Friday 29 June 2012
SMIDDY PYRENEES' CHALLENGE - DAY 5 REPORT
Ax-Les-Thermes back to the farmhouse
Distance: 158kms
Ascending: 1368 metres
Descending: 1547 metres
Ride time: 5:41:00
Avr speed: 27.6km/h (Our highest for the entire 5 days)
Temperature: 36 degrees
Max 84.6km/h By Billy
Five day Stats
Total distance: 804.8 km's
Time in saddle: 32 hours (give or take a few minutes)
Total climbing: 12,446 metres
Average speed: 25.1 km's
Well it is now 6pm on Thursday June 28 and I am extremely pleased to report that the first Smiddy Pyrenees' Challenge has successfully finished. I say successfully because if we get every rider to the finish of any Smiddy event in one piece then it has been a success.
Let the celebrations begin
The past 5 days have seen us cover some pretty amazing territory, which comes with an extreme danger factor due to the amount of descending. Our priority is always the riders safety and once again I like to think my old mate Adam Smiddy gave us a helping hand when it came to getting every one home safe and sound, not to mention extremely happy! As I write this the first beers have already been drunk, the obligatory jump into the pool has been done, plate sized snacks have been devoured, showers to wash off the sunscreen, sweat and grime are done and dusted, and riders are lounging on the front lawn discussing the past 5 days and happy laughter drifts quietly to my ears, love ones have been called or emailed and the last huddle has been completed, which was pretty special, as the honour of speaking went to the 3 DeAngelis Brothers, who between the three of them have raised in excess of $30,000! Their words were heartfelt and emotional, and we at Smiddy are not only lucky to have them on board as important fund raisers and riders, but what an honour to be able to call them our friends! Same goes for all 13 riders present. What we put ourselves through was only ever going to bring us together as close as family, and for now that is exactly what we are, a Smiddy Pyrenees family and now part of the ever growing extended Smiddy family!
Sharky gets excited
It does not take me much to get excited, from an invite to watch cartoons on TV, to an invite to eat a sponge cake with the folks over a cup of tea, or a suggestion to ride around Australia, my excitement levels are pretty much the same, as in over the top. I just am excited about life in general. So when it was revealed that to get back to the farmhouse we would be climbing one last Col, the Col De Porte at 1249 metres, I got excited. But best of all we got to experience two more seat-of-your-pants descents; the first one straight out of our hotel for a massive 25km's where our average was 40km/h as a group, pretty cool hey! And the second descent was after climbing back up to the Col De Porte, (average was more like 10km/h for that one-not so cool hey?) where we were rewarded with a technical 12km's of fast descending with heaps of blind corners that you could take at pace. Then a quick regroup for a further 22km's of gradual descending, where the entire group rode 2 abreast and pace-lined all the way into the town of Saint Girons for lunch. (That was also very cool, as we had a Smiddy moment and smashed it down there to average 40km/h for that 22km section.) Now isn't that worth getting excited about?
Actually to be truthful there was one overriding factor of today that I must admit I did not get excited about... and that would be the heat. Once again Mother nature turned up the dial at 36 degrees and sent us a day that would be perfect if you were going to the movies to eat popcorn and sit in an oversized chair and watch Titanic in the comfort of air-conditioning. But heat is preferable to rain, as rain and descending fast is not a good mix. So what the bloody hell am I going on about? We love the heat now! It's quite ironic actually, that while we are riding in stifling hot and humid conditions, Brisbane is feeling the effects of the coldest Winter since 1978 with temperatures dipping as low as zero. No offense but I think I know where I'd rather be...
So after a leisurely one hour lunch at a quaint little french outdoor restaurant, where I gave the owner a kangaroo pin for filling up our water bottles, while some of the lads went for a dip in the fast flowing river that we had just followed for 22km's, we pushed off into the searing heat with 70km's remaining. The course from lunch back to the farmhouse was either flat or slightly downhill, although a few small climbs did pop up occasionally to remind our tired legs that they were indeed tired! It was a pretty excited bunch of riders as we crested the last rise to arrive at our finish destination to our beloved farmhouse. Bikes were quickly tossed to one side and we whole-heartedly and with much gusto hugged and congratulated one another on a job well done.
So that basically wraps up my wrap up, so onto the highlights of the day, and there were many! It is now 8:30 the next morning. Too much going on last night with the group to concentrate on blogging. But today I awoke to look out at the normal beautiful view of the Pyrenees', only to see thick blankets of dense fog and rain! How incredibly fortunate are we? As much as it was hot climbing, how disastrous would it have been not to be able to smash the downhills... Anyway to the highlights.
King and Queen of the Cols
Over 5 days we climbed over 12,446 metres, which involved 38 categorised climbs from as small as 222 metres to the highest un-categorised climb at 2115 metres, which of course was the tortuous and unforgettable Tourmalet. In each of these climbs Katrina was the first female and comfortably takes out this prestigious title. Rowan won hands down all of the climbs and is emphatically, the one and only, inaugural Pyrenees' Smiddy King of the Cols. Great work out there mate.
Shark's attack and hide tactic fails miserably
On the final climb of the tour up the Porte at 1249 metres I tried to recreate my now famous (due to it working once on the A'bisque back on the first day) Sharky attack and hide tactic. On a slight uphill I made my move, then pushed hard down the last small descent before the climb began in earnest. Rounded a corner, attacked as hard as I could up the first section, all the time looking for a place to hide, I then redlined, blew up like a burst balloon, and without looking behind hear Row and the boys shout, "Were not falling for that one again Sharky." Then left me in their dust.
Melting moments
After lunch the group hit a section of road where it was actually melting. The sun was at it strongest and it was possible a freshly laid road, not sure, but at the time we were pace-lining and it felt like the road was trying to suck you in to become part of the road itself like some freaky horror movie.
Michael's cycling etiquette lessons continue
So since my last ribbing of Michael he said to me before we pushed off yesterday from the Hotel car park, "Sharky you watch me today, I am going to be the perfect cyclist, you'll see!" Watch him I did, very closely in fact, especially if I was on his wheel, allowing a couple of extra metres to react to any 'Micko Moments'. But he was true to his word and riding superbly, even getting up Rowan for leaving a gap between riders. He had fully redeemed himself and I had even forgotten his words at lunch when he treated himself to and announced that it could be his undoing. Two hours later he touched a wheel and somehow stayed upright and thankfully no-one came down. Back to square one mate. You are still a runner!
How Mark visualised winning a KOM title
Mark De'Angelis has rode like a champion the whole tour for someone that dislikes the heat more than Queensland winning 7 straight titles in the Origin. Today at lunch his head did the old slow chin-drop, he was instantly asleep, he then began to drool a little and a long line of saliva drifted elegantly to his chest. Then the talking began, something about wanting to win one KOM challenge. Strangely enough when he awoke, with all the other riders pretending not to notice the sloppy mess on his cycling jersey, he had that glint in his eye that suggested he knew something really important. 3 hours later he won the final climb of the day just prior to the finish on a Cat 98 climb of 2% gradient and 400 metres long. His dream was now real. Well done champ.
"Union de Quatro" makes a stance
Billy informs me that he is the team leader of this new groupetto within our group made up of Mark, Billy, Mick and Pedro (Phillip). Who joined forces to conquer the final climb of the trip up the Porte. I knew they were trying to catch me prior to the summit so I did what all master tacticians do, I hid in the bushes 1km from the summit. They spotted me unfortunately as I lay in the grass surrounded by cow poo. I quickly popped up and joined them and we crossed as a group 5 abreast. I felt like a ring-in but what the heck.
Jimmy returns favour - Not
Do you remember on day 4 how I paced Jimmy for 15km's up Col Du Puymorens? Well yesterday after my 'attack and hide' failed, I then rode solo and was really struggling due to that one stupid effort. Meanwhile Jimmy's knee has come good and with 10km's of the climb to go, he blows past me, a look of steely determination on his face, and mumbles something like; "Hey Sharky sorry I am going past you and making you look so ordinary, but I am on fire, you are riding crap, and sorry bud but I gotta go!" Thanks old mate. I'll remember that one! But seriously it was great to see him riding so well and I was happy to be smashed by a mate.
Stupid highlight moment
Every day I ask the riders if they have any highlights that would like to include in this blog. Billy informed me that Adam fell in love with a French Cocker Spaniel dog. That is all I'll say about that.
Welcome back Anna
Anna's injury has improved so much that she was back in the peloton today. She rode all bar the 14km's up the Porte. Erring on the side of caution in case the climb blew it up again. Coming down the decent on the other side I was presently surprised to look behind at the bottom of that technical 12km's and see Anna right up our clackers. She told us she had to learn fast being the partner (Jimmy) of the greatest descender in his street back in Brisbane. Great stuff Anna. Jimmy is a lucky man.
Video by Adam
Adam has a video camera set up on his bike and he records all of the main descents. Tonight we got to watch the 15 minutes it took the front group to descend down the Porte and what a delight it was for the group to see that footage. Great work Adam and a copy for all please. Adam has also been my stats man for the trip, so thanks heaps mate for all your help with all my questions each night. You are a good man mate.
Day 4 blog reading
Each night the previous days blog is read out to the group, just as on any Smiddy event. Each night a different person is asked to read the blog and tonight Pete did a superb job, picking up my spelling and grammar errors along the way. As a footnote to his bike saga I am pleased to tell you that Pete's bike worked a treat, even minus 4 teeth on the front chain-ring.
Missing in action
Today we lose Adam, who is on his way to Paris to watch the prologue of the Tour de France. Jimmy and Anna are off to the French Alps to climb Alp-de'Huez. We will miss them tonight when we read out the journal but they have promised to do their own private Sharky blog reading to each other.
Sharky's last words
With the trip done and dusted it is the leaving that upsets me the most. As on any Smiddy event a welcoming harmonious environment is created, strong friendships are forged and I wish these moments could be sustained indefinitely. But everything must come to an end eventually, and that is what is happening now as we speak. The great thing is that we have one day of down-time prior to the group all going their separate ways, bar the 3 riders mentioned above. So today is all about socialising and reflecting on the past 5 days of sensational riding. I believe we are going for a swim in a nice lake, followed by lunch in a small french town, so that will be good. I will probably get out another blog or two if anything exciting comes to hand, so keep an eye on this space.
If you wish to get my blogs automatically please visit my blog site at marksharkysmoothy.blogspot.com/ You can either sign up as a follower or leave your email address in the box provided.
Katrina, Bad Boy Johnny and myself are staying on in Europe for a further two weeks. On July 15 the 3 of us will be competing in Ironman Switzerland, before flying out on July 18 for sunny Brisbane. I will be sending out a blog from time to time if you care to follow our journey.
Next year's Smiddy overseas adventure is a 5 day tour in the French Alps and we already know where we are staying and some of the famous climbs we intend to conquer are Galibier, Columbia, Alp de Huez, Madeleine, to name just a few. If you are keen for more information just go to our website at www.smiddy.org.au or contact me for more information at sharky@smiddy.org.au
Again thank you for sharing this journey with us through my blogs. All the crew here really do appreciate your support and encouragement back home.
Take care and all the best.
Sharky
Wednesday 27 June 2012
SMIDDY PYRENEES' DAY 4 REPORT
Smiddy Pyrenees' Challenge Day 4
East Coast Mediterranean to Ax-Les-Thermes
Distance: 172.6
Ascending: 2634 metres
Descending: 1833 metres
Ride time: 7hrs 20min
Avr speed: 23.4
Temperature: 38 degrees
Max 73.6km/h
The temperature is creeping up each day
Again another day has surpassed the previous day in levels of suffering and enjoyment! After just 4 hours sleep I was up and ready to leave by 5:30 with the rest of the riders to our starting point at Argeles-Sur-Mur, which is a famous beachside holiday destination with a 7km sandy beach. It took us spot on 3 hours driving to get there and by the time we arrived and unpacked the bikes, then dunked our toes into the Mediterranean, it was already 10am and the heat of the sun was horrible and promised -and it did- to make our day even tougher. Because of the mild heatstroke suffered by a few of the riders yesterday all of us were concerned by todays even hotter conditions. Progressively each day has become warmer and warmer until today when it maxed out at 38 degrees, although the Garmin devices on our bikes were picking up the road heat as well and telling us at 2pm that it was 44 degrees! Not one of the 12 riders out there today would disagree. Shit it was hot and we all at some stage, over the past 4 days, and again today, had to continually remind ourselves as to why we are out here and subjecting our bodies to this form of slow torture.
And on that note I am reminded of our little mate Declan and the battle with cancer that he and his family are taking on right now as we speak. Philip today said to me, "Sharky do you have any pep talks planned for today?" I didn't but again we needed something to spur us on, so once again I reminded Phil about Declan. That was all we needed. I would like to share with you the email that Marty and Dallas sent to the Smiddy crew doing the Pyrenees' Challenge.
Hi there Sharky, Rowan and all you guys doing this ride for such a great cause. Thanks for the kind words, thoughts and prayers in your blog, it sure did put a smile on the little guys face. It meant a great deal to us. Declan will fight this with all his strength and everyone's prayers are sure to pull him through. None of us realise the enormity of what you take on when you choose to do a Smiddy Challenge, be it big or small, as I am sure you now all know. None of who choose to do these rides realise the impact cancer has on us all until you are faced with the epidemic first hand with close friends and family members. But one thing that you are doing and those who have ridden any of the Smiddy Challenges, raised money, baked a cake, washed our riding gear, made our lunches, or volunteered in any way, shape or form for the Smiddy movement, is creating a huge family of support for all of us that have been involved. The money you raise and work you do is working and this might one day save someone very close to you. So keep up the great work and the fight for cures. Stay safe on your journey and help each other out when it gets tough.
