DAY 7 - THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS

G'day from the Party Van. It's 1.00pm and we're on the road home, rocking out to 80s music. Now this is the way to travel. Sure beats a sore bum and a bike saddle I have to say.

Tezza's behind the wheel, we've been going 10 minutes and we've only nearly ran up the back of someone twice, so we're doing pretty well. Arne's riding shotgun - a change for him to be out in front after a week of him and I tailing the pack ;) Kenn and myself are in the middle seats and Pete, Ant and Mark are in the back.

Anyway probably good for me to go back to the start of yesterday morning and fill you in on the news from then til now.

As you'll recall we spent the night at Lookout Motor Inn atop Dorrigo Pass. After polishing off a rather  oversized and significantly unhealthy breaky of two bowls of cereal, half a dozen rashers of bacon, the equivalent of a carton of scrambled eggs, 3 tomatoes and about 3 snags. But hey what the heck, I really didn't care. I'd ridden 750+km by then and figured I deserved a day of feasting. Besides we only had 60km to go and 20 of it was gonna be straight down a mountain anyway.

 
So we set off from Dorrigo about 8.30 and headed straight down the hill. Oh yeah, that's such a great way to start a day's cycling. We had all planned to stick together for safety but hey, when faced with the opportunity to speed down a mountain side all thoughts of teamwork get thrown out the window (if there were windows on our bikes) and so it was every man for himself. Would have loved to have some aerial footage of that descent coz I reckon we would have looked like a giant snake heading down the mountain. Not having organised for Grant Kahler to fly his chopper overhead for the ride, (Grant has sent us several messages of encouragement this week - thanks mate. Actually we've truly been overwhelmed by everyone's messages of support on text and Facebook etc all week. There's far too many to mention here. I'm already down to 76% on my Macbook power level and got quite a way to go on this post. So from the bottom of my heart and no doubt from all the other boys, thanks to everyone who's taken the time to inspire us on.) Anyway back to the descent. So without a chopper camera I wanted to be able to have something to remember the descent by so I recorded my own footage on my iPhone. It was pretty hairy and the most I could get was about 40 seconds.  This descent was a lot more technical than some of the other ones I'd done during the week where I clocked 81kph. If I'd have tried that it would have been a very quick descent - straight over the side of the cliff!

Check out the boys as they ride past me, I'd guess I was doing 50 - 55kph at the time...

The scenery on the way down was incredible. We'd been riding a road called Waterfall road since Friday morning when we left Armidale but hadn't seen a single waterfall. Finally we reached Sherrard Falls on the way down and I just had to stop to take some footage. The first pic is from Google Maps Street view and the video is mine...

We arrived at the bottom of the hill in under 15 minutes having descended something like 650+ metres. Then we enjoyed a picturesque ride across the valley along the Bellingen River and into the beautiful township of Bellingen where we had planned to stop for a coffee. The weather was about 10 degrees warmer at the bottom of the hill and as we careened along the flat riverside at high speed I started to really feel the pain in the base of my left hamstring behind the knee.  It came from pushing the heavy gears the day before and it was starting to give...

"It's the Eye of the Tiger, it's the thrill of the fight..." Sorry just a little interlude there why all of us boys just sang the words to Eye of the Tiger at maximum volume. Forget Rocky, that's the theme song for Thunderbolt Pass in my mind from now on.


... me some grief. The good thing about the pain in the knee is it took my mind off the pain in my bum. Actually that's me trying to be really positive. The truth is that the pain progressively got worse to the point where I was grimacing with every turn of the pedal. The boys also started to complain again about their sore backsides and that's when Arne coined the term, "The Fellowship of the Rings." I'll leave the hidden meaning of that to your imagination. Hidden indeed, hidden under our cycling knicks! ;) That led on to the him calling us 'The Riders of Rohan'. "Ride, Riders of Rohan! Ride now! Ride to Coffs Harbour! Look for us, at dawn on the seventh day, look to the east..." We must have been feeling very relaxed about the whole thing by then I think, coz we really were starting to act like idiots.

It turned out that the coffee shop we went to, Vintage Espresso, was owned by Life House Church at Coffs and we even saw Kathleen Korn (Loadsman) in there for a coffee with her hubby.  What a great coffee shop. It must have looked strange to the the other patrons to see a bunch of middle aged men wearing lycra walking around with their iPhone recording video footage of the shop to send to their wives and saying things like, "Hey honey, wish you were here, you'd really love this place."  I must have taken a dozen pics inside that shop. Great mix of simple food, homewares, crafts, second had wares etc. Jill and I have often talked about doing a coffee shop one day and if we were going to do one this is the ultimate template on which to build the kind of business we'd want I'd say.

 

After a 1 1/2 hour relaxing break in Bellingen we set off for Coffs with just 35km to our destination. This time we really did ride as a group. We joined the Pacific Highway, taking up a full lane. We got heaps of toots of horns as people passed us but this time people were cheering us on as they realised that we were so close to the finish line. (There's a sign on the back of the trailer telling them that we were riding from Sydney to Coffs for Kid's Cancer Research.)

Arriving into town about an hour earlier than we were expected at C3 Coffs we headed into the mall to enjoy a coffee and celebrate our ride. The lady at the Coolabah Cafe offered us all a free coffee in honour of our ride and so we basked in the glory for a while then headed the few blocks down the road to C3 Coffs where we were greeted by about 25 welcomers applauding our arrival. It was a great feeling and we felt very honoured having a sense that we'd accomplished something quite significant this week.

We were treated to a barbecue lunch and then headed off to the hotel about 3pm. We settled into our room and that was when I intended on writing the Day 6 blog but got distracted by heaps of the other boys who insisted on being in my room and watching funny YouTube videos like howitshouldhaveended.com and Storm Trooper's Version of Cops. Of course I had nothing to do with it and was horribly distressed that my computer had been hijacked. All I wanted to do was get on with my blog but the rest of the boys corrupted me.

Anyway we headed off to dinner at 6.30pm to the Sanctuary Resort only to find that they had pre-cooked the meal for 25 and with the few that had left us early we were down to 14. Because we hadn't changed the booking we had to pay for the food. Not really that disappointing though. We'd just received a $400 discount at the last hotel so we had some dollars in the bank. Now when a bunch of guys have just ridden 830km and you offer 14 of them the food for 25 what do you think we're gonna say? "Ahh no thanks, we have to look after our figure." Not a chance. "BRING IT ON!" And for the next couple of hours we experienced what could only be described as a banquet of medieval proportions, garlic bread, calamari, pork belly, curry puffs (and that was the just the entree) and then there was the mains (ribs, lamb shanks, mashed potato, chicken breast, chips, ratatouille) and then dessert (cheesecake and fruit salad). Phew I just feel full thinking about it all.

Returned to the hotel at 9pm to complete my Day 6 blog and fell asleep finishing that as well. So apologies for the lack of humour and detail in yesterday's blog. Hopefully to at least some degree I've redeemed myself with this post.

And onto this morning. We packed up and headed down to church at C3 Coffs for a 10.00am start. I enjoyed a sleep in til 8.15am,the latest I'd been in bed all week by far. Took a walk around to the corner shop for a Ski D'lite yoghurt and a chocolate milk (I really do like chocolate - however it comes, ice cream, chocolate bars, chocolate cake, chocolate topping, chocolate biscuits, chocolate milk, heck I'd even give chocolate sausages a go if someone served them up). After last night I really thought I better look after my figure. Didn't seem to bother the other boys though as they'd headed off in the van to Maccas or the Big Banana, can't recall which one while I was still asleep. Actually I was pleasantly surprised when I put my jeans on the this morning that my belt seemed a little easier to do up. I actually thought I'd put on some weight this week with all the food I've eaten en route. Guess I'll see when I stand on the scales tonight at home.

