Champion British cyclist Mike Hall before taking on the Indian Pacific Wheel Race last year. Riders will follow the race course across the Nullarbor Plain then through Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra before finishing at the Sydney Opera House. They have even organised GPS tracking so that so-called "dot watchers" will be able to follow their progress. It's a surprise development for what one rider called "this beautiful race" for the way it captured imaginations around the country last year and turned unknown riders into cycling celebrities. Without support vehicles, riders had to find their own food, water and repair supplies along the route.

Cyclists paid tribute to champion British rider at a memorial ride to the Sydney Opera House after his death in the Indian Pacific Wheel Race last year. Credit:James Brickwood They rode for as long as they could each day then found somewhere to sleep, sometimes for just a few hours beside the road, before getting back on the bike. The 2017 race was called off after 12 days when Hall was killed in a collision with a car south of Canberra. Epic: the course of the first Indian Pacific Wheel Race from Fremantle to Sydney last year. Credit:IPWR Having decided to run the event again with extra safety precautions for riders, organiser Jesse Carlsson had to cancel it over "potential outcomes" of the ACT Coroner's inquest into Hall's death which is expected to be held this year.

But more than a quarter of the field, which included cyclists from the US, Europe, India, New Zealand and Thailand, quickly agreed to ride anyway. "A show of strength to show we can't be wrapped up in cotton wool": cyclist Brad Bootsma who has decided to ride the course despite the cancellation of the Indian Pacific Wheel Race. Brad Bootsma​, a former Fremantle Dockers AFL player who was inspired to enter after dot watching last year, said he was initially angry about the race being cancelled after almost a year's training. But he and training mate Phil McCorriston​ decided to go ahead with the ride. "I just thought 'I've started something, I want to finish it'," Bootsma said. "I got the recommendation again from the wife to say 'no worries' so we're going to head off with 21 others at the moment. Hopefully there will be more to come."

Bootsma, 45, plans to ride competitively – hoping to average 300 kilometres a day. "I'm still going to push my limits and treat it like a race," he said. "It'll be a show of strength to show we can't be wrapped up in cotton wool these days. We've got to get out there and still do what we want to do." While Bootsma will wear the extra safety gear required for the race, he accepts that accidents can happen on any ride. "With the race being cancelled, I think it will be a lot safer," he said. "You'll find riders won't push the limits at night." One of the personalities of the first race, Ryan "Rhino" Flinn​, is riding again too.

"It's a nice thing to do in Mike's memory, to make sure the ride is kept alive and his memory is honoured," he said. "That's why a lot of people will still pitch up in Fremantle." While shaken by Hall's death – and his own near collision with a car driven by overseas tourists on the wrong side of the Great Ocean Road the same day – Flinn took some time for reflection then continued to the finish in Sydney. He is aiming to better the 20 days he took last year. "It was extraordinary people doing extraordinary things," he said. "A lot of people were inspired by the race and by the individuals who were riding." Flinn, 31, also wants to raise awareness about the need for all road users to be more aware of safety.

"I'd love to change the mentality where the most vulnerable of road users is perhaps given the most amount of respect," he said. "A truck is considered [to deserve] the utmost respect and has rule over the road whereas perhaps a cyclist doesn't really belong there. That needs to change." By the end of the week, the unofficial ride had grown to 28 including journalist Rupert Guinness and cyclists from the US, UK, New Zealand, Portugal and Germany.