About two years ago we reported on an incredible outback bike ride by Dylan Kentch.
A short time later we tracked him down, to get more details about his trip, his approach to life and to confirm the Dobies he was using were the same ones he had been wearing for a while before the trip. We stalked him through our orders and found the Dobies were procured along with a pair of Sifters a year or so before his ride.
We also offered him a new pair, seemed like the least we could do in recognition of his amazing venture into the big red.
He politely declined, saying the pair he already had were going fine. Which was nice to hear.
This week, I spotted another story from Dylan on bikepacking.com
And close examination of the only image with him in it showed he is still wearing those Dobies.
The trip he took this time is truly adventurous. The Canning Stock Route in West Australia is a big deal for a four-wheel drive vehicle. It is at the extreme edge of what is possible on a bicycle. It consists of 1600 kilometres of sandy track that links a series of wells, that may have potable water in them. It has a total elevation gain of almost 10,000m. There is no resupply en route.
Dylan’s ride through it was part of a much longer, 9600 kilometre desert voyage.
I used the image of Dylan as reference for one of my daily Inktober sketches, for two reasons. Firstly, I need to get this newsletter out (detail below) so there isn’t time to seek permission to use his photograph. And secondly, because I like drawing and it is a great subject. The result is at the top of the newsletter.
Here is where I guess I should say something like “Nzo Dobies: Durable, comfortable, will go the distance”. But that seems sort of redundant, given the evidence at hand.
Seriously, Dylan’s article is well worth a read.
I needed to get this newsletter out urgently because we were about to depart for Tasmania, a totally different version of Australia, details wil be forthcoming.