Love, thoughts and best wishes to all.
From Declan and the Hegarty family.
I asked Marty's permission to include his email into my blog and he was more than happy for me to do that. I guess I wanted to let you guys know, who support Smiddy, that what we are doing, is making a difference, and Marty and Dallas's email is testament to that. So thank you all once again for your support. It is now after 12am and I need to do the highlights of the day before I crash.
Highlights of the day
100km's of climbing!
From sea level to our first Col of the day at just over 1500 metres was Col Louis. The first 60kms was very gradual, with the remaining 40km's varying from 4 to 10%. But quite amazing to think that you can climb for that long. It was very draining physically and extremely challenging mentally, as most of it had to be done in single file due to the traffic being quite bad and taking all sorts of risks to get past the riders.
The view and lunch from Col Louis was stunning and yummy
What a relief to reach the top and have a break from being in the sun. The group needed 4 waters stops to get to this point. Most of us went though 6 to 8 bidons of fluid in 100km's. Did I mention it was hot? Lunch was in a park that overlooked the extremely impressive jaw dropping view. You could look down and see the last 10km's of road that snaked it's way up this point, very impressive stuff and we were all chuffed to have made it. Neil and Anna spoilt us rotten with an array of food for lunch that keep even the hungriest of the riders content. Graeme was back in the peleton once again after swapping with Neil.
The second climb up to 1915 metres
After lunch we descended back down to 1400 metres and then began a 30km gradual climb up to Col Du Puymorens at 1915 metres. The group always splinters on any of the longer climbs and we always regroup at the top, where the faster riders (usually Rowan and Adam) are waiting, along with our support crew, to cheer each rider in. There is an amazing team spirit within the group and it really shines through on these massive climbs. Again it was stinking hot but half way up a stroke of luck gave us a reprieve. The first clouds that we have seen for 5 days rolled in and instantly shut out the sun and the temperature dropped by 5 degrees. We could not have been happier! That last half of the climb was a pleasure and I even stopped twice to take photos and record a video diary for a special lady back home.
Final descent rocks like no other!
At the top of the Col Du Puymorens we regrouped, took the obligatory photo under the altitude sign and then pushed off for the remaining 27km's to our hotel stay at Ax-Les-Thermes. We were at an altitude of close to 2000 metres so we knew we were in for a great descent. This will be my 5th time either in the Pyrenees and the French or Swiss Alps. All those times I have seen and experienced some pretty amazing descents and climbs, but I can honestly say that the descent we did this afternoon was up there with 'The Best' I have ever done. The road surface was perfect, the gradient not super steep, there was no road kill or live cattle littering the roads, and the bends you did not need to brake for, except for a few switch backs. To give you an idea how fast and relatively safe it was, the lead group was able to average 60km's an hour for 27km's! Six of us were racing each other down this descent and I can tell you that my heart rate was higher coming down today than it has been all week on any of the climbs! That was part to riding hard and part to sheer excitement and adrenalin surging through my body. On arriving at our Hotel I wished that we could have bottled the energy felt by the entire group of 12 riders. I was so happy that I was hugging all the riders and whooping for joy. My excitement was shared by each and everyone of the riders. After the past 4 days of over 12000 metres of climbing, that descent was our reward and we had earned it!
The huddle lead Panda Kat
As the only girl left standing in the peloton due to poor Anna having to sit out today with her injury, Katrina was given the honour of taking the huddle. She did a great job and you could literally feel the positive energy within the group as it was done immediately on finishing the descent. Just on Katrina, she has really come into her own on this trip with regards to he strength on the climbs and her amazing confidence now on the descents. She is no longer crapping her pants but enjoying the experience of going fast downhill!
Jimmy joins Contador
At the start of the ride Jimmy made a beeline for a pharmacy he spotted 10km's into the ride. Luckily the French lady spoke English and he did not have to resort to contorting his face and body into miming what was wrong with him. Two packets were destroyed in just the one day. Resulting in Jimmy back to his usual strong self up the climbs and smashing each descent. He could not have been happier but if drugged tested would have been locked up for sure!
The joy of an air-conditioned Super market:
60km's into today's ride we made one stop at a supermarket. The riders were in seventh heaven at the choice of food, but mainly the coolness of the aircon was lapped up by all and sundry. At one point I spotted one of the riders sticking his head in the freezer section and oohing and aahing in sheer ecstasy. It doesn't take much! Katrina shouted the group ice-creams, and Bad was seen smuggling a second one to eat as he was riding up the climb. But commonsense eventually prevailed when his sun-fried mind eventually told him it may melt before then, like in the first 3 minutes out of the store. Phil also got in trouble for sitting on a comfortable fold out chair that was clearly for sale and a sweaty bottom on it was not going to help the store to sell it.
A show of love through a sticky shower
Billy thought he was doing the right thing when he rode past a very hot Phillip on the first climb during a patch where the gradient was 10%. Billy pulled out a water bottle and sprayed the back of Phil's neck as he rode past. Unfortunately for Phil, Billy had reached for the wrong bottle that contained gatorade! It was a nice thought though!
French Brunette - ooooh la la!
At the start of the ride today a French brunette, heading for the beach and dressed appropriately with next to nothing on, was spotted by all the males in the group. Resulting in the ride nearly ended there and then as the whole peloton narrowly missed the traffic as we were going through a roundabout. Katrina, of course was oblivious to it all and wondered what all the fuss was about. I of course saw nothing as I have eyes for one lady only!
Anna runs last Col
Anna may not be able to ride her bike at the moment but her injury still allows her to run. On the final climb today she asked to be dropped an hour from the top and ran the last 10km's up hill. She ran like a trooper and beat all the riders to the top to become Queen of the mountain. Nice stuff Anna!
Drivers are crazy worldwide towards cyclists
We saw so many near misses today with motorists trying to get around us rather than wait a few seconds. They had no excuse as we were single file on any roads that were narrow or had no shoulder. My memories from past visits to France had always been of patient courtesy drivers, but maybe that is changing in a country famous for it's cycling?
Jimmy is doing an Ironman
Today while pacing Jimmy up the last climb of the day for 12km's we shook on a deal that we made. In exchange for me training and competing in a downhill mountain bike race (that is Jimmy's main sport, or was before meeting Anna) Jimmy agreed that he would complete an Ironman event in some exotic location around the world. I made it official through this blog so that he sticks to it. Same for me for that matter.
Bad and his hair dryer
I roomed with Johnny Bad Boy last night. I am quietly blogging away, as I fell asleep at 12:30am last night while at the keyboard and trying desperately to finish this prior to our 8:15 roll out time. Anyway he emerges from the toilet and informs me that it was handy having the hair dryer so close to the toilet as he was able to dry his washed cycling clothes while going about his business. Great feature hey?
Sharky's last very quick words as he wants to have breakfast and get this posted!
Thank you to Michael who read out the blog last night and handled the ribbing I gave him well. THank you to Neil and Anna for your amazing support out on the road yesterday, especially on the climbs and continually checking on the riders. Your presence was most appreciated, not to mention the water and the food you guys kept shoving down our throats. And once again thank you to all the riders for showing such amazing fortitude to get through such another tough day in such extremely hot conditions. You guys are learning your lessons well and it was so pleasing to see you all looking after not just yourselves with nutrition and hydration but looking out for your fellow riders.
Sharky could not be prouder!
157km day to finish with. See this blog for the full report tomorrow.
Take care everyone and gidday to my physio Rob. No I am not doing my shoulder exercises!
Sharky
East Coast Mediterranean to Ax-Les-Thermes
Distance: 172.6
Ascending: 2634 metres
Descending: 1833 metres
Ride time: 7hrs 20min
Avr speed: 23.4
Temperature: 38 degrees
Max 73.6km/h
The temperature is creeping up each day
Again another day has surpassed the previous day in levels of suffering and enjoyment! After just 4 hours sleep I was up and ready to leave by 5:30 with the rest of the riders to our starting point at Argeles-Sur-Mur, which is a famous beachside holiday destination with a 7km sandy beach. It took us spot on 3 hours driving to get there and by the time we arrived and unpacked the bikes, then dunked our toes into the Mediterranean, it was already 10am and the heat of the sun was horrible and promised -and it did- to make our day even tougher. Because of the mild heatstroke suffered by a few of the riders yesterday all of us were concerned by todays even hotter conditions. Progressively each day has become warmer and warmer until today when it maxed out at 38 degrees, although the Garmin devices on our bikes were picking up the road heat as well and telling us at 2pm that it was 44 degrees! Not one of the 12 riders out there today would disagree. Shit it was hot and we all at some stage, over the past 4 days, and again today, had to continually remind ourselves as to why we are out here and subjecting our bodies to this form of slow torture.
And on that note I am reminded of our little mate Declan and the battle with cancer that he and his family are taking on right now as we speak. Philip today said to me, "Sharky do you have any pep talks planned for today?" I didn't but again we needed something to spur us on, so once again I reminded Phil about Declan. That was all we needed. I would like to share with you the email that Marty and Dallas sent to the Smiddy crew doing the Pyrenees' Challenge.
Hi there Sharky, Rowan and all you guys doing this ride for such a great cause. Thanks for the kind words, thoughts and prayers in your blog, it sure did put a smile on the little guys face. It meant a great deal to us. Declan will fight this with all his strength and everyone's prayers are sure to pull him through. None of us realise the enormity of what you take on when you choose to do a Smiddy Challenge, be it big or small, as I am sure you now all know. None of who choose to do these rides realise the impact cancer has on us all until you are faced with the epidemic first hand with close friends and family members. But one thing that you are doing and those who have ridden any of the Smiddy Challenges, raised money, baked a cake, washed our riding gear, made our lunches, or volunteered in any way, shape or form for the Smiddy movement, is creating a huge family of support for all of us that have been involved. The money you raise and work you do is working and this might one day save someone very close to you. So keep up the great work and the fight for cures. Stay safe on your journey and help each other out when it gets tough.
Love, thoughts and best wishes to all.
From Declan and the Hegarty family.
I asked Marty's permission to include his email into my blog and he was more than happy for me to do that. I guess I wanted to let you guys know, who support Smiddy, that what we are doing, is making a difference, and Marty and Dallas's email is testament to that. So thank you all once again for your support. It is now after 12am and I need to do the highlights of the day before I crash.
Highlights of the day
100km's of climbing!
From sea level to our first Col of the day at just over 1500 metres was Col Louis. The first 60kms was very gradual, with the remaining 40km's varying from 4 to 10%. But quite amazing to think that you can climb for that long. It was very draining physically and extremely challenging mentally, as most of it had to be done in single file due to the traffic being quite bad and taking all sorts of risks to get past the riders.
The view and lunch from Col Louis was stunning and yummy
What a relief to reach the top and have a break from being in the sun. The group needed 4 waters stops to get to this point. Most of us went though 6 to 8 bidons of fluid in 100km's. Did I mention it was hot? Lunch was in a park that overlooked the extremely impressive jaw dropping view. You could look down and see the last 10km's of road that snaked it's way up this point, very impressive stuff and we were all chuffed to have made it. Neil and Anna spoilt us rotten with an array of food for lunch that keep even the hungriest of the riders content. Graeme was back in the peleton once again after swapping with Neil.
The second climb up to 1915 metres
After lunch we descended back down to 1400 metres and then began a 30km gradual climb up to Col Du Puymorens at 1915 metres. The group always splinters on any of the longer climbs and we always regroup at the top, where the faster riders (usually Rowan and Adam) are waiting, along with our support crew, to cheer each rider in. There is an amazing team spirit within the group and it really shines through on these massive climbs. Again it was stinking hot but half way up a stroke of luck gave us a reprieve. The first clouds that we have seen for 5 days rolled in and instantly shut out the sun and the temperature dropped by 5 degrees. We could not have been happier! That last half of the climb was a pleasure and I even stopped twice to take photos and record a video diary for a special lady back home.
Final descent rocks like no other!
At the top of the Col Du Puymorens we regrouped, took the obligatory photo under the altitude sign and then pushed off for the remaining 27km's to our hotel stay at Ax-Les-Thermes. We were at an altitude of close to 2000 metres so we knew we were in for a great descent. This will be my 5th time either in the Pyrenees and the French or Swiss Alps. All those times I have seen and experienced some pretty amazing descents and climbs, but I can honestly say that the descent we did this afternoon was up there with 'The Best' I have ever done. The road surface was perfect, the gradient not super steep, there was no road kill or live cattle littering the roads, and the bends you did not need to brake for, except for a few switch backs. To give you an idea how fast and relatively safe it was, the lead group was able to average 60km's an hour for 27km's! Six of us were racing each other down this descent and I can tell you that my heart rate was higher coming down today than it has been all week on any of the climbs! That was part to riding hard and part to sheer excitement and adrenalin surging through my body. On arriving at our Hotel I wished that we could have bottled the energy felt by the entire group of 12 riders. I was so happy that I was hugging all the riders and whooping for joy. My excitement was shared by each and everyone of the riders. After the past 4 days of over 12000 metres of climbing, that descent was our reward and we had earned it!
The huddle lead Panda Kat
As the only girl left standing in the peloton due to poor Anna having to sit out today with her injury, Katrina was given the honour of taking the huddle. She did a great job and you could literally feel the positive energy within the group as it was done immediately on finishing the descent. Just on Katrina, she has really come into her own on this trip with regards to he strength on the climbs and her amazing confidence now on the descents. She is no longer crapping her pants but enjoying the experience of going fast downhill!
Jimmy joins Contador
At the start of the ride Jimmy made a beeline for a pharmacy he spotted 10km's into the ride. Luckily the French lady spoke English and he did not have to resort to contorting his face and body into miming what was wrong with him. Two packets were destroyed in just the one day. Resulting in Jimmy back to his usual strong self up the climbs and smashing each descent. He could not have been happier but if drugged tested would have been locked up for sure!
