Cycling today was not a good idea!

(Brisbane, Australia, 5th of February 2017)

We had planned that we would ride our bikes this morning and Johan had put up a tour of almost 9 kilometers up and down a mountain. We left home at 7 in the morning but it was already over 30 degrees. Despite the lack of both luggage racks and the usual racing tires (instead of the more grooved tires we used in New Zealand) my bike felt very heavy and I had to stop several times because I was both dizzy and nauseous. I realize in hindsight that it must have been a combination of heat (30 degrees Celsius at most) and the fact that the hills on the way up the mountain were both longer and steeper than expected. After an hour I gave up and Johan rode on while I in a slow tempo cycled back to our apartment. Johan did not ride all the way, but turned back halfway up the mountain. On my 40 kilometers I got 27 height meters and Johan almost got 350 meters of altitude on his 1000 kilometers.

We had a quiet afternoon after this somewhat rough start of the day and we used the time to plan our coming weeks and taking a dip in the pool at the campsite. We have decided that the next step is to fly to Adelaide and then travel up to Alice Springs for a few days and then go back to Adelaide. According to the plan, we then ride our bikes to Melbourne and possibly also the rest of the way up to Sydney. But you never know what will happen in reality ….

/Christel