2011 Race Report

We had fire and flood (definitely no famine). This year’s race had all the drama of a 6.30 soapie. A partial reroute had already been planned due to floods on the eastern side of the desert. Then bushfires closed the desert at the last minute. A completely new race route was pulled out of the hat and the rough edges knocked off.

1. From the Jaws of Defeat

Our main foe for the last few years has been flooding in the desert. This year it seemed no different and Race Director Mark was out in the desert surveying a re-route of Days 4 & 5 while on his way to the start of the event at Purni Bore. But little did he know that a new threat was thrown into the equation….bushfires!!!
As Mark Polley got the news that the desert was closed due to bushfires, the spectre of defeat reared it’s ugly head. He was caught out in the desert on the wrong side, with minimal communications.
Luckily to the rescue comes race organisers Grim, Kate and Ian who just happen to be on the right side of the desert in Oodnadatta. With little else to do, they started organising a brand new event and within a couple of days were putting the finishing touches to it.

New routes(including challenge loop), new campsites, new 25th Anniversary venue, plus a huge amount of communications to crews, officials, police, national parks etc etc.
Well Oodnadatta isn’t too bad. The iconic Pink Roadhouse has an ambience all it’s own.
Arriving in Oodnadata on race eve, Mark quickly got up to speed with the new route and set about organising riders, crews and officials.
The race wasn’t expected to be like the desert but still encompassed broad swathes of outback country. The route went north into the Northern Territory (keeping it a multi-state event) visiting interesting and historic places such as Pedirka Railway siding(old Ghan route), Eringa Waterhole, Bloods Creek, Dalhousie Springs and finally Oodnadatta itself.

Fat Tyre riders felt a little deflated as they saw there perceived advantage disappear with the route not offering much sand.
The big question was what to name it…you can’t have a race without a name. Something rhyming, something iconic, anything will do really. How about The Oodnadatta Odyssey.

2. Let it Begin

Day 1: Oodnadatta to Pedirka Railway Siding (80k & 47k)

Weather: Initially overcast and cool but warming up later in the day.

Day 1 Morning Stage (Stage 1) Lead convoy headed out on the track at 5.30am setting up the distance markers and direction arrows. Riders did their final preparations and lined up at the start in front of the iconic Pink Roadhouse…..the atmosphere was tense…..6am Grim signalled the start and they were off.
At 7am the sweep convoy followed…the show was on the road.
Fresh legs and a fast track saw a brisk pace being set early on. Riders soon found something to work against with a steady headwind and some rough surfaces. The water stops got their routine working and started getting to know the riders.

Robert Weir on Waterstop 3 reminisced about his rides in 1991 and 1992. Before he entered the race in 1991 he was told by Jack Mullins(race organiser) “It’s not too bad, it’s just a dirt road”
All riders pulled into lunch ahead of the sweep. Some a little blown out from sticking with the fast packs. Paul Schroder came in a clear winner for the first stage and this was a pattern that would be set for the rest of the race. Paul was riding a Fat Tyre bike and managed amazing average speeds of up to 28kph on many of the stages. Pauls ‘accessorised’ helmet also has him as a clear leader in the ‘Most Flambouyant Headwear’ competition.
Ken Glasco(20) and Kane Chandler(4) came in second and third and both set a solid steady pace for the rest of the race. Ken, originally from Texas…was looking for something bigger than Texas, so came to Australia 25 years ago and now lives in Mt Isa.

Day 1 Afternoon Stage (Stage 2) Afternoon Stage saw the riders traversing some seriously rocky, arse chewing tracks. It was a warm/hot Afternoon Stage(approx 35) and the direct radiant heat from the sun felt much hotter. Those from the cooler southern states had some acclimatising to do. Sweep got his first taste of blood picking up John Jenkins at the 30k waterstop.
Neil Theis(15) improved as the race went on eventually taking out the U50 stage and coming in 2nd on several occassions. Neil’s crew came out to have a look at the race with a view to doing it themselves. “Neil’s our crash test dummy, if he survives it, we’ll come out”.
We camped at old Pedirka Railway station(on the old Ghan line). Plenty of gibber making it hard to get pegs in the ground and some amazingly annoying small insects swarming all over us at dusk. Later in the night we had gusts of hot winds and dust. Lightning lit up the sky all around and we weren’t quite sure what we were in for.

Day 2: Pedirka to Charlotte Waters (83k & 50k)

Weather: Overcast, looming clouds, (1020391)

Day 2 Morning Stage (Stage 3) We woke to see smoke and fires on the horizon. The lightning from last night had done it’s work, starting several fires. Mark was on the HF radio and sat phone reporting fires and getting the latest updates from Police and emergency services. It was safe for now to head north but a large fire we could see burning near Hamilton Station was to have implications for us later in the race.

Back on the race with overcast sky and fast track the riders made good time to Eringa Waterhole. A lovely shady lunch stop with shady trees and large waterhole.

A couple of campers were enjoying the isolated bliss at the waterhole. They were soon joined by 30 odd 4wds and a noisy enthusiastic crowd.
The bunting went up, the riders were cheered in, but overall they took it quite well.
We soon moved on, much like a plague of locust.

