Day 5 was probably the best day of the whole ride, we made it past the wheat fields into forests and due to the protection from the wind it was much better. For a large part of the morning we had a tail wind which was excellent, allowing us to cruise at around 36km/hr with little effort. We just hammered out the km's and it was a great ride. I felt it was getting pretty sloppy on some of the hills with people bunching up, 4 across in the lane, some passing on the inside/outside with no warning. I preferred to hold my line and slow down if the guy in front was climbing slower, others did not. This annoyed me, so after having enough of people crossing wheels on the inside I decided to just climb at the back of the group. I knew I wouldn't have any difficulties with the climbs, not after Timor, so I just did that. Better safe than sorry I say. Around the 190km mark, we had 2 guys lock handlebars on a slight climb and one went down. Unfortunately it was a pretty bad stack, with a possible concussion and a badly broken helmet (that's what they're designed for). 3 crashes in 2 days, last year we had none.

GPS data.

Day 6 kicked off with some rolling hills out of Dwellingup then the nice fast descent. It wasn't as dangerous as I remembered last year, which was good because I wasn't totally confident with the groups safe descending abilities. We crossed the South Western Highway to follow it sort of parallel rather than on it like last year, this was mostly OK, the roads were fine, the traffic was less. We observed first hand the kind of yobbos who live/squat around the Armadale suburbs, suggesting we buy motorbikes or directly questioning our sexuality. Obviously Rhodes scholars there. Once we were onto Albany Highway, the wind was reduced and we even had a tail wind for a bit. Running slightly late we pulled into Parliament house at 12:15.

Check out the GPS data to see the round about way we went.

We covered a distance of 1029.29km over the 6 days in a total of 34hours 33minutes on the bike (moving time, not counting a warm up 55km we did on Tuesday morning or any getting around town kms). Fatigue had definitely set in at the end, my ride home from Parliament house was a slower one than usual. It was an enjoyable cool down though so when I got home I was able to mope around in full style.

As of 31/10 we had raised around $170,000 for Teen Challenge with more donations still coming in. Next year the target will be much higher, and really I didn't raise anyway near as much as I should have. Work was just too hectic and the people I know just aren't the charity types. I'll need to broaden my scope for next time.

This year there were 6 people who rode last year on the ride, I wonder who many next year will return for a second or third time. I was very pleased to have met my primary goal for the ride: to not ride the bus, and my form was vastly better than last year. The route we took this year was longer, and was hard, the first 3 big days being harder than last years due to strong cross winds. I guess a goal for next year would be to be capable of helping others more often along the ride and doing more turns on the front. This year wasn't really a big stretch, but I was focusing on survival more than anything else.

After some recent gallery issues, as an experiment I've put my photos up on Picasa web, and 2 videos up on youtube already.

Onto bigger than better things next.

Yesterday we had a roo hop out between the lead vehicle and the peloton which scared the crap out of a lot of people. It was very very close.

That should have served as a timely warning. Unfortunately today we had 2 crashes, both with more than one person going down. The first was barely 20km out of Lake Grace and I think was the result of wheel rub. I was dropping back down the group at the time, and was bumped by one guy swerving out of the way. Fortunately we didn't go down and were able to stop clear of the crash.

The second was a result of a railway crossing. I guess there's a lack of experience in some of the riders in the group, and it's possible they didn't know how to cross tracks at a non-perpendicular angle. This time 3 people went down, one quite badly.

As with the last 3 days, there's been a very strong crosswind which was present the whole day. The wind was cold, very cold.

We've covered a distance of 688km over the last 5 days, with a total of 23hours 13minutes on the bike. Fatigue is starting to set in, and the look on many peoples faces tells mostly the same story around the dinner table.

Todays GPS data.

Tomorrows stage is 215ish km up to Dwellingup. The end is in sight.

Today started off with a strong cross head wind and rain, which continued for at least the first 50km to Ravensthorpe. After which the rain mostly ended but the wind remained.

At times it was so strong and gusty that you were wondering how you even could hang on. Once the weather sort of settled down I was able to shoot some more video without fear of being blown off the bike.

By lunch time we had 3 people on the bus, and at the finish, 120km later, it was 5 or 6.

After lunch when we went west from Lake King across the salt flats, we were totally exposed to the strong west south westerly wind, which slowed us down to 18km/hr at one stage. Fortunately a herculien effort by the stronger riders was able to bring us across the totally open land safely to more sheltered areas where we continued to battle the strong cross head wind and were at least able to average over 25km/hr again.

GPS data

Tomorrows stage is 190ish km, again we shall see.

Originally I wasn't going to do a day by day blow during the event, but on the ride today I figured I may as well.

The forecast was thunder and rain, and we saw the thunder, felt the rain and powered on through the strong cross winds. This year I took a camera along with me so I was able to shoot video and take some photos.

Of course operating equipment while operating a vehicle isn't a good idea. I'll review the photos later.

Most of us managed to complete the days ride, with some awesome fast bits with a nice tail wind once we'd turned off the main road.

GPS data

Yesterdays prologue stage was interesting, with one guy even riding the bus at the half way mark.

Tomorrows stage is 235ish km, we shall see.