Blind Courage

This was the first day the Blind Courage cyclists started out with short sleeves (surprisingly for Canberra). Since Mildura the boys have had the fine company of their mate Mark Berends, who we haven’t really mentioned much because he just drafts quietly behind them, hardly pedalling or talking at all – not that anyone can get a word in edge wise with our own resident Mr Havachat, Grant Williams. Well, this was Mark’s day in a not so wonderful sense of the word when he got his third puncture for the trip – and he hadn’t even had his Weet-bix! Fair dinkum, folks, it’s just not cricket … or cycling.

Mark pulled Mitch over and jumped in the back of the KEA to do a quick tyre change as tailgate Charlie (aka Mitch) continued his slow and steady behind the cyclists. The boys were quite concerned (but not concerned enough to stop) at the absence of their silent partner. Visions of Mitch driving over the top of him prompted them to place a phone call – “Mark – where are you????” As the phone was in the other vehicle, no answer was the stern reply. Ten minutes later the side door of the KEA flew open and Mark appeared, like a genie out of a bottle with a freshly inflated tyre.

Over breakfast at a rest stop some 40km along the Federal Highway, it cooled off considerably. Then things really got interesting. No sooner had the porridge gone down than the rains tumbled down – just like Slim Dusty sang about – and it wasn’t even July! Well, weren’t they in for a wet 50km trip into Goulburn? They arrived at the Centro shopping centre resembling a group of drowned rats, so they quickly hopped into the KEA, closed the curtains, and did a quick change, like the Supermen they are.

They had a hot date at the Optus shop – as Optus has very kindly been a big supporter of Blind Courage to date. And wouldn’t you know it? The rain stopped as soon as they did. Optus has a prominent position in the Centro complex, and plenty of pedestrian traffic noticed their display and the Blind Courage posters. The good people of Goulburn opened up their wallets and dropped plenty of coins and notes into our donation buckets, for which we were thankful. Thanks to Craig Pritchard at 2GN Goulburn for the chat over the air, letting Goulburn listeners know we were in town.

The Optus store manager Karen and her assistant, Sam, couldn’t do enough for us. Area manager for Canberra and Goulburn, Jason, gave us a big welcome to town and produced the very popular Optus cup cakes in aqua and yellow colours. Yum. They always go down well.

Goulburn City Lions Club member David King and his wife Robyn, arrived while we were at the Optus shop, armed with a warm welcome and a big fat cheque for $500. Wow. Thanks Lions. You really are champions. David also informed the local media of our imminent arrival, so we had pre-press and a radio interview lined up, thanks to David’s efforts. The Lions have showed their true colours right across Australia, with their generosity and welcoming nature.

At this point we were joined by a group of tandem cyclists from Wollongong, led by Tim Manton. They’re a great mob and there were three vision impaired cyclists, who were keen as mustard to get on the road with Blind Courage to our next stop, Moss Vale. One of those cyclists is Katie Best, who is from Sydney. Katie regularly hops on the train from the Big Smoke just to go riding with the boys from the ‘Gong. The Illlawarra contingent made an early departure and it was just as well.

The Blind Courage entourage had been offered lunch at the Goulburn Soldiers Club, where chef Paul Miller provided a delicious lunch for all of us. Thanks also to the lovely Chris, our waitress, who ensured we were all well fed at the club. Not content just to feed and water us, the club also gave a very generous $200 cheque to the cause.

After a three-hour break from the saddle, the boys were a little reluctant to climb back on, but at 2.30pm, they pushed out of Goulburn bound for Moss Vale Village Park. The Southern Highlands is a beautiful part of Australia. The gorgeous autumn leaves everywhere were just a picture. The boys loved riding the hills into Moss Vale, particularly the downhill runs where Lorin and John finally exceeded Dean and Grant’s maximum speed – a whopping 85.3km/h. No matter how fast those little legs of his pumped, they couldn’t stay with the mighty tandems as they rocketed on down the hill It was also the first time Mark couldn’t keep up with their slipstream, and he was left behind in the wake. That’s not bad. It only took them 30 days to do it and that was only because they weren’t trying, said Captain Jack.

The cyclists tried to book in to the flash resort on the northern side of Moss Vale, which was booked out anyway. Actually they were having such a great ride, they overshot the runway to the caravan park by 5km. Only nightfall stopped them. We made our way back to the caravan park, showered and headed off to the Moss Vale Services Club. Keryn looked after us really well and ensured that no one left the club hungry. Thanks to the duty manager for arranging our soft drinks and our welcome to the friendly little club in that picturesque town.

You would think the boys did very little riding this trip, as we seem to talk about everything else but the ride, but of course, this isn’t the case. To date the boys have cycled for 141 hours, which equates to roughly 600,000 revolutions of the pedals. No wonder they’re tired! And their average overall speed is 28.294km/h.

Now, for the day’s stats: Total distance travelled 161.4km in 5 hours and 28 minutes; average speed 29.5km/h; maximum speed 85.3km/h; Grant burnt 3198 calories today. Minimum temperature 15.1 degrees; max temp 29.5 degrees; climbing distance 1372 metres; that’s 40.32km of climbing; average incline 3 per cent; maximum incline 7 per cent; they went down hills totalling 1292 metres, a distance of 45km; average descent 2 per cent, max descent 7 per cent.