A big shout out to the guys at C3 Coffs. They ttreated us so well again today. Pastor Shaun and Jane, thank you for the incredible hospitality you and your church have shown us over the last 24 hours.  I was blessed with the opportunity to share the vision of our ride and OCF to the congregation and Arne even had a message from Pastor Phil and Chris to read out. Brought a great sense of completion to the whole thing I have to say. After church we enjoyed lunch in their court yard cafe with all proceeds from the cafe going to our ride. Very generous indeed.

And that about brings you up to date with the journey of the 'Riders of Rohan'. Thanks so much for your interest and support for this year's ride. I am deeply honoured by the numbers of people who have supported us and followed along with our route and blog posts.

PS. Didn't manage to get this post up on Sunday arvo as my laptop battery went flat in the car before I uploaded the pics. As it turns out gives me a chance to add this brief addendum.

We arrived back at C3 Church Mount Annan at about 8.15pm to be cheered and greeted by hundred's of our screaming fans. Ok maybe that's a slight exaggeration, how about tens of our families and friends. We had a great celebration party where the families honoured the riders and support crew with a certificate presentation.  It's been an amazing week and I finally I'd like to end by thanking three groups of people.

1. Our families back home. Thank you for releasing us to undertake this great adventure. Your support, love, encouragement and willingness to hold the fort does not go unnoticed or unappreciated.
2. The Support Crew. Mark, James and Pastor Fred. You have been inspirational in your tireless support. The exemplary example of servanthood and laying down your life for others is so appreciated. We truly could not have made it without you.
3. My fellow cyclists. Wow, you guys are amazing. The on-road camaraderie and bonds that have been forged will not be separated. The way you pulled together to support one another is admirable. When one was down there'd always be one who was up right there to encourage. That's what true connection and fellowship is about in my books.

It's still not too late to sponsor us and we'd really love you to do so if you haven't already. We're getting close to the $20,000 mark and with your support we can get there.

SPONSORSHIP IS FULLY TAX DEDUCTIBLE AND REALLY SIMPLE. IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE AND YOU'LL BE ISSUED WITH A TAX RECEIPT ON THE SPOT.

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DAY 6 - AN UP AND DOWN DAY

Well hey there everyone from the incredibly picturesque Lookout Motor Inn high atop Dorrigo Mountain. Our final destination now lies some 60 km away and 700m below us. We can't see Coffs yet but we did catch a glimpse of the ocean as we rode in to the motel earlier this arvo. I tell you it's such a great feeling to know that our ride is basically done. Much of tomorrow is straight down a mountain. And if you've been following my blogs and tweets at all you'll have figured by now how much I do love those descents. Clocked 80kph again today at one point. Now it might sound really dangerous but I have found that there's not a lot of difference between descending at 50 or 80. You've just got to concentrate on the road really hard and keep scanning way out in front for bumps and potholes. You can see the big ones coming and generally have time to steer around them. The smaller ones, well they're not always as visible but you just bunny hop over the top them and keep on riding. Plus I've found that the faster you go the more stable the bike becomes. It's a centrifugal force thing I guess

Not sure that this will be a very long blog tonight. Feeling really tired right now. Not sure if it's the fact that I've had about the equivalent of three day's worth of sleep in the last five days, the fact that I've now ridden 760 km or the two glasses of wine I just enjoyed at dinner. Probably a combo of the lot I'm guessing. Probably wont be very humorous either. I need to be on my game and awake to be able to write the funny stuff. I'll try to insert some good photos and videos to keep you interested.

We traversed 131km today in pretty good time today. Leaving at 7.30 the majority of us rolled into Dorrigo at about 4pm. Considering that we had some fairly lengthy breaks that was pretty good time. We were certainly aided by the up and down terrain. There was still a couple of fairly large hills on the way there but nothing like what we had experienced on Tuesday and Wednesday. The first 70 km was really enjoyable for me, despite being predominantly uphill. I spent some time at the back of the pack riding with Colin and ably supported by Mark and an injured Rob in the van. Riding along at that pace is really quite relaxing and very enjoyable. I realised that it's probably how Antoni feels riding with the rest of us all the time. JERK! ;) I was able to respond to several emails, listen to some phone messages, make a few work phone calls, record some great footage and post to Twitter all without getting off the bike. Who says men can't multitask?

All that and we still met the boys enjoying a drinks break at about the 35km mark running only just on 20 minutes behind the pack. We rode on as Colin was still feeling pretty good so for about 2 km we were out in front. Then the more serious climbing began. Colin allowed me to abandon him for greener pastures up the top of the hill so up I went. I met Arne just a few km from our scheduled lunch break and Ebor.

Let me tell you, the 'Fusspots' Cafe make sensational burgers and most of the boys devoured one for lunch.

Then we were off again. Scotty agreed to ride with Colin for the last 50 km and I set of with boys confident that I'd have a chance of keeping up with them as the overall elevation was down the hill. I was going gung ho for 15 km trying to catch Pete and Sebastian. What I gained on the descent I lost of the hills. But once I finally got onto their tail I didnt let go and we rode together for another 15km. When I finally caught them I was really proud of myself, at least for a few seconds until they told me that hadn't really been riding fast anyway. Our final stop for the afternoon was at a picturesque lookout just before our descent into Dorrigo and all up I sssssssssssssssssssss...

(Well it's now Saturday night a full 24 hours after those words above. That row of s's is where I fell finally nodded of completely trying to write the blog last night. I'd been fighting off the sleep for the better part of that last paragraph but in the end it was to no avail.  Apologies for the delay in posting but I simply couldn't keep myself awake any longer last night. Really think it must have been the wine because despite the physical exhaustion of week I'd been fine with the blog up until that point. I'll continue with the remainder of Day 6 (Friday) now and will write the Day 7 blog in the car on the way home tomorrow. That way I can incorporate the details of our visit to C3 Church Coffs Harbour in the morning as well. And besides I'm getting tired again and you don't really want to see a long line of s's again.)

Now where was I? Oh yeah the lookout before Dorrigo. We spent close to an hour chatting, eating fruit and relaxing with the great view behind us. The we made yet another invigorating descent into Dorrigo only to find that we still faced a 3km climb back out of town on the other side to reach our accommodation for the night.

Really nice place that Lookout Inn. I must say that my good friend Ian Henderson chose some very nice places for our accommodation this year when he and Charles Denis did their scouting trip earlier in the year.  Almost makes up for sending us up Thunderbolt. Almost. ;)

We convened for an early (5.30pm) dinner at the motel's restaurant and we ate well. I had a sensational lamb shank. Think the other dish was  pot pie of something like that and the boys seemed to enjoy it. I devoured half a basket of garlic bread, assuming it was included, only to find that Sebastian had ordered it for himself. Oh well buddy, makes up for you assuming that I shaved my bum for the ride. ;) I know I've been saying it all week, and you guys are probably sick of hearing my soppy romantic pinings for Jill in such a public forum but I really am missing her and the kids. I decided that I'm definitely gonna bring Jill up this way and may even have a few nights at the Lookout Motor Inn. It's one of those places I was describing in an earlier post. One of those places you take your wife for a romantic few days away and don't even leave the room. ;) And before you men start giving me a hard time about that you should probably try it. Might be the best thing you could do for your marriage. If it down ask your wife if she'd like a few days away in a country B&B for some romance and rest. I can guarantee most of them will say yes, and it will be worth your while if you do.

View from my Balcony...

Anyway I'm starting to get drowsy again. We've only been back from dinner about half an hour and I'm starting to fade so I'll upload the photos and get to bed.

Have a great Sunday and I'll chat to you from the road home sometime tomorrow arvo with the final post for this year's Men on a Mission ride.

Rohan.

Oops almost forgot the road kill.

• One Kangaroo (Right at he start of the day. We were riding pretty fast at the time and I wouldn't have been able to stop easily.
• One Fly (Eaten by Yours Truly)
• One Magpie (Also not practical to stop at the time)
• One snail. (I needed a roadkill shot and this guy just happened to crawl underneath my front wheel as I swerved to get out of the way. I did swerve my front wheel but he just rapidly crawled right into the way of the incoming tyre.)

