AND ON THE THIRD DAY WE RODE AGAIN

Firstly let me start by thanking you for your words of encouragement about the blog.  It’s great for the guys to know that so many people are following our journey. Please spread the word about our Blog on Facebook and Twitter so more people can follow along.

The title of today’s blog really sums it up.  After feeling like we’d died and been buried in the proverbial tomb for cyclists by those winds on Days 1 and 2 we enjoyed a resurrection of sorts today. It’s amazing what a difference calm winds can make to a cycling road trip.  Our average speed increased by about 4 km/hr and we could actually hear each other as we chatted along the road without having to yell.

Let me start at the beginning of the day.  It was a true honour to be able to have some time with Mr. Abbot this morning.  Mr. Abbot is a avid cyclist and chatted with us at length about our ride.  When asked if he had a chance to ride this morning his answer was, “No not as much as usual just a couple of trips up and down Red Hill.”  For those not familiar with Canberra Red Hill would be the third tallest mountain in the city.  No doubt about it that man is fit.  He said that he would have loved to ride with us to Michelago but unfortunately was unable as Parliament was sitting today.  Sebastian had a chance to show him his bike and share the story of his daughter Melissa’s battle with cancer that took her life at age seven.

Kenny presented him with the essential cyclist’s accessory which Neil captured on his iPhone.  This has been posted to YouTube. Click here to see Mr Abbott receive his present from Kenny.

Once our meeting was finished we set off for Cooma.  The ride itself was largely uneventful, at least from the perspective of you Blog readers back home.  The weather was great and the steady inclines were balanced by the awe inspring descents.  I topped 69.4 km/hr at one stage.  Apparently Sebastian was closer to 80.  That may not seem fast to those used to driving but on a bike I can tell you it is such a rush.

The notable feature of the day would have to be the amount of road kill we encountered.  I tell you we’ve seen it all on this trip, dead kangaroos, dead wombats, dead echidnas, dead magpies, dead cats, dead koalas and other mutilated mashes of fur that were so decomposed one could only wonder at what native fauna it once was.

Oh yeah, just thought of one other point of mention.  We passed a heavily bearded guy riding solo heading in the other direction on a mountain bike.  As he passed us he raised both hands to the air and shouted “Woohoo Perth to Brisbane!”  The thing that struck us was that he didn’t have any luggage to speak of!  The guys started to speculate about how he was undertaking such an adventure.  Some posited that he wasn’t actually showering or changing his clothes the whole way which was quite possible from the looks of him I have to say.  Someone else suggested that it may in fact have been Jesus!

Anyway that’s it for now guys.  I realise that I’ve significantly gone over my self imposed 250 word limit on this evening’s blog but given that a few of us will be setting off at 6.15am in order to ensure that everyone traverses the 175km to Cann River before dark I’ll most likely not have time to post until tomorrow evening.

We’re going to enjoy some down time around a barbecue tonight, should be good.

Until tomorrow,

Rohan