Oct242010
THE ICING ON THE CAKE
Oct222010
M3 RIDERS DEVELOP A SERIOUS DRUG PROBLEM
If you had a chance to catch the nightly news you likely heard that shares in Pharmaceutical companies have sky rocketed today. Apparently a dozen middle aged many riding through Gippsland in Victoria have cleaned out every chemist from Bairnsdale to Morwell.
- New to the list
- Fox (2)
- Turtle (2)
- Previously on the list
- Snake (2)
Oct212010
THE PEACOCK FLIES LIKE AN EAGLE!
Bear Grylls Award
Today's Bear award goes to Peter Kennedy. Peter rode the entire day with two bunged up knees! He started getting yesterday but they really gave him some grief during our first 60kms of climbing this morning. Just like Freddy the Eagle though our man Pete didn't give up. At lunch Charles shouted him a box of Voltaren tablets and Voltaren cream. I think he must have taken the whole packet because after lunch Peter came to life again. Think we've found a new superhero, VOLTAREN MAN.
- We weren't planning on stopping at Orbost for lunch as the Princes Highway bypasses the town but it so happened that it was lunch time as we passed by there so in we went. No sooner had we arrived then Colin who owns the local bakery came and introduced himself to Graeme. He noticed the MACCS logo on the side of the trailer. Colin explained that he and his wife 'looked after' the local Anglican church and offered to give us a good deal at his bakery. As it turned out the good deal was everything at half price! Charles asked Colin's wife if that meant that he could buy the bakery at half price as well! See below for a photo of Charles getting his chicken sandwich with Colin's wife and staff.
- Now the story returns to the Kuebler family again. Phil received a call from Janine saying that she'd arranged via a series of family connections that the local Baptist pastors at Lakes Entrance, Michael and Leanne wanted to meet us and offer their support. As it turned out they had arranged to shout us afternoon tea at the local icecreamery. Man did the boys take advantage of that, devouring an assortment of sundaes, milkshakes, smoothies and coffees. Michael asked me to send a big hello out to John and Sharon Rush so guys, if you're following along Michael and Leanne say hi. Maybe some of you bloggees could facebook someone from the Rush family let them know in case they're not following along.
- Lastly when we arrived in Bairnsdale we were greeted by cheering crowds on the side of the road with placards welcoming us to town. Well actually it was the Lyle family, Rick Kuebler's sister and family. Not only did we get a Tour de France style finish line but they also presented us with two huge boxes of goodies. Must be at least $150 worth of stuff in there. Fruit, snacks etc. This was a joint effort from the Lyle family and our friends back home in Mount Annan. So whoever you are a very big thanks from all the boys here. We are truly blessed and starting to get the feeling we are part of something very significant.
- Wallaby (2)
- Snake (1)
- Wombat (2)
- Magpie (1)
Oops, Upside down!
Oct202010
A GOOD DAY AT THE OFFICE
Greetings from Mexico!
What an enjoyable and scenic ride today. Truly a great day at the office. At one point as we negotiated our way up a climb I turned to Fred and said "Could be worse brother, you could be stuck in the office." Made that climb so much easier armed with that thought. You may recall that I posted a Twitter video a couple days ago showing the canola fields south of Goulburn As scenic as that was it had nothing on what we experienced today.
The day started bright and early in Cooma for Charles, Craig, Fred and myself as we set off for Cann River at 6.20am. As I departed Ian stepped to the threshold of his room and called out "Have a good day at the office Honey." I replied, "Will do Darling, see you tonight." You can see we all must be really missing our wives hey? Well I certainly am. (Miss you sweetheart, looking forward to being home with you on Sunday night.) Gotta tell you one aside story here. At one point Craig's iPod was stuck on repeat for 40km. The song? Addicted to Love by Robert Palmer. Too funny! Hahaha. We rode out to a magnificent sunrise following a quick breakfast of jam sandwiches. The other boys enjoyed hot bacon and egg rolls. No real complaints though because Phil and Mark caught up to us in Support Car 1 just past Nimmatabel and furnished us with two cold bacon and egg rolls each. You might say that sounds disgusting but when when you're cycling long distances any kind of food is welcomed. One thing I've learned this week is that food takes on a whole new meaning when you have to use it as a source of fuel and not just for the sake of filling your stomach and satisfying your palate. In fact even soft drink is good for you if you need an instant hit of energy before taking on a big hill.
Back to the scenery. As we rode along at a gentle pace we were able to enjoy sights that you simply don't get to see careering along at 100 km/hr. During the course of the day we passed massive sheep farms, a free range chook farm, majestic pine trees in the Bondi State Forest, views of the snow capped Snowy Mountains, mountain creeks, towering mountains and canyons and well, you get the picture.
Today's Bear Grylls award goes to Pastor Fred Peacock. Despite trying to survive the entire morning on a single jam sandwich when most of the guys had consumed multiple bananas, muesli bars, and a plethora of energy supplements (Kenny is really big on these, I think he keeps the health food shop in Narellan in business on his own) Pastor Fred continued to ride on. By the time we came to the 120km mark Fred's energy tank was pretty much depleted. Many would have quit at that point and refused to ride another metre. But not our Fred. Oh no, this man was determined to continue on. It may have taken us a long time but let me tell you there was spirit in that man today. When the going got tough Fred kept going. I enjoyed my ride with him and towards the end the two of us had a great chance to chat. After departing at 6.20am the two of us rode into Cann River to huge cheers from the boys at 6.00pm. Well the cheers were for Fred anyway, no one seemed to care about the fact that I too had spent about 9 1/2 hours actually seated riding a bike today! No seriously you should have been there - his effort was inspiring. I know what it's like to crack (a cycling term where you've got nothing left) and I can't imagine myself mustering the will power to ride a further 55 km after that.
Other notable events of the day include me being abused by the road worker at Bombala who clearly got out on the wrong side of his tractor this morning for proceeding 3 metres past the red light trailer as I slowed and de-cleated my pedals. At the time I was chasing up to Fred, Charles and Craig who'd left me stranded in Bombala and gone on without me. I figured they must have done something to upset him but it appears that he just didn't like me for some reason as they said it was all fine when they went through. Knowing Craig he probably put him up to it and pleaded ignorant.
Tomorrow we face another mammoth ride of 169km from Cann River to Bairnsdale. It's sure to be an up and down day with 10 categorised hills, two of them roughly on a par with riding up the Razorback from Camden to Picton. We'll be stopping mid-afternoon in Lakes Entrance, arguably one of the prettiest towns in Victoria and may even enjoy feeding some hot chips to the sea gulls if we have time.
Well that's about it for now folks. Apologies for the lateness of this post but as you can imagine there's a lot to do once we arrive. I had to consume three large bowls of Mario's Alfredo Spaghetti, take a 20 minute hot shower to stretch out every muscle in my body, take all my nutritional supplements and prepare my clothes for the morning ride. Phew, no wonder I feel tired. Doing all that's nearly as exhausting as riding 175 km.
Oh yeah one last thing. Today's Road Kill report.
- Wallabies (many)
- Wombats (3)
- Kangaroos (many)
- Hare (1)
- Rabbit (1)
- Black crow (1)
- Red belly black snakes (3) (Including one I got to watch first hand as the lady driving the white Commodore station wagon cleaned it up as she overtook Graeme and Sam in the bus. Sounded awesome too - thuck, thuck, thuck. Loved it!)
Rohan
Oct192010
AND ON THE THIRD DAY WE RODE AGAIN
DAY 3 - MORNING POST
Good morning everyone,