OH YEAH, DON'T FORGET TO SPONSOR OUR RIDE. WE'RE RAISING MUCH NEEDED FUNDS FOR OCF FOR RESEARCH INTO KID'S CANCER. SPONSORSHIP IS FULLY TAX DEDUCTIBLE AND REALLY SIMPLE. IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE AND YOU'LL BE ISSUED WITH A TAX RECEIPT ON THE SPOT.

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DAY 5 - PERIPHERALS ETC.

Hey everyone. Today was one of those cathartic days. After the killer day yesterday we enjoyed our lazy 66km sojourn from Walcha to Armidale.

There's not as much to tell you about the ride today as it was so short so I'll also try to fill you in on some peripherals as well.

Now you may recall me saying yesterday that we were going to sleep in and leave at about 10am. At dinner the boys were saying that they'd sleep in and enjoy a lazy morning. All except for Sammy, who had said he'd hit the road at 7am because he's a morning person. It's seems to me that Sam may not just be a morning person, he may in fact be an early morning, mid-morning, mid-day, early afternoon, mid-afternoon, late afternoon, early evening, late evening and all through the night person. I'm wondering if he actually sleeps at all. If you look at the times he posts stuff on Facebook you'll see what I mean. Perhaps he's like a bear - just goes to bed for the winter and then stays awake the rest of the year?

Anyway I had some work to do after dinner and despite the punishing day seemed to have gained my second wind. Must have been that sensational Chinese Banquet. With that extra burst of energy I decided to do a bit of work then start blogging, consoling myself with the fact that I didn't need to wake until 8am.

By the time I turned out the light it was just after 2am but I figured 6 hours sleep would do me. In fact I've been riding on about 5 hours each night since we left anyway - must be the adrenaline. Problem was though, things didn't go to plan. I had a pretty restless sleep from muscle pain and the fact that my toes were still 'tingling numb' from yesterday's cold and tossed and turned much of the night. (That led to my morning Tweet "My toes are still numb - I wish they weren't. My quads and calves are most definitely not numb. I wish they were.) Just before 6am I could hear some of the boys right outside my window and by 6.30am it seemed that the whole neighbourhood was awake. I tried to sleep after that without success, meaning that I finished with about 3 1/2 to 4 hours of decent sleep. I estimate that means that since Sunday morning I've ridden 635 km on 18-19 hours of sleep. No wonder I'm feeling whacked tonight.

I finally mustered the energy to get myself out of bed about 7am and began the daily process of ride preparation.  Now for those not familiar with long distance road cycling or fortunate enough not to be married to someone who is you'll have no idea what I mean. So I'll spell it out for you.

1. Psyche yourself to get your weary backside out of bed. (20 min)
2. Prepare your clothes and lay them all out on the bed (10 min)
3. Hot shower and stretch (15 min)
4. Apply Dencorub to stiff muscles (4 min)
5. Apply Butt Cream (1 min)
6. Get dressed (5 min)
7. Take it all off again because you realised you forgot one article of clothing that is supposed to be underneath the other four layers you're wearing. (5 min)
8. Repeat Step 6 (5 min)
9. Repeat Step 7 because you forgot something else (5 min)
10. Repeat Step 6 (5 min)
11. Pack your food for the ride into the pockets of your jersey (2 min)
12. Mix Staminade powder into drink bottles and place on bike. (5 min)
13. Brush teeth (3 min)
14. Pack suitcase and day bag (5 min)

Before you know it 1 1/2 hours is gone. And so after deciding to rise at 7am I emerged from my cave at 8.30am only to be greeted by Tezz (mark that, Tezz) saying, "Hey haven't you had your breakfast yet? Everyone's already had their breakfast and we're leaving in 15 minutes." Thanks very much! Who changed those plans I have no idea. Anyway I raced over to the cafe across the road where we had a tab only to be told that they had packed it all away and so had to settle for a bacon and egg roll freshly cooked. (Another 15 min)

I was stressed eating it coz I figured the boys would be waiting for me. But when I got back some of them didn't even have their jerseys on. Thanks very much again! Pick on Rohan morning was it?!

By the time everyone else (except Tezz) was ready to go it was 9.10am. By the time Tezz was ready to go it was 9.20am. I think he had to do his hair or something. Has to look just right under that helmet. ;)

So we headed off at about 9.20am and made good time along relatively flat terrain (compared to yesterday anyway) although it did rise and fall quite regularly. We rode really well as a pack for about 30km averaging well over 25kph (Colin and Sam had left earlier) until we hit one of only two real hills for the day. The mountain goats shot through leaving you know who to fend for ourselves once again. That's right, Pastors Arne and Rohan. By the time we got to the top of the rise the rest of them were close to a kilometre in front. From then until Uralla Arne and I worked hard to shave back a few seconds. Oh yeah, forgot to mention about Antoni. (Arne calls him the Mikac Steam Train - his surname is Mikac) I think that he was clearly concerned that with no walls to get up today that I'd have no reason to call him a JERK and he'd suffer withdrawals from my love so he invented a reason all of his own. At about the 20 km mark he 'feigned' a puncture. We all offered to stop and wait because we were riding as a pack but his reply was, "No, no don't worry about me. I'll just change it myself and catch you all up later. Besides Mark and Rob are in the support van and they'll stay with me." So on we rode leaving the steam train to fend for himself. I kid you not by the time we reached the 35 km point Ant caught us up. He slowed down temporarily (not sure if it was out of concern for us or just to gloat) but when I told him the boys were about 500m in front he shot though again.  I heard that for most of the way after changing his tyre he was averaging 50kph while in pursuit! JERK! ;)

We arrived in Uralla at about 11.15 quite pleased with ourselves that 2/3 of today's ride was behind us. Upon seeing the statue of the famous bushranger Captain Thunderbolt some of the boys (Flax and Arne, both of whom we should expect more 'pastor like' behaviour from couldn't resist behaving like bushrangers by breaking the law and mounting Thunderbolt's trusty steed.

We visited  'The Galloping Gourmet' at Uralla for a prolonged and relaxed morning tea. With just 24 km to go we were feeling pretty good despite the cold. We set off again at about 12.45 en route to Armidale. But for no apparent reason my legs just didn't seem to do what I told them to do. It was not that they were in pain, it simply seemed that there was no fuel in my body to turn them over. So once again the boys raced off and left Arne and myself alone. We decided to tail the Support Van and trailer for the next 15km and that was great. The legs started to regain energy to ride and all the while we were able to average about 25kph and avoid the strong headwind. The only disadvantage is that there's no way to see what's coming and Arne collected a massive rock which blew out his front tyre. Fortunately he had a spare wheel in the trailer and we were back on the road in under 5 min. We pressed on to Armidale. Accidentally taking the first entrance into town instead of the second meant that we had to descend into the valley where the main part of town is and then head back up the other side again. Not what we needed. On our journey into town we came across Tezz and Flax who had clearly taken our entrance as well and then became completely lost. Tezz had no idea where he was going and led the Flax man on a wild goose chase up and down the hilly streets of Armidale. Needless to say Flax was pretty whacked when we found them and he joined Arne and myself in the climb to the hotel. Tez couldn't sit still of course and shot through determined to beat us all. We arrived about 1.55pm with plenty of time to relax for the afternoon, or in my case do some work.

The Ex-Servo's courtesy bus (paid for by generous Armidale poker machine users) picked us up at 5.30pm and we headed off for a big night on the town. The food was great, the company was pretty good too and we were back in hotel by 8pm. (We're such party animals us C3 Cyclists) It's now 10.00pm and I imagine that they've all gone to sleep because it's very quiet outside. That just leaves yours truly awake to once again update you with the day's events.

We head off about 7.30 in the morning for a mid length ride of 131km to Dorrigo. If all goes well and we don't stop too long for lunch we should be there by 4.30ish. There's some tough riding to do in the first hald of the day with one climb of close to 4 km and another two which look like they're actually one combined climb of about 9km. Good news is that the arvo will see us coming downhill in a hurry.

