PERSONAL STORIES
SIMPSON DESERT CHALLENGE (2013)
Held over five days between 01-05 October 2013, the Challenge is made up of 10 stages. The course is approximately 600kms with each morning stage being 80Kms and each afternoon stage 50Km. Day 4 was reduced to 70km morning and 40Km afternoon due to the strong winds and extremely dry, soft sand. Day 4 saw 7 riders “swept” as a result of being unable to complete within the allocated time. Swept riders are unable to achieve 100% completion, which is the goal that most competitors set for themselves. In the 26 year history of this event, only 10% of riders have achieved 100%. The course runs West to East across the Simpson Desert. Starting from Purni Bore near Dalhousie Springs in South Australia and finishing at the iconic Birdsville Hotel in Queensland. Approximately 700 sand dunes have to be crossed during the 5 days with the average height being 16 metres.
IPSWICH GRAMMAR SCHOOL HPV 24-HOUR RACE (2015)
Ipswich Grammar School's human powered vehicle (HPV) 24-hour race entry in 2015, using a Rohloff Speedhub.
24 hours is a long time to be continuously subjecting hardware to racing pressures. We combined the efforts of our 8 very different riders with the engineering behind the very effective Rohloff Hub, and if that wasn’t enough, we added a 36 volt 500 watt motor to achieve a great combination. Between the riders and the added motor, they really worked the Rohloff Hub.
(watch the short video of the last lap and read the full story here)