The joy of an air-conditioned Super market:
60km's into today's ride we made one stop at a supermarket. The riders were in seventh heaven at the choice of food, but mainly the coolness of the aircon was lapped up by all and sundry. At one point I spotted one of the riders sticking his head in the freezer section and oohing and aahing in sheer ecstasy. It doesn't take much! Katrina shouted the group ice-creams, and Bad was seen smuggling a second one to eat as he was riding up the climb. But commonsense eventually prevailed when his sun-fried mind eventually told him it may melt before then, like in the first 3 minutes out of the store. Phil also got in trouble for sitting on a comfortable fold out chair that was clearly for sale and a sweaty bottom on it was not going to help the store to sell it.
A show of love through a sticky shower
Billy thought he was doing the right thing when he rode past a very hot Phillip on the first climb during a patch where the gradient was 10%. Billy pulled out a water bottle and sprayed the back of Phil's neck as he rode past. Unfortunately for Phil, Billy had reached for the wrong bottle that contained gatorade! It was a nice thought though!
French Brunette - ooooh la la!
At the start of the ride today a French brunette, heading for the beach and dressed appropriately with next to nothing on, was spotted by all the males in the group. Resulting in the ride nearly ended there and then as the whole peloton narrowly missed the traffic as we were going through a roundabout. Katrina, of course was oblivious to it all and wondered what all the fuss was about. I of course saw nothing as I have eyes for one lady only!
Anna runs last Col
Anna may not be able to ride her bike at the moment but her injury still allows her to run. On the final climb today she asked to be dropped an hour from the top and ran the last 10km's up hill. She ran like a trooper and beat all the riders to the top to become Queen of the mountain. Nice stuff Anna!
Drivers are crazy worldwide towards cyclists
We saw so many near misses today with motorists trying to get around us rather than wait a few seconds. They had no excuse as we were single file on any roads that were narrow or had no shoulder. My memories from past visits to France had always been of patient courtesy drivers, but maybe that is changing in a country famous for it's cycling?
Jimmy is doing an Ironman
Today while pacing Jimmy up the last climb of the day for 12km's we shook on a deal that we made. In exchange for me training and competing in a downhill mountain bike race (that is Jimmy's main sport, or was before meeting Anna) Jimmy agreed that he would complete an Ironman event in some exotic location around the world. I made it official through this blog so that he sticks to it. Same for me for that matter.
Bad and his hair dryer
I roomed with Johnny Bad Boy last night. I am quietly blogging away, as I fell asleep at 12:30am last night while at the keyboard and trying desperately to finish this prior to our 8:15 roll out time. Anyway he emerges from the toilet and informs me that it was handy having the hair dryer so close to the toilet as he was able to dry his washed cycling clothes while going about his business. Great feature hey?
Sharky's last very quick words as he wants to have breakfast and get this posted!
Thank you to Michael who read out the blog last night and handled the ribbing I gave him well. THank you to Neil and Anna for your amazing support out on the road yesterday, especially on the climbs and continually checking on the riders. Your presence was most appreciated, not to mention the water and the food you guys kept shoving down our throats. And once again thank you to all the riders for showing such amazing fortitude to get through such another tough day in such extremely hot conditions. You guys are learning your lessons well and it was so pleasing to see you all looking after not just yourselves with nutrition and hydration but looking out for your fellow riders.
Sharky could not be prouder!
157km day to finish with. See this blog for the full report tomorrow.
Take care everyone and gidday to my physio Rob. No I am not doing my shoulder exercises!
Sharky
Tuesday 26 June 2012
SMIDDY PYRENEES DAY 3 REPORT
Farmhouse back to Farmhouse
Distance: 134km's
Ascending: 2123 metres
Descending: 2092 metres
Ride time: 5hrs 31mins
Avr speed: 24.2km/h
Temperature: 33 degrees
Apologies for the length of this blog. It was an epic day where so many stories unfolded. I do hope you enjoy. Cheers. Sharky
What's happened so far?
So to date we have ridden from the West coast back to the farmhouse over a 2 day period. Today we did a loop from the farm house, ascended two Cat 1 Cols, which are famous Tour De France climbs that will be utilised in this years tour. Col Peyresourde at 1569 metres and Col Du Aspin at 1489 metres. Tomorrow we drive to the East coast and spend two days riding back to the farmhouse. The farmhouse is situated in the middle of the Pyrenees', to utulise the farmhouse, which we have rented for the week, and cut down having to stay in Hotels each night, our tour operators Graeme and Neil came up with this idea. I hope this make sense but basically we will end riding the entire length of the Pyrenees' but just not in the one direction. It has worked brilliantly so far and everyone is happy as we get to spend more time at this idilic farmhouse.
Can Sharky get to bed early?
So after such a late night for me last night I am determined to get more shut eye tonight. We pushed off at 8:30 this morning and were back by 5pm. Which is our earliest return by 3 hours. So after our guest huddle speaker in Billy 'The Kid' Elliot, who has been done a Smiddy event every year since 2009 and is very deserving of the honour of leading the huddle, I made a beeline for the bathroom, grabbed some food, and started on this blog prior to dinner at 8pm.
The Hegarty email to the riders
So a quick rundown of today before going into the highlights of the day. Last night all agreed to an early start of 8am and back for a late lunch by 2pm. Which meant we got away by 8:45am. Before leaving I read out an email that Marty and Dallas Hegarty sent to the riders in response to our dedicating our day 1 ride to their sick 8 year old boy in Delcan Hegarty. We were all touched and moved by Marty's words and those words came back to help quite a few of us today, as you will find out as you read this blog. Tomorrow I will share those words from Marty with you.
Flatness does exist in the Pyrenees'!
Anyway today Neil was our tour leader on the bike and he showed us a small miracle by showing us it was possible to do a relatively flat ride in the Pyrennees' in the valleys that snake between all the massive monoliths towering above us. For 50km's our tired legs appreciated the long warm up before our first major climb up the Col Peyresourde. Just prior to that climb Neil pulled us up at a small town and said we had time for a quick coffee. The word quick in Smiddy terms is definitely different in English terms. It has taken me a few days but I have finally worked out when Neil or Graeme say quick they are referring to a minimum of 1 hour. So after the quick 1 hour coffee stop the climbing began in earnest. Once again the temperature was just over 33 degrees, and again a tailwind and no cooling effect on our bodies, had all of us feel like our brains were cooking. The 16km climb was more forgiving than the monster that ate us for lunch yesterday in the Tormalet and all successfully summited the climb.
The descent was hair-raising as all the way down there were sections freshly resurfaced and loose gravel made it very dangerous. Billy still managed to top speed of just over 80km/h and was braking while doing this speed. The Kid has no fear!
Climbing the Aspin in 33 degree heat
The second climb of the day was up the the Aspin and it went for 14km's and we all found this climb harder than the first. Gradient wise it was the last 8km's that tested us all with an average of 8%. Which probably does not sound like much, but with 3 days and 400km's of riding in our legs and over 7000 metres of climbing, we were all tired. At the top, Peter, who rode Clunker again, as his bike had still not been delivered from Toulouse to the farmhouse, made a friend with an old French chap that had a bike built in the early 1900's. The steeled frame original bike with lugs to join the tubing together, had wooden rims and solid rubber tyres, a fixed front chain ring, weird brakes and a type of 1900's pump I have never seen before, 5 gears only, and the original aluminium water bottles on the cow-horn shaped handle-bars. Photos were taken under the Col Du Aspin you-have-made-it-and-are-a-legend 1489 metres sign, and they parted as kindred spirits knowing they shared old equipment, while looking odd to the masses but has stood the test of time. Having said that Peter would toss Clunker the moment his carbon racing machine turns up!
From the top of that climb we descended back down the same way and once we regrouped at the bottom it was a fast slightly downhill or flat 20km's to get back to our home-base.
We have a huge day tomorrow, leaving at 5:30am to drive 3 hours to the East Coast of the Pyrenees', and then a massive 170km day with two major climbs that are close to 2000 metres altitude. I have just returned from our team dinner and time is slipping away on me. It is now 10pm and I have still have the highlights of the day to complete so let's hook in.
Michael's having a good time!
Michael is loving this trip like no other. He commented to me today how impressed he is with how well the group is gelling. Mick does not realise that all our Smiddy events the groups always gel well due to the fact that Smiddy only attracts good people. This group is no different, except the smallness of the group magnifies that feeling. Tonight over dinner; the story telling from today, the full on belly laughs and the friendship between the group is testament to what these guys are experiencing and the respect we all have for one another.
Jimmy soldiers on with one leg!
Old mate Jimmy asked me for a massage last night for an itb issue that came on late yesterday afternoon. I managed to loosen it up but the damage has been sustained and he found out today just how strong his pain threshold is when he managed to finish the stage but not before popping plenty of Nurefen and predominately using just the one leg to pedal. He admitted today that his respect level for Paralympian and past Midi Smiddy rider in Michael Milton, who has only one leg due to losing the other one to bone cancer when he was a child) has risen to the highest level possible. I massaged Jimmy again tonight and we are hopeful he will be a starter tomorrow.
Anna retires 10km's into today's ride
Unfortunately Anna and her itb issues did not improve overnight. She started but was in pain from the very beginning and made the tough but right choice to retire from today's ride. As our support vehicle would not meet up with us until the top of the first climb she was forced to limp back to the farmhouse, where she rested up for the day. Tonight over dinner the group presented her with a Tormalet Tour De France souvenir and a team Sky cycling cap (her favourite pro team) to hopefully ease some of the disappointed she is surely feeling.
Panda Kat Balls kicks arse on Col Du Aspin
Katrina's nickname continues to grow, just as her stature as a climber and descender. This trip her descending skills have improved dramatically. But today she came into her own when she climbed so well up the Aspin that she bested 6 of the male riders. Kat is now not only the best caller-outer-er girl of stuff on the roads, such as stick, pothole left, grass right, trees middle, sky above and cows 1km to the right, but is also now the best girl climber and in the top half out of all the riders. Great work Kat.
Five finish Aspin together
On that same climb where Kat dealt us her cruel blow to our male egos, five of us were having an extremely hard time. Billy, Mark, Peter, Michael and myself were all struggling at some point during that 14km climb up the Aspin. Michael was near delirious, Mark was commenting on how much he dislikes a European Summer and wished he was back home in a good old Sydney Winter, (mind you if he was here surfing it would be a completely different story) Billy was the same as yesterday on the Tormalet and dizzy and incoherent and mumbling, " I can't let Sharky beat me up another Col again", and Peter on old Clunker had run out of water, so Billy gave him an empty water bottle just to play mind games with him! Pete was seriously considering turning around half way up the climb but he said the Smiddy spirit would not let him. I gave him the last of my water, which amounted to 2 tea spoons and Pete nearly swallowed the water bottle as well as he opened his mouth so wide in the hope that more water would emerge. Meanwhile Michael is cramping and yelling out to anyone that would listen indecipherable words such as "Ahhhrrrggggg" and my favourite was Eeooouuggmmmm! With 1km to go we decided we were going to cross the top together 5 riders across the road arm in arm. This was all good and indeed great, but when 5 dizzy riders, that are salivating pure salt from their mouths as no moisture was left in our parched bodies, it was comical to watch but extremely emotionally moving. I would love to show that photo to you guys but I never have enough time to upload any photos to these blogs.
Bike saga continues yet again!
So we get back to the Farmhouse and there is Pete's bike case. You little ripper! A hasty build to make sure all is right and at first appearance we are happy. Then Jimmy casts his professional eye over it and picks up that 4 teeth on the big chain ring have been broken off. Pete now has 2 choices. One- ride his new girl Clunker. Two- ride his bike but only use small chain-ring. I believe he is going for option 2, but I am not sure as he is definitely falling in love with his new girl.
Ride leaders world wide get lost!
With Neil riding with us as ride leader we knew we were in capable hands. The first 12km's of today's ride all was good. And then it happened; the hand signal for stop come up, stopping was called, and Neil said "sorry lads we need to turn around, I missed a turn back at the roundabout." It was the only mistake he made all day and while it was just 400 metres back to the roundabout, I could not let an opportunity pass to pay out on a fellow ride leader who takes wrong turns!
Chicken, chicken or chicken?
Out of everyone here I am the biggest fusspot when it comes to not eating certain foods. No pig products, no seafood, no processed meats, which has been our staple diet since the start of this trip. But not tonight! God damn it I love chicken and chicken the size of large ducks was on the menu tonight for the team dinner. Along with salads, pasta's and baked chips it was a meal that any Shark would be happier to tear apart with his razor sharp teeth. Thanks Graeme and Neil, you guys are the best!
Michael goes pig hunting
Now as a cyclist Michael makes an extremely good runner! This tour has been such a good learning curve on the etiquette of cycling in a group. We have got him holding a good wheel, he is still learning how to pace-line without dropping the entire peleton but he is getting there...Climbing he loves going out with the leaders, blows up and then drops back through the field. Descending, now that leg he is actually alright at. Until today that is! Coming down the Col Peyresourde after cresting the top, there was gravel all over the road for nearly the entire 10km descent. Neil and Graeme warned us to take extreme caution, which Billy totally ignored of course! But Michael was feeling pretty confident and was descending at speed and came to a corner where, blow and behold there was gravel, where did that come from? He left the road, jumped a ditch, stayed upright, plowed into the bushy scrub, which help to not only slow him down but to keep him upright. He came to a full stop just in front of a wild pig. The pig took one look at Michael and his disheveled I-think-I-just-shat-my-pants look, and ran away quicker than you could say this little piggy went to market! Besides his stained bottom he was fine and the riders behind who witnessed the while thing had a good laugh once they knew he was safe.
