The Epilogue

Monday and my daze continues! OK will keep this short coz the cycling work is done. Now to bring in the dollars for the kids.

So I needed a memento of the ride that would stay with me for life… Whilst I have some great memories they might get wiped clean by old age so ……. Belinda and I went to see Simon (great guy BTW) and this was the result…….. ha ha!

Not sure the Princess approved, but she got swayed by others (Cathrine and Taya) thinking it cool/wanting one… ha ha!

In the evening we had a dinner organized by Andy to mark the end of my ride. Fantastic evening … food was stunning (thanks to Michael Lambie @ Taxi …. Go and eat there when next in Melbourne you will love it, great wine too from Wingara (aka Katnook) our sponsor) …. Company was great .. to be amongst like-minded people who got the importance of what the Smith Family do was brilliant.

High – the atmosphere at the dinner and when a big donation hit the web page after the evening

Low – thinking that my fund raising target needs to be achieved 600 times over to be able to reach every disadvantaged child in Australia .. sigh.

Magpie – resisted the temptation of a Magpie tattoo. ha ha!

Music – everything sounded heavenly today! Fave tracks walking around the City: “Long Hot Summer” and “Friday I’m in love” coz it was great music for a Melbourne blue-sky day and …… whatever! J

OK …. About to land in Singapore now ….. time to sign out!! Its been amazing now back to reality!

The posts will be infrequent from here on - thanks for all the comments and messages of support.

Oh yes the caption competition ... actual words were .... "Relatively flat! My [deleted]" - the winner is Tim ... The back door's busted and I can't sit down anymore!!! Contact me to claim the jersey!

Stats

The end of cycling! Now the real work gets going (fund raising)! 105k raised so far!!

Thank-yous!

A MILLION THANK-YOUS

Well there were many people that got me to the start, now it is time to thank those people that got me to the finish!!

The Smith Family Children/Parents/Coordinators/Staff – the messages I got each day helped me through thick and thin and made me realize the noble purpose of this ride – as some have heard me say this is “Not About the Bike” and it is definitely “Not About me”, it is about the children that we can together help to get a good start in life and realize their potential! Thank you for the motivation!

The Support Crew – Alison, Cathrine, Barry, Minas, Waqas – who made sure I was safe each day, fed, warm/dry (not always easy given the weather), photographed. Thank you for your patience with me and my moods …..! And for all the muffins you forced down my neck!

Colin – everyone needs a great friend and mechanic in an adventure like this – Colin thank you for removing stress and avoiding me needing to think!

Imogen – thanks princess … nuff said!

My Special Friends/Colleagues/Boss(Neil) – so many of you sent me messages/calls of support/pride etc, some of you don't know the significance of your timing, there were times when those messages coincided with my lows. I didn’t always share the lows through my blog but there were times when I needed “a kick” or “soft words of encouragement”. I remember those days and rmb those ppl!!

My ipod! – what the ……. would I have done without this and the playlists/music i was given .. thanks gym bunnies including Jen , Yu-Lynn etc and Immy (aka princess). When the wind was in my face, when the rain was falling, when the hills kept coming or I needed to try and get to sleep, your music helped me through .. not sure I will be able to listen to some of these tracks ever again, without getting emotional and remembering where I was and what I was doing!! Who would think you could get an emotional reaction from the “Ding Ding Song” ha ha! I also learnt how different some tracks sound when you only hear one track in ur ear…. Very interesting!

The Kangaroo 130km from Mildura – surreal!! this will be with me forever!

Riding buddies – I think I had company for less than 300m of my 5,050km ride to Melbourne so thanks to the riders in Perth, Warwick, Bob and John in Sydney and Andy, Harry, Geoff, Adrian and the Macquarie boys in Melbourne. And the 15,000 plus riders at ATB on Sunday that shared my final stage (special mention to the guy from J’berg wearing the pink top that said “Florida a drinking club with a cycling problem” …. Hilarious!

Simon – ha ha you will have to wait to understand this one!!!!!

If I have missed you, Sorry!

The final ride - Around the Bay in A Day!

The final ride! I can’t quite believe it, after 22 days of riding, it is now time to complete the final Around the Bay!

Got to bed about midnight after we got everything ready for the morning and helped another rider get his fixed wheel ready for the big day. My only game plan about Sunday was to “Ride Safe” and “enjoy the day” something I have had as a frequent message from some of you! Just stay out trouble, the hard work has been done and I could savour the final day of riding!

So up at 4.00 and at the start by 5.00, saw Fei and Andrew for a quick photo – it was really great to catch up with friends. Andrew, more generally, thanks for the sms messages of encouragement u have sent throughout my ride! Minas was there for the photos, but was frustrated as the street lights were out, so it was not easy to get a decent shot of the crowds.

