The Outback II (Part 2/2)

After a short rest and a look around at the Mount Elvire Station, I rode to the outcrops that were visible from the station thinking they were lying on our way back but had to turn back as there was no way out.

The next 80 to 90kms were pretty fast, apart from a 500m stretch of deep sand with a corner and gate in the middle.

Then the track became again more technical and the speed dropped considerably while the sun got deeper in the horizon. On our way up we left the peak of the Helena and Aurora Range for later, now John suggests that we should try to get to the top before sunset. It was already dusk and with these two different hills ahead of us I was wondering about which them we were about to climb, both look near but the track seems to go just in between. Finally we started to get higher and the technical demand, so late in the day with already over 400 kms behind, made me wish I was ridding something much lighter. The rocks got bigger and the rain water created ditches deeper, often leaving only a single trail available for progression and by the time we got to the top, we were more doing trial than enduro. The view from there however was overwhelming and rapidly made me forget all the necessary efforts to get there.

After a while enjoying the landscape, we drove down and took a different route to the bottom that was supposed to be shorter and it actually was but not easier. There was no way we could ride that track down on the bikes and the short stretch we had ridden was not an alternative anymore, it was too steep and too rocky to go back. With no available plan B we carefully carried the bikes down one by one but by the time they were all save at the bottom, it was already dark and we had at least another 80 kms to go.

I jumped on my bike and after a couple of meter realized that I had only the first gear and neutral, the second just didn't got in. One of the rocks on the way down must have bent the engine guard. John bent it back a bit and of we go again. A couple of kms later my reserve light went on and a range of 50 kms appeared on the board computer, not wanting to stop again I kept on going, depending on the real distance, the fuel could be just enough to get to the camp with the last drops. At around 30 kms later John stopped at a crossing where a mining warning sign and a not entry blocks one of the roads, Neal says is also running on reserve and we split out the reserve fuel we were carrying between the two bikes. Ignoring the warning sign and driving through the mining camp would save us a lot of time and we wouldn't need to ride that deep sand from the morning again, so we decide to go for it. I don't really know what to expect if we're caught and feel a bit uncomfortable ridding that track, not long after my bike began to feel strange, I stopped to take a look and "yeah right, just what we needed now" a flat tyre, placed the bike on the center stand and started to search the motive, the bike is running on tubeless so no need to take the wheel off, but what I saw was not very encouraging.

 Yeap! That big

The hole was huge and after our repair try was still slightly loosing air somewhere but we decided to move on regardless as there were not much more CO2 canisters remaining. After another short drive we arrived at the mining site and tried to get around without getting noticed but didn't succeed, we claimed to be lost, not knowing how to get through to our campsite and they offered to help us with air, water and then guide us to a defined crossing from where we claimed to know our way back. By the time we finally got to the campsite it was already after 10:00 pm.