June 28th: Reid River to Townsville – 52 km
Day 258
It seems like we were getting up later and later, as the temperature drops day by day. Beating the heat is no longer a problem.
I was a bit anxious about the fact that we will be staying under some stranger’s roof, what if we had nothing in common to talk about? Regardless, we do need to stay in Townsville till our trikes are fixed, and we give our talk at the local PCYC on the 1st of July, where we will also pick up our rope and climbing gear that they stored for us. Both of our front tires are worn through the rubber to the inner puncture resistant layer, and we might need new chains depending on how much they have stretched.
It was an easy ride into town. We met another cyclist who was heading into the outback, taking the same route that we came from. We warned him about the lack of water in the desert, after learning that he only had a 3-liter water bag with him. Between two of us, we carried 23 liters of water and that was just enough for 2 days. Travel fast is always a way to save the weight, but you will never know what might delay your travel. Hopefully he will take our advice and get some more water containers.
50 meters away from our destination, we encountered the first unfriendly driver, who yelled ” I didn’t see you, you could have got yourself run over!” while we were peddling along the bright green “bike only” lane, with our bright yellow flags floating in the air. Welcome to the city, it was also a reminder that we were no longer in the wide open outback.
We were greeted warmly by Mick, the owner of the Bicycle Peddler, which is the only shop in town that carries the tires we were looking for as a replacement – Schwable Marathon Surpremes. Coincidentally Mick and Jenny were our Warm Showers hosts as well. We couldn’t resist to take a spin on the variety of bikes they have in the shop, and were inspired to do another tour – maybe a cycling on the folding Brompton bikes through Europe one day?
Tires were easy to change, and the stretched out chains were easy to replace as well. However, the chains were stretched long ago that they had worn down the teeth on the cassettes. With our new chains, every few steps there was a jump. New cassettes are generally not expensive, but since our smaller tire size requires special gear clusters, we were looking at a 80 or 90 AUD dollars for each replacement, that is if we are lucky to find it. Mick again came to our rescue, and promised to find us 2 new gear clusters. What else can we ask for from a bike shop?
Mick and Jenny didn’t just saved us from our mechanical failures, but also opened their home to us – warm shower, comfy bed, and delicious home cooked meals. Mick and Jenny are also touring cyclists, they assured us that our dirty panniers and ravenous appetite were to be expected. We also had engaging conversation, which was just as rewarding as having a home to stay in. It has been a while since we went beyond the small chat, and have had a real conversation with like-minded people.
That night, we had a hard time sleeping in the clean comfy bed. It felt so unusual that we could move our limbs and roll around, so that was what we did for the better part of night. It only took us 6 weeks to forget how to sleep in a bed.