Karnu Rally, Day 1 - Kaurna Country

 

The day finally arrives. My initial plan of riding into the city to stay with a friend the night before may not have paid off.  An unfamiliar bed, city noises and anticipation offered very little sleep. Regardless I was up at 5:20am to eat, pack and get down to the start. 

6:15am I was the first there. But only a couple of minutes later the other contenders began to roll in.  Low key greetings, some chatter. Phones passed around for pre race photos.

Yours Truly

 

I cast a little side-eye at the minimal setup on Simon and David's bikes. Clearly their list of contingencies was much shorter than mine. 

April looked well prepared as well as my regular bikepacking buddy Andrew.  Ollie turned up as a late entry and along with Carly and a few day ride groupies we had a good little crew setting off at 6:30 sharp. Out of the block the pace was faster than I thought necessary. The lightly loaded were leading out. We reached the base of the Black Hill climb in under an hour.

Andrew and Other Andrew

I stopped briefly to top up a water bottle at the base of the climb.  And that was the last I saw of David, Simon and Ollie.
I caught up again with Andrew, while Other Andrew hovered back and forth for the photo opportunity. Up ahead April was within 100m and she maintained that lead all the way over Black Hill. Were we racing? I don't know. Someone said this was a race. I finally caught up at the first gate to lift over. 
I was keen to blast through the next kilometre as this looked like dubious case of trespassing. Just before Corkescrew Deviation Rd the first bit of hike-a-bike, down a very steep red clay cutting on the ridge.
Other Andrew and I continued the grind up over Marble Hill and Blockers Rd where he departed to return home, grateful for his chatter and cheeriness for the first couple of hours.
The day was shaping up to be a wee beauty!

The flat bit on Blockers Rd

How I felt after those first two big hills was basically going to determine how the rest of my day went. I was feeling not too bad as I rolled into the first section of dedicated MTB trail in fox. A highposting loaded run down Blue Groove. I may have even tried to get some air. Generally a pretty quick descent despite the luggage handicap and a photo op.

First time back to Fox Creeek in a while. Good to see the post fire bounce-back.

45 minutes later I was in Gumeracha, earlier than expected and the first chance for a bakery stop and some dot stalking on Maprogress.  Andrew (the loaded one, here-on-in referred to as just "Andrew") and April appeared to be close together about 20 minutes behind and Simon, David and Ollie already pushing into Bennetts 30 minutes ahead. I was just finishing my coffee and stowing a cheese kransky when Andrew rolled up shortly followed by April. April wasn't stopping. We road out of town together and into Bennetts forest.

Somewhere near the top of the hill in Bennetts Forest.

 I slowly pulled away at times on the downs only to see her making time on the climbs. This was interesting. She did mention briefly that she wasn't as fast on the downs. I plowed on through the janky forest singletrack as efficiently as I could. Another climb to the Kersie trails and a hair-raiser down Kersy Koaster (my first time here) into Kersbrook township for another quick refill and stalk. The lead had reduced to two. It seemed Ollie had pulled the pin nearby. April about 10 minutes back, Andrew about 30.
A short time later, and by pure chance, I crossed paths with Carly. I hadn't seen her since before the start rollout and didn't recognise her as an entrant at first. She had decided to scratch but continue onto friends in the Barossa on her own route. She seemed in good spirits but "things hadn't gone to plan". I wished her well as our chosen routes separated as quickly as they had coincided.

Somewhere along the next section it became more of a slog. Now pushing past 100km this would normally be a big day ride or a solid day bikepacking, but I wasn't halfway done for today.  Various muscle groups were letting themselves be known in less than pleasant ways. Pre-cramp sensations had started in my quads. Somewhere near Cromer I broke out the salt and vinegar chips. Problem solved, quite remarkably, for now. But only 14km later I stopped again to stretch my back and glutes on some grass near a shelter with a tank for a refill.
All this stopping was eating into my slim lead real fast. April again caught up as I crossed a shallow creek.

The gradients of the next section were much more appropriate for an extended chat. Her experience at these kinds of events is astounding. April knows what she is doing and is well set up in bike, gear and ride plan. Riding with someone else had reset my rhythm and I was feeling good again. As we approached the Pewsey Vale mtb trails I sensed another opportunity to make some space between us and I threaded my way in to the plantation with a small lead.  But I was not expecting this part to be quite so tedious. 

For a full hour I was noodling around pine saplings, my Garmin struggling to determine which way to turn. Seemingly unnecessary loops when that fireroad over there would be more direct. Are we not going from "A" to "B"? Bloody Simon!...
The times when we peaked out of the pines was pretty though.

Finally the descent out past Kaiserstuhl was achieved. Absolutely marvelous, right on Golden Hour. Better stop for a photo or two.

Tanunda was an early goal for dinner, but I was early. Not to worry, I rode on through to Nuriootpa just down the road. Much less pretentious eateries there. But I got held up waiting for an almost inedible burger and chips. April was about 30 minutes behind and had also stopped, but my meal time eroded that lead.  I stowed the uneaten half of my burger and chips, left Nuri with a small lead and pushed on into the fading light. It was at this point I discovered that my front light wasn't working. The problem being one of the batteries I had constructed not providing any voltage. I swapped it for another. I now had plenty of light but wondered how that would affect the night hours I could ride and rueing the 300gram dead weight of a brand new but useless battery. 

That was not the only dead weight. I hadn't eaten nearly as much of the snack food I was carrying All  1.7kg of it carefully selected to give me sufficient daily calories. However it seemed the bag full of salt and vinegar crumbs (you could't describe them as chips anymore) was strangely more appealing to eat, and ample at powering me between the more substantial food I bought in towns.

Kapunda came up quickly under lights. A quick water refill, stalk on Maprogress, and out of town again. I had again made distance on April but I was now thinking about how far into the night I wanted to ride. The body was definitely feeling a tad weary and I didn't want to get into a completely wrecked state that might affect the following days. 

Not everything that hopped was a kangaroo

The Peters Hill section the Heysen Trail seemed like the last big challenge for the day. Waist high barley grass and granny gear until it became an extended hike a bike. Surprisingly there was a warm breeze across the top of the hill, a welcome change from the fast chilling temperatures leading into this section. Marschall's Hut just on the other side was the first real prospect for a sleep but I was expecting a full house of hikers, being a long weekend and pleasant weather. On arrival there was a solitary tent pitched outside and no-one in the hut! It seemed like an opportunity too good to pass even if the ride into Riverton (my mid distance day goal) was easy from here. When I asked my tired body about continuing onto Clare (my long distance day goal) it responded with a feeling of impossible exasperation. Maybe I had gone out too hard and wasted too much time. But I was now at a place that I wanted to sleep.
10pm-ish (really 11pm adjusted for daylight savings) I threw out my sleeping gear on the bunk, did a few quick glute and back stretches, set my watch alarm for 5am, and passed out like the dead.

210km, roughly 3600vm. 15hrs and 50minutes. By far my biggest day ride to date.

5 swooping magpies, 2 echidnas, 1 emu, 1 bearded dragon, 2 unidentified frogs, kangaroos too numerous to count.

Marschall's Hut in the daytime, Photo from Heysen Trail page.