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 !!

today my princess arrived!

Support car pulls over in front of me ... door opens, as usual ....but my princess gets out!

The pix says it all

Supporting National Ride to Work Day!!!

So what else to do on National Ride to Work Day than .... ride to work. Minas did (but I can't post the pix till we have internet!) The rest of the support crew still used the car!
For me I rode a shorter distance today but a tough little stage! And another day with a reasonable amount of climbing 2360m.
We crossed the border into Victoria and immediately experienced an array of weather! Hot sun, heavy rain, headwinds - four seasons in 5k ha ha! The rain and wind stayed for the rest of the day!!!! By the end of the day, Melbourne was less than 400km.

To give you an idea of how delightful the weather was, there was no sunset photography antics ... in fact, Minas only took 4 photos, it was so cold and windy he didn't want to get out of the car.
By the end of the day the toes of both feet were even more numb than before!! The went numb on the Nullabor and haven't reappeared since then!

Did an interview with ABC Radio - it was good coz the interviewer really understood the issues and how the GFC would affect the numbers of financially disadvantaged children and fund raising! Let's hope that it raises awareness and gets people to donate.
Despite being a long way from anywhere the traffic is heavy. Last week we had the Bathurst traffic, now we have the Philip Island motorbike grand prix traffic - the bikes are amazing ... I wonder what they think when they see me pedalling ha ha!
High: talking to my princess who is now in Melbourne and went to meet some of the children on the Learning for Life program.

Low: two for me today - firstly seeing two dead wombats in the first km of my ride, secondly problems up loading my Garmin files to my Mac.

Magpies - 2 before I left NSW. So far the Victorian Magpies are much better behaved!!

Stats
214km (total 4672km, 172hours)
S 37' 42.284
E 148' 27.713

Ok ... One more ride before I get on a tandem with my Princess and cycle into Melbourne!! After that it is just Around the Bay in a Day and that's it!

caption competition

Hi
This photo was taken yesterday
Whoever gets closest to what I was saying gets a BTCC jersey
Minas (photographer) and I will be judges - our decision is final ha ha!

who would have thought, 6 months ago, we would have come this far!

..6 months ago i was just starting to plan the event seriously and to think about training! We have come so far since then ... who would have imagined this! I have now completed 19 consecutive days of riding across 4,458km and 163 hours in the saddle.

But the 19th day was tough, in fact, it was the first time i couldn't write my blog before sleeping, as i was quite exhausted! So it is a quick blog this morning before i start today's ride! I rode from Ulladulla to Merimbula yesterday, 226km across rolling hills, and i mean ROLLING HILLS, constant ups and down particularly the last 70km. In fact, despite none of the rises being more than 150m above sea level, they were all 5-9% climbs. The result was the biggest day's riding in terms of vertical ascent ... 3,145m ... more than when i came through the Blue Mountains.

Note to self .... never take a short cut where a driver says the road is relatively flat ha ha! This was the route that covered the last 70km !!! It was a very scenic route but i was not a pretty site at the end ha ha! We went through many stunning beaches, inlets, coves, old bridges ..... But each time we had to go up a hill and down a decent, over and over again!!. I was very lucky to have put the 202s (with a cluster (12-26) designed for hills) on the Litespeed and taken the aerobars off otherwise i would have been cursing all the more, and believe me i was cursing a lot!!!.

So today was another day where chats and messages from friends really helped .. thank-you! :)

High: Finding a Chinese Restaurant and getting loads of rice - some good food if ever you find yourself in Merimbula - Ocean City is the go!

Low: the taste of Orange-Vanilla Perpetuum! The Cafe Latte rocks but this one ....sorry Hammer!

Magpies - 2 attacks but not as aggressive as those in Central NSW, must be a better gender mix here so there is less competition for mates during the breeding season!!!

Music - Immy's 6th playlist was the go in the morning, great tracks but don't know the names, sorry! AC/DC during the hills, once again "kick in the teeth" seemed an appropriate track, the day finished with my fave hill tracks plus "Poker Face", on repeat, during the last small climb to the motel (yeah right small = 150m ...phew!)

Stats

225.7km (total 4458km, 163 hours)

S 36' 52.954

E 149' 53.607

Sorry gotta go and ride now - !!!!

more photos .......

bcoz we didn't have Internet access every day, uploading pix is almost impossible, so here are a few from the last few days ....

- fund raising function at Junee

- the hay plains

- Cathrine and some new friends (taller than her!)

- The blue fields around Junee/Young

- the ride into Sydney with Warwick, Bob and John,

heading south but its not all downhill ha ha!

Day 18 started under a blue sky and a banner at Bondi Beach ... Lycra alongside the wetsuits of the early morning surfers! It was a great start with two of the Learning for Life kids making a speech. I also talked to a number of mothers who wanted to express their appreciation for the Learning for Life program. The kids had also made good luck posters - you can see in the pix.
So three of us set off from Bondi, thankfully one of us (maryanne not me) knew the way. Cathrine rode with me today, having spent the last two weeks following me around as a core part of our support crew! So we say farewell to her today, although she may make a brief cameo appearance in Melbourne!

