Have a ton of airline miles and United 1K status from work travel, and seriously considering solo bikepacking the Yorke peninsula in South Australia in mid March. I’m American, have biked the C&O canal (184 miles) over 4 days, and it felt a little fast. I wish I would have done more like 30-40 miles a day, instead of 50-ish, to have more time to stop and smell the roses. So I’m thinking of doing this trip over 9 days instead of 5.
I think I have a plan for logistics, which includes checking my bike packed in a box, and my gear in a duffle. I’ll have a bag with me on the plane for plane stuff that I won’t necessarily want to take bikepacking with me (noise canceling over ear headphones and iPad) and some city clothes for before and after the bike trip. I’ll stay at a hotel in Adelaide the day I arrive and the day I depart. I’m hoping they’ll hold onto my airplane carryon bag.
I’m thinking I’ll need to find a bike shop in Adelaide to re-assemble and tune my bike. Being in the wild with no bike shops nearby for over a week, I think I’d feel better having a bike mechanic do that over me.
I’ve never been to Australia, and from what I understand, everything there tries to kill you.
So, any obvious holes in my plan?
Any suggestions for a good bike shop in Adelaide that could help with putting my rig back together? I’m hoping to drop it off around noon when I arrive and pick it up the next morning when they open if that’s realistic.
I also need to figure out how to get from Adelaide, to Port Wakefield (start of the route, a little over an hour away by car) with my bike and gear. Are there van taxi’s or XL Lyfts/ride shares that I could take with my assembled bike? Can I call one to take my back at the end of the trip? Or is there a better approach to get to and from Adelaide?
I just started seriously biking again and bikepacking this year, and it’s been amazing. I think I can do this, but I dunno, it’s a lot. Am I biting off more than I can chew at 50?
by KingCaptHappy-LotPP