Anyway I'm about ready for bed. Apologies of today's blog has not lived up to the standards of humour and detail that you've become accustomed to but I'm just too tired. Not much to speak of in road kill today either. We saw a blue tongue lizard that had recently been severed in half but I was with the pack at time and didn't want to stop for a pic. Wish I had now though coz I remember thinking how cool it looked with fresh red guts hanging out of both halves. I much prefer the fresh stuff myself to the dried out carcasses that we see most of the time. Other than that I recall a dead magpie, maybe one or two roos and not much else.

Hey gotta tell you one thing funny and maybe redeem my lack of humour thus far. I had my all time 'Lost in translation' moment with Sebastian tonight. For those that don't know Sebastian he speaks with a strong South American Hispanic accent. Well my bum, and most of the other guys for that matter is reeeealy tender by now, particularly after riding so far in the rain yesterday. We use a product called Aussie Butt Cream, donated to us by OCF. Ordinarily, as long as your backside and genitalia are pain free it works well. Problem is though that it's laced with tea tree oil and I probably don't need to tell you how that can feel when applied to to the aforementioned regions of the anatomy once they become chafed. Well tonight I was very chafed but faced with no option I attempted to generously apply a dose of the cream. After enduring about two minutes of agony that I could only describe as feeling like I'd sat down naked on a pile of hot coals and no sign of it letting up I was forced back into the shower to wash it all off. Jill suggested I go buy some Amolin so I went in search of the van key to head into town. Turns out Sebastian had a tube of the same stuff only it comes from South America and has a Spanish name.  Anyway I'm getting to the good bit, wait for it. So Sebastian hears me saying 'chafed' and thinks I'm saying 'shaved'. So he asks me. "Where you shaved?" I think he says, "Where you chafed?" so I say, "Oh all over the whole area! Right round my bum, up the front etc etc. So he looks as me in surprise and says, "Noooooo, Pastor Roheen, when you ride you not supposed to shave your legs all the way to up there!" Hahahahahaha! Once Firtko and myself figured out what he was saying we just about wet ourselves with laughter. Probably just as well I didn't because that would no doubt have further exacerbated my condition.  Just got off the phone to Jill and told her the story. After she finally stopped laughing, and had told it to her sister who's she's staying with (which took about 5 minutes) she suggested that it could be because he's South American and so he must have thought I'd had a Brazilian or something... ;) Not just beautiful but quick witted is my wife. Love you honey. (That's me trying to be as romantic as James and Vicki. ;) xx

Anyway I'm off to bed in at attempt to get at least seven hours sleep tonight. I'll talk to you some more from Dorrigo tomorrow evening. Enjoy your Friday whatever you're doing.

Here's some more footage from Arne's video camera...
It seems that some of the videos on my blog are not playing on iPhones (and perhaps other mobile devices). They are working if you view them on a computer though. I could fix it by uploading them all to my YouTube Channel first but that sounds like too much hard work right now.

OH YEAH, DON'T FORGET TO SPONSOR OUR RIDE. WE'RE RAISING MUCH NEEDED FUNDS FOR OCF FOR RESEARCH INTO KID'S CANCER. SPONSORSHIP IS FULLY TAX DEDUCTIBLE AND REALLY SIMPLE. IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE AND YOU'LL BE ISSUED WITH A TAX RECEIPT ON THE SPOT.

JUST CLICK HERE

DAY 4 - MOVE OVER BEAR GRYLLS. MAKE WAY FOR CYCLIST VS WILD

Hey there. Greetings from the New England 'otel at Walcha. Kenn tells me that it's pronounced 'wolka'. I've just been blessed to be able to satisfy my craving from yesterday for fried rice as I pigged out on one of the nicest Chinese banquets I've ever had the pleasure on devouring. Kings prawns in nearly every dish. Not sure if it was just because of how hungry I was though.

Where do I begin with the story of today's events for our avid fan base back home. I guess the both of you would like to know about those dreaded mountains we had to take on today so I'll get to that shortly. ;) No seriously I do want to thank you all for your support of the blog and our ride. I've had over 750 hits on the blog since the first post, about 650 in the last three days. I feel honoured to be able to involve you at home to some small degree.

After signing off from my Day 3 post at about 12.30am last night I was asleep in less than five minutes and didn't stir until 5.40am. I'd set my alarm for 6am but when I woke I realised how sore I was from yesterday's 169km and decided to try a hot shower and stretch out my muscles. Just as well I did because I don't reckon I'd have coped at all today without a big pre-ride stretch. We convened for breakfast at 6.30 and were treated to a buffet of cereals, toasts and jams which was followed by a full hot breakfast of snags, bacon, scrambled egg, tomato and baked beans. At least I think there was tomato, I was still half asleep at the time.

Sam, Colin and Matt Lees (our ring-in for the day) set off at about 7 but it was 7.45 before the rest of us got going. We probably could have been ready by 7.30 but I think we were trying to delay the inevitable as long as we could.  Oh yeah I forgot to mention that we woke to rain. Not the torrential kind from yesterday arvo but the combination of fog and misty drizzle. You know the kind where you look out the window on a Saturday morning and decide to get back under the covers, sing out to your kids to bring you breakfast in bed with a cup of tea and settle in with a good book for the day. The kind where if you're fortunate enough to have a July Wedding anniversary like myself and Jill you retreat to a weekend in the Blue Mountains at a B&B with an open fire. Ahhh I can picture it now. Whatd'ya reckon Honey? We should do it. Actually I already know she'd love that coz she emailed me tonight to tell me how much she's missing me, how much she loves me and how proud of me she is. Brought a tear to my eye I must say. Oh and that reminds me. It's Arne and Monica Olander's Wedding Anniversary today so a big shout out to them. Oh and then that reminds me that is was Fred and Chong Noi's Peacock's Wedding Anniversary yesterday so a big shout out to them also. That's the second year in a row Pastor Fred has abandoned his wife on their anniversary for Men on a Mission. Thanks for letting him come with us Chong Noi.

Anyway where was I? Oh yeah the rain. Well it rained pretty much all day, at least until the last 30km anyway and then the wind picked up. By that stage those of us who were still on our bikes were pretty soaked and so the wind just made as shiver all the more.

Despite the rain all the guys found the first 40 odd km quite enjoyable. It was misty rain most of the time interspersed with the occasional heavy shower but overall not too bad. We rolled our way through the valley floor of the great dividing range surrounded by the fog covered towering mountains on every side. As Flax commented at one point, think 'Gorillas in the Mist' and you've got the idea. Magnificent scenery, and it's amazing how much more you can appreciate it rolling along at 23kph instead of hurtling by in a car at 100 or a logging truck at 90. And there were plenty of those today. Pretty scary when the pass you I have to say.

As you can see in the video above, myself, Flax and Arne were feeling pretty good at the time, having been discussing about our favourite Jack Nicholson scenes, telling sick jokes and laughing about corny 80s Christian music. Arne got this one line from a song in his head. A song that I'd never heard before, and wish I hadn't heard it today either, "LIKE THE WOMAN, WITH THE ISSSSSUE OF BLOOD..." Now some of you will no doubt recall that song and if so I feel really sorry for you because I'm almost certain that any person walking into a church where that was being sung would have walked right out again. ;) Incidentally, you know when a tune gets stuck in your head? Well those words got stuck in Arne's head for the rest of the day and I was forced to endure him painting such a vivid picture in my mind with those lyrics at least another dozen times as we ascended the hills.

After those foothills it really all began. Within the space of about 3km the 'enjoyment factor' turned into the 'endurement factor'. The road started to ascend that big climb, Thunderbolts Pass that I told you about last night and suddenly it was on for young and old. Just before we hit the really big stuff we were greeted by a smiling James Rengger in his Support Car with what I am certain he intended to be words of encouragement, "Keep going boys Antoni's already reached the summit." Now you might think that would encourage us at the bottom but when you you've barely started to climb what you know will be the biggest mountain you've ever ridden which is going to take you over an hour and you hear that some guy's already there it doesn't have the desired effect! Once again for the third day in a row I found myself picturing Antoni's face on a dart board with the word JERK written in bold letters above it. ;) So there we were, only 42km into the day, less than one third of the way to our destination and this guy's already more than an hour in front of us!

