Canning Stock Route

[in4]

Although written primarily for photographers, this blog is a great read devoted to the Canning Stock Route that crosses the Simpson Desert in WA Australia. I was particularly interested in the choice of 'fat-boy' type tyres. They might be a necessity given the terrain but they do look like hard work to me.

http://bicyclenomad.com/2013/08/31/canning-stock-route-photography/

[il padrone]

Yes, the fattest tyres possible are really a necessity when you get out on the sandy tracks in the desert, believe me.

Last year a mate and I were defeated by the sands of the Andado Track. We were well and truly loaded with food and supplies for 8-10 days, and water for 2-3 days. We were running 2.3" Schwalbe Mondials and mine were down to sub-20psi to get traction, but the deep sand had us walking and pushing - extremely debilitating in this sort of soup:



We were forced to change our plans and backtrack the 4-5 days back to the highway.


Sunsets were gorgeous though

[revelo]

Horrible looking sand there. One thing I found helpful is to bring along a backpack (actually, my rack bag is a backpack). Then load the heavy gear (especially water and food) into the backpack so as to reduce the bike weight. An unloaded bike is MUCH easier to push than a heavily loaded bike. This trick is good for short stretches of sand like in that photo, but I certainly wouldn't want to spend the whole day pushing through stuff like that while carrying 60+lbs of food and water on my back.