Well it is Day 15 and two weeks since i started my ride in Fremantle and i am still sane (my opinion) after 3,637km and 131 hours in the saddle! There have been some ups and downs but today was a challenge!
Sometimes it is not the long days that bring you down, but the unexpected! Today it was the unexpected climbing, combined with my nemesis, headwinds, that turned up the gradient on the hills! I expected the day to be short, as i had an event that night with the Junee Rotary (more on that later), our plans saw a day of relatively flat riding and the chance to put some kms infront by the end of the day thereby eating into the target for tomorrow. It did not turn out that way, with a 1,000m of climbing! And i was riding the Litespeed avec aerobars, 404s and a tight cluster, so not really suited!
After 6 hours plus i had only covered 145km and we had run out of time before i needed to drive to the Rotary function! Ironically my average speed in the last hour was significantly faster as the winds had dropped, just at the time we needed to turn around! This did not make me a happy bunny! Interestingly almost every day has seen the best riding conditions in the last 2 hours of daylight!
It was the early part of the day that was the toughest. The wind was getting me down big time and the unexpected hills just added to the frustration, so i am truly grateful to some people who called and smsd me during that time that kept my spirits up - thank you, u know who you are :) That got me through the day!
The Rotary function was great! A BBQ followed by yours truly and then a raffle - raised over $400 to add to our total. It was heart warming to hear the great stories about the difference the Learning for Life program is making with students in this part of the world. Thanks you Junee for your generous hospitality, particularly to Adrian Piccoli (NSW member of Parliament for Murrumbidgee) and the Rotary Club President (Roger Quines) for arranging the evening, and a special extra thanks to Roger, as he also let me shower at his house beforehand - something that benefited everyone i think ha ha! And actually got me warm for the first time in the day!
A bike tune was needed for the Scott, hence why i was riding the aero set up Litespeed, we found some really nice people at Morgan Street Cycles in Wagga Wagga - use them if you pass through they were great, especially when they knew what we were doing. Shame not everywhere is like that!
So today had a real sporting flavour to it: we are staying in Wagga Wagga, home of the (in)famous Wayne Carey a brilliant footy player (the real game AFL BTW) and i also rode through Cootamundra, birthplace of The Don! (Bradman for the non-cricket fans) They obviously breed great people here. The landscape is also stunning, lush green hills, some fields of lavender(? it looked like it but maybe not, as i didn't have time to go and sniff it, although i was probably going slow enough to reach out and test it!) horses in paddocks ... pix will come soon (i hope)
Photos - had to put up some old ones because it is difficult getting photos from the support crew at the moment (u know who u are!) - so we all need to give them a hard time to cough up some pix!!! Anyway the pix i have posted are catch ups - a lizard that i ran over! Look in the background and u can see the "smooth" tarmac i am riding on - ha ha! Skylab - from the Nullabor when it broke up over WA, imagine that falling in your back yard .... apparently the USA were fined $400 for littering ha ha! Blue top - riding down to Lake Cowan WA (think i talked about this in a earlier post), red top on the road to Balladonia on the Nullabor, gotta love the rolling road, like a roller coaster!
High - Seeing tears in the eyes of people when i talked about the difference the Learning for Life program makes to the lives of young people, during the Rotary function in Junee tonight - a lovely bunch of people .. Thank you!
Low - see above!
Magpies - 2 attacks no direct hits!
Stats
3,637km, 131 hours
S 34' 12.385
E 148' 26.365
do you remember when i became totally obsessed with those frill necked lizzards?!? have you seen any of them?! I love the pic you got of that one though, it's really awesome
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're doing well dad, i'm sorry about all the magpies. i remember once when they attacked you riding to work one day... i don't suppose then you thought magpie attacks would ever become a serious problem you'd have to deal with on a daily basis!
anyway, school is finally over and i'm just exhausted (although umm.. i'm sure you're a lot worse than me haha) but i've got a lot of work to do over the holiday. Colin's been really helpful, got shoes and gear ready and i'm going to be working out A LOT until the ride. Already got my fitness first passport out - i plan on spending at least half my time alone in melbourne at the gym. I'm so nervous!
Wayne Fozzard asked me how you were doing (saw him on UN night) and I had your card with me so I passed one on to him. He said to say hello :)
love you and check your email when you can - found a pic i think you'll like :)
miss you and mum loads - stay safe & strong
xxxxxx immy
p.s
polaroid camera is proving of great interest at the moment, and i think i'm getting pretty good at it. have some amazing shots, can't wait to show you. looking forward to getting some good pics of you riding with it too!!