Day 33: Bass Hill to Sydney Opera House
May 3rd, 2010
There was a real air of excitement this morning (Monday, April 26), as the cyclists and crew prepared for the very last day of the Blind Courage tandem bike ride across Australia. We’d stayed overnight at the Bass Hill Tourist Park and left bright and early to be at our starting point – the Dunc Gray Velodrome, which was not far from the park.
When the blogger arrived at the venue (late as usual), the cyclists were chatting to a few other cyclists – Justin, Minh and Dan – who planned to ride with them in to the city on the final leg of the 4000km-plus trek. John Nicholson was videoing the scene, as he had done throughout the trip and Mitch was pacing before escorting the boys in his final role as “tail-end Charlie”. Also in attendance was Senior Constable Andrew McNeice from Bankstown Police. As arranged the previous evening via John Murray, chairman of Bankstown Sports Club and his friend Ian, in the police force, Andrew was to be the Blind Courage police escort into the city. Also on hand at the velodrome were Karen and David Ross, who work with Bowdens Group in Sydney, great supporters of the Blind Courage ride.
That last 26km in to the Sydney Opera House was one of the shortest – and slowest – trips of the entire journey, as Grant’s final set of stats will attest. Mind you, the police escort was fabulous and having Andrew up front with lights flashing made for a pretty impressive entrance to the Opera House forecourt. With all the waiting media, family, friends and supporters, we didn’t get the chance to thank him personally for his efforts, which were very much appreciated by the Blind Courage cyclists and crew.
The security staff at the Opera House were wonderful to us as well, granting us special permission to park the motor homes for a few hours until we finalised our media commitments and had photos taken on the steps of the iconic Sydney landmark. So a big thank you to Chris Wynton and all the team at the Sydney Opera House for making us so welcome.
Thanks to Channel 10, ABC TV and Channel Seven for showing interest in the Blind Courage story and coming out to talk to the boys. With the news media full of the football salary cap scandal, miniature horses on the other side of the world, a cat stuck up a tree and that pint-sized Canadian pop star, your support and coverage of Blind Courage was most heartening. And thanks to our terrific new mate, Sydney freelance photographer Geoff Ambler, who covered our arrival. We’d met Geoff the night before at Bankstown Sports Club and he was only too happy to come along to capture the Blind Courage arrival on camera.
It was a pretty exciting time for the Nicholson clan too, as it had been 14 years since the entire family had gathered together. Two sisters live in the United States, another in Barcaldine, Queensland and another in Tamworth, NSW. The two brothers live in Brisbane and mum and dad Nicholson (Julie and John) are on the NSW Central Coast, so full family reunions are a rarity. The last one was in 1996, so today was extra special for all the family.
Deano and Lorin’s wives, Janelle and Lisa, and their children arrived from Brisbane, and Grant’s wife, Rhys, was in Sydney to see her hubby come over the finish line. Poor old John Eder had to wait until he got home to Warwick to see his pussy cat!
After a full four weeks of going through everything from mouse and locust plagues, heat, cold, dust, rain and aches in every body part imaginable, the Blind Courage tandem bike ride is now a part of Australian history. The reason for the ride is still there… 300,000 blind people in Australia. While we have not yet reached our financial target of $300,000, we remain optimistic that corporate Australia will come to the party – and that any individuals or organisations with a few spare dollars in the kitty might consider giving to Blind Courage. We have until June 30, 2010 to finalise this appeal, so please, if you have not already donated, do it now. Thanks to all those people who supported Blind Courage along the way from Perth to Sydney – and thanks to those who will support it before the end of June. We could not have achieved what we did without your help and encouragement.
Grant’s final statistics: 25.8km in 1 hour 24 minutes; Grant’s average speed was 18.3km/h; maximum speed 50.6km/h; minimum temperature 9.7 degrees; maximum temp 20.4 degrees; 7.85 km of climbing; average incline 3 per cent; maximum incline 6 per cent; downhill descending 9.9km; average descent 2 per cent; maximum descent 6 per cent.
Breakfast today was served at the B-double truckstop, 2 metres from the white line at cafe de Nicholson. Diesel fumes and dust were an added bonus with their Cornflakes, porridge and Weet-bix. Despite the fact that today was a “normal day on the bike”, their bodies were starting to show signs of fatigue, with joints aching, muscles throbbing and the bikes rattling and creaking in sympathy. After almost 2500km of flies, heat, rain, cold, sludge and rough roads, the toll taken on these riders was much more than physical – the mind was also being attacked from all angles and their challenge was to retain motivation. The cyclists believe there are two positives, no three, for you Monty Python fans out there, to have come out of this ride to date:
The final run in to Port Augusta was a good one and a fast one with a downhill tailwind pushing them along at a pace. It was good to meet the local media on the beautiful Port Augusta foreshore – Rosalie from the Transcontinental Newspaper and Lisa from Southern Cross Television. Thanks also to Radio 5AU for letting their listeners know the Blind Courage crew was passing through town. A huge thankyou to Peter Goers from ABC Radio Adelaide who interviewed Lorin tonight on his popular evening program and to Kieran Weir who has lined up an interview with Lorin for Wednesday morning at 10.45am. Thanks also to other media outlets around Australia for your interest in the Blind Courage ride – Southern Cross Television in Toowoomba and the Warwick Daily News, Radio 3AW Melbourne and ABC Adelaide news.