Sharky's final words
I so wish all the riders love ones and supporters could have witnessed what these guys put themselves through today. The courage and commitment they showed today would have made you so extremely proud of them. They left a small part of their physical and mental being out there on those mountains today, they put their heart and souls into an effort that left each of us wasted. This was due to the acumaltive affect of what we have done the past 2 days, but also due to another day of debilitating hot and extremely windy conditions that sucked the moisture from you faster than it could be replenished. Bear this in mind as well - The climbing we did, while just on 2000 metres, was all completed in just two climbs, during the hottest part of the day, up two massive mountains, with the rest of the course being either flat or downhill. Anyway just wanted to mention that as I think they are all legends.
Take care.
Sharky
PS: finished at 11:30 tonight. I am hopeless!
Distance: 134km's
Ascending: 2123 metres
Descending: 2092 metres
Ride time: 5hrs 31mins
Avr speed: 24.2km/h
Temperature: 33 degrees
Apologies for the length of this blog. It was an epic day where so many stories unfolded. I do hope you enjoy. Cheers. Sharky
What's happened so far?
So to date we have ridden from the West coast back to the farmhouse over a 2 day period. Today we did a loop from the farm house, ascended two Cat 1 Cols, which are famous Tour De France climbs that will be utilised in this years tour. Col Peyresourde at 1569 metres and Col Du Aspin at 1489 metres. Tomorrow we drive to the East coast and spend two days riding back to the farmhouse. The farmhouse is situated in the middle of the Pyrenees', to utulise the farmhouse, which we have rented for the week, and cut down having to stay in Hotels each night, our tour operators Graeme and Neil came up with this idea. I hope this make sense but basically we will end riding the entire length of the Pyrenees' but just not in the one direction. It has worked brilliantly so far and everyone is happy as we get to spend more time at this idilic farmhouse.
Can Sharky get to bed early?
So after such a late night for me last night I am determined to get more shut eye tonight. We pushed off at 8:30 this morning and were back by 5pm. Which is our earliest return by 3 hours. So after our guest huddle speaker in Billy 'The Kid' Elliot, who has been done a Smiddy event every year since 2009 and is very deserving of the honour of leading the huddle, I made a beeline for the bathroom, grabbed some food, and started on this blog prior to dinner at 8pm.
The Hegarty email to the riders
So a quick rundown of today before going into the highlights of the day. Last night all agreed to an early start of 8am and back for a late lunch by 2pm. Which meant we got away by 8:45am. Before leaving I read out an email that Marty and Dallas Hegarty sent to the riders in response to our dedicating our day 1 ride to their sick 8 year old boy in Delcan Hegarty. We were all touched and moved by Marty's words and those words came back to help quite a few of us today, as you will find out as you read this blog. Tomorrow I will share those words from Marty with you.
Flatness does exist in the Pyrenees'!
Anyway today Neil was our tour leader on the bike and he showed us a small miracle by showing us it was possible to do a relatively flat ride in the Pyrennees' in the valleys that snake between all the massive monoliths towering above us. For 50km's our tired legs appreciated the long warm up before our first major climb up the Col Peyresourde. Just prior to that climb Neil pulled us up at a small town and said we had time for a quick coffee. The word quick in Smiddy terms is definitely different in English terms. It has taken me a few days but I have finally worked out when Neil or Graeme say quick they are referring to a minimum of 1 hour. So after the quick 1 hour coffee stop the climbing began in earnest. Once again the temperature was just over 33 degrees, and again a tailwind and no cooling effect on our bodies, had all of us feel like our brains were cooking. The 16km climb was more forgiving than the monster that ate us for lunch yesterday in the Tormalet and all successfully summited the climb.
The descent was hair-raising as all the way down there were sections freshly resurfaced and loose gravel made it very dangerous. Billy still managed to top speed of just over 80km/h and was braking while doing this speed. The Kid has no fear!
Climbing the Aspin in 33 degree heat
The second climb of the day was up the the Aspin and it went for 14km's and we all found this climb harder than the first. Gradient wise it was the last 8km's that tested us all with an average of 8%. Which probably does not sound like much, but with 3 days and 400km's of riding in our legs and over 7000 metres of climbing, we were all tired. At the top, Peter, who rode Clunker again, as his bike had still not been delivered from Toulouse to the farmhouse, made a friend with an old French chap that had a bike built in the early 1900's. The steeled frame original bike with lugs to join the tubing together, had wooden rims and solid rubber tyres, a fixed front chain ring, weird brakes and a type of 1900's pump I have never seen before, 5 gears only, and the original aluminium water bottles on the cow-horn shaped handle-bars. Photos were taken under the Col Du Aspin you-have-made-it-and-are-a-legend 1489 metres sign, and they parted as kindred spirits knowing they shared old equipment, while looking odd to the masses but has stood the test of time. Having said that Peter would toss Clunker the moment his carbon racing machine turns up!
From the top of that climb we descended back down the same way and once we regrouped at the bottom it was a fast slightly downhill or flat 20km's to get back to our home-base.
We have a huge day tomorrow, leaving at 5:30am to drive 3 hours to the East Coast of the Pyrenees', and then a massive 170km day with two major climbs that are close to 2000 metres altitude. I have just returned from our team dinner and time is slipping away on me. It is now 10pm and I have still have the highlights of the day to complete so let's hook in.
Michael's having a good time!
Michael is loving this trip like no other. He commented to me today how impressed he is with how well the group is gelling. Mick does not realise that all our Smiddy events the groups always gel well due to the fact that Smiddy only attracts good people. This group is no different, except the smallness of the group magnifies that feeling. Tonight over dinner; the story telling from today, the full on belly laughs and the friendship between the group is testament to what these guys are experiencing and the respect we all have for one another.
Jimmy soldiers on with one leg!
Old mate Jimmy asked me for a massage last night for an itb issue that came on late yesterday afternoon. I managed to loosen it up but the damage has been sustained and he found out today just how strong his pain threshold is when he managed to finish the stage but not before popping plenty of Nurefen and predominately using just the one leg to pedal. He admitted today that his respect level for Paralympian and past Midi Smiddy rider in Michael Milton, who has only one leg due to losing the other one to bone cancer when he was a child) has risen to the highest level possible. I massaged Jimmy again tonight and we are hopeful he will be a starter tomorrow.
Anna retires 10km's into today's ride
Unfortunately Anna and her itb issues did not improve overnight. She started but was in pain from the very beginning and made the tough but right choice to retire from today's ride. As our support vehicle would not meet up with us until the top of the first climb she was forced to limp back to the farmhouse, where she rested up for the day. Tonight over dinner the group presented her with a Tormalet Tour De France souvenir and a team Sky cycling cap (her favourite pro team) to hopefully ease some of the disappointed she is surely feeling.
Panda Kat Balls kicks arse on Col Du Aspin
Katrina's nickname continues to grow, just as her stature as a climber and descender. This trip her descending skills have improved dramatically. But today she came into her own when she climbed so well up the Aspin that she bested 6 of the male riders. Kat is now not only the best caller-outer-er girl of stuff on the roads, such as stick, pothole left, grass right, trees middle, sky above and cows 1km to the right, but is also now the best girl climber and in the top half out of all the riders. Great work Kat.
Five finish Aspin together
On that same climb where Kat dealt us her cruel blow to our male egos, five of us were having an extremely hard time. Billy, Mark, Peter, Michael and myself were all struggling at some point during that 14km climb up the Aspin. Michael was near delirious, Mark was commenting on how much he dislikes a European Summer and wished he was back home in a good old Sydney Winter, (mind you if he was here surfing it would be a completely different story) Billy was the same as yesterday on the Tormalet and dizzy and incoherent and mumbling, " I can't let Sharky beat me up another Col again", and Peter on old Clunker had run out of water, so Billy gave him an empty water bottle just to play mind games with him! Pete was seriously considering turning around half way up the climb but he said the Smiddy spirit would not let him. I gave him the last of my water, which amounted to 2 tea spoons and Pete nearly swallowed the water bottle as well as he opened his mouth so wide in the hope that more water would emerge. Meanwhile Michael is cramping and yelling out to anyone that would listen indecipherable words such as "Ahhhrrrggggg" and my favourite was Eeooouuggmmmm! With 1km to go we decided we were going to cross the top together 5 riders across the road arm in arm. This was all good and indeed great, but when 5 dizzy riders, that are salivating pure salt from their mouths as no moisture was left in our parched bodies, it was comical to watch but extremely emotionally moving. I would love to show that photo to you guys but I never have enough time to upload any photos to these blogs.
Bike saga continues yet again!
So we get back to the Farmhouse and there is Pete's bike case. You little ripper! A hasty build to make sure all is right and at first appearance we are happy. Then Jimmy casts his professional eye over it and picks up that 4 teeth on the big chain ring have been broken off. Pete now has 2 choices. One- ride his new girl Clunker. Two- ride his bike but only use small chain-ring. I believe he is going for option 2, but I am not sure as he is definitely falling in love with his new girl.
Ride leaders world wide get lost!
With Neil riding with us as ride leader we knew we were in capable hands. The first 12km's of today's ride all was good. And then it happened; the hand signal for stop come up, stopping was called, and Neil said "sorry lads we need to turn around, I missed a turn back at the roundabout." It was the only mistake he made all day and while it was just 400 metres back to the roundabout, I could not let an opportunity pass to pay out on a fellow ride leader who takes wrong turns!
Chicken, chicken or chicken?
Out of everyone here I am the biggest fusspot when it comes to not eating certain foods. No pig products, no seafood, no processed meats, which has been our staple diet since the start of this trip. But not tonight! God damn it I love chicken and chicken the size of large ducks was on the menu tonight for the team dinner. Along with salads, pasta's and baked chips it was a meal that any Shark would be happier to tear apart with his razor sharp teeth. Thanks Graeme and Neil, you guys are the best!
Michael goes pig hunting
Now as a cyclist Michael makes an extremely good runner! This tour has been such a good learning curve on the etiquette of cycling in a group. We have got him holding a good wheel, he is still learning how to pace-line without dropping the entire peleton but he is getting there...Climbing he loves going out with the leaders, blows up and then drops back through the field. Descending, now that leg he is actually alright at. Until today that is! Coming down the Col Peyresourde after cresting the top, there was gravel all over the road for nearly the entire 10km descent. Neil and Graeme warned us to take extreme caution, which Billy totally ignored of course! But Michael was feeling pretty confident and was descending at speed and came to a corner where, blow and behold there was gravel, where did that come from? He left the road, jumped a ditch, stayed upright, plowed into the bushy scrub, which help to not only slow him down but to keep him upright. He came to a full stop just in front of a wild pig. The pig took one look at Michael and his disheveled I-think-I-just-shat-my-pants look, and ran away quicker than you could say this little piggy went to market! Besides his stained bottom he was fine and the riders behind who witnessed the while thing had a good laugh once they knew he was safe.
Sharky's final words
I so wish all the riders love ones and supporters could have witnessed what these guys put themselves through today. The courage and commitment they showed today would have made you so extremely proud of them. They left a small part of their physical and mental being out there on those mountains today, they put their heart and souls into an effort that left each of us wasted. This was due to the acumaltive affect of what we have done the past 2 days, but also due to another day of debilitating hot and extremely windy conditions that sucked the moisture from you faster than it could be replenished. Bear this in mind as well - The climbing we did, while just on 2000 metres, was all completed in just two climbs, during the hottest part of the day, up two massive mountains, with the rest of the course being either flat or downhill. Anyway just wanted to mention that as I think they are all legends.
Take care.
Sharky
PS: finished at 11:30 tonight. I am hopeless!
Monday 25 June 2012
SMIDDY PYRENEES' DAY 2
Assap-Aros back to Farmhouse
Distance: 170km's
Ascending: 3900 metres
Ride time: 8hrs 50mins
Avr speed: 21.6km/h
Temp: 32.5 degrees
How do I adequately describe what was one of the greatest cycling days of my life in 30 years of cycling? I can assure you that no matter what I write in this blog, it will not come close to what I saw and felt and experienced on a day that saw the Smiddy crew spend close to 9 hours in the saddle, but I am going to try. We knew that a long day awaited us so the rollout time was 7am, which meant we got away by 7:30am. From our overnight stop at Hotel Au Bon Coin and after a great breaky we were straight off the bat into our first decent of the day that lasted a joyous 5km's. The gradual descent weaved its way through dense forest so thick that the overhang kept the sun at bay and it was a crisp start to the day. I personally rolled out with leg and arm warmers, which was a bit of an overkill, as just a few kilometres down the road I was too warm and wishing I was like all the other smart riders and just started in my bike kit, plain and simple. The first 30km's the course was either flat or downhill, with just a few rolling hills, and thanks to this the group made excellent time to average 30km/h. Of course this average was only going to go down for the remainder of the day. Our first major climb was the Col d'Aubisque at 1710 metres, which was made up of a 16km climb with an average gradient of 8%. 100km's into our ride and the 18km long climb up the Tormalet began in earnest.
Without going on too much more about our spectacular day, I am going to take you from here to my highlights of the day package. Below is just a small snap-shot of just some of the things that occurred throughout our second day on the road. Be sure to see the crew choice of 5 words that best describes their special day.
Highlights of the day
The Sharky Swifty
On the Col d'Aubisque I was telling Rowan and Billy how good I felt just prior to commencing the climb. When we started I went out hard and got a gap on all the riders, once I was out of sight I quickly dismounted from my bike and hid in the bushes and waited for the group to go by. Rowan, Billy, Adam, Michael and Mark were in the front group and moving quite fast in search of the the elusive Shark. I then had to wait until the climb was completed 70 minutes later to find out if my desired result worked. Row informed me that the group worked hard together for a few kilometres before he broke off on a solo effort in an attempt to catch me. He admitted that after 7km's and still no Shark in sight that I had either got lost or that I had pulled a swifty on him. We all had a good laugh about that one. We did laugh hey Row?
