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.

Left the caravan park at the usual hour – just after sun-up – and on the road. After cycling 65km before breakfast, they were spoilt rotten at Mitch’s Diner and café de Nicholson when the bacon, eggs, tomatoes, fried bread and more were brought out. If you’ve ever seen a flock of seagulls fight over a hot chip, you’ve got some idea of the carnage on that poor old trestle table. They even ate the patterns off the plate this morning.

A slow leak in the front tyre of Lorin and John’s steed, 5km short of breakfast, was a real incentive for the boys to crack the whip and get that show on the road, so they really set the pace. Could we get to brekky before the tyre deflated? Like the little engine that thought it could – it did, but only just. Now for anyone keeping a tally, this was puncture number seven, which means our supply of spare tyres is down to three and spare tubes is down to one. I guess it’s off to the bike shop in Wagga Wagga to restock the rubber. Thanks to Kidsons Cycles who gave the boys a generous discount on the tubes, which beats the heck out of a cathead in the big toe any day. Thanks Kidsons for getting us out of a prickly situation.

The steady morning continued until the boys met their favourite pinup girl – the Aussie Butt Cream queen, Petrina Quinn, and her mates from Bicycle Wagga. Benjamin from Prime TV caught up with boys just as they combined forces with Bicycle Wagga on their last leg of the Sturt Highway. It was a big media day for Lorin and Dean – as they were constantly stopping to fulfil radio commitments with interviewers all over the state and beyond.

By the time they cycled in to Wagga Wagga, they were met with an enthusiastic round of applause from the large crowd gathered at Vision Australia in Trail St. What a welcome to Wagga Wagga. The mayor was there, and a chair as well. Quite a few chairs in fact, and lots of people sitting in them but it wasn’t Play School they’d come to see. It was our intrepid riders, who had by then traversed more than three quarters of this wide brown land. It was a fabulous reception, attended by one of our major sponsors, Mark Shaw, the manager of the local Optus shop in Wagga Wagga. Mark came along and flew the Optus flag, and to the boys’ gastronomic pleasure, brought along the famous Optus cupcakes we’d heard so much about. They went down a treat after the barbie provided by the cheerful Rotarians who cooked up a storm for the big crowd.

Robyn Salau from Wagga Bowen Massage Clinic made John and Grant’s day, giving them both a much needed complimentary massage and the scent of their aromatherapy treatments caused Lorin and Dean much consternation for the remainder of the journey – because they didn’t smell as pretty as their pilots. Thanks Robyn. It was lovely to meet vision impaired people of all ages, including young Tim Rees, who travelled 100km with his dad, Peter, from Cootamundra, just to meet the Blind Courage boys. Colin Rush was one of the officials at the event, as he’s a prominent vision impaired citizen who loves his sport and loves to get out and about. Colin spoke beautifully and straight from the heart with his innate knowledge of the subject.

The mayor, Cr Kerry Pascoe, gave us a very friendly welcome to his fair city along with a $100 donation to the cause. In fact the whole gathering was extremely generous and opened their hearts and wallets. In just two hours, the tally was boosted by about $800. Petrina led the riders to the perimeter of Wagga before the police could run them out of town. Actually, it wasn’t quite as bad as it sounded, as the police officer was sponsor Mark’s brother.

Wagga was the starting point for another rider supporting the Blind Courage tandem riders – Peter Barr. Peter is a keen cyclist who was part of the Pollie Pedal, from Melbourne to Sydney in 2008. Unfortunately Pete had to pull out that year due to health issues and wanted to join our boys to complete some unfinished cycling business. Gone were the long, flat plains and the hills on the road to Gundagai tested the cyclists’ mettle. But of course, they’re tougher than a Toyota LandCruiser and passed the test with flying colours, arriving in Gundagai in fine time, as Grant’s states will later attest. What a relief it was for them to finally hit the cement of the Hume Highway after what seemed like endless miles of trigger point massage in their wake.

Dinner tonight was courtesy of our fabulous sponsors Clubs Australia and the good folk at Gundagai District Services Club. Club manager Joe Lico provided the group with a warm and friendly welcome to the club where an array of Aussie and Asian cuisine was offered. It all went down very well with the hungry horde who fuelled up for another big day on the bitumen.

