alice Springs via Birdsville – 9 to 21 August 2011
Over the years a number of events organised by a variety of individuals have been given the title “Postie Bike Challenge”, however the domain name www.postiebikechallenge.org is owned by Dan Gridley, who along with his brother and four friends have been running an annual Postie Bike Challenge since 2002. These rides have all started in Brisbane because that’s where the organisers live, and destinations have included Darwin (3 times), Alice Springs (twice now), Cairns (via the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cooktown), Melbourne (via Bourke and the snowy mountains) and Adelaide. Each event is intended to be a 10 day challenge rather than just a ride, and avoids major roads and uses unsealed roads as much as possible.
Although not a registered charity, the events raise money for local community groups along the route by utilizing them for support services and by donating the bikes to Rotary at the final destination. For example, the town of Bedourie has a primary school with 14 students and one teacher. The Parents and Citizens association provided us with a dinner, a cooked breakfast and 50 cut lunches. The money they raised from that will be used to fund an excursion for the kids to the big cities (Charleville and Longreach). Similarly, the Rotary clubs of Alice Springs will slowly sell off the bikes that were donated to them and the proceeds will be added to the money raised from the Henley on Todd regatta. Apart from the usual things like providing scholarships and supporting the Royal Flying Doctor Service, one of the main aims of this year’s regatta was to establish a specialist breast cancer unit at the Alice Springs hospital, rather than having patients travel to Adelaide for treatment. Our bikes should add around $40,000 to that goal.
The Bikes
The bikes are Honda CT110 purchased at auction from Australia Post. Mine was a 2006 model with 28585 kilometres on the odometer. The bikes are as ridden by Australia Post, including 3.00X17 road tyres front and rear, with the only modification being the removal of the post bags and the addition of a milk crate on the luggage rack. They have a 4 speed manual gearbox and a centrifugal clutch. A rider who weighs between 80 and 90 kg could get a top speed of about 80 kph, but my 203 cm 112 kg body (actually probably nearer 120 kg when you add on boots, helmet and riding gear) kept my bike down to a little over 70 kph (less climbing hills or into a head wind).
Before the Ride
I flew to Brisbane early on the morning of 9 August 2011 with QANTAS, and the service was exemplary (thanks Moira). I then caught a bus to the start point at the Ipswich showgrounds and was there by 10 am ready for the 10:30 briefings. This was the admin day where everyone is checked in and given a bag of goodies that included event polo shirt and hat, first aid kit, maps and so on. Apart from briefings on CT110 maintenance and administrative matters, it was also the opportunity to replace the standard handgrips with some soft ones I had purchased at Peter Stevens, fit the sheep skin seat cover and my home made milk crate lid. Mine was a piece of 2-ply cut to size using 4 cable ties as a hinge and a bungee cord to keep it closed. The lid was essential to keep the contents of the crate from bouncing out on the rough roads. The crate contained 5 litres of petrol, 2 litres of drinking water, a cut lunch, a first aid kit, a road atlas and anything else you wanted with you. Your camping gear and any other luggage, had to fit into an army duffle bag that was carried in the truck. This was also the first opportunity many of us had to ride a CT110 around the showgrounds and try to get used to the clutch, which is also foot activated through the gear change lever. Everything was ready by about 2 pm.
The Ride
The next morning we all gathered at the showgrounds around 8:30, we lined up the bikes for photo opportunities, a few farewells were said and by 9:30 we were away. There were 44 riders aged between 25 and 72 (38 men and 6 women) with 6 support crew in 5 vehicles carrying 3 spare bikes. The first day was a fairly short introductory ride, about 185 km (40 dirt) through Boonah, into northern NSW across Mt Lindesay, then back into QLD for our first overnight stop at Stanthorpe. Although scenic, everyone was complaining about being cold. This was also when our two mechanics (Andy and Richard) nick-named me “windbreak” (or was that “windbrake”? Either way it was better than being called “breaks wind”). They decided to lift the needle in my carburettor one notch to slightly enrich the fuel mixture and to loosen the tappets to their maximum gap. The evening routine involved refuelling, checking the engine oil, lubricating and checking the drive chain. Then you set up your tent for the night.
The following morning people started getting up around 6 am. The temperature was -1C. Camp was packed and duffle bags loaded on the truck by 7 am. We then had a cooked breakfast, collected lunch, checked the tyre pressures on the bike, and attended a riders briefing around 7:45 with a departure around 8 am. This became our regular morning and evening routine.
A CT110 being ridden flat out has a range of about 130 kilometres out of its 5 litre tank. I would stop every 100 kilometres (hour and a half) to top up my tank, stretch my legs and back and have drink. Dan would set up a refuel point around 200 – 250 kilometres where we could refill our tanks and jerry cans. Our second day on the road saw us cover 390 km west to Nindigully.
Our third day was 400 km to Eulo; at least the weather was getting warmer. Our fourth day was 480 km north-west to Windorah. That’s a long way on a bike that’s flat out at 70 kph and needs to be refuelled 3 times. The further west we went, the wider the road became but the narrower the bitumen. Road trains became more common, and they are entitled to all of the single lane bitumen, other road users are obliged to take to the dust.