The day was fairly uneventful … it was really nice to do the ride with no pressure. Colin and Minas appeared at various points along the way clapping and taking snaps as evidence that I did do the final kms.

After the ferry, I met Fei and Andrew for a coffee in Dromana,

I have never stopped like that on the ATB before; it was great! After that it was about 90km to the finish, an enjoyable ride with Andrew and Fei plus some other Break the Cycle jerseys along the way.

The end was magical, I still don’t know if it was fluke or design, but as we turned in to the finish the road to the arch was empty (other than a flock of seagulls organised by the local Magpie chapter I suspect) and I crossed the line with tears in my eyes at the screams of the Learning for Life kids ….. but one voice was prominent over all the others …. Belinda shouting “Go Gazza”.

It was then that I went in to a daze, so many people to congratulate me, Immy, Alison, Colin, Cathrine, Minas, Waqas, Elaine, Belinda, lots of Smith family kids, Marcus, Mark and Siw (sorry if I left anyone out!).

Then the kids made a very special presentation to me and I finally got to meet the girls that did the wonderful painting of me.

So that’s it says Belinda except we need you to do one last thing ….. What an idiot I was …. Next thing covered in Champagne, F1 style, ha ha! So now smell like a sweaty drunk ha ha.

High – finally realising I had completed my objective

Low – absent special friends that I wanted to share this day with

Magpies – the kids gave me a soft toy magpie and I bit it, ha ha!

Music – quite apt I rode across the finish to “Let Go” by Paul Van Dyk. Probably at least three meanings in there !!

OK - that’s it for Sunday – it was a self-indulgent day for me – thanks to everyone who made it special (see next post for Thank yous)

Stats:

250km (Total 5,300km 195 hours)

The Finish!!!!

Just photos for the moment - words come later!

Saturday in Melbourne .... at last a rest day!

Saturday is my first rest day after 21 days of continuous cycling. I have averaged about 230km every day, shortest was 106km, longest 291km.

So it felt rather strange to have no alarms, shame I forget to turn them off …oops! We started to go through the contents of the cars and trailer ... thankfully the rooms are a reasonable size and we have Colin with us as an extra pair of hands!

Today was mostly pottering. We cleaned the bike (see pix) ready for a photo shoot with Ryan O’Keefe of the Sydney Swans, who is also riding tomorrow and shares my passion for the Smith Family Learning for Life program … a great guy and great sportsman, it was a privilege to meet him.

After a couple of interviews it was off for lunch and a few glasses of muscle relaxant before i get ready for the last day tomorrow.

Chinese food tonight (Mask of China), and the chance to thank the support crew for everything they have done for me: Minas (photographer extraordinaire), Waqas (vet and foodie ha ha! Sorry you couldn't join us), ….yes a cameo appearance from Cathrine (Danish international soccer star, budding photographer and the person who thinks I am stubborn), Plus the man who keeps the wheels rolling Colin (always busy and just gets on with it! Generally a top bloke) and Alison (what time is last orders in the Restaurant!) who managed to resist the temptation of running me over when driving the support car behind me and i wanted to just do "an extra few kilometers".

Tomorrow’s ride I am treating as the epilogue! Nothing stressful, just enjoy the final 250km of my challenge and the end of my ride. Note to self … make sure I am hydrated for the tears at the end! ha ha!

High: pottering about, without thinking about how many km I need to ride today!

Low: wireless internet access at the Park Hyatt, Melbourne … I think they mean “internetless non- access” sigh!!! Just how hard is it??? … Really! if a motel in the Nullabor, 1,000km from anywhere, can do it ……?

Magpies: ha ha gotcha! ….they don’t attack cars, or if they do, I think they come off worse!

Caption competition: OK we haven’t yet got someone close to my actual words, although there are some great ideas! There is a clue in the blog of Tuesday’s ride – the photo was taken in the last 70km!!! But lets get more ideas – we will decide on the plane back to Singapore on Tuesday, so there is still more time!

Donations: so far $97,621, a third of the way there almost, for those of you who have held back in case I failed in my challenge I reckon now is the time to give! Keep telling your friends please and thanks for all the support I have got from you by spreading the word J

Stats:

0 km, 3 glasses of Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc, 2 Machiatos, 2 strong skinny lattes

Arrival in Melbourne!!

Sorry there was no blog last night, but I literally fell asleep at dinner! First glass of wine in weeks and I am sleeping after the main course ha ha! So any chats with friends last night, ended pretty abruptly I am afraid ... sorry if I just dropped out! I did, literally!!

Today’s stage marked the end of the city-to-city ride between the State Capitals, a short ride from Morwell to Melbourne; but with challenges a plenty!