Well this Thunderbolts Pass lived up to and even surpassed its reputation. In fact there were only two riders who managed to ride their bike the whole way up. Antoni and Arne. No doubt Antoni did it with his hands behind his back but Arne did stop a few times. But here's the extraordinary thing. Every time Arne dismounted he would wait until he'd caught his breath and then get back on his bike and keep on riding. He even had to go back down a little each time to click his cleats into his pedals and gain some momentum. It was truly a gargantuan effort from the man and we were all stoked when Tezza awarded him the yellow jersey tonight at dinner. He was, beyond a shadow of a doubt the hero of the day.  We gradually made our way up this hill, which was really not a hill at all. You'd have to call it a mountain. Antoni called it a wall and that's probably the best description. As we ascended we began to drop off like flies. For the better part of 2km its gradient was in excess of 20%. This thing was considerably steeper than what we faced yesterday and with the exception of the aforementioned gentlemen the rest of us either strapped bikes onto roof racks and hopped into a car or got off and walked. I was one of the first to dismount less than 500m into the 7km climb. Arne and Flax who were with me at the base amazed me by being able to ride at least twice as far up the hill before they stopped. I just got off and started walking. And walk I did, for the better part of the next 5km I guess. Peter Grae was determined to get a mention in my blog and to show everyone that he's still a man despite having to walk decided to carry his bike over his shoulders! What the?! I barely had the energy to push the bike let alone pick it up and give it a piggy back. The other extraordinary fact about Arne's effort was that he was able to stay on the bike without falling off. I was about 150m behind him all the way up and he didn't really gain on me. So I was walking as fast as he was riding, about 4kph I'd say. That's takes some serious effort to stay balanced at such a slow pace.

We finally got to the top, or so we thought, because after about a half dozen of us regrouping and zipping up our jackets for a chilly descent we headed down the mountain together. Despite the rain and slippery roads I still descended the fastest (it's coz I'm carrying the most weight, hence the most momentum) and after a 2km descent I was greeted by another whopping great big hill as I rounded a bend. The funniest part was listening to groans of horror a couple of hundred metres behind me as one by one the boys caught a glimpse of this new rise.  Scotty Cracknell let out this almighty, "AHHHHH WHHAAAT!" followed by a five second, "OOOOOOHHHH!" So up we went again for another 4km. By this time the boys had passed myself and Arne and once again the abandoned pastors were left to fend for ourselves at the back. Eventually we reached a flat spot and out of concern for the fact that the boys way up front would be awaiting their pasta sandwiches we pulled the van over, made ourselves a sandwich and sent the support boys on their way in search of the other boys. Arne and I enjoyed a nice chat for 15 minutes or so while we recovered our breath and set off in search of the boys, who we were convinced were now at least 4 or 5km in front of us. I kid you not we rode 200m rounded a bend and there they all were at Carson's Lookout enjoying their pasta sandwiches! I'd intended to take a picture for you of the lookout but we were too cold and too over the whole thing by then to stop again. Besides, all you would have seen was cloud as visibility was less then 50m.

That reminds me about Charles Denis and Ian Henderson. They had some pictures they took of Carson's Lookout when they drove the whole route beforehand to spy out the land. I should have known something was up when they told us it would be great but then both managed to come up with excuses why they shouldn't ride this year ;) Oh yeah Ian, there were also two stretches of gravel road that we had to ride through earlier in the day. One was about 500m long and the other about 2km long. Must have conveniently left that out of your report hey! ;)

The next major event for the day was when most of the boys visited Nowendoc Public School. Just like Milbordale I'm told that there were five students including the teacher's daughter and her sister's two kids. These guys went all out though and gave a donation of $100, stacks of freshly baked cupcakes, three of which I managed to devour later in the afternoon in less than two minutes. That's as well as having consumed about a half dozen mini Milky Ways, a banana, an apple, two fruit bars, half an energy bar, two sachets of honey, four bottles of Staminade and a pasta sandwich during the day's riding for energy. The kids at the school also made us a poster to encourage us all. Very touching for the boys who were there.

While this was all going in Arne and I just kept on riding by. Soon we found ourselves on the second significant climb of the day. An 8.86km climb that ascended just shy of 400m. For locals out my way that's like ascending the Razorback twice without stopping. Despite the length however this was not as steep s Thunderbolt and I was able to negotiate it without getting off my bike in about 50 minutes. The stroll up Thunderbolt had taken not less than and hour and a half. When we reached the top the sun started to poke through for just a minute and it was as if God was smiling on us for a job well done. Unfortunately before long it disappeared again behind thick cloud and we were buffeted by strong winds. Now I'm not sure what the temp was like back in Sydney today but up here on the top of the mountain it was less than 5 degrees at times. Brrrr!

Having conquered the last mountain for the day we had 47km to Walcha. Arne's fingers and toes had just about frozen off and he'd determined to pack his bike onto a support vehicle and sit out the rest of the day, content with his achievments. Now nobody would have thought less of him for doing so because by this time just 5 of the original 12 of us remained on the road, (due to a mixture of injuries, exhaustion and exposure to the severe weather) but fortunately for Arne no support vehicle could be found at the time and so he rode on with myself and Flax, who'd decided to get back on his bike after pulling out in tears from excruciating agony way back on Thunderbolt Pass. By the time a support car showed up Arne was feeling better and we had less than 30km to go so he agreed to push on with us. And push on we did, all the way to Walcha. Those that completed the day deserve special mention I believe. And that's not taking anything away from the boys in the cars. They'd be the first to cheer on the finishers and the fact is that everyone gave this day 100%. You should be proud of every cyclist. The finishers in order of completion were Antoni (at about 4.15pm), Tezza D (at about 5.50pm) myself and Kenn (6.10pm) and Arne (just a couple of minutes behind us).

For those worried wives and family back home who are concerned if your men are OK I can safely say that despite a few injuries nothing is broken or too serious. The boys on Vodafone haven't have any coverage most of the way so if you've not heard from them much it's probably not because they're having too much fun and just ignoring you. Probably not. ;)

I also want to make special mention of our support crew, Mark, James and Fred. These guys have been excellent and have been there every step (pedal) of the way. We truly couldn't have done it without them, especially today when we were spread so far across the countryside.  Thanks men, you're legends. James told me at dinner that he went up and down Thunderbolt nine times today to check on everyone. Amazing effort!

Hey if you've not sponsored our ride so far let me encourage you to do so right now. In my opinion the effort shown by the boys today is so courageous that it deserves your support. I realise that my words cannot describe what we witnessed first hand today on the side of those mammoth climbs in the rain but it truly was inspirational stuff. If you've already sponsored I'd like to encourage you to consider digging deep and going again? I know it would mean so much to the boys to wake up in the morning and hear that those who've already sponsored have done so again in recognition of their efforts today.

SPONSORSHIP IS FULLY TAX DEDUCTIBLE AND REALLY SIMPLE. IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE AND YOU'LL BE ISSUED WITH A TAX RECEIPT ON THE SPOT.

JUST CLICK HERE

Well that just about brings me to the end of today's blog but first the roadkill and wildlife report.

Roadkill:

• 1 emu (badly decomposed)
• 2 lizards (squashed completely flat)

Live wildlife

• Two turtles
• One tawny frog mouth (possibly injured)
• One fox
• One cyclist (clearly injured)

Five things I've learned this week...

1. Never trust two guys who tell us the route is fine then don't come with us.
2. 60 seconds with Tezza D is never just 60 seconds.
3. I really can eat a lot of chocolate.
4. Antoni Mikac really is a JERK! ;)
5. Always wash hands thoroughly after applying Dencorub to quads and calves and prior to application of Butt Cream. Ouch!

Some of Pastor Arne's footage so far...

And lastly. The prequel for tomorrow's adventures for the Men on a Mission.

