DAY 3 - MORNING POST

Good morning everyone,

Here we are bright and early on this Tuesday morning.  Still very cold but no wind to speak of yet. We’ve another day of tiring hills in front of us but hey we could be at work like the rest of the world so “I no complain.”

I have to say our accommodation coordinator excelled himself with last night’s accommodation.  Very classy joint these Pinnacle Apartments. Way up on the rooms we’ll be resting our sore bums at over the next few nights. Only problem is that without six of us in this four bedroom apartment I'm sure my snoring kept some of the guys awake.  My only consolation is that I could hear Fred snoring as well so they other boys can't just blame it on me. Haha

Incidentally I took a few hours off last night to have dinner at my parent’s place.  She was kind enough to Carbo load me with two big plates of pasta.  Thanks mum, I really enjoyed spending time catching up with you all.

We’re about to ride up to Parliament House for our meeting with Tony Abbot.  A great opportunity to share the vision of OCF and CAP with him.  Hoping to get some coverage in the local paper and TV as well if all goes well.

On an entirely different note.  I think it would be remiss of me not to tell you the story of Charles Denis from OCF who is riding with us.  I know I awarded Ian Henderson the Bear Grylls title but I think I’ll have to remove the crown from his head and place it atop the head of Charles after his gargantuan effort yesterday.  You would have read last night of me complaining about being buffeted by the winds and the hills.  Well let me tell you about what Charles faced.  But first a lesson in cycling for the uninitiated.  You may have noticed in cycling road races how they race in a large group.  This is called a Peleton and it helps significantly with easing the energy expenditure by up to 30%. We spent much of yesterday riding in this fashion but not Charles.  Oh no, this man of steel was delayed in Sydney on Sunday due to an amazingly hectic schedule over the last week that there’s not room enough to tell now.  Anyway he set off from Campbelltown in the early hours of yesterday morning en route to Canberra in one day.  Charles got all the way to Tarago, approximately 200km on his own into the wind.  That is a Bear Grylls effort in my books.  Well done Charles.  Really looking forward to getting to know you and hearing your story over the next five days.

Anyway folks, that’s it for me this morning.  More news en route via Twitter and Facebook and then on my blog later this evening.

Enjoy your day,

Rohan