It was with a great sense of relief that we arrived in Mildura on Friday, rather than our scheduled ETA of Saturday, April 17. We are still feeling the benefit of that more than welcome tailwind up the Nullarbor from Balladonia to Caiguna that gave us a day’s grace in our across country trek. Two whole days without having to climb back on those bikes is a blessing for our hard-riding foursome, which has now become five, with the arrival of Lorin’s mate, Mark Berends, who will ride with the team all the way in to Sydney for the final 1100km.

We couldn’t have chosen a better place to rest up either. The All Seasons Holiday Park at 818 Fifteenth St is a Top Tourist park in more than one sense of the word. The good people here have allowed the Blind Courage crew to stay three nights free of charge on powered sites in our KEA motor homes. Thanks for your support of the Blind Courage venture. It is very much appreciated.

A big thankyou to Max Thorburn, editor of the Mildura Independent online newspaper and head honcho of HOT-FM. Max very kindly let his readers and listeners know all about the impending arrival of the Blind Courage team to town. Thanks also to Keiran Iles, editor of the Sunraysia Daily newspaper and to the Mildura Weekly for their support of Blind Courage.

On Saturday the team arrived at the Mildura Workingman’s Club for lunch, which was provided by the club – thanks to our sponsors, Clubs Australia. The people of Mildura and district are very fortunate to have a club such as this in town. The food from the bistro was the best we have tasted anywhere and even our ravenous riders were struggling to get through their meal. Thanks so much to Jill, Craig, Sue, Wendy and the staff for looking after us so well on our stopover in Mildura.

While we’re handing out thanks, we must thank the good people at the Mildura Vision Australia office – Carmel, Janeen and the team. They welcomed us to town on Friday and then on Sunday morning hosted a lovely morning tea on the banks of the Murray River. The selection of home made slices and cakes went down very well with the riders, who were eating up in preparation for their big week of riding ahead. Thanks to David, Carmel’s husband, for providing the PA and helping set up the event; thanks to the wonderful Vision Australia volunteers, who happily gave up their Sunday morning to help welcome nine travellers to town in such a warm and friendly way. It was lovely to see Johno and the lovely photographer from the Sunraysia Daily stopping by to take a photo and interview the cyclists.

It was great to meet the mayor of Mildura, Cr Glenn Milne, who gave us a friendly and heartfelt welcome to town. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to say g’day to the Blind Courage mob.

The boys took time out on Saturday morning to check out the Mildura Super Bicycle Store and Hodgson’s Sunraysia Bike Hub. Hodgo gave the boys a generous discount on some fluoro vests that will make them a standout on the highway in to Sydney.

Lorin and Dean were interviewed on the Vision Australia radio network Mildura, after Lorin dragged himself away from the music shop next door. Musos will be musos, won’t they? Don’t worry Lisa. He didn’t buy anything – he just looked and chatted, of course!

Mitch’s diner was transformed into bikers’ mobile mechanical workshop when Grant and John carried out some much needed maintenance on the Cannondales, who have been given a real baptism of fire over these last 3000km. It was a rather ceremonious occasion when the boys unceremoniously tossed a tube or two of Aussie Butt Cream at their new cycling comrade, Mark. “What’s this for?”, he asked. “You’ll soon find out,” said the boys, chuckling as they handed over the merchandise.

A big hello from the Blind Courage team, particularly Dean Nicholson, to the students of class 6/7 Blue at Moorooka State School, Brisbane. These lovely little kids are tracking our journey across Australia. Special hi to Gabby Nicholson from your dad. Love you lots. Another big cheerio and thankyou to staff and students of Warwick Central State School for their fabulous initiative in support of Blind Courage. They’re the first school we know of to host a free dress day where all students gave a gold coin donation for the privilege of going to school out of uniform. Let’s hope they’re not the last school to think of doing something creative to help fundraise for the Blind Courage team. We’ve still got a long way to go to reach our total of $300,000 – but we have until the end of June to complete this fundraising venture. So if you haven’t got anything planned yet, put some thought into it and plan away. You can donate on the website or at any Vision Australia office within Australia.

The lads were kept busy on Friday evening and Saturday morning in the laundry of the All Seasons Holiday Park, washing their Sugoi nicks and jerseys. They have certainly lived up to their name, which Grant tells me is the Japanese word for “incredible”. Grant spent some time living in Japan and as well as coming back a big fan of rice, he learnt heaps about the language.

After our morning tea and meet and greet on the Murray, Grant showed us his expertise with a set of barbecue tools. Anyone would think he was a contender for My Kitchen Rules …. or should that be pretender? He fancies himself behind the barbie and even had the cheek to have a go at my poor old rissoles which still couldn’t get their act together. Shame about that. They’ll never know how good my rissoles really are. We also found out that Lorin and Jordan both hate peas. They’re nature’s little disasters, according to Lorin, and the only time he forces them down his throat is if his lovely Lisa cooks them by mistake. By the way, she hates them too. Beans and Brussels sprouts rule in the Nicholson abode.

We are now in full preparation mode for our imminent arrival in Sydney. If you haven’t already made plans, make sure you spend your Anzac Day public holiday morning – Monday, April 26, at the Sydney Opera House. The boys estimate their arrival at 8am or close to it, depending on inner city traffic. Big thanks to the Opera House public relations crew for helping facilitate our visit to the iconic Aussie landmark.

This week it’s full speed ahead to Balranald (Monday); Hay (Tuesday); Narrandera (Wednesday); Wagga Wagga (Thursday); Canberra (Friday); and Goulburn on Saturday. We have functions and community meetings scheduled in most stops along the way, so we hope to see you somewhere along the road to our journey’s end. We’re all praying for south-westerly winds this week, so say a little prayer for the cyclists too. Every little prayer helps.