Brotherly love
Once again the DeAngelis boys get a mention in this blog. Phil, who had a tough day yesterday, made the tough decision to give up his bike to Peter, so that Pete could enjoy a day on the road on a bike that did not weigh a ton and had more than 5 gears.
Pete's Bike makes a triumphant return
Finally some good news was delivered to pete today. His bike has been found and he will be reunited with his baby as of tomorrow. On a side note, Pete ended up giving Phil his bike back today so that Phil could ride to the remainder of the day from the Tormalet climb and back to the finish at the farmhouse. Peter then rode Clunker up the Tormalet and received a heroes welcome when he crested the top on the heaviest bike in the group.
Smiddy spirit in Adam Young
Adam Young today showed today on the Col Du Tormalet that he has the Smiddy spirit. He was clearly riding well and could have ridden his own ride and got to the top a lot sooner than he did. Instead he stayed back and helped Billy and Michael, who were having an awful time combating dehydration. At one time he stopped at a stream and collected water and poured it over their heads and filled their water bottles. Great stuff mate, you should be proud.
Descents worth selling your mother-in-law for!
You climb to the top of any mountain and your reward is the hair-raising, bottom sweating scary exhilarating descents. Going down the other side of both Cols today presented each of us with memories of unadulterated sheer joy, and at moments nail biting terror, especially when navigating through dark lightless tunnels with your sunnies on, or dodging stray sheep and cow's with noisy bells on them, not to mention the two punctures while traveling at 70km/h by Rowan and Anna coming down the Tormalet. I was behind Rowan at the time when his tired punctured and it was so loud that I jumped. He did an amazing job to stay upright as the tyre came off completely and he had to come to a stop while riding on the rim only.
Heat on the Tormalet
32.5 degrees is hot in anyone's language, but throw in an 18km climb that had the breeze behind us so there was no cooling effect at all from the wind, and the fact that it took most of us 2 hours to complete! This climb is renowned as one of the hardest climbs in the Tour De France, and I would like to acknowledge that this would be a fair assessment after managing, in the final 2 kilometres, to record a lowest speed of 4.2km/h! I was amazed that I could go so slow and not fall off!
Anna's ITB goes on the Tormalet
Poor Anna today got just 2km's into the climb and had to call it a day. Her ITB became so tight that it locked up her knee to the point that she could not turn the pedals without excruciating pain. She was devastated but did the right thing as with the treatment she got tonight plus heaps of stretching we are hopeful she will be a starter tomorrow.
Billy gets hot
The young gun made my day today. Billy decided that a mild case of heatstroke may be the best chance for me to beat him up any climb anywhere since I have known Billy from the 2009 Smiddy Challenge. Our small trio of Bad Boy, Jimmy and myself caught and passed a very sad looking Billy with 10km to go to get to the top. Soon after, Adam also went passed and made the noble decision to return and look after Billy all the way to the top. Great effort today Billmeister.
Rowan actually felt pain today
It is pretty rare that the big fella does anything physical that brings him to his knees. While the Tormalet did not quite crush Rowan, I know that last 7km's to the top instilled in him a deep respect for mother nature creating stupidly steep mountains that the French government will come along and stick a road on, for the pure joy of knowing that thousands of cyclists each year will come and torture themselves on it!
Jimmy, Bad Boy Pace me for 10km's
I would like to thank Jimmy for pacing Bad and I for the first 10km's up the Tormalet today. I wanted to stay with them as long as I could, so that when I was dropped I was a lot closer to the top of the mountain than if I was cycling by myself. I was first to go, then Bad did a turn and immediately dropped Jimmy. Now that's why he is called Bad!
The Beast boy never gives in.
David has had glimpses of good form these past two days, but on each climb he is suffering like a dog missing a hind leg. David is also having some knee issues to add to his woes. But through all this he never complain and more importantly never gives in. Beasty is the quietest person in the group, has a warm heart and a deep appreciation for life. I know he will ride into this event and by day 4 will be the beast machine that I know he is capable of being. Keep up the great work champ.
Sharky's last words
To get through such an epic day has pulled the group together even closer than what we already were. The small Smiddy huddle of just 15 people was so incredible special today because of what we subjected ourselves to today. The stretched parched skin on each of our tired faces clearly reflected our epic 9 hour day on the bike and nearly 4000 metres of climbing, but deep inside the eyes told another story. A story of mate-ship brought on by a shared suffering, of knowing that through our actions we are making a difference to peoples lives back home who are in need of our help. Those eyes looking back at me as I spoke to the group said to me that they were proud of what they achieved yesterday, but especially today, and rightly so.
Thank you to some special people
Lastly I just wanted to acknowledge and thank Neil and Graeme for all the hard work today supporting the riders, but mostly for the amazing feast they prepared for us on our return to the farmhouse. Also to Katrina, who took charge of the stinky cycling gear and organised the washing of these valuable garments. The cycling outfit is in the Australian colours of green and gold, with a small Aussie flag on the shoulder. The kit has a slight resemblance to Green Edge (Aussie Pro team) It is a fine looking kit and we imagine that some of the looks that we get and friendly toots on the horn are mistaking us for team Green Edge.
5 words sums up the crew's day 2 experiences
David Agudelo - Triumphant Beautiful, Painful, Inspiring and Grateful
Philip DeAngelis - Awesome, Tough, Excellent, Grueling and Grind
Peter DeAngelis - Invigorating, Momentous, Painful, Humbling and Sobering
Mark DeAngelis - Appreciation, vigorous, salt tablets, wine and tough
Jimmy Acomb - Picturesque, amazing, fast, huge and once in a lifetime!
Anna Tovey - Best day of my life!
Rowan Foster - Daunting, achievable, roller-coaster, hurtful and magnificent
Billy Elliot - Hot, epic, lucky, the general and How good is this!
Katrina Cousins - Hot, fantastic, back-breaking, tough and steely dan
Adam Young - Heroic, majestic, hot, downhills and sensational
Michael Harris - Challenging, variable, sensational, painful and triumphant.
Sharky - Grateful, mother-nature, friendships, laughter and late nights!
Johnny Bad - Fun, coffee, speed, pacing and camaraderie
Graeme - Crazy bloody Aussie's are fit!
Neil - Best cycling group ever, yo!
Hope you enjoyed this blog. I dislike the last nights, it is now 1:15am, especially after the day we had today, but it is worth it to get memories down that would be lost if not written about on the day.
Please feel free to send this on to anyone who you think may be interested in reading.
If keen to donate please visit www.smiddy.org.au
Thank you for your support.
Sharky
Distance: 170km's
Ascending: 3900 metres
Ride time: 8hrs 50mins
Avr speed: 21.6km/h
Temp: 32.5 degrees
How do I adequately describe what was one of the greatest cycling days of my life in 30 years of cycling? I can assure you that no matter what I write in this blog, it will not come close to what I saw and felt and experienced on a day that saw the Smiddy crew spend close to 9 hours in the saddle, but I am going to try. We knew that a long day awaited us so the rollout time was 7am, which meant we got away by 7:30am. From our overnight stop at Hotel Au Bon Coin and after a great breaky we were straight off the bat into our first decent of the day that lasted a joyous 5km's. The gradual descent weaved its way through dense forest so thick that the overhang kept the sun at bay and it was a crisp start to the day. I personally rolled out with leg and arm warmers, which was a bit of an overkill, as just a few kilometres down the road I was too warm and wishing I was like all the other smart riders and just started in my bike kit, plain and simple. The first 30km's the course was either flat or downhill, with just a few rolling hills, and thanks to this the group made excellent time to average 30km/h. Of course this average was only going to go down for the remainder of the day. Our first major climb was the Col d'Aubisque at 1710 metres, which was made up of a 16km climb with an average gradient of 8%. 100km's into our ride and the 18km long climb up the Tormalet began in earnest.
Without going on too much more about our spectacular day, I am going to take you from here to my highlights of the day package. Below is just a small snap-shot of just some of the things that occurred throughout our second day on the road. Be sure to see the crew choice of 5 words that best describes their special day.
Highlights of the day
The Sharky Swifty
On the Col d'Aubisque I was telling Rowan and Billy how good I felt just prior to commencing the climb. When we started I went out hard and got a gap on all the riders, once I was out of sight I quickly dismounted from my bike and hid in the bushes and waited for the group to go by. Rowan, Billy, Adam, Michael and Mark were in the front group and moving quite fast in search of the the elusive Shark. I then had to wait until the climb was completed 70 minutes later to find out if my desired result worked. Row informed me that the group worked hard together for a few kilometres before he broke off on a solo effort in an attempt to catch me. He admitted that after 7km's and still no Shark in sight that I had either got lost or that I had pulled a swifty on him. We all had a good laugh about that one. We did laugh hey Row?
Brotherly love
Once again the DeAngelis boys get a mention in this blog. Phil, who had a tough day yesterday, made the tough decision to give up his bike to Peter, so that Pete could enjoy a day on the road on a bike that did not weigh a ton and had more than 5 gears.
Pete's Bike makes a triumphant return
Finally some good news was delivered to pete today. His bike has been found and he will be reunited with his baby as of tomorrow. On a side note, Pete ended up giving Phil his bike back today so that Phil could ride to the remainder of the day from the Tormalet climb and back to the finish at the farmhouse. Peter then rode Clunker up the Tormalet and received a heroes welcome when he crested the top on the heaviest bike in the group.
Smiddy spirit in Adam Young
Adam Young today showed today on the Col Du Tormalet that he has the Smiddy spirit. He was clearly riding well and could have ridden his own ride and got to the top a lot sooner than he did. Instead he stayed back and helped Billy and Michael, who were having an awful time combating dehydration. At one time he stopped at a stream and collected water and poured it over their heads and filled their water bottles. Great stuff mate, you should be proud.
Descents worth selling your mother-in-law for!
You climb to the top of any mountain and your reward is the hair-raising, bottom sweating scary exhilarating descents. Going down the other side of both Cols today presented each of us with memories of unadulterated sheer joy, and at moments nail biting terror, especially when navigating through dark lightless tunnels with your sunnies on, or dodging stray sheep and cow's with noisy bells on them, not to mention the two punctures while traveling at 70km/h by Rowan and Anna coming down the Tormalet. I was behind Rowan at the time when his tired punctured and it was so loud that I jumped. He did an amazing job to stay upright as the tyre came off completely and he had to come to a stop while riding on the rim only.
Heat on the Tormalet
32.5 degrees is hot in anyone's language, but throw in an 18km climb that had the breeze behind us so there was no cooling effect at all from the wind, and the fact that it took most of us 2 hours to complete! This climb is renowned as one of the hardest climbs in the Tour De France, and I would like to acknowledge that this would be a fair assessment after managing, in the final 2 kilometres, to record a lowest speed of 4.2km/h! I was amazed that I could go so slow and not fall off!
Anna's ITB goes on the Tormalet
Poor Anna today got just 2km's into the climb and had to call it a day. Her ITB became so tight that it locked up her knee to the point that she could not turn the pedals without excruciating pain. She was devastated but did the right thing as with the treatment she got tonight plus heaps of stretching we are hopeful she will be a starter tomorrow.
Billy gets hot
The young gun made my day today. Billy decided that a mild case of heatstroke may be the best chance for me to beat him up any climb anywhere since I have known Billy from the 2009 Smiddy Challenge. Our small trio of Bad Boy, Jimmy and myself caught and passed a very sad looking Billy with 10km to go to get to the top. Soon after, Adam also went passed and made the noble decision to return and look after Billy all the way to the top. Great effort today Billmeister.
Rowan actually felt pain today
It is pretty rare that the big fella does anything physical that brings him to his knees. While the Tormalet did not quite crush Rowan, I know that last 7km's to the top instilled in him a deep respect for mother nature creating stupidly steep mountains that the French government will come along and stick a road on, for the pure joy of knowing that thousands of cyclists each year will come and torture themselves on it!
Jimmy, Bad Boy Pace me for 10km's
I would like to thank Jimmy for pacing Bad and I for the first 10km's up the Tormalet today. I wanted to stay with them as long as I could, so that when I was dropped I was a lot closer to the top of the mountain than if I was cycling by myself. I was first to go, then Bad did a turn and immediately dropped Jimmy. Now that's why he is called Bad!
The Beast boy never gives in.
David has had glimpses of good form these past two days, but on each climb he is suffering like a dog missing a hind leg. David is also having some knee issues to add to his woes. But through all this he never complain and more importantly never gives in. Beasty is the quietest person in the group, has a warm heart and a deep appreciation for life. I know he will ride into this event and by day 4 will be the beast machine that I know he is capable of being. Keep up the great work champ.
Sharky's last words
To get through such an epic day has pulled the group together even closer than what we already were. The small Smiddy huddle of just 15 people was so incredible special today because of what we subjected ourselves to today. The stretched parched skin on each of our tired faces clearly reflected our epic 9 hour day on the bike and nearly 4000 metres of climbing, but deep inside the eyes told another story. A story of mate-ship brought on by a shared suffering, of knowing that through our actions we are making a difference to peoples lives back home who are in need of our help. Those eyes looking back at me as I spoke to the group said to me that they were proud of what they achieved yesterday, but especially today, and rightly so.
