Well I've been back in Sydney for a bit now. Glad to see that I haven't succumbed to an addiction like I did in Perth.
In Perth, it started as we're often told it does : "just try it", "only one go, it can't hurt", "here free for your first time".
What could it hurt - I wasn't that interested anyway...
Soon I was short of sleep and sneaking slyly about, seeking out characters with odd sounding names. Searching desperately... Day, night had no meaning. I just needed to score one more time...
I needed to increase my hit...
Make my hit stronger...
Make my hits hits last longer...
Get more hits...
There had to be a way...
Then as gradually as it started, it faded away. Sense returned. I gave up playing World of Warcraft (WOW to people in the know), got more sleep, and slipped out the door to cycle across the Great Central Road.
WOW as an addiction was very minor - a few weeks hard at it.. My other addiction, that I fully unleashed the moment I arrived in Perth: junk food, I'd had many many years. More specifically anything with lots of sugar in it. High fat also featured, but no as much as sugar.
Its fair to say that most of my travels were fueled by junk food: cake, chocolate, lollies and my favorite; biscuits (scotch finger biscuits, chocolate chip, orange creams and ginger nuts featured heavily, but I wasn't too picky). I was the person who'd eat dessert first, and sometimes, second if I didn't like the mains choices, and still have dessert! A family block of chocolate or two. A whole cake.
Tub of icecream. Packets of biscuits for a main meal, no problem.
Yep, I ate a lot of sugar. A lot like cigarette addiction, I'd tried in the past to cut back, gone cold turkey more than a few times, but always fallen off the wagon. Looking back, my heart wasn't really in it. One of the reasons that I'd failed in the past was that I figured there was always lots of time left to cut back, so what's the harm in having another cookie now! I can cut back later today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year... Any time but now!
Its no surprise that I left Perth more than 10kg heavier than I'd arrived ; daily cookie consumption, ice cream, chocolate has that effect. With WOW, junk food, and little exercise, the only surprise was how I didn't gain more weight. And what did all that do to my health?
Somewhere about Mingenew (mid June) I decided the time had come reform my eating habits, cut out the sugar and eat more unprocessed food.
Ideally, more fruit and vegetables, but as I discovered they are hard to get in country Australia.
Of course I had to eat my last couple of packets of biscuits first, just start this new eating regime with a clean plate so to speak.
I won't say it was easy. In fact the next two weeks were on and off sugar cravings. Riding along thinking of tim tams, chocolate, scotch finger biscuits, ice cream. I could just about taste them... One thing great about cycling Western Australia - its a long way between places.
So cravings with no shops couldn't translate into buying, which would then be followed by eating. I did put in considerable effort to resist in the first few towns. I might have been about to cave in in one small town, but was saved by a limited selection of biscuits. By that time I was a biscuit snob. None of the limited selection would do. I'd resisted so long, I wasn't going to break now just for any old biscuit.
As time went on, saying "no" got easier and easier, til I didn't have to say "no" any more: I didn't feel the need, so there was nothing to say "no" too. I could look at all the biscuits, chocolate, lollies, icecream and not feel the need to eat any of them. While at Laverton, the whole dessert section of the all you can eat buffet didn't appeal.
It was truly novel experience for me: Megan in an all you can eat dessert buffet and not eating any of it!
With this new awakening, come the realization just how pervasive junk food is. Some roadhouses and information centers that didn't have any healthy food options at all!
Not to say that I didn't eat anymore biscuits. I was given a snack pack of two cookies one time. (The travelers insisted.) They tasted so sweet. Like they were more than pure sugar. How'd I ever eat these by the packet full? Yes I ate them, but I also refused chocolate, snickers bars, tim tams and innumerable other biscuit, cake and lollies offers. Now I do refuse and in some cases have thrown out junk food forced upon me even after I've said "no thanks" too many times. There is no joy in eating it, and its unhealthy. But there is joy in all the other things I'm eating. Its like the amount of sugar overrode all other tastes. Without it, other tastes have risen up to replace it. There's a whole world of non sugar meals to explore for taste now.
