WA Audax’s Timber and Wheat ride was ridden on Saturday 14 August starting at Pioneer Village in Armadale at 6am. It was ridden by Gary, Nicholas, Ed and wecoming Julian for his first regular ride, other than a previous PAP. The cool start at 6am turned into an awesome day for riding, being cool but fairly dry.

The following points are a combination of Rider input and thoughts from the RO:

Good Points (Quotes)
“The weather, the views and the quiet”.
“Riders constantly in high spirits, laughing & joking”.

Other Points
Albany Highway had a significant traffic and the shoulder was narrow and rough in parts.
Brookton Highway is now much improved with wider and smoother shoulder.
Most other roads were OK but as normal traffic is inconsiderate of cyclists.
Country shop hours are not reliable (e.g. Wandering was pretty much closed, but Pingelly IGA was open)
No water between Pingelly and Beverley (140km).
No water between Beverley & Karagullen (~100km).

Funny points (Gary’s video censored)
Quote “Looking at Ed’s gearing arrangement and realising that things could always be a lot worse”
Quote “Stopping for a sandwich on Dangin-Mears Rd, and being attacked by the largest mozzies I have ever seen.”

RO’s final say
As RO it would have been useful if I emailed the riders before the ride passing on the Cue sheets and suggesting they consider water and shop availability on the long stretches. Based on responses from the riders the ride can be re-run in the future, but should remain in the cooler seasons due to long stretches with limited availability of water and shops.

Some photo’s below (More photo’s from Ed on Facebook)

Is some illegal dumping been going on?