1. Sleep in til at least 8.30!
2. Breaky at the cafe across the road at 9.15.
3. Check out and head off for a casual 66km roll down a flat road (YEAH BABY!) to Armidale (10.00am)
4. Arrive Armidale and check in (1.30pm)
5. Sleep (2pm - 4pm)
6. Do some real work and respond to emails (4pm to 6pm)
7. Write a brief blog (There's not likely to be much to tell you anyway - 6pm)
8. Dinner at RSL (7pm ish)
9. Sleep again (9pm ish)

That's my kind of day.

Catchya later from Armidale.

Rohan

DAY 3 - ONLY THE FOOTHILLS FOR DAY 4. ARGHH!

Well I've arrived. At long last. What a day! Today I spent over 9 hours in the saddle and covered about 169km. Our sheet told us we were suppose to do 158 but at least four of us using GPS navigation came in with 169.

Departing as a group at 7.30am this morning myself and Arne arrived at the Bucket's Way Hotel in Gloucester at 7pm. That's one tough day at the office let me tell you. Now the other boys arrived at varying times between 6 and 6.30 but the two pastors were determined to be the rear guard. Now that has nothing to do with the fact that we are slower than the rest of the boys we were just determined to make sure that no one was left behind. ;)

After a brief continental breaky at 6.30 we delicately placed our tender backsides onto those very uncomfortable and severely under-padded pieces of rubber. I'm not sure why but every time you stop for more than about five minutes and sit back down it takes a good five to ten minutes for your bum to get used to it again. Unless of course you've got cycling knicks like Arne which he tells me he picked up at a local cycling store on the northern beaches for a measly $165! Now I reckon I've not spent much more than that on all my cycling equipment in the last 18 months. It's amazing what you can get between eBay and Aldi. I'm riding with two pairs of knicks each day, one from eBay which I got for about $8 and the other that Neil Gabin gave me for a gift last year. Thanks Neil, they're still going strong. Actually, come to think of it all our knicks are pretty 'strong' by the end of the day - so grateful for washing machines each evening. ;) I never had a sore butt at all last year, even when most of the other boys could barely sit down on days 6 and 7 but this year it's been pretty tender right from the start. Not enough time training in the saddle I'm guessing.

The first 40 odd kilometres this morning was quite enjoyable as we made good time in relatively flat terrain heading up from Cessnock through Maitland en route for Gresford Public School.  I hung back with Colin to get to know him a bit better and to enjoy the lush green countryside. At one point I did see a road called Flat Road and despite my pleadings to go that way I was reliably informed that it was the opposite direction from where we were headed. I'm not sure what the road we ended up taking was actually called but I think some of the boys may have nicknamed it B****y Hell Road. Ok, so that was Arne who was heard to make that exclamation at one point on the journey. So for all you holier than thou's out there who were giving me the 'Tsk, tsk' after reading last night's blog you can now see it's not just me who's so undignified it must be a C3 Pastor thing. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

By the time Colin and I arrived at Gresford Tezza had already completed his OCF spiel to the kids and rejoined the rest of the boys for Lunch at the Twin River's Cafe at East Gresford. (I must commend Tezza once again, he really is the man for that job. The kids love him and he will speak with anyone he meets. In fact he's started recording a segment called '60 seconds with Tezza'. He interviewed the ladies at the Twin Rivers Cafe. I've just texted him asking where he's posting them so as soon as I find out I'll send you the link so you can watch. I must warn you though - it might be a good idea to turn your computer volume down a bit first. ;) Oh and also make sure you've got a coffee and some time to spare coz I've renamed his segment '60 minutes with Tezza' ;) ;) Oh Tezz, you know I love you bro...

Lunch was tasty but once again it reminded us of Subway on Day 1. One poor lady just about had a heart attack when she saw 15 hungry men walk in. She was on her own and had to prepare all our meals by herself. I doubt that they'd ever get 15 people in the cafe at once, let alone 15 cyclists. Needless to say she was a little stressed as she received one order after another. In the end our support crew member James ended up in the kitchen assisting with the cooking. Not sure about OH&S regs on that but he is a qualified chef and we were too hungry to care anyway. As it was our lunch break ended up being about 1 1/2 hours, not real good when you've still got over 100km to go and you're departing after 12.30pm. And from then on the day started to get really interesting.

You'll recall me discussing the two hills we had to ascend today in yesterday's blog and the first one in particular. Well let me tell you words could not describe this mountain. It wound itself up and up the side of a mountain for about 5km. Now that might not sound like much to you but when trucks are struggling to find a gear low enough to pass you and you're only riding at between 6 and 7kph you know you're on a steep incline. Well that was the speed that Arne, Flax, myself and Colin were doing anyway. Upon arrival at the top I promptly asked the other boys, and Antoni in particular how long before me he arrived and the top. His response was, "Which time?" Did you get that? "Which time?!" Turns out that after ascending this mountain (which the boys called 'B****y Big Hill' - we later found out it was called Bingleburra) about half an hour before myself and my colleagues at the rear arrived and waiting 10 minutes on his own he thought he'd ride half way back down to see if everyone was OK. Finding one of the boys he escorted him to the top, dropped him off and then went back down again! Can you believe that? I said it last night, I'll say it again, Jerk! When I asked Ant his speed on the way up he told me that he was doing about 13kph, about twice as fast as us. And he was ticked off that he couldn't keep up 14kph. This guy is a deadset cycling machine I tell you. Antoni I wanna be just like you when I grow up.  What else can I tell you about the hill? Oh yeah, we could name it 'Vomit Mountain' coz Rob Grae threw up twice and Flax threw up once on the way up. For those that are unaware, that's not because they had a tummy bug. Extreme physical duress will do that to you. Personally, while I found Bingleburra challenging I was very fortunate to not have to face the constant mind game that I had on Sunday where my body was screaming to get off and walk. I can honestly say that I enjoyed the experience, in some quirky kind of way. And then there was he descent. That was something to behold. Pastor Fred got some brilliant footage of us all strung out down the side of the mountain on Arne's camera. As soon as he gets it edited I'll post some on the blog for you all to see. As was the case on Sunday I topped out at 81.8 kph on the way down. Gotta love that! (Incidentally I did say that I'd post a link to Pastor Arne's blog. If you want to keep up to date with his view of events click HERE)

The view across the valley and up Bingleburra Mountain.

But all that's nothing compared to what we face tomorrow. Today we ascended about 250m from the base of Bingleburra to the top over about 5km. Our first significant climb tomorrow, will see us ascending more that 630m in just on 7km! And there doesn't appear to be much of a space for a breather either. If you stop on these kind of ascents it's nearly imposible to get back on again. One of the ladies in the restaurant here at Bucket's Hotel just mockingly laughed at us when we told her where we were going tomorrow. Doesn't really inspire great faith in me I must say.  Over all tomorrow we will ascend more than 2km! I say it like that because it sounds so much more menacing than 2000m. Our net gain after ascents and descents is about 1100m. Our highest point on the journey will have us at an elevation just shy of that of Thredbo Valley! When you consider that we are starting less than 100m above sea level that's pretty scary. Reckon the blog might be a bit shorter tomorrow night, or you may even have to wait til Thursday coz I'll probably collapse on my bed as soon as I arrive in Walcha.

Day 4 Elevation Graph. Today's graph fits in the bottom one quarter of this chart...