Thank you to some special people
Lastly I just wanted to acknowledge and thank Neil and Graeme for all the hard work today supporting the riders, but mostly for the amazing feast they prepared for us on our return to the farmhouse. Also to Katrina, who took charge of the stinky cycling gear and organised the washing of these valuable garments. The cycling outfit is in the Australian colours of green and gold, with a small Aussie flag on the shoulder. The kit has a slight resemblance to Green Edge (Aussie Pro team) It is a fine looking kit and we imagine that some of the looks that we get and friendly toots on the horn are mistaking us for team Green Edge.
5 words sums up the crew's day 2 experiences
David Agudelo - Triumphant Beautiful, Painful, Inspiring and Grateful
Philip DeAngelis - Awesome, Tough, Excellent, Grueling and Grind
Peter DeAngelis - Invigorating, Momentous, Painful, Humbling and Sobering
Mark DeAngelis - Appreciation, vigorous, salt tablets, wine and tough
Jimmy Acomb - Picturesque, amazing, fast, huge and once in a lifetime!
Anna Tovey - Best day of my life!
Rowan Foster - Daunting, achievable, roller-coaster, hurtful and magnificent
Billy Elliot - Hot, epic, lucky, the general and How good is this!
Katrina Cousins - Hot, fantastic, back-breaking, tough and steely dan
Adam Young - Heroic, majestic, hot, downhills and sensational
Michael Harris - Challenging, variable, sensational, painful and triumphant.
Sharky - Grateful, mother-nature, friendships, laughter and late nights!
Johnny Bad - Fun, coffee, speed, pacing and camaraderie
Graeme - Crazy bloody Aussie's are fit!
Neil - Best cycling group ever, yo!
Hope you enjoyed this blog. I dislike the last nights, it is now 1:15am, especially after the day we had today, but it is worth it to get memories down that would be lost if not written about on the day.
Please feel free to send this on to anyone who you think may be interested in reading.
If keen to donate please visit www.smiddy.org.au
Thank you for your support.
Sharky
Sunday 24 June 2012
SMIDDY PYRENEES' CHALLENGE- DAY 1
Saint-Jean-De-Luz to Assap-Aros
Distance: 165km
Ascending: 2466 metres
Ride time: 6hrs 50mins
Avr speed: 23.6km/h
Last night at 9pm the group sat down for a barbecue dinner prepared by Graeme and Neil. Whilst eating Neil did a brief on what we could expect for our 5 days on the road. He explained that the route would be extremely difficult and not to underestimate just how tough the next 5 days will be. I reminded the group as to why we were here, and in the many moments when the suffering looks like never ending, to think about their family and friends that are battling cancer and draw strength from that. Our suffering ends the moment we step off the bike, cancer victims don't have that luxury.
Declan Hegarty we are thinking of you!
Today's blog entry I would like to dedicate to a very brave and sick young boy, who is in hospital as we speak and is fighting his own battle against cancer. Just prior to leaving for this trip I paid a visit to The Royal Children's hospital to lend my support to a great friend and his sick little boy. I was lucky when Marty Hegarty came into my life through the 2010 Smiddy Challenge from Brisbane to Townsville. Marty and his brother Tony have hearts of gold and have always done their bit for Smiddy events over the years. Marty and Dallas's (Marty's Wife) 8 year old son Declan was recently diagnosed with a very rare cancer that attacks the spinal cord. Only one in 2 million people will ever get this form of cancer, and unfortunately Declan was its latest victim. The surgeon, who ironically is another Smiddy rider in Dr Martin Wood, who rode the Challenge with us last year, has removed all the cancer and Declan is now undergoing chemo and radiation therapy. At the start of today's ride I shared Declan's story with the riders. I know that Declan will be following these blogs, so this message is to you Declan. The lads are aware of your battle and over the next 5 days every pedal stroke will aide you in your recovery. Take care my little mate and I will see you on my return.
Missing bike saga continues.
Unfortunately it is still bad news for our good mate Peter DeAngelis. His bike is still nowhere to be found. Yesterday when we stopped at the Decathlon store Peter brought replacement bike shoes, luckily his helmet was in his brothers bike box, with the plan being to hire a bike so that he could start the tour. The hire bike that they got was eventually ditched as the test run confirmed that the gearing was stuffed. So plan B was to use a classic old steel framed retro machine from the 70's that was collecting dust at the farmhouse. Jimmy kindly donated his time to re-cable and tune it to the best of his ability. But regardless of a Jimmy miracle to get this beast breathing fire again, the bike weighs a ton, the gear levers are on the down tube and the brakes will stop him eventually after applying them with full force for a kilometre. All the lads are in awe of Pete and the challenges that lay ahead of him on this trusty stead. Watch this space...
The course today saw us leave the farmhouse at 7:30am and travel West for 2 hours to get to our starting point at Saint-Jean-De-Luz, which is the border town between Spain and France, also known as Basque country, the separatist nation that recognize themselves as neither French nor Spanish. Location wise it is set into the knuckle of the Bay of Biscoy, (Atlantic Ocean) is one of France's favorite beach holiday locations, which also attracts more of those horrible beautiful French ladies I mentioned back in my second blog! It's terrible what we are being subjected to over here... See highlights of the day below to get a feel for what our first day was like on the road, a very beautiful road, with very amazing majestic hills are alive type beautiful mountainous scenery!
Highlights of the day
Peter DeAngelis wins hands down the most courageous award; showing true Smiddy spirit by riding the clunker bike today over 3 cols (mountains) and doing it with the choice of just 1 gear thanks to the gear cable breaking in the first 20 kilometres. The nice thing about Pete is he could of winged and complained about how unfair life is that his bike went missing, and he would be entitled to that, but no, Pete went the other way, and made no fuss at all, excepted his predicament, and got on with the job. The group is so impressed with Pete and he has earned all our respect. Great job mate, we are all so proud of you.
Phillip DeAngelis went out in sympathy with his brother Pete. Phil came into the event with limited preparation due to his Achilles blowing up on him. On top of that he may have had a few too many waters that first night in Toulouse. Today he rode well but for the last 15km's a broken spoke made life a little tougher with some brake rubbing going on. Then with 5km's from the finish I noticed that he looked a little unsteady on the bike. He was on the verge of bonking (blowing up massively) so we pulled him over before he fell off his bike. 10 minutes later he was fine again but needed 17 muesli bars, 3 jars of honey and 16 bread sticks to get his sugar levels back up to normal again. Gutsy effort today champ!
Graeme, our esteemed tour leader, had a red faced moment today. After the group tipped their toes into the water to signal the start of the Smiddy Pyrenees' we pushed off for the start of our 150km day, but just 5km's into the ride Graeme could not decipher the course directions on his Garmin, and proceeded to take us along a road that was in the exact opposite direction to the way we should have gone. 15km's later and we had done a loop and ended up back where we had started from. I felt for old mate as I have done exactly the same thing -many times actually- during a few Smiddy training events, and I knew how embarrassing it could be. To the groups credit no-one complained and just laughed it off. Graeme felt bad but we assured him all was good.
Who needs salt tablets?
In my pre-ride brief I suggested to the riders if you are susceptible to cramping to bring salt tablets. No one did of course, except Jimmy and I, and we could have made a fortune by holding the riders to ransom for the many times today that they required salt tablets. Not starting until close to 11am, then losing a further hour getting lost, we began riding just as the heat was making its presence felt. With daylight saving here, it does not get dark until after 10pm, which makes the hottest part of the day between 2pm and 7pm. This, combined with the fact that we all came from an Australian winter to a European Summer, meant that at some point riders were going to have cramping issues.
Anna and Katrina today showed girl power to be proud of. Both of them handled the hilly course with all the aplomb of seasoned professionals. At one stage we passed some young female French teenagers and they yelled out to us. Anna explained to me later that they were saying "go the girls." And go they did. Awesome work out there today girls, always smiling and super positive and a joy having you in the peloton.
Jimmy saves the day when Pete's clunker bike gear cable broke; locked in the hardest gear, Jimmy did a MacGyver and used a stick to push the rear derailler across to an easier gear that allowed Pete to get to the top of that 710metre climb. While on the subject of Jimmy I really need to acknowledge how much work Jimmy does for any rider who needs help in a mechanical way. He is here not as a mechanic but as a rider who has fund raised 10k and earned his right to ride and ride only. But not Jimmy, who freely gives up his spare time to help others. All the guys sure are appreciative mate and we are indeed very lucky to have you.
Sharky's last words
It is now 11pm and tomorrow we have what will be the hardest day of the tour with two major climbs; the Col d'Aubisque is first at 1710 metres, while the Col du-Tourmalet at 2115 metres, both are Hors category climbs (meaning un-categorized) or bloody hard in anyone's language! The riders tonight had the choice of an easier day tomorrow and only doing the one climb. The easier option was discussed but outrightly rejected. We came here to climb and tomorrow that is just what we intend to do! My final words for this report is this; HOW LUCKY ARE WE!
See you all for what should be a epic report on an epic day tomorrow.
Sharky.
Distance: 165km
Ascending: 2466 metres
Ride time: 6hrs 50mins
Avr speed: 23.6km/h
Last night at 9pm the group sat down for a barbecue dinner prepared by Graeme and Neil. Whilst eating Neil did a brief on what we could expect for our 5 days on the road. He explained that the route would be extremely difficult and not to underestimate just how tough the next 5 days will be. I reminded the group as to why we were here, and in the many moments when the suffering looks like never ending, to think about their family and friends that are battling cancer and draw strength from that. Our suffering ends the moment we step off the bike, cancer victims don't have that luxury.
Declan Hegarty we are thinking of you!
Today's blog entry I would like to dedicate to a very brave and sick young boy, who is in hospital as we speak and is fighting his own battle against cancer. Just prior to leaving for this trip I paid a visit to The Royal Children's hospital to lend my support to a great friend and his sick little boy. I was lucky when Marty Hegarty came into my life through the 2010 Smiddy Challenge from Brisbane to Townsville. Marty and his brother Tony have hearts of gold and have always done their bit for Smiddy events over the years. Marty and Dallas's (Marty's Wife) 8 year old son Declan was recently diagnosed with a very rare cancer that attacks the spinal cord. Only one in 2 million people will ever get this form of cancer, and unfortunately Declan was its latest victim. The surgeon, who ironically is another Smiddy rider in Dr Martin Wood, who rode the Challenge with us last year, has removed all the cancer and Declan is now undergoing chemo and radiation therapy. At the start of today's ride I shared Declan's story with the riders. I know that Declan will be following these blogs, so this message is to you Declan. The lads are aware of your battle and over the next 5 days every pedal stroke will aide you in your recovery. Take care my little mate and I will see you on my return.
Missing bike saga continues.
Unfortunately it is still bad news for our good mate Peter DeAngelis. His bike is still nowhere to be found. Yesterday when we stopped at the Decathlon store Peter brought replacement bike shoes, luckily his helmet was in his brothers bike box, with the plan being to hire a bike so that he could start the tour. The hire bike that they got was eventually ditched as the test run confirmed that the gearing was stuffed. So plan B was to use a classic old steel framed retro machine from the 70's that was collecting dust at the farmhouse. Jimmy kindly donated his time to re-cable and tune it to the best of his ability. But regardless of a Jimmy miracle to get this beast breathing fire again, the bike weighs a ton, the gear levers are on the down tube and the brakes will stop him eventually after applying them with full force for a kilometre. All the lads are in awe of Pete and the challenges that lay ahead of him on this trusty stead. Watch this space...
The course today saw us leave the farmhouse at 7:30am and travel West for 2 hours to get to our starting point at Saint-Jean-De-Luz, which is the border town between Spain and France, also known as Basque country, the separatist nation that recognize themselves as neither French nor Spanish. Location wise it is set into the knuckle of the Bay of Biscoy, (Atlantic Ocean) is one of France's favorite beach holiday locations, which also attracts more of those horrible beautiful French ladies I mentioned back in my second blog! It's terrible what we are being subjected to over here... See highlights of the day below to get a feel for what our first day was like on the road, a very beautiful road, with very amazing majestic hills are alive type beautiful mountainous scenery!
Highlights of the day
Peter DeAngelis wins hands down the most courageous award; showing true Smiddy spirit by riding the clunker bike today over 3 cols (mountains) and doing it with the choice of just 1 gear thanks to the gear cable breaking in the first 20 kilometres. The nice thing about Pete is he could of winged and complained about how unfair life is that his bike went missing, and he would be entitled to that, but no, Pete went the other way, and made no fuss at all, excepted his predicament, and got on with the job. The group is so impressed with Pete and he has earned all our respect. Great job mate, we are all so proud of you.
Phillip DeAngelis went out in sympathy with his brother Pete. Phil came into the event with limited preparation due to his Achilles blowing up on him. On top of that he may have had a few too many waters that first night in Toulouse. Today he rode well but for the last 15km's a broken spoke made life a little tougher with some brake rubbing going on. Then with 5km's from the finish I noticed that he looked a little unsteady on the bike. He was on the verge of bonking (blowing up massively) so we pulled him over before he fell off his bike. 10 minutes later he was fine again but needed 17 muesli bars, 3 jars of honey and 16 bread sticks to get his sugar levels back up to normal again. Gutsy effort today champ!
Graeme, our esteemed tour leader, had a red faced moment today. After the group tipped their toes into the water to signal the start of the Smiddy Pyrenees' we pushed off for the start of our 150km day, but just 5km's into the ride Graeme could not decipher the course directions on his Garmin, and proceeded to take us along a road that was in the exact opposite direction to the way we should have gone. 15km's later and we had done a loop and ended up back where we had started from. I felt for old mate as I have done exactly the same thing -many times actually- during a few Smiddy training events, and I knew how embarrassing it could be. To the groups credit no-one complained and just laughed it off. Graeme felt bad but we assured him all was good.
Who needs salt tablets?
