Day 20
Whaaaat!! 20 days in!! It’s scary, how quickly time goes! It seems like yesterday, that I first made the decision to take on doing an Epic ride in order to make a difference to old people, struggling in Zimbabwe.
Four months disappeared and there I was at the start of Day 1, thinking “how am I going to get through this??” I have heard, that the older you are, the quicker time seems to go. I firmly believe that is the truth.
Yesterday, was a one of the finest days, scenically, we have had on this tour! The sun was shining, the dirt roads were great – so well maintained, however, the hills….well, there were still “hills”. On my ‘rideGPS’ app, it said that there was 1197m of climbing! Talking of hills, I’m afraid Charlie has my vote for DoD!
Why, you ask?? When we were deliberating about the number of hills left, Charlie, used car salesman par excellence, indicated with about 15km to go that there were quote” no more hills of any significance.” To Vic and I, who had both suffered on the climbs so far, this was music to our ears.
With 8km to go a VERY LARGE (actually, I reckon Alpe D’Huez isn’t much higher!) “hill” appeared! It was so steep, Charlie “Dod” Lenegan, stalled on the ascent, as the pea gravel was treacherous, luckily, I managed to weave past him, without further mishap.
We were quickly all reduced to walking and even when it was safe to ride again…. we climbed another 2km!!!
Charlie then tried, when challenged, to say that it really wasn’t much of a hill. I was reminded of a used car salesman, claiming “only one careful owner”, carefully neglecting to mention the 20 + Not So Careful Owners!
During the day, we got to have a look at the Bicentennial tree, which we discovered, is the highest tree that you can climb, in WA, eclipsing the 53m of the Gloucester Tree, with a height of 68m!! Very fortunately for us, there was not enough time to climb it.
Vic was outstanding yesterday, covering 79.3km, and is well on the way to his old fitness. Thanks again to Mike, his daughter Emily and Rawdon for their continued support! It makes all the difference, for all of us and particularly in having Vic free to ride.
Thank you for joining us on our journey and to all the people who have contributed to Zane, through our Gofundme page
Please help us raise money by donating to our GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/old-legs-tour-down-under…
Day 21
This was the longest ride that we have had, so far. 123km from Karri Valley to the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse. This was going to be 37km further than our previous longest ride.
We decided, given that fact, to start at 8am, which was our earliest start. Just 15km in, we had a river crossing. The water was a little cold and the thought of riding with wet feet was not very appealing, so off with the shoes and socks! Wait… I have super soft lily white feet, that wince at grain of sand !
So, I decided, brainwave! It’ll be ok if I just keep my socks dry!! I waded across in my shoes. Vic and Charlie obviously don’t wear shoes that often and, in true bundu style, waded across, barefoot. Needless to say, they had nice dry feet and I did not, for the rest of the day!
I am the proud (?) recipient of DOD, for being a little precious about my Lilly Whites! Ah, well, sometimes you just have to take it on the chin!
After 32km, Vic handed the bike over to Mike, as Mike was keen to ride. Luckily for me, he provided a perfect pace and as he is also giraffe-like a decent windbreak. The total ride time was 6hrs 33min. My bottom was in full, loud, mutiny, by the end.
We now have a rest day and a chance to take in some of the sights around Augusta, which is spectacular. Where we are staying, we are looking out over the Blackwood River, where it enters the Indian Ocean.
Our fantastic logistical team, Rawdon, Vic, Mike, and Emily were all in discussions on how to have Vic and Mike ride, when possible and to have Rawdon, Mike, and Vic’s vehicles keep up with us and not duplicating the long ride path with the short direct routes.
I just thought “this is making my head hurt”. They were on plan 7 yesterday and I think we went with plan 9 in the end. Charlie and I agreed that our job is to just pedal!!! Life is so much simpler that way!
You can still help us raise money by donating to our GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/old-legs-tour-down-under…
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