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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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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