Grant’s stats: Distance 185km, total riding time 6 hours 11 minutes; average speed 30.1km/h; maximum speed 82.87km/h; Grant burnt 3822 calories today. Minimum temperature 12.3 degrees; maximum 42.5 degrees; average incline 3 per cent; maximum incline 6 per cent; average descent 2 per cent; maximum descent 8 per cent.

Media release 20.4.10 – for immediate release

Look out Sydney Opera House – here comes Blind Courage!

Blind brothers Lorin and Dean Nicholson are now less than 1000km from the finish line on their epic Perth to Sydney tandem bike ride.  Together with pilot riders John Eder and Grant Williams, the brothers had by this morning (April 20) pedalled 3183km in 123 hours and 32 minutes’ riding time since leaving Perth on Monday, March 29. They have ridden across the Nullarbor through rain, dust, heat, cold, wind and unmentionable liquids coming from sheep and cattle trucks, but nothing has deterred them, day in, day out.

Their quest is threefold: to become the first blind people to ride tandem bikes more than 4000km across Australia; to raise $300,000 for Vision Australia, the country’s largest provider of services to the blind and those with low vision; and to inspire a nation. They don’t only want to inspire other blind people to follow their dreams. These young men wish to inspire all Australians and in the process, change the public perception of what a blind person can actually achieve.

Lorin and Dean Nicholson were born with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic eye condition that left them with just 10 per cent sight. Over the years, their vision has deteriorated to less than 5 per cent, but that hasn’t stopped them from leading productive lives. Both are successful in their careers – Lorin is a professional musician and sought after motivational speaker with his own business, See Sharp (seesharp.com.au) – and Dean is an environmental scientist with one of Australia’s leading surveying, planning and engineering firms, Bowdens Group. Born in Wollongong, raised in Tamworth and now based in Brisbane, both brothers are happily married, each with four children, all of whom have perfect vision. Their pilot riders, John Eder and Grant Williams, are based in Warwick and Brisbane respectively.

“My brother and I consider ourselves very lucky,” Lorin said. “We may not be able to see, but it doesn’t stop us achieving what we set out to do. Sadly, there are 300,000 blind and vision impaired people in Australia today – and of those blind people who want to work, 63 per cent cannot gain employment. This is due largely to the poor public perception of their capabilities. Just because someone uses a white cane or has a guide dog, does not mean they cannot be useful and productive in a work situation.”

Dean agrees, and says he believes people who are blind or vision impaired may make better employees than those with perfect sight. “Someone with low vision is a loyal and dedicated employee and does not take for granted the fact that they have a job. They know only too well how difficult it is to be given a fair go,” Dean said.

Over the past three weeks, these four young men, aged 32 to 41, have crossed some of this country’s roughest terrain, riding six days out of seven and hopping back on their bikes, day after day without complaint. Apart from aching muscles, sore backsides and legs that could do with a decent rest, they are in peak condition and are all lean, mean, bike riding machines. Having left Balranald this morning (Tuesday, April 20), they will ride to Hay today, Narrandera tomorrow, Wagga Wagga Thursday, Canberra Friday, Goulburn by lunchtime Saturday and then on to Mittagong that afternoon. While Sunday is usually a rest day, they will complete a short ride (100km) and position themselves to leave Bass Hill velodrome, in Sydney’s western suburbs, at 6.30am on Monday, April 26, to ride in to the Sydney Opera House by 8am – and into the Australian record books.

This amazing bike adventure would not have been possible without the support of sponsors Clubs Australia, Virgin Blue, Optus, Cannondale Cycles, Bowdens Group, Water & Carbon, KEA Campers and ISP Media.

“The donations so far have not come close to our goal, so it would be fantastic if corporate Australia could show their true blue colours and back us in this venture,” Lorin said. “We have been amazed by people’s generosity in remote outback locations right across Australia. Now we are so close to the finish line, it would be great if our efforts on the bikes were matched by the donation tally to Vision Australia.”

You can also donate by phoning the Vision Australia hotline on 1300 84 74 66.

 Release created 20.4.10 for Blind Courage by Anna Rose Media Solutions 

 For further information or to arrange an interview or media opportunity with the cyclists, phone Anna Rose on 0409 514 933.