Anyway enough chat about those dreaded mountains. After our final significant ascent today the real cyclists decided they were too bored with waiting for Arne and myself and decided to take off and leave us to fend for ourselves for the last 60km. Now I should stress that Arne and I did actually finish the ride today. Not like those three wimps, I mean mean men, who came up with some pitiful excuse about having muscle cramps or knee pain or something like that. Sorry Flax, Rob, and Colin. You know I still love you guys, just can't have the folks back home thinking that their pastors are the slowest and laziest. ;) Now to be fair, Rob was genuinely struggling with a knee injury and that was after being blasted in the eyeball by a rouge drinking bubbler at Milbrodale School yesterday which left his eye all swollen so it's fair to say he's had a rough time of it. And Flax, well he's been fighting a hip injury for a couple of months and up until Sunday had barely been on the bike in 6 weeks. And Colin, well I must say that I think he's doing an awesome job. He knows that he's slower than the other boys but he's constantly pushing through the pain barrier and going well beyond what his body would ordinarily let him do. That's why both he and Sam are my heroes. That shows real courage if you ask me. Much like the superman from last year Pastor Fred Peacock. Now Pastor Fred is yet to don his baggy oversized lycra Long Johns and get his bike out of the trailer but tells me that he's enjoying the journey alongside Mark in the van. I think we'll see him on the bike at some point before the week is out though. He told us today that he clearly doesn't have a thing for men because he's been staring at our backsides for 3 days now and is most definitely not turned on by them. I take offence at that because I've been living under the obviously false assumption that I have sexy bum. Well that's what Jill's been telling me for many years now anyway...

Now back to the last 60km. We weren't helped by the fact that while the cycling machines were still in sight the boys in the support crew who were clearly getting bored hollered out the window for us to stop. I was certain that something had falled off my bike on the bumpy road, but nope. They merely saw and echinda cross the road in front of them and wanted to stop out of curiouslity. When I asked them to tow us back up the the pack they just laughed at me and told us to get back on our bikes. So much for a support crew, unsupportive crew I'd say.

From the sunshine and nice breeze we experienced at lunch time things turned decidedly worse as the afternoon went on. The temperature dropped considerably, a few drops of rain started to drizzle down from the heavens and then when Arne and myself were about 35-40km from our destination that drizzle turned into a torrential downpour. I'm talking 'aquaplane your car' torrential. And this was accompanied by a really strong wind that alternated from head wind to cross wind. Man I so hate wind when cycling - takes the enjoyment factor right out of it.  We console ourselves with the news that those uncaring men that abandoned us earlier did not escape the rain and may indeed have gotten a bigger dose. Tezza tells me that he endured hail stones as well but knowing Tezz who knows what to believe. ;) With all that rain and exhaustion I think I could honestly say that the last 50km today was most probably the longest 50km I've ever ridden. Not the hardest by any means but it certainly had the illusion of being the longest. It just seemed to take for ever. Our average speed was way down and all I could think about for the last 40km was digging into a massive bowl of fried rice. I think maybe my body was trying to tell me I need carbs.

Well I didn't get rice tonight but I certainly got carbs. We were treated to a smorgasbord of breads and pastas for dinner. Yummo. And we're taking the left overs with us tomorrow. The boys are gonna buy some bread and we're gonna have pasta sandwiches for lunch at Carson's Lookout at the top of Thunderbolt Way. I realise that may not sound too appealing to you folks back home but by the time we're up those hills I reckon we'll be hanging for those cold penne pasta sandwiches.

Well it's after midnight and breaky is once again at 6.30am for a 7ish departure. I'm guessing that it could be close to a dozen hours from the time we leave until I arrive in Walcha. Joy, oh joy! Talk to you from there. Enjoy your day.

What about me? It isn't fair, I don't have enough... (you know the rest...)

Thank you to all those who've sponsored already. I know there's more out there who have been meaning to but haven't gotten around to it yet. To sponsor us just click HERE

To learn more about OCF just click HERE

Oh yeah, the roadkill report. Nothing much to report I'm afraid. A couple of dead maggies, a couple of squashed flat lizards and then there was the two turtles and that echidna who managed to escaped being run over by the support van.

DAY 1 AND 2 - ROLLED INTO ONE

Well, g'day from Cessnock. We've completed our second day's ride in this year's Men on a Mission sojourn to Coffs Harbour. We had very limited phone coverage out in the sticks at Putty last night so this arvo I'm sitting down to write the equivalent of two day's blog rolled into one. Even if I did have coverage last night I doubt very much that I'd have been in much of a condition to write a blog anyway. Myself and three other slow gentlemen who I wont mention lest I embarras them rolled into the Grey Gum Cafe just a few kms short of the township of Putty at 8pm! That's right you heard it 8pm!

Hey thanks to everyone who's been following along back home. We've been so encouraged by the number of people posting to us on Facebook and Twitter. They tell me that the 10km automatic Twitter updates are working pretty well. For the uninitiated every 10km the App on my iPhone that is tracking our progress posts an automatic update to Twitter and Facebook that includes a link to the map of our progress. You may want to check it out so you can follow our progress in real time. Technically you're tracking my progress. If you want to get a true record of where most of the boys are you probably need to assume they're about 10km further down the road! Matty Lees was one of the many following the map of our journey and he sent me a text upon arrival at Putty with the words "It must be a day one thing!" Last year we rolled into Goulburn at 8pm as well due the late start at church at the 40km of dirt road we were forced to endure.

I've noticed a big spike in my blog numbers over the last 24 hours. I promise you I wont let it go to my head but in the last day I've had over 100 people view my blog! I'm famous, I've made the big time. Yeah baby! I can now roughly estimate that in 24 hours I've had as many viewers and Pastor Phil Pringle gets in about 15 minutes.

Anyway back to the story...

Firstly let me thank the people at C3 Church Mount Annan for yet another superb send off yesterday morning. All the boys were truly stoked with the support and encouragement that you showed us all as we departed.  The three guys from Oxford Falls were really impressed too. Mind you they were pretty easy to please. They were amazed by the fact that we actually have electricity and running water out our way. ;)

After the great send off we headed down Narellan Road and up the Northern Road en route to our scheduled lunch stop at Windsor. Special thanks to Richard McDonald who followed us to Penrith despite his wife Tonia just having had a whopping 9 pound somthing baby less than 72 hours before. Richard would have been with us but I think we'll give him a legitimate excuse this year. Besides he's heading to Canberra next weekend to compete in the Fitz's Challenge, a 200+ km one day ride through the Stromlo Mountains. He's also raising funds for OCF. Rich we'll be thinking of you as we travel back to Sydney in airconditioned vehicle at 100km/hr.

The road to Windsor was relatively flat and we made good time averaging around 26 km/hr and arriving at Subway Windsor just after 1pm.  I must say they definitely take life a little slower in the country because the few staff that were on were averaging about five minutes per sub.  It took nearly three quarters of an hour for everyone to get a feed.  Just before we left at 2.30 we were joined by Andrew Flaxman (hereafter referred to as Flax) from C3 Tuggerah who drove down to meet us following his morning service at church. He's named the ride Tour de Flax for his friends back home.

From then on the day got a little tougher. OK, a lot tougher. I'd say it was my most challenging day on a bike ever - period. (And Wednesday is likely to be considerably worse, Arghh!). After the flat terrain of the Northern Road the country side just started to go up and up and up and up. For the better part of 40km (with the exception of one 3km down hill where I managed to get my bike up to 81.3km/hr - man that's such a rush!) the road ascended from pretty much sea level up to about 500m.  Some of you will recall me telling a story in a sermon last year sometime how I've managed to keep myself from swearing pretty much all my Christian life. As I said at the time I still maintain that I've only slipped once and that was attempting to assemble the Expedit Bookcase from Ikea. Now I think that anyone who has put together the famous flat packs from Ikea will forgive me for that one. Well you'll be pleased to know that I didn't swear yesterday. Ok, for the more sanctified and holy among you who consider CRAP a swear word I pretty much used up my annual quota in about three hours between 3pm and 6pm. Matter of fact if it were possible to sanctify human excrement then the number of 'holy craps' that were heard to come out of my mouth would definitely have sanctified it!

At one point we saw a sign saying Colo Heights and I thought I'd made it to the top. It would appear  that Colo Heights is a region and not a town because I saw several signs as I'd crawled my way up the mountain. By the fourth sign it was beyond a joke and I said to the boys in the support car, "I don't need another sign to tell me I'm in the %^&$ Colo Heights. (Ok so maybe some of you still think bloody is a swear word too).