Day 2 Afternoon Stage (Stage 4) For the Afternoon Stage the riders had to work against some head and cross winds plus the usual rough tracks. The countryside is wide open outback country, today featuring more trees and grass etc as we crossed into the Northern Territory. Winding tracks and undulations created more variety for the riders. Michael Geoghan (a novice rider – he just rides to work…40k each day) sat out the Afternoon Stage but finished all other stages.

I caught up with Troy Tinker (22) who came to ride as a tribute to his dad, past rider Kevin Tinker who recently passed away. Kevin rode in 1999 and was immortalised in the photo of him carrying his bike through the sticky mud that clogged wheels and nearly stopped the whole show.

Troy put in a solid ride coming 5th overall.

Day 3: Charlotte Waters to Dalhousie Springs.

Weather: Cold, clear Morning Stage, warm day

Day 3 Morning Stage (Stage 5) Another fast day with winds sometimes helping riders. Big changes in levels created some magnificent sweeping views of the surrounding countryside. Road generally rough in places and some riders starting to suffer significant pain in the saddle. The medics’ workload was rising. Riders rolled into Bloods Creek for lunch. All the vehicles were parked around a huge windmill dominating the area.

The Afternoon Stage stage was impending and Dave wanted a bird’s eye view of the start. Climbing up the windmill Dave buckled himself to the frame then his camera battery went flat. ‘Wait….hold the start till I change the battery!’….I think he got the shot.

Day 3 Afternoon Stage (Stage 6) The Afternoon Stage warmed up again (as usual) and some were suffering from the heat. Andrew Armstrong-Taylor was suffering a lot of leg pain and baulked at the 3rd waterstop contemplating whether or not to do the last 10k. A little prodding from the waterstop crew had him on his way and he was pleased to have finished the day and avoided the sweeps demented clutches.
Paul Schroder still first in all stages is looking tireless and riding very strongly. Ken Glasco 2nd (43 min) and Neil Theis in 3rd (54 min)

The riders and crews were looking forward to a good soak in Dalhousie Springs. The thermal pool is like a hot bath and is quite large. Great for soaking out the aches and pains and removing ingrained dirt. The infamous Dalhousie Springs mossies were out in force as usual (secret government mosquito mutation project) and anyone without the appropriate protection was targeted.
Lots of smoke on the horizon and Mark was busy on the sat phone to the authorities. Our planned route past Hamilton station is blocked with no options other than a car evacuation back through Northern Territory.

Day 4: Evacuation

5.30 start for our 650k car shuttle. The aim is to reach the planned start point for the Day 5 leg of the race. Roads were good and the convoy moved smoothly up to Finke, Kulgera down the Stuart Hwy to Marla then onto the Oodnadatta Road to within 50k of Oodnadatta. Some riders a bit stiff from being in the confines of the car all day while others happy for the recovery time.

A comfy campsite tonight with crisp clear skies lit up with millions of stars that only the outback can provide.

Day 5: Oodnadatta Track (50k Nth Oodnadatta) to Oodnadatta.

Including 4 laps of the challenge route

Weather: cool Morning Stage warming up through the day.

Day 5 Morning Stage (Final Stage) The Morning Stage saw the riders eager to get going and once underway they formed a large peleton to combat the headwinds and to enjoy some male bonding. After 50k, the whole group rolled into Oodnadatta as one, enjoying the moment and creating a few surprised looks from tourists.
Then it was out onto the 9k ‘challenge’ circuit just south of Oodnadatta to give the boys a taste of desert conditions. They had to complete 4 laps of the circuit and this wasn’t going to be so easy.
The 9k challenge track features some challenging sand dunes and is quite a picturesque setting with trees, shrubs, claypans and winding narrow tracks.
Once they hit the sand dunes it was on for one and all and the pack broke up quickly. Paul Schroder rode out strongly attacking the sand dunes and making impressive good use of his fat tired bike. Zooming up sand dunes with hardly a pause, his body language left no doubt he was on a mission.
Other riders also enjoyed the challenge and variety of the sand tracks. The change of pace and increased effort required riders to refocus on the task at hand, rather than thinking about the party tonight.
Konrad(12) (a novice rider who started training on his wife’s bike) finished all stages but had a bit of a shock when he was caught on the challenge loop with an unfixable puncture. Adam(5) rolled up and offered his spare tube(luckily they were both riding 29ers) and stayed with him helping him to fix the puncture. Both finished ahead of the sweep.
The ‘back end’ riders showed great determination and all finished the challenge route.

For the first time ever, Grim did his final sweep around the course on a Fat Tired bike. We weren’t sure whether he would be actually able to ‘sweep’ anybody as he would have to catch them first… and the site of Grim looming up behind on a bike would add an adrenalin boost that would surely shoot riders out of his grasp.

The 25th Anniversary Bash

The night’s festivities saw riders and crews dressed up in ‘Desert Formal’ gear. An ebullient mob kicked the night off noisily and it got worse from there. A slideshow featured some of the history of the ride and the successful auction bumped our fundraising to over $30,000 this year!