The day started with a visit to a school where they can’t spell mathematics (see pix) …. Do 100 lines please! And I thought my spelling was bad ha ha! (BTW it is !)

We had a short time with the children talking about what I was doing, some of the children in the school are on the Learning for Life program, so it was a great start for the day getting a count down before we left! One budding mathematician picked me up on the length of my ride, pointing out that the distances added up to a bit less than 5,500 ha ha! OK better ride the difference .. joke! They also wanted to know important stuff like which team i barracked for!

I was joined on the ride back to Melbourne by Andy (Lao ban), Geoff, Adrian and Harry; plus my Princess, of course! After leaving Morwell in a light shower the weather turned very nasty … I am sure people must be getting bored with this by now (btw i think i am Rain God ha ha!) .. but yes! Headwinds, driving rain and very cold ….yawn! yawn! But the day turned really interesting when Geoff mentioned the "P" word, within minutes we had two flats, him and me … by the end of the day we had 7 in total, which, combined with the wind and rain, caused me to have to split from the group, if I was to get to the event in Melbourne on time!

Top bloke award has to go to Colin, for the multiple punctures and bikes he repaired to keep us on the road … without him I think we would still be riding now! (BTW, chapeau to Andy and his son Harry for pushing on regardless of weather and complete the 150km … well done!)

So I left the group after about 75km and met with a great group of guys from Macquarie broking at the 120km point (Robert x2, Stefan, David, Natalia and Ian). These guys helped pace me to the finish just in time for a TV interview! Sorry Natalia, I think I dropped you on a hill when the boys decided to up the pace!

It was great riding into Melbourne and a bit emotional, when I saw the Chadstone Shopping Centre (which is near my home in Glen Iris), I knew it was only a short trip to the finish.

By the end of the day I had clocked up over 5,000km of riding, since I started three weeks ago in Fremantle.

The day ended with dinner at Harvey’s in South Yarra – thanks Sarah! Great food as always, sorry I fell asleep !! And I will be there again for breakfast on Monday morning for a recovery feed!! Hope the porridge and rhubarb is still on the menu!

High: how I felt after a glass of wine …. No just joking … It was seeing my daughter in the support car beside me as we rode into Melbourne, taking photos and passing my kit to her that was no longer needed, as Melbourne turned on the sun as we approached the finish.

Low: not being able to stay awake long enough to write this blog or chat with those friends that have helped maintain my motivation and inspiration during this challenge!

Magpies – a good day .. they were not so stupid as to head out in weather like this.

Stats:

151km (total 5,051km, 187hrs)

S 37’ 49.219

E 144’ 58.285

Australia is moving into Spring, but apparently no one told Victoria!!

After the hills and rain of yesterday we were treated to a fine display of Victorian weather today! After a calm and sunny start to the day we had driving rain and gale force headwinds (probably the strongest yet). But when ur this close to the end of the ride, there is only one thing you can do, put your head down and keep moving forward!

The fact that i won't retrace my steps has been one of the motivating factors about this ride ... just like the animals on the Australian flag i cannot go backwards only forward. so when the going gets tough i just tell myself i will never go along that bit of road again!

Immy and Colin Tan joined us today, getting ready for the last stages of my ride!! And then the huge sort out of gear before we go back to Singapore. i am getting homesick, when i saw the tail fin of an SQ jet at Sydney airport the other day, it just made me think of home! but still have to pinch myself that the ride is almost complete!

Saw some live wild life for a change today (still road kill but not as much as in

WA, SA and NSW), ... highlight was a little Echidna (hope that is spelt right otherwise i might have to write it out a hundred times ha ha!) that was foraging next to the road and then made like a ball and buried its self when i took a pix.

High - seeing my Princess (see separate post)

Low - the weather

Magpies - OK do the magpies read my blog? Man! did i eat my words today .... Victorian magpies less aggressive .. yeah right ... they play a different code here .. and its all about body contact. i had 5 direct blows to my helmet .. like hip and shoulder movements. the first blow i thought i had ridden into a branch of a tree... then i looked and saw three maggies flying in attack formation .. it was like a war movie as they peeled off one at a time to get my helmet!!! So the verdict is: Victorian magpies have the award. Oh yes - Neil - this was during heavy rain .. i dread to think what they will be like in full sunlight ....

Music - the weather was so fowl today i had to have something soothing in my ears ... i chose "Motorhead" the cover version by Hawkwind. ha ha!

Love the caption comments ... keep them coming we need more before we judge the winner!

Stats

229km (total 4900km, 181 hours)

locations coming ....

OK - tmr we experience tandem riding with Princess ...some have suggested i should put Immy on the front while i put my feet up on the back ... but i don't think that would be right !!