The Alice Gravel Muster

Words by Greg Chalberg with photos by Simon James.

400km over four days with minimal climbing. Sounds easy, right?

Half the course is untimed segments. Cruise at your own pace with friends and enjoy the scenery and quiet gravel roads.

That leaves just 200km of timed racing segments in four days. No prob.

Breakfasts, lunches and dinners sorted, plus a bunch of fully stocked hydration stations along the way, so cramps and bonks shouldn't be an issue.

And with months of solid training in the legs, we arrived feeling plenty confident.

But we may have underestimated Alice Springs.

Specifically, we underestimated the sheer brutality of the MacDonnell Ranges road surfaces. This was not champagne gravel. More like moonshine gravel. These were hard, unfriendly outback roads, packed with sharp rocks and corrugations that lasted for hours. Or dried up riverbed crossings with sand too deep to ride through that forced most of us to run and sent the rest flying. Or sometimes both. It was continually weaving across the road searching for the least rocky, least sandy, least awful line. 

...But we may have underestimated Alice Springs...

So yeah, it was really fucking hard.   

But it was also totally worth it. We had the best time. The insane vistas, the starry nights, the pool hangs, the cattle station bars... smiles and good vibes all the way around. So glad we did it. Just remember to pack gloves.