We headed South in nice conditions, ending up on route1 going over rolling hills, although some were pretty steep - hardest gradient was around 9% - and I clocked up 2600m of climbing over the 231km to Ulladulla.
I am now less than 900 km from Melbourne and about 750 from seeing my princess, who I miss sooo much!
The day including the dusk antics of the support crew who other than looking after me all day take photos! For Minas (Who is a brilliant photographer) this involves looking for great spots to get just the right shot. For Waqas this means driving to and fro and in some cases acting as the model until the bike arrives! This is quite hilarious, as I will see them setting up from the distance and I often play "where's minas" coz the photographer is not always in an obvious place - funniest place so far was standing in a field next to a llama! Seriously though the support crew are great and I know it must be tiring for them. But it is really great that everytime I see them they have a big smile!
Had to change bikes for tmr as the rear tyre on the 303s has worn through to the tape!! Something I discovered late in the day! Good job I didn't see it earlier as I would have been very nervous on the wet steep descents.

I have had questions about nutrition weight etc. So here goes!
I weigh morning and night on the same scales to monitor weight - it has remained quite stable, in fact with less range than Singapore coz I sweat less here and don't get fluid weight loss as badly. Sitting at 70kg +/- 2kg
I use Perpetuum as my core food and then add carbs around it. This is mostly muffins, scones, bread etc. I stop every 75km for a coke and food. These stops are quite short and anti-social(aka I am stuffing my face ha ha!). At the end of the ride I use recoverite and then have my first "dinner" such as rice pudding, soup ... Then I have a proper dinner ... Pasta plus meat/fish dish!
Its a lot of eating, but I think keeping myself fuelled has maintained my mental well being not just my stamina. Oh yes and I use enduralytes every hour.

At the other end of things ha ha. Brave soldier during the day and Triderm (or equiv) at night has kept me OK in the region under the most pressure. I also make sure I do a fair bit out of the saddle riding to reduce contact time - even so I am sure I will have a permanent saddle tattoo after this ha ha! Not sure what colour though!

High - talking to the kids at the start

Low - realising that the most dangerous vehicle on the road is a car pulling a boat on a trailer! Why? Coz the boat gets wider as it goes up until the height of ur head and so ... When the car passes and u think "wow that was close" you then see out the corner of your eye the hull getting closer and closer, hoping that the widest part of the boat misses ur head! It did (miss I mean)!!

Magpies - rain kept them away - great!

Music - same same!

Stats
231km (total 4232km, 154hours)
S 35' 21.103
E 150' 28.558

Coast to coast is DONE! Time to head South!

Today we only needed to ride from the Blue Mountains into Sydney. A descent from Blackheath, at over 1000m, followed by a short ride through Sydney to Bondi Beach. I was joined for the trip by Warwick, Bob and John, which was nice as it was the first company i have had on a ride since the first 30km of the ride from Freo on day one! It felt strange following some one's wheel and was nice to grab the slipstream! Warwick has not changed his style of riding and needed to win every small climb, which made the speeds high for the day and meant he did most of the work!

Having been in rural Australia i found it strange being in the big city, being caught by every traffic light. Getting the guys to work out the route was a scream! ha ha! i think the proposed route changed at every traffic light stop, who would think these people are highly focused decisive business people!! Riding into Sydney was great though, the excitement of seeing the first major milestone achieved as planned, combined with stunning views of the City and the Harbour Bridge as we rode over the ANZAC bridge, was something that will stay with me forever.

At the finish it was great to see my cousin Chris and his wife Kira, my boss Neil (see photo - what a sweet couple!) and of course Belinda (with her list of questions and things that she wants me to do .. ha ha).

I know my ride is far from completed, but i would like to pause and thank everyone who has helped me get this far with my sanity intact. The letters from the kids, phone calls and texts from special people and work colleagues have helped keep me on track to Focus! Focus! Focus!

In the evening a group of us went for for dinner giving me the chance to get some good Chinese food ... rice, fish and kai lan at last!!!! It was also the chance for me to get some home truths from the support team (no names eh! Katrina) ha ha! They think i have been stubborn this week? ..... Man! if only they knew!

But tomorrow we need to get back on the road as we start from Bondi at 9.00am and ride the coast road to Melbourne and to our final target Around the Bay in a Day next Sunday!

High: Finishing the pan-continental coast to coast ride.

Low: Broken glass bottles on the side of the road that appear as soon as you get near a city!

Magpies - no attacks ... Warwick must have frightened them off but we did have pigeons steal the food off our plates at Bondi Beach!

Music - just talked on the bikes and Buddha Lounge to chill out (thanks Jen) !

So off to bed for me !

Stats:

122km (Total 4002km, 145.5 hours)

S 33' 53.424

E 151' 16.645