It’s the main drag from alice springs to the northwest, so I was expecting the Tanami Road to be pretty good. It was, but vast tracts were still unacceptabe for locals.
I cruise at 100-110km, regardless of terrain. The worst roads are deep sand and sandy corrugations, and there was a bit of the first but plenty of the second. The bike/tire/road combination I have is still smoothest at that speed- rather like going through deep powder when skiing, or water skiing. It’s about getting up on top of the surface and gliding.
However that requires decent suspension, tires & tubes, while the whole vehicle vibrates, so everything needs to be bolted on well.
If the vehicle is unstable at speed, then the only other option is to slow right down. This creates even more vibrations, and judging by the trail of debris I see, things often fall off other traffic.
So the Aboriginals that live in the country can’t afford decent cars, the distances are far, average speeds as low (cruise at 60) and fuel is expensive. But I repeat myself. There was a bit of road improvement happening-far better than on the great eastern road sandpit.
Meanwhile I am glad I spent the time prepping the bike, and I am glad to have obtained new tires in Alice. Another motorcyclist I met in Alice actualy turned back after starting the Tanami, but I met yet another chap today who was coping splendidly. Actually he had met the guy with the fired up KTM below, and the story was again confirmed that I am riding a bike that is likely to catch fire if I crash badly.
Pictures are of a termite mound, remnants of a strange ceremony, the end of the road, the half road near the start of the 1060kms and a very good bit later on. Oh – and it seems that most of the scrawling on the WA sign is from Kiwis.
Lance Wiggs 