ride4acure

I find it hard to beleive that I’m 25 days into this ride! I have visited so many schools en route, spoken to thousands of kids in dozens of towns. My aim is to ‘spread the word’ that melanoma is everyone’s  business, especially young people, and I feel satisfied that I’m achieving this.

I was again on the ABC radio live this morning, pulled up on the side of the Hume Highway at 6.30 in the morning near Woomargarma (old stomping ground when I was droving in the late 70’s as a spritely 18 year old!)  That’s younger than Esther now but feels like a ‘blip’ ago in time.

My ride today was great, fantastic country to be riding through, farmers harvesting crops everywhere, which feels ‘metaphorically significant’, that ride4acure may also harvest resources to support advancements in melanoma research through fundraising ! 

Am heading to Wangaratta tomorrow (80KMS) and will cross the NSW/VIC border before 6.30am – I’m camped at Laverton on the North Side of Albury, again with a generous donation to ride4acure of a caravan site at the Albury Top Tourist Caravan Park. Big thanks.   Am heading off at first light, I have 12 kms to the border, then down the Hume.

Had lots of ‘toot’s off motorists after the radio interview.  I reckon after this ride I’m seriously gonna think about a ‘road’ bike as I’d like a little more speed! I am ‘hooked’ on riding bikes, I love the freedom and the fact that it’s travel under my own steam. Will definatley be doing more bike rides down the track.

Will be staying with my sister in law Sandy Anderson (Hannah & Esther’s Dad Lindsay’s sister)  in Wangaratta and her hubby Mick (both bike riders and triatheletes) and am really looking forward to that. Sam my nephew has settled into the ‘driver’ role here and is currently kicked back watcing a will Ferrell DVD. It’s been so hot here, we enjoyed a swim this arvo, slept for a couple of hours and been playing cards. Caught up on a little bike maintenance, and did a load of washing. Joe has gone for the weekend at Veronica’s on the Murrumbidgee at ‘Brewarinna Station’ Narranderra and will come back over on Monday with his cousin Lizzie. 

I had an industrial accident on the road this morning, what I’ve now considered one of the most uncomfortable experiences to date on the road since I left Kempsey. After about half an hour of riding this morning I was desperate for ‘a comfort stop’! So I spied a beautiful big redgum and ducked behind it in long grass, problem was my lycra bike pants got absolutely covered inside and out in both wild oat seeds and barley grass seeds- a gazillion of them. then I had to get out of the long grass and pick them out, which by now there was a couple of trucks parked watching…I thought very entertaining for them. I wasn’t very successful in removing the seeds and had to ride a further 5kms  ooching and ahhing til I found a truck stop where I could strip off and remove the seeds. Still not very successfully, however Sam came along after about an hour and I could change my pants! Still itching from it all….the trials of a bike rider eh! Definately found out first hand lycra and grass seeds are a very uncomfortable combo!

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.