As I said above, myself and four other intrepid explorers arrived at 8pm, a little over one hour behind the front pack which I believe included Kenn Hedges, Craig Trautch and the cycling machine Antoni Mikac who I'm told was seen ascending one of the steepest sections of the day with his hands on his hips! Jerk! ;) We arrived well after dark accompanied by the extremely patient support crew of James and Sam who's head lights served us well in the forest so we could actually see where we were going.

Here's a video I posted when we were about a quarter of the way up the mountains. Believe me I was not in as good a mood by the time I reached the top.

Hey I must give a huge shout out to the staff at Grey Gum. Upon arrival they fed us well with a plethora of cold meat and fresh salads. I was amazed that they boys before us actually left us any I by the time we arrived. Then we washed it down with the biggest bowl of Pavlova and ice cream you've ever seen. Oh how that pav soothed my soul. These guys asked for some OCF merchandise and have agreed to promote OCF and our ride for one day per month from here on in. Apparently they had 600 people through their cafe on Sunday. That's sure to raise some dollars for our cause throughout the year. Incidentally it's worth a day trip with kids up that way some time over the summer. There's great family swimming in the Colo River and then I'm sure they'll treat you well at the Grey Gum if you tell them the boys from the OCF Sydney to Coffs ride sent you.

We spent the night in one million star accommodation under a big top that they guys at Grey Gum had organised for us. I say spent the night because I don't know that there was a lot of sleep going on, except for Scotty Cracknell who was out like a light (and sounded like a steam train) from the moment his head hit the pillow until about 6am this morning. Apparently Sam snored too, although I can't say I heard it. I'm certain he was awake for the same two hours that I was between 1.30am and 3.30am because I didn't hear him but did see him on his phone once or twice. Probably suffering Facebook withdrawals... ;) The other reason he probably didnt sleep was because apparently Rob Grae kept kicking him in the head every time he snored. During those two hours while I tossed and turned with sore muscles I did experiment with taking a photo of the boys in bed.  Come to think of it, they must have all been sleeping pretty well coz none of them complained about the flash going off seven times. Here's the best photo I could come up with. Doesn't show too much, just the typical mess that a bunch of men create within a couple of hours. Mark Cramer apparently couldn't tolerate the snoring so he spent the night on the concrete out under the stars. I think he would have got a little damp from the dew. And then there's the story of Tezza D who completely forgot to bring a sleeping bag or a jumper. That attractive green rug you can see in the front left corner is mine. I lent it too him but need I say it didn't do too much to warm him up I dont' think.

The Day 1 elevation chart.

I don't have much to report for Sunday's Road Kill report I'm afraid. I saw a couple of dead lizards and and a very smelly dead snake that Kenn reckons must have had something half digested rotting inside it to make it smell that bad. It's possible that there was quite a deal more than that on the road but for much of the afternoon I was so oxygen deprived I wouldn't have noticed any dead animals, and even if I had I doubt that I'd have been able to tell the difference between them and a rock or a tree, or another cyclist. Not that I saw any other cyclists as they were so far ahead of me!

And onto Day 2 - Monday.

After a fantastic cooked breakfast at Grey Gum we packed up and were on the road by 7.35am, keen to get as much of the trip done before the heat set it. Sam and Colin headed off about half an hour before us in to give us something to chase. We endured another 40km of mountainous terrain but at least this time it was at the start of the day and there were considerably less expletives coming from my mouth, despite some cracking hills in there. The best part of the day was 18km straight down hill - man that was fun. I was sooooo glad I didn't have to ride up back up there in the opposite direction I can tell you. At the bottom of our descent we regrouped at Milbrodale Public School to talk to the students about our ride and OCF.  Some of the other boys tried to console me by telling me that they'd only arrived minutes before me and Flax but I think they were just being nice.  Here's a brief video I recorded at the school as we ate lunch.

After lunch at Milbrodale we troddled on down the road for 15km to Broke Public School.  This school is about 130 years old.The Principal at Milbrodale had phoned ahead and they were expecting us. Tezza was in his element with the 56 kids that waited on every word he said in the COLA - That's Covered Outdoor Learning Area for those boys that asked ;)  Antoni remarked that Tezz would make a great kid's pastor, partly because he's got so much energy to burn and the kids love that. Well we could barely get away from the children - we were treated like heroes and there were high fives all round as we tried to ride off. One boy was determined to ride his BMX with us and wouldn't take no for an answer, until the principal told him it was out of the question. Would have loved to show you some pics of the delight on the kids faces but obviously for security purposes we can't take photos of the kids. Apparently we've got several more schools to visit before we arrive at Coffs. A great and rewarding way to share the purpose of our journey.

From there on we hit the flats and false flats. For the rest of the arvo my torture in the hills was over. It's in this terrain that I come into my own and happily led the boys for 15km or so at an average speed of 35kph. I put this down to my rather large calves which I inherited from my dad.  Rob Grae tells me I actually don't have calves, I have cows...  Well after leading the pack for a while I realised that I'd forgotten to eat anything at all since lunch and promptly faded of the to the back of the pack and let some of the other boys lead us into town.

This is us stopped in the shade for a breather about 10 km from our destination. Antoni informed us that his fancy computer on his bike was telling him that the temperature coming off the road was 41 degrees and it certainly felt like it.

We arrived at 2pm a full six hours earlier than yesterday which gave me plenty of time to have a hot shower, respond to some emails and get some blogging done. Unfortunately I've spent a couple of hours trying to get the computer to work hence the lateness of this post tonight.

This was Day 2's Elevation Chart...

We're staying at the Potters Resort and I must say it's pretty impressive. The boys enjoyed a swim while I slaved away bringing you the news and we convened at 6pm for dinner in the bistro. I've just enjoyed a fine feed of Chicken Supreme which was about half a chook, a full bok choi and about 6 cups of rice. Should be sufficienty carbo loaded for tomorrow now. At dinner in one of his shortest and less glorious speeches Tezz awared Peter Grae with the yellow jersey for being first across the line today. By awarded I mean he essentially chucked the shirt in his general direction.

Speaking of tomorrow. Not having looked at the map I'd been consoling myself with the fact that we had a relatively flat and easy day of about 120km only to find that it's actually about 160 with a killer hill right in the middle. Joy, oh glorious joy! I'll be having a quick breaky at 6.30am and will aim to get on the bike by 7am and give the boys something to chase.

Day 3's ride looks like this...

Monday's road kill report is much more interesting then yesterday.

• We saw several roos, probably about half a dozen including three in quick succession that went in order from 'fresh roadkill' to 'starting to ro't to 'not much more than a skeleton'.
• A ripper wombat complete with bumper bar. The boys tell me that there was also massive tyre marks on the other side of the road but I was too busy admiring this guy and his accompanying car parts to notice. (See picture below - and check out our friend's two front teeth)
• Two flies which I had the pleasure of swallowing... Disgusting!
• And the great escape of the day - One bearded dragon that somehow managed to walk right through the middle of about 10 of us riding at 30kph and survive being hit by a rotating bike tyre.

Well thanks for reading my blog - the support that we're receiving from back home means so much to us out here on the long and bumpy road. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. Never ride a bike on the Broke Road -  it's a killer. I thought I was gonna shudder the bike to pieces on that stretch today. Unbelievable - 20km of bumps and potholes - scary stuff when at times you're cruising along at 35+kph. If any of us had hit a pot hole that would be the end of it for the trip I reckon.

Hey thanks also to all those that have sponsored us so far. It's not too late to do so if you've not got around to it yet.  Simply click HERE and it's as easy as that.

For more info on the Oncology Children's Foundation (OCF) click HERE

Enjoy your Tuesday and I'll speak to you from Gloucester tomorrow night where I'm certain to have a very sore bum - and if you think that's still a swear word then you really are too holy for the rest of us and should go to heaven right now ;)

PS. A special shout out to my boy Jeremiah who turns 9 tomorrow. Enjoy your day mate.  Missing you and mum and all the other kids and can't wait to see you on Sunday night. xx