Birdsville
Sunday 14 August was to be a big day; 109 km of bitumen followed by 277 km of dirt on the Birdsville development road. The road is well maintained for heavy vehicles. There is a lot of large diameter gravel (small rocks) on the road that are pushed up into wheel ruts about 6-8 inches deep. The bottom of the ruts are a series of pot holes that probably wouldn’t bother you much in a truck, but with 17” wheels and very little suspension travel they shook and jarred you. It was here we had our first casualty. One of the ladies went too fast into the first sand drift across the road. Her front wheel dug in, and she bent the steering stem before going over the handle bars landing on gravel (small rocks) on the other side. She was obviously in pain. We stayed with her until the sweep vehicle arrived. He used a satellite phone to call the ambulance then took her back towards Windorah while we pushed on.
I had heard that if you go fast enough you can smooth out corrugations. Postie bikes don’t go fast enough. Trying to maintain 50-60 kph my vision was blurred and I could not focus, so at times I was forced to slow to 30-40 kph in order to see clearly. About 25 kilometres before Birdsville we came upon road works. This amounted to dumping red clay and more stones on the road and watering it. Graders were starting to work on one side of the road, but the side we were forced to use resembled a motocross track on a rainy day. It only lasted a couple of kilometres, but after 200 km of corrugations, dust, sand and deep gravel it seemed like some sort of cruel trick to be bogging in deep, wet, sticky red clay.
I did eventually get into Birdsville, totally knackered. Later that night in the pub I learned that we had our first (and only) engine failure: a dropped valve. He had come in on a trailer, but would be able to continue tomorrow on one of the spare bikes. We also found out that Jo (our injured lady rider) had been flown by the RFDS to Rockhampton where X-rays revealed fractures in both shoulders and she was about to go into surgery to have plates and screws inserted.
This had not been a fun day, but I did get a sense of achievement at having arrived unaided.
And beyond …
The plan had been to ride out to “Big Red” (the first dune of the Simpson Desert) and back in the morning, but the road was still under water so that was not possible. We had a relaxed morning in Birdsville, had a look at the Working Man’s Museum, and then met at the pub around 10:30 for more photos and a briefing before heading north out of town around 11 am. The road to the north of Birdsville appeared to be in much better condition than the road to the east. That was due in part to the fact that it had been flooded during the wet and subsequently rebuilt, and partly because we were there before the races. I’m told that after the races the heavy traffic coming from Mt Isa knocks the road around a lot. We got to Bedourie with plenty of time to have a swim in the municipal pool before dinner.
The following day was a comparatively short 217 km north to Boulia. Following the floods, the worst sections of road had been sealed and maybe half this distance was on bitumen. From Boulia we headed west to Tobermorey station just inside the Northern Territory border. It was 249 km of hard packed red soil with only an occasionally sand drift so once again we were able to make good time.
Our second last day on the road was 421 km of the Plenty Highway to a place called Gem Tree. As we headed west the road deteriorated. The hard surface became increasingly corrugated, the sand encroached from both sides and it seemed at times I was either in sand or being battered by corrugations, sometimes both. Just after lunch I found Cecilia Brown lying on a sand drift in the middle of the road swearing at herself. I picked her bike up, she said she was sore but OK. I stayed until one of the support vehicles arrived then pushed on (slowly). My technique for dealing with sand was much the same as dealing with deep gravel: slow down as much as I could before entering it, change down a gear or two, push my weight back against the milk crate then try and power through the stuff. I had my feet off the pegs and forward (motocross style) so that when the back end went sideways I could swing my foot down and kick the bike back up vertical.
I was second last getting into Gem Tree. Cecilia was last. That night over dinner the damage toll was revealed. Two more bikes had been damaged but the riders continued on spares, one of the Bobs (there were 3) had hammered his forearm in a fall and had to be brought in a support vehicle with a suspected broken wrist – he would be it X-rayed when he got home. After Cecilia took her boot off, she couldn’t walk and she couldn’t get the boot back on either. An X-ray in Alice Springs next day would show a fractured fibula. This had been a harder day than getting into Birdsville.
Alice Springs
From Gem Tree it was 140 km of bitumen to Alice Springs. Ten days and 3,052 km (1,025 on dirt roads) after leaving Ipswich, 41 of the original 44 riders rode into Alice Springs and there were six damaged bikes on the trailer. Much to my surprise Jenny was waiting for me at the Chifley Resort Hotel. That wasn’t part of the plan! Who was going to pick me up at the airport now? That evening we had a formal dinner at the hotel, and Rotary handed out certificates of appreciation for delivering and donating our bike. The following morning, the postie bikes lead the Henley on Todd parade through Alice Springs to the Todd River. Once there, the bikes were handed over and we were official guests of Rotary for the remainder of the day (free food and drink). Jen and I flew back to Melbourne the following day.
I am glad I did it. I got a real sense of satisfaction and achievement from completing the challenge, but I doubt I’ll be going back year after year the way some repeat offenders do. There were two days in particular that I was pleased Jenny had decided not to go in it. In fact those days I wondered why I was there myself.
-Malcolm Percy