In my pre-ride brief I suggested to the riders if you are susceptible to cramping to bring salt tablets. No one did of course, except Jimmy and I, and we could have made a fortune by holding the riders to ransom for the many times today that they required salt tablets. Not starting until close to 11am, then losing a further hour getting lost, we began riding just as the heat was making its presence felt. With daylight saving here, it does not get dark until after 10pm, which makes the hottest part of the day between 2pm and 7pm. This, combined with the fact that we all came from an Australian winter to a European Summer, meant that at some point riders were going to have cramping issues.
Anna and Katrina today showed girl power to be proud of. Both of them handled the hilly course with all the aplomb of seasoned professionals. At one stage we passed some young female French teenagers and they yelled out to us. Anna explained to me later that they were saying "go the girls." And go they did. Awesome work out there today girls, always smiling and super positive and a joy having you in the peloton.
Jimmy saves the day when Pete's clunker bike gear cable broke; locked in the hardest gear, Jimmy did a MacGyver and used a stick to push the rear derailler across to an easier gear that allowed Pete to get to the top of that 710metre climb. While on the subject of Jimmy I really need to acknowledge how much work Jimmy does for any rider who needs help in a mechanical way. He is here not as a mechanic but as a rider who has fund raised 10k and earned his right to ride and ride only. But not Jimmy, who freely gives up his spare time to help others. All the guys sure are appreciative mate and we are indeed very lucky to have you.
Sharky's last words
It is now 11pm and tomorrow we have what will be the hardest day of the tour with two major climbs; the Col d'Aubisque is first at 1710 metres, while the Col du-Tourmalet at 2115 metres, both are Hors category climbs (meaning un-categorized) or bloody hard in anyone's language! The riders tonight had the choice of an easier day tomorrow and only doing the one climb. The easier option was discussed but outrightly rejected. We came here to climb and tomorrow that is just what we intend to do! My final words for this report is this; HOW LUCKY ARE WE!
See you all for what should be a epic report on an epic day tomorrow.
Sharky.
Saturday 23 June 2012
LOOSE IN TOULOUSE - Smiddy crew bond
Getting to London
When I last wrote it was from the comfort of the vast Singapore international airport, where seriously, you could -if you really wanted to- walk a marathon just taking in all the shops and restaurants. All 13 riders boarded our flight to London and after a long 13 hours of restless sleep, mind-numbing movies and bland airline food, all were relieved to see the inside of the Heathrow international airport. It is now 7am on a wet, cold, dreary and depressingly grey English morning. We have just spent a good half hour in transit to get to our next flight bound for Toulouse in the South of France. As I write this we are being told by the flight attendants to have our seat belts done up low and tight, and once again I ponder why it is low and tight and not tight and low? Hmmmmm, may have to write to Qantas about that one? Anyway I am once again sitting next to my flight partners in Katrina Cousins and Billy Elliot, also known as Kat Panda and Billy the Kid. I just got Billy into trouble as I confessed to the flight attendant that he had indeed not read his safety card! Naughty Billy.
Get us out of England!
What a difference a 90min flight can make! We are now in the South of France and my smile could not be broader. The sky is a dazzling blue, the temperature is a mild 20 degrees, the smell of fresh baguette's and chocolate croissants is in the air, and the ladies of France are just walking around as if it is perfectly normal to be so incredibly beautiful! Not that I noticed...It was pointed out to me by the other lads in the group of course! So now that we are in Toulouse we have 20 hours to kill. Our overnight stay here is in a comfortable motel and all is good bar the fact that 3 of the lads bikes failed to arrive. For those riders who saw their bikes come out on the over-size conveyer belt it was a feeling of relief. For Billy, Peter and Phil the feeling was somewhat how you feel during a big night when you know you are about to chuck!
Pyrenees' here we come
Time wise it is now the next day and we are on our way to our Farmhouse stay in the small country village called Escala, which is based at the foothills of the French Pyrenees' and will be our base for the next week. Our 3 tour operators from the UK are Graham, Neil and Graham, we have nicknamed Neil, 'Graham' just to make life easier. The boys run a company called Embrace Sports and run tours to all the major mountain chains throughout Europe.
But what happened yesterday in Toulouse?
Yesterday was a cracker of a day; once we dropped all our gear at the hotel and phone calls were placed to locate missing bikes, we all cleaned up and made our way into the centre of town. A bar was located in a quaint french style square that served food and the 13 strong group settled in for an afternoon of team bonding, brought on by an ale or two! Collectively the group sitting before me have raised in excess of $110,000. An amazing total for just 13 fundraisers! A deep seated appreciation settled over me as I took in the general happiness of the group. These guys and girls had worked their butts off over the past 10 months to not only train for this event, but to juggle work and family and fund raising commitments was a monumental achievement. They were in the process of letting their hair down and celebrating the start of a trip that have duly earned - I could not have been happier for them.
It was time for the group to split, but not before making the owners of that bar extremely happy, thanks to paying the bill of $500 Euro for the amount of water that we consumed! For my group of Youngy, Johnny, Jimmy, Anna and Katrina, a leisurely walk through the maze of architecturally delightfully adventurous streets was the order of the day. Another restaurant was located that included beautiful views of the inner city canals and we set up our second nest of the day for dinner before heading back to the hotel. The other riders enjoyed their own tour of the city although in a slightly different fashion that involved a few more waters at various bars...
Still one bike down!
The missing bikes have now been reunited with their owners bar one; Peter DeAngelis is still without his bike and the airlines are clueless at this point in time as to where it could be. I feel for Pete but I also admire the fact that he is not devastated by it and is still his positive happy self. I think the boys are trying to secure a loaner bike for me so that he can be a starter for tomorrow's ride. On our way to this farmhouse we stopped at a Decathlon store (think huge Anaconda store but bigger) and the group were let loose for an hour to do some shopping. While there Jimmy purchased a small toddlers tricycle and presented it to Peter to use as his back up bike. Pete took the practical joke in the nature it was intended and we all had a good laugh.
Fancy a run Sharky?
Kat Panda and Bad Boy suggested a run this morning, Anna was meant to join us at 7am but gave us the flick when she woke early and left at 6am. She possible knew from reputation that anyone that trains with me at the Triads will at some point get lost. Our 50 minute run today ended up being a very enjoyable adventurous 100 minutes! At 60 minutes the question was asked are you hungry? All agreed that they were not. 10 minutes later we were practically salivating at the thought of a French pattiserie. On locating home 'Bad' shouted us a chocolate crossaint and a water and we were all indeed very happy again!
Our home away from home
The farmhouse is owned by one of the Graham's, who resides in England and only visits when the house is being used by tour groups or on holidays. Graham helps out with these bike tours as the driver and is a very friendly English chap and a delightful host. The 1803 2 story built farmhouse he purchased 20 years ago and is gorgeous in its 200 year old rustic fashion, with solid stone walls and timber windows and a coolness to the place once inside that would be a treat on those hot summer days. Summer here is just 3 weeks old and the cruel hot days are yet to arise, but they are coming, and more than likely they will hit half way through our epic tour in a few days time. For now we are calmed by the fact that the climbing may be slightly easier for the first couple of days thanks to the ambient temperatures.
Tomorrow we start the first leg of the journey and I will be sure to update you with our first day in the high mountains.
Cheers.
Sharky
When I last wrote it was from the comfort of the vast Singapore international airport, where seriously, you could -if you really wanted to- walk a marathon just taking in all the shops and restaurants. All 13 riders boarded our flight to London and after a long 13 hours of restless sleep, mind-numbing movies and bland airline food, all were relieved to see the inside of the Heathrow international airport. It is now 7am on a wet, cold, dreary and depressingly grey English morning. We have just spent a good half hour in transit to get to our next flight bound for Toulouse in the South of France. As I write this we are being told by the flight attendants to have our seat belts done up low and tight, and once again I ponder why it is low and tight and not tight and low? Hmmmmm, may have to write to Qantas about that one? Anyway I am once again sitting next to my flight partners in Katrina Cousins and Billy Elliot, also known as Kat Panda and Billy the Kid. I just got Billy into trouble as I confessed to the flight attendant that he had indeed not read his safety card! Naughty Billy.
Get us out of England!
What a difference a 90min flight can make! We are now in the South of France and my smile could not be broader. The sky is a dazzling blue, the temperature is a mild 20 degrees, the smell of fresh baguette's and chocolate croissants is in the air, and the ladies of France are just walking around as if it is perfectly normal to be so incredibly beautiful! Not that I noticed...It was pointed out to me by the other lads in the group of course! So now that we are in Toulouse we have 20 hours to kill. Our overnight stay here is in a comfortable motel and all is good bar the fact that 3 of the lads bikes failed to arrive. For those riders who saw their bikes come out on the over-size conveyer belt it was a feeling of relief. For Billy, Peter and Phil the feeling was somewhat how you feel during a big night when you know you are about to chuck!
Pyrenees' here we come
Time wise it is now the next day and we are on our way to our Farmhouse stay in the small country village called Escala, which is based at the foothills of the French Pyrenees' and will be our base for the next week. Our 3 tour operators from the UK are Graham, Neil and Graham, we have nicknamed Neil, 'Graham' just to make life easier. The boys run a company called Embrace Sports and run tours to all the major mountain chains throughout Europe.
But what happened yesterday in Toulouse?
Yesterday was a cracker of a day; once we dropped all our gear at the hotel and phone calls were placed to locate missing bikes, we all cleaned up and made our way into the centre of town. A bar was located in a quaint french style square that served food and the 13 strong group settled in for an afternoon of team bonding, brought on by an ale or two! Collectively the group sitting before me have raised in excess of $110,000. An amazing total for just 13 fundraisers! A deep seated appreciation settled over me as I took in the general happiness of the group. These guys and girls had worked their butts off over the past 10 months to not only train for this event, but to juggle work and family and fund raising commitments was a monumental achievement. They were in the process of letting their hair down and celebrating the start of a trip that have duly earned - I could not have been happier for them.
It was time for the group to split, but not before making the owners of that bar extremely happy, thanks to paying the bill of $500 Euro for the amount of water that we consumed! For my group of Youngy, Johnny, Jimmy, Anna and Katrina, a leisurely walk through the maze of architecturally delightfully adventurous streets was the order of the day. Another restaurant was located that included beautiful views of the inner city canals and we set up our second nest of the day for dinner before heading back to the hotel. The other riders enjoyed their own tour of the city although in a slightly different fashion that involved a few more waters at various bars...
Still one bike down!
The missing bikes have now been reunited with their owners bar one; Peter DeAngelis is still without his bike and the airlines are clueless at this point in time as to where it could be. I feel for Pete but I also admire the fact that he is not devastated by it and is still his positive happy self. I think the boys are trying to secure a loaner bike for me so that he can be a starter for tomorrow's ride. On our way to this farmhouse we stopped at a Decathlon store (think huge Anaconda store but bigger) and the group were let loose for an hour to do some shopping. While there Jimmy purchased a small toddlers tricycle and presented it to Peter to use as his back up bike. Pete took the practical joke in the nature it was intended and we all had a good laugh.
Fancy a run Sharky?
Kat Panda and Bad Boy suggested a run this morning, Anna was meant to join us at 7am but gave us the flick when she woke early and left at 6am. She possible knew from reputation that anyone that trains with me at the Triads will at some point get lost. Our 50 minute run today ended up being a very enjoyable adventurous 100 minutes! At 60 minutes the question was asked are you hungry? All agreed that they were not. 10 minutes later we were practically salivating at the thought of a French pattiserie. On locating home 'Bad' shouted us a chocolate crossaint and a water and we were all indeed very happy again!
Our home away from home
The farmhouse is owned by one of the Graham's, who resides in England and only visits when the house is being used by tour groups or on holidays. Graham helps out with these bike tours as the driver and is a very friendly English chap and a delightful host. The 1803 2 story built farmhouse he purchased 20 years ago and is gorgeous in its 200 year old rustic fashion, with solid stone walls and timber windows and a coolness to the place once inside that would be a treat on those hot summer days. Summer here is just 3 weeks old and the cruel hot days are yet to arise, but they are coming, and more than likely they will hit half way through our epic tour in a few days time. For now we are calmed by the fact that the climbing may be slightly easier for the first couple of days thanks to the ambient temperatures.
Tomorrow we start the first leg of the journey and I will be sure to update you with our first day in the high mountains.
Cheers.
Sharky
Thursday 21 June 2012
SMIDDY PYRENEES' CHALLENGE - Getting there
A year in the making but finally the inaugural Smiling for Smiddy Pyrenees' Challenge is just two days away. As I write this I am sitting in the airport at Singapore with 3 hours to kill, so what better way to pass the time then to do my first blog entry for this epic 5 day tour. Our first venture into the French Pyrenees' consists of a team of 13 riders. Each of these special individuals are here because they believe in the Smiddy cause. They have not only had to train extremely hard but have fund-raised tirelessly to achieve their committed goal of raising $10,000 each prior to departure.
So Rowan Foster and myself are here representing Smiddy and both of us have extensive background in endurance events from Ironman through to all the Smiddy events that we complete each year. We were both very good mates with Adam Smiddy.
Jimmy Acomb;our ever faithful Smiddy bike mechanic the past 5 years, who is hanging up his tools for this one and riding instead. His Scottish blood is bubbling with excitement.
Jimmy's partner of 5 years, Anna Tovey, also joins us, and besides being a very accomplished triathlete, she is one very lucky young lady to even be here after being cleaned up by a scooter just 5 days ago when she was hit from behind and tossed into the air like a rag doll. Her bike was written off in the process and Jimmy had his work cut out to get a new bike sorted for her before our departure today. Miraculously Anna escaped relatively unscathed from her close encounter and we are all glad she is okay.
