Cycle News

FEATURE DARYL BEATTIE'S AUSSIE OUTBACK TOUR P94 The WAA line is like the French Line's little brother, not quite as powerful but still packing a decent punch. After the ease of yesterday we're back into it—deep sand, dunes and salt-flat crossings. The WAA line eventually turns at the Erabena Track and provides more of the same as far as dune riding goes—they're not quite as full-on as the French Line dunes but you still have to treat them with the utmost respect or you'll be eating it before you know it. Today's a big day, cover- ing over 170 miles and eventually hooking back up with the French Line for the night's camp and Mother Nature's fireworks display. 170 miles might not sound like a big deal but when you're doing 15 mph in some sections and knackered from the dunes it will take you all day. As we settle into the night show and get ready for the final day's epic riding into Birdsville, we're all a little nostalgic. By all accounts this past week has been the most fun any of us have had on two wheels for a bloody long time. And it was so be- cause there wasn't really anything you could fault. I'm sure Daryl will find things to fine-tune as he's still new to this adventure tour game, but for a first up effort he's done exceptionally well. The camps were as comfortable as you could have hoped for, the beds and showers a godsend, and the food Grant prepared was outstanding. The crew has also been top grade. Rocket and Scooter both did their jobs flawlessly, and we all enjoyed listening to Daryl's stories about racing 500cc Grand Prix in the age of the titans. Seven days away is the perfect time to get out there and enjoy a dirt bike, especially when all you have to is rock up with your gearbag. Everything else is taken care of, so all you have to do is ride at your own pace, keep it upright (ahem) and have a blast. And with the Australian dollar in a seemingly nev- er-ending free fall against the Greenback, it might be time to do that trip you've always wanted. CN THE MIGHTY UNIMOG One of the stars of the tour is undoubtedly the Mer- cedes Benz Unimog. Daryl picked it up at the army auctions a year ago to go fishing, before transforming it into the support vehicle to end all support vehicles. He takes up the story. "It's a six-cylinder diesel 1989 model with 180hp. It's got eight forward gears and eight in reverse," Daryl starts. "One of the things I wanted to do was to build it for the Canning Stock Route in Western Australia and work backwards, because the Canning is the most remote destination we go to and biggest distance we cover without services. "It's got six wheels and two spares. The tires are Mi- chelin XZLs on Hutchinson rims with a bead lock. The tires and wheels alone are over $20K. They're a must for this trip. The truck is eight ton empty and over 10 ton fully loaded for a trip. The suspension is standard but I've fitted a larger radiator. "We carry 500L (132-gallon) of unleaded petrol, which is the legal amount. We carry another 225-gallon of diesel, which gives us a range of about 2360 miles. We'll change the water around later on so we carry 265 gallons of drinking water and 132 gallons of shower/ kitchen water. That means that extra 132 gallons can be pumped from rivers or other clean water sources. The showers can be heated if the engine is on and we run six batteries—two to start the truck and four auxiliary ones, so there's no need to run a generator—but we have one as a back up. "As far as communication goes we have the website tracker so people can see where we are at all times; we run iPads with Hema maps; sat-phones; EPIRBs and two substantial medical kits—both built by QLD Ambulance when we did our medical training there. We also have a $3000 defibrillator for real emergencies. Ron and I both carry basic medical kit while riding for snakebites and general injuries which we'll fine-tune over the next year."

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