Things sorted out, bike and trailer packed, tomorrow morning I’ll be back on the highway. Given the predicted summer temperatures, I’ll again be heading south down to Victoria, maybe spend a few days in Melbourne and do some street photography, then west to Geelong where I’ll either catch the ferry and give Tasmania a second chance, or if not, continue west along the coast to South Australia. Once there, I’ll see how things are looking, continuing on and crossing the Nullarbor into Western Australia would be great, but not if temperatures are in the high forties. OK, getting ahead of myself, first up a relatively easy ride down south, just hope I don’t have fifteen flats like last time.
Issues? The big one is the predicted heat, and another of concern to me is that on my previous two rides performance was noticeably below what I would normally expect. With an equal load the two-wheeled trailer drags significantly more than the single-wheel I used before, but beyond that I find physical and mental endurance is a problem. Physically the leg power is there but ability to sustain effort has dropped, which could be a diet issue, lack of deep sleep, and all things combining, a less than optimum mental state. The mental is hugely important, a shift in state of mind can translate into kilometres per hour.