Johnny ' Bad Boy' Reagan trains with me at UQ and did his first Iron distance event with me last year at the Wanaka Challenge. This is his first Smiddy event and 2 weeks after the tour he will complete his second Iron distance event in Switzerland.
Young Billy 'The Kid' Elliot joins us as well and has 2 Challenge rides up to Townsville to his name. Billy shows amazing fortitude and caring towards our cause and has raised close to $25,000 for Smiddy over the years. We are lucky to have him on board.
Katrina Cousins rode the Challenge event up to Townsville last year and wanted more of this amazing Smiddy experience of helping those inflicted by cancer, so joined up for the Smiddy Pyrenees'. Two weeks after the tour of the Pyrenees' Katrina will join bad Boy and I in doing the Switzerland Ironman on July 15.
Next we have Adam Young, who has not done any Smiddy events up until now. Adam had 2 melanoma's cut out in December of 2006, which ironically was the same year that we lost our mate Adam Smiddy to Melanoma. Youngy not only shares the same name as my mate but was also the same age as Adam Smiddy when he passed away at 26 years of age. We lost an Adam that year but gained an Adam. I can't tell you how good it is to have Youngy on board this tour.
David Agudelo is our final rider from Brisbane and he also completed the Challenge event up to Townsville last year. David gets the whole Smiddy Spirit thing and throws himself whole heartedly into the fund raising and achieving the most out of his Smiddy experiences.
Michael Harris is from Sydney and is the managing partner of a Sydney law firm. A triathlete and a devoted cyclist, Michael decided to channel his love of outdoor sports to charity events after his number one supporter, business partner and friend, his father Barry, lost his fight to bowel cancer.
Joining Michael from NSW is the 3 brothers from Sydney. These boys are Phillip, Mark and Peter De-Angelis and they work in the corporate world of Hotel chains. These lads love a beer and have not stopped celebrating last weeks win over Queensland in the State of Origin. Luckily they love the bike even more. Mark and Peter both completed the 2010 NSW Smiddy event and have extensive experience on the bike. Phil on the other hand is the new dog in the neighborhood and has only been cutting his cycling teeth so to speak for the past 6 months. Should be an 'interesting' tour! Watch this space...
Well it is nearly time for me to board my flight so just quickly; what we have in front of us is 750 kilometres over 5 days of riding and a massive 12000 plus metres plus of climbing in front of us. (The equivalent to 60 times up to the top of Mt Kootha! The tour starts June 24, which will give us 36 hours to recover from jet lag prior to pushing off on that first stage. The team are quietly excited, but also a tad nervous of the suffering we know is coming our way. I look forward to keeping you up to date with our adventures.
Bye for now.
Sharky
So Rowan Foster and myself are here representing Smiddy and both of us have extensive background in endurance events from Ironman through to all the Smiddy events that we complete each year. We were both very good mates with Adam Smiddy.
Jimmy Acomb;our ever faithful Smiddy bike mechanic the past 5 years, who is hanging up his tools for this one and riding instead. His Scottish blood is bubbling with excitement.
Jimmy's partner of 5 years, Anna Tovey, also joins us, and besides being a very accomplished triathlete, she is one very lucky young lady to even be here after being cleaned up by a scooter just 5 days ago when she was hit from behind and tossed into the air like a rag doll. Her bike was written off in the process and Jimmy had his work cut out to get a new bike sorted for her before our departure today. Miraculously Anna escaped relatively unscathed from her close encounter and we are all glad she is okay.
Johnny ' Bad Boy' Reagan trains with me at UQ and did his first Iron distance event with me last year at the Wanaka Challenge. This is his first Smiddy event and 2 weeks after the tour he will complete his second Iron distance event in Switzerland.
Young Billy 'The Kid' Elliot joins us as well and has 2 Challenge rides up to Townsville to his name. Billy shows amazing fortitude and caring towards our cause and has raised close to $25,000 for Smiddy over the years. We are lucky to have him on board.
Katrina Cousins rode the Challenge event up to Townsville last year and wanted more of this amazing Smiddy experience of helping those inflicted by cancer, so joined up for the Smiddy Pyrenees'. Two weeks after the tour of the Pyrenees' Katrina will join bad Boy and I in doing the Switzerland Ironman on July 15.
Next we have Adam Young, who has not done any Smiddy events up until now. Adam had 2 melanoma's cut out in December of 2006, which ironically was the same year that we lost our mate Adam Smiddy to Melanoma. Youngy not only shares the same name as my mate but was also the same age as Adam Smiddy when he passed away at 26 years of age. We lost an Adam that year but gained an Adam. I can't tell you how good it is to have Youngy on board this tour.
David Agudelo is our final rider from Brisbane and he also completed the Challenge event up to Townsville last year. David gets the whole Smiddy Spirit thing and throws himself whole heartedly into the fund raising and achieving the most out of his Smiddy experiences.
Michael Harris is from Sydney and is the managing partner of a Sydney law firm. A triathlete and a devoted cyclist, Michael decided to channel his love of outdoor sports to charity events after his number one supporter, business partner and friend, his father Barry, lost his fight to bowel cancer.
Joining Michael from NSW is the 3 brothers from Sydney. These boys are Phillip, Mark and Peter De-Angelis and they work in the corporate world of Hotel chains. These lads love a beer and have not stopped celebrating last weeks win over Queensland in the State of Origin. Luckily they love the bike even more. Mark and Peter both completed the 2010 NSW Smiddy event and have extensive experience on the bike. Phil on the other hand is the new dog in the neighborhood and has only been cutting his cycling teeth so to speak for the past 6 months. Should be an 'interesting' tour! Watch this space...
Well it is nearly time for me to board my flight so just quickly; what we have in front of us is 750 kilometres over 5 days of riding and a massive 12000 plus metres plus of climbing in front of us. (The equivalent to 60 times up to the top of Mt Kootha! The tour starts June 24, which will give us 36 hours to recover from jet lag prior to pushing off on that first stage. The team are quietly excited, but also a tad nervous of the suffering we know is coming our way. I look forward to keeping you up to date with our adventures.
Bye for now.
Sharky
Monday 18 June 2012
Challenge Training Day 1 Report
Sunday gone and 24 Smiddy Challenge riders fronted for a testing 150km loop. It was the first time that just Bottlemart Smiddy Challenge riders had come together for a training ride, with the Midi Smiddy having recently been completed. The ride started from Adam Smiddy Park in Milton at 6:15am, I was running late as per usual but still found a quiet moment to think of my mate Adam. The park was officially named after Adam back in 2008 and since then we have started and finished many Smiddy events and training days from there.
Except for a couple of late scratchings it was a good turn out and as we rolled out we found out the big man, Johnny Leyshon, decided to have a second cup of coffee, knowing he would miss the start, but also knowing the caffeine would give him the required kick to time trial up to the group. John's best mate and fellow Smiddy rider Craig waited for him and helped him catch the group before we got any further than 10kms from Smiddy Park. I turned to see John catch the group as we waited for a red light and he looked like death warmed up. Good chance he won’t be late for the next one. Thanks John for making me look as if I arrived early!
The course on Sunday wound its way through Samford, Dayboro, bypassed Mt Mee and headed for Petrie and in a round-about Smiddy way, we arrived at Murrumba Downs Tavern. The pub is part of the Bottlemart group and the managers there, Mel and Mick Tait, treated the riders and two road crew in Kev Enchelmaier and Jeff Mitchell, to a great morning tea of fruit and incredibly yummy sweet cakes. The sugar high from those cakes ensured I did not need much else in the way of nutrition for the final 60kms back to Adam Smiddy Park. Thank you to Mel and Mick, who have supported Smiddy so generously and without hesitation over the last 6 years.
The trip home discovered every hill possible, as only the Smiddy crew can do, to rack up an impressive 1721 metres of climbing with an average of 28km/h and a ride time for the day just over 5 hours!
Scotty Fraser, the big fella from Clermont in central Queensland, was a stand out performer of the day. His dream is to ride the entire Bottlemart Smiddy Challenge in September and for Scotty it is a race against time to get his weight down to 110kg to achieve this goal. To date he has lost 30kg and still has a way to go. We all admire his determination to push through the pain barrier and continue on a journey that was inspired when he watched the Smiddy documentary and saw the Smiddy riders roll through Clermont last year.
The crew that showed up for this ride are all in great shape and for them to average 28km/h on a hilly course suggest that we have a super strong team on board for the 2012 Bottlemart Smiddy Challenge to Townsville.
The next ride for the crew is the epic 440km training weekend to Warwick and back over 2 days on July 21/22.
All the best.
Sharky
Except for a couple of late scratchings it was a good turn out and as we rolled out we found out the big man, Johnny Leyshon, decided to have a second cup of coffee, knowing he would miss the start, but also knowing the caffeine would give him the required kick to time trial up to the group. John's best mate and fellow Smiddy rider Craig waited for him and helped him catch the group before we got any further than 10kms from Smiddy Park. I turned to see John catch the group as we waited for a red light and he looked like death warmed up. Good chance he won’t be late for the next one. Thanks John for making me look as if I arrived early!
The course on Sunday wound its way through Samford, Dayboro, bypassed Mt Mee and headed for Petrie and in a round-about Smiddy way, we arrived at Murrumba Downs Tavern. The pub is part of the Bottlemart group and the managers there, Mel and Mick Tait, treated the riders and two road crew in Kev Enchelmaier and Jeff Mitchell, to a great morning tea of fruit and incredibly yummy sweet cakes. The sugar high from those cakes ensured I did not need much else in the way of nutrition for the final 60kms back to Adam Smiddy Park. Thank you to Mel and Mick, who have supported Smiddy so generously and without hesitation over the last 6 years.
The trip home discovered every hill possible, as only the Smiddy crew can do, to rack up an impressive 1721 metres of climbing with an average of 28km/h and a ride time for the day just over 5 hours!
Scotty Fraser, the big fella from Clermont in central Queensland, was a stand out performer of the day. His dream is to ride the entire Bottlemart Smiddy Challenge in September and for Scotty it is a race against time to get his weight down to 110kg to achieve this goal. To date he has lost 30kg and still has a way to go. We all admire his determination to push through the pain barrier and continue on a journey that was inspired when he watched the Smiddy documentary and saw the Smiddy riders roll through Clermont last year.
The crew that showed up for this ride are all in great shape and for them to average 28km/h on a hilly course suggest that we have a super strong team on board for the 2012 Bottlemart Smiddy Challenge to Townsville.
The next ride for the crew is the epic 440km training weekend to Warwick and back over 2 days on July 21/22.
All the best.
Sharky
Sunday 3 June 2012
MIDI SMIDDY REPORT - DAY 3
Warwick to Brisbane
Distance: 217km
Climbing: 1882 metres
Time in saddle: All day!
Welcome to the final blog on the 3 day Midi Smiddy. It is now 5am Monday morning and although I was in bed late last night my body clock insists on waking me at this dark winter hour. So now is as good a time as any to tell you about yesterday's epic finish into Smiddy Park at Milton.
Thankfully once again I got it wrong when I said the weather was going to be crap. It rained itself out overnight and by the time the 50 strong peloton pushed off at 6am the rain had stopped. The roads were a sloppy mess and they did not dry out until we got to the bottom of the two very technical, 18% + descents down Queen Mary Falls at 100 kilometres into the ride.
The peloton's love affair with cow manure
Morning tea at the top of The Head Rd was followed by a safety brief prior to pushing off. The Head is 1000 metres above sea level and in the space of just 4km's you descend down to 200 metres. It is extremely steep, with a rough gritty and very bumpy road service, made worse by the fact that it was still very wet and 5 cattle grids to traverse. Last year a rider had a serious fall on this descent and we wanted no repeats of that accident. While we warned the riders of all of this in great detail, we left out the one defining factor that would have an impact on the group for the rest of the day - Cow Manure! Right at the bottom of the climb, just after the last cattle grid, a section measuring just 500 metres of the entire road was covered in what we thought was mud. Our speed through this section was fast at 40km/h as we were still going down hill. When we regrouped a few kilometres later it became apparent by the stench that it was not just mud, but a whole lot of cow manure as well. For the remainder of the ride -5 hours to be precise- the sweet aroma of cow poo drifted through the peloton. Legs that were white were now a poo brown, and jerseys that were freshly laundered by our meticulous road crew, were now graffitied with splatterings of lush watery and extremely smelly and -not so pleasant- cow dung! We could not have been happier! We all felt like we had been through hell over a tough 3 days of this extremely challenging course, but now we looked the part and we could not wait to greet our loved ones at the finish to share with them this delightfully adventurous aroma...
A snapshot of a Smiddy day on the road from sun up to sun down
Yesterday was one of those days where so much happened, not only within the peloton but within the road crew as well, that I would need a day and a few thousand words to cover it all. If I attempted to recount it in detail I would lose my loyal followers of this blog -which I believe is up to 4- and I can't do that to you guys...but here is a snapshot view:
Road crew member Dawn Burbidge, in bed cocooned and hidden under the covers as riders entered her and Jo Frampton's room to collect their laundered bike gear at 5am... Kevvy getting up me for being the last rider ready - some things never change... Rolling out in complete darkness and the strobe-biotic like affect of 50 flashing bike tail lights... As dawn broke and capturing first glance of the fog-bank in the mountains... "Ahhh" that first pee stop, there is nothing better... The 14km easy gradient climb up to Carrs look out... The view from Carrs is sensational but not today- The fog wraps its arms cooly around the group... The riders really starting to gel, no-one thinking it is all about me, all helping out where they can, no more individuals, all working together as a team, the Smiddy spirit has done its magic yet again, I couldn't be happier... Road crew magic at each stop, never was anything too much to ask of them... Jimmy our mechanic, so much work on day 3 with over 30 mechanicals, we love our Scottish-Irish mate