A few months ago I commenced cycling by myself around the northern suburbs of Brisbane, mainly to visit our grandkids in Shorncliffe and in Narangba. On Monday, the 6th April i embarked on my first group ride. I joined with a group cycling enthusiasts, several of them members of the Glen Innes Rotary Club, to cycle from GI to Goondiwindi. This was their inaugural ride for the wonderful and needy cause that is, Rural Mental Health.
We were blessed with beautiful weather. Some 90% of the journey we travelled on bitumen roads with courteous and quiet traffic conditions. The days were Sunny and the evenings quite fresh. I slept under a canvas swag kit but most of the team had small one man tents. I experienced one small spill, all part of the learning process I was told. My only puncture was a multiple hit, sustained on the gravel surface. It was fortunate that I was carrying a couple of spare tubes. I had hitherto not repaired a puncture since I was attending a school in Armadale, WA. In all honestly I cannot claim that I repaired this one. Several of the riders stopped to help including our key organizer, Rose Price. Thank you, Rose et al !
A few of us journeyed some distance to reach the starting post. I was the only rider from Brisbane. From the Gold Coast came our youngest (and fastest) rider, Christine Whitten. Prominent Rotarian, John Barber came to us from St George, QLD. Our oldest rider was Elton Squires and Elton also enjoyed some time with the leading pack, as did Christine and John. At a Rotary Dinner preceding the ride accomplished cross country cyclist, Chris Smith shared with us some stories about her adventures on a variety of Aussie roads including some details of a 6 months trip when taking her LSL. Chris is a Nurse at the Emmaville Hospital.
The support team, numerically, was almost the equal to the riders. First mentioned must be the volunteers on the “scran wagon” Jude Cox, Budge Frend, and Gary Lidden. The food was equivalent to that of a five star hotel. With myself and Christine being gluten free this added to the complexity of their task.
My father, was ex-Navy and he always used the term, scran. Adrian Whitten also served, as did my father, on a HMAS Vendetta and we reminisced some about Navy speak.
There was a significant transport and logistics team, most of them local Rotarians and several of them farmers and / or GI residents. We expected that the loss of the ignition key to our main support truck would slow us down some however the team performed something akin to a miracle to get the truck back onto the road. Ken Barker did a great job in the lead vehicle. Ken also played the part of the Sergeant and you can imagine he was able to gather plenty of subject material. Each day I was cleaned out of my small change. The key was not the only item that was lost. When I arrived home, on Saturday, there was a stray fire extinguisher and a large water container in the rear of the Tarago.
The four days, on the road were divided, almost equally in trip distances between GI, Emmaville, Ashford, Yetman and Goodiwindi, a total trip distance of 270 Km`s. Along the way Graham Price and the other organisers went to some considerable trouble to involve the locals and to make contributions to a variety of small schools and similar causes. We met some real nice country folk.
On the last evening (in Yetman) we received a visit to our camp from John McKenny`s better half, Skye who brought along her music. Skye treated us to several songs. On the Monday, previous, I had enjoyed my evening in GI as a guest of the McKennys.
We very much look forward to the 2016 ride and to seeing all of you again.
Thank you so much to all who worked so hard to make this such an success.
If you would like more information about the ride or about this wonderful cause then please visit; www.gtoc.com.au. Alternatively feel free to give me a call or call Rose Price.
Davo
0418 784 186 or 3205 8617