I'm glad I've broken my sugar addiction.
Comments:
Date: 2012-12-19 09:17
Author: M
Yes I know what you mean, it took me a looong loooong time to kick coffee. And the mind plays all sorts of tricks - you know.... It's only when I'm in bad shape that it not good for me. Today I'll just have one etc etc. I don't need it but I'll have one cause it's ok then... Yeah. And after something like 10 years of drinking in in big amounts ie 3-4 daily I came to the conclusion that it's forms a vicious circle in that at some point it ruins your sleep and then ofcourse you need it to stay awake so it ruins you sleep again and then you need afew more to make it through the day.... anyway I willed it down to just one a day. Then I started asking for weak ones - short pour -r risteretto. The rationale being that most of the flavour is in the first part of the pour and the caffeine gradually increases with the max being at the end of a typical pour. But I still sometimes had really bad days ....until one day I said enough of these crap days as a coffe is jus not worth them so I quit! Having great days and feeling great just made coffee seem like a bad deal. And slowly I lost the taste for it...sort of. I still have the occasional dandelion version which is actually good for me. Anyway I haven't had one for years now and really I just don't need it. We battle with addictions don't we... where do they come from...crap industry via their seductive advertising pushing our buttons.
Glad you kicked your sugar thing.
I've been catching up with friends, and rediscovering Sydney. After being away for so long, Sydney has changed. Its exciting rediscovering it. New bicycle paths, old ones upgraded. Buildings gone, renovated, demolished and a new building built. Even new roads and bridges in have been laid.
I'm still cycling about. The van is handy at times, but bicycle still rules. With paths like this one:
Why would you drive? This is nearby Parramatta Road. Much much nicer than being on Parramatta Road, even in a van.
Going to be staying in Sydney a while. Stuff to do, people to see. I'm expecting I'll get back travelling sometime, but not sure when. And of course I'll be taking the van with the bicycle in the back.
One item I did sort out quickly was seeing a dentist. With the warmer weather the toothache I had has gone away, so thinking it probably was sinus related. But more surprisingly, the three cavities I "needed to have fixed" in Kalgoorlie can't be found. How good is that!!
Comments:
Date: 2012-09-29 15:33
Author: Anonymous
Hi Megan. So I can't call you Bicycle Girl anymore? Maybe BBicycle Van Girl. Glad to hear you made it back to Sydney and are realising some dreams. Good Luck, Mike (From the GCR)
Date: 2012-10-02 11:05
Author: Megan Lee Webb
Well, still have the bicycle and will not stop cycling, but living in the van now. After three years was time for a change. Its nice having more storage space, and being able to carry more food and water.. Plus, sleeping inside in strong winds and rain - mmmmmmm so nice...
Being in Sydney is really good. Lots of food choices, easy access to water. Weather isn't cold either. Had stuff to sort out, so been very quiet about being here.
Now have sorted the most urgent task.
Yep, bought a van. I'm a motor vehicle owner now. Was an intense and surprisingly difficult experience. After narrowing down the make and model, it was chase up adds - private and dealers - and then try to optimize the choices: year, price, km, condition being the main ones. What a minefield!
But all sorted now.
Comments:
Date: 2012-09-19 20:26
Author: Wendy
Hello Megan,
Great travels on your bike! Just wondering what size your troll is? I'm 162cm tall and am wondering if the 16 inch is right for me.
Many thanks
Wendy
Date: 2012-09-19 20:36
Author: Megan Lee Webb
Go to http://surlybikes.com/bikes/troll and check the Geometry tab. I used that to pick mine. Checked it against other bikes I had handy. For me the step over height was important - I've short legs and a long torso :)
If your in Sydney, you could try mine. When I ordered, there were no others around..
Date: 2012-09-21 06:41
Author: Wendy
Thank you, that could be a good idea. Is yours a 16 inch? What is your stand over height?
Date: 2012-09-21 07:54
Author: Megan Lee Webb
Yep. Mine is a 16inch Surly Troll. Err.. its now "small" in the Surly table. Table lists the stand over height as 744.9mm. (I think this is measured from the center of the actual top tube length.)
I'm running 2" tires. If I measure vertically from the ground up through the crank (this gives a top tube height in front of the seat, as if your standing over the bike), the top of the top tube is about 710mm off the ground. This leaves me about 80mm clearance without shoes on. So ample clearance to leap off the seat and have feet on the ground and not hit the top tube :)
Email me if you want to try a ride. Change the blogspot to gmail.
Eventually had to leave Wilmington. Headed to Orroroo. Decided to use the GPS and try the suggested bicycle route. It was certainly low traffic and I thought very scenic. It was also 30km longer than the road, and had a good tour de hills of the region.
Did I mention it was dirt. Well, it some places it was grass, no one had been down the road in so long. Certainly was a nice ride. The down side was that with the cold morning, I left late, and then arrived in Orroroo very late. The lady at the newsagency was nice. But, if you end up down that way, stop in Peterborough, or Wilmington. DO NOT stop or stay in Orroroo. I didn't enjoy the stop in Orroroo, that is all I'll say about the town. I found out heading to Peterborough that there is a free camp on that road. I did ask about free camps, but was told there are none. If I'd known... Left very early next morning. Broke my don't get up under 5C rule. Was worse as there was a morning fog as well. But by "sun up" (sun didn't actually shine until way late in the day) I was cycling towards Peterborough and then onto Broken Hill. Was over cold, wet and winds, and more than a bit annoyed over Orroroo, and didn't want to find more towns south like that. I also wanted to see trees again.
Though the trip to Broken Hill didn't have a lot of trees. Lots of space though... But tough for winds. Strong winds were forcast for several days. I was going to stay in Broken Hill until they passed, but then I spoke with the wonderful lady in the information center. There were lots of accomodation options, but Broken Hill is on the Country Link rail network. Rode over to the train station, and dealt with the very very helpful Trevor, at the Country Link booking office.
Few hours later I was wheeling my bike onto the Indian Pacific and resting in a very comfortable chair. Only 16 hours later, after a good sleep, I wheeled my bike off the train in Sydney. Indian Pacific train is not a Country Link train, but the bookings are done at the same place. I don't recall the price of Country Link, but $168 seemed to me to be a bargin. Definitely recommend travelling with them. Now I'm in Sydney.
Left Woomera with forcast Northerly winds, and had a slow three days down to Port Augusta. Lots of opinions in Woomera about the recent mothballing of expansion plans at Roxby Downs. Didn't stop long in Port Augusta. While the traffic from Woomera down had been heavier, arriving in Augusta was overload. The usual bike lanes that vanish just when you need them. Diversions for cycle riders that direct you, and then fail to direct you anywhere else, leaving you wondering just where you are. I didn't need to do much of a shop, as i still had a lot of food from a big buy up in Coober Pedy. I got overly excited about the huge amount of choice in the IGA there and bought way way too much food. The stop in Woomera only put a slight dent in it. So I stopped at Stoney Creek Bush Camp Caravan Park, Wilmington to try a bit harder. Well, not just that, it is back cold and damp again. Crickey it's cold!! The caravan park is well off the main roads, very quiet and I was allowed to put my tent up in one of the camp kitchen areas, so was out of the wind and showers. So nice and peaceful. Also, I must admit, I've been having a bit of a crisis of decision for the last few weeks. This has reared its self now about which way to go. I'm not sure about wanting to stay bicycling and tenting about the country. Some of it is definitely related to the long distances between towns out this way, and all the difficulties that causes, and of course the cold, wet weather. Of course there are many other reasons and its not a simple decision. There are a lot of things I like about cycling and tenting. But there is stuff that I'm starting to miss. I'll expand more on this another time. For now, I'm heading back to Sydney. I'm leaning towards getting a van, but still not sure if that's a good decision. Its still 1500km to Sydney, so lots of time to contemplate that option. For now, the I just need to decide which route to take. Go via Broken Hill, with lots of space between towns and maybe less traffic, or via Renmark. More towns, but definitely more traffic, and maybe colder?