We managed to ride from Esperance to Perth over 5 days, not going the shortest way, and had a whole lot of fun doing it. We even arrived at Parliament House early and had to wait for them to be ready for us to cross the finish line.
It was definitely one of those personal challenges people talk about, because it was really taxing on both mind and body. I find that my mind plays tricks on me and tries to tell me that I can’t do something when if you just ignore it and push on, you can achieve amazing things, just like this. A year ago I wouldn’t have thought I would be capable of ever doing something as out there and dare I say crazy as this.
Our team of 26 riders from many varied backgrounds and ages all managed to work together to make this possible, and without our support team it wouldn’t have been anyway near as easy or safe to do. Teen Challenge WA is a really worthy cause and I hope our efforts raised awareness of the excellent work they do piecing lives back together and funds for them to continue. We had the pleasure of visiting their facility north of Esperance and having a meal there the evening before we left.
Leaving Esperance on bike was just surreal, so many of the people from the Saturday ride were there, and it started off just like that, except we were on the main road out of Esperance. Unfortunately we were greeted by a strong NW wind which made it difficult to maintain the pace, and after lunch this wind picked up even more. About an hour after lunch I was totally exhausted and got on the bus, which was such a strong feeling crossed between defeat and shame yet by the time we arrived in Ravensthorpe there were 9 of us on the bus, we were not alone. We stayed at the Palace Motor/Hotel.
After an evening of contemplation, and checking the elevation profile and wind forecast online (I travel prepared – my internet worked fine, other peoples phones didn’t even work *grin*) we’d managed to convince the tour leaders that the pace the day before was not sustainable and seriously damaged morale. So today started off slightly more relaxed which was great, I was able to spend about an hour warming up before the pace started picking up. As the day progressed the wind picked up too but we were more sheltered than the day before and progressed well. About 20km out of Gnowangerup the lead vehicle got a bit close, and the eager beavers on the front of the peloton managed to hop on, and drag the pace quickly past 45km/hr. This split the peloton with me at the rear of the front bunch drastically trying to hold on. It was nearly the end of me, and fortunately they slowed down and let us continue at our previous pace, though now much more tired than before. I was able to complete this whole day, which was a serious boost to my spirits after the previous smashing. We stayed at the Gnowangerup Ag School/Training centre facility which was just out of town.
The previous evening it was noticed that a miscalculation had been made on the distance for day 4, rather than being a tame 189km it was actually closer to 250km, with hills. The laptop came out again and we went to work looking for shortcuts to get us back closer to what we wanted. The night was cool and I used my arm warmers this morning when we rolled out of Gnowangerup, at a pace a bit higher than the day before. Being cooler and now moving faster, and not having warmed up enough I was struggling early on, the first 30km was nearly the end of me, but fortunately after that either the pace changed or I warmed up and had more food or something and I was able to hang on. The first rest stop couldn’t come soon enough, as we were going up and down over small rises all day (not quite hills obviously, but enough of them strung together may as well be a hill). I was probably among the heaviest riders there, and us bigger boys don’t go up hills as fast as the smaller blokes, but we had to keep the peloton together so we struggled up the hills only to sit on the brakes the whole way down because the smaller guys don’t descend as fast as us. Frustrating. By about 30km before lunch I was just about ready to throw in the towel, but Wayne kept saying it’s only another 10minutes, then 10kms then 10 minutes again, and do on for about an hour. I hung on until lunch but I don’t think we stopped long enough for me to recover and take on the food necessary, so I hopped on the bus for the next leg. When we got to Boyup Brook, I got out and rode the last 30km home to Bridgetown. This being all downhill according to Gav which turned out to be only slightly incorrect, the first 25km was undulating like before, but ending on a nice 5km run down into Bridgetown. Only to be greeted in town by a climb up a steep street to the Bridgetown Camp School where we were to spend the night.
More discussion occurred about the error on day 4’s route, and it was decided to bus everyone (uphill) to Boyup Brook, saving us 30km of the nearly 250km route. In addition to that we were sending a car ahead to look at a possible short cut to check out the road surface, but that turned out to be unsealed so was not an option. About 5 or 6 people decided to ride the extra 30km rather than take the bus, and met us in Boyup Brook for an 8am start. Our morning stop was to be in Collie where it was arranged to visit the Collie-Donnybrook cycle race museum. Again the day started off hard but we had a long descent towards Lyles Mill before the big climb up and over Mungalup hill into Collie. The Collie-Williams road nearly got the better of me and hill after hill I was falling off the back of the pack, spirits smashed, body suffering, mind losing it. But I kept going, and made it to lunch. As I was stopping for lunch I was planning on doing what I did the day before, and riding the bus for a leg, but I was able to recover quick enough and down some food to get back out there, with the idea of seeing how far I could get and then ride the bus. Unfortunately that plan got smashed when the bus sped off past us never to be seen again. I just had to keep going, and with a strong cross wind and foolishly being trapped on the wrong side of the group I was not doing well. Then we turned into the wind and with the drop in pace, and now being covered from the wind I recovered a bit and kept going. Hill after hill after hill all the way to Dwellingup. We stayed at some chalets which were nice.
With a strong tail wind which seemed to bash us around a bit on the way down, we made it down to the South Western Highway only to get smashed again by the cross wind. We had to be at Parliament house by 11:50, and leaving later than scheduled we had to make up some time. Unfortunately for me this was during the massive cross wind where we were rotating through at 38km/hr on the protected side, and 35 on the exposed side. Today we had no bus too, so there was no option. I was convinced that I wouldn’t be able to keep going and the pace was so unsafe that I was just about done there. But we kept going until Byford where we stopped for a break. After that the pace was lower because we had 1.5hrs to cover 40km so no problem there, and despite the traffic lights, a massive tail wind up Albany Highway. At a more leisurely 35km/hr we proceeded up Albany highway, around Kings park and up into Parliament House, where we had to wait for everyone to be ready before crossing the finish line. After a few speeches we retired for a buffet lunch and then rode home.
All in all it was quite an experience, and my feelings ranged from what the hell am I doing, and never again through to next time I’ll be better prepared. We did get to see first hand much more of the countryside than normal, because cruising past at 33km/hr you see a lot more than at 110km/hr. We saw a snake, lots of sheep and cattle, some horses and many other rustlings in the bushes as we went past. Not to mention all the dead road kill to stink up the place. I’m also living proof that sun screen does work, and if you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything. Just by my efforts alone I was able to raise $1200 for the cause, with donations from Canada and Okalahoma being by far from the most distant places.
Thank you to everyone who supported me in this endeavour, it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience, unless I do it again next year of course. And if you’d like to be part of it next year, I’d recommend buying a race bike before March, because although I did quite well (nearly 850km in 5 days) if you’d like to be able to complete each day you’ll need more practice than I got, or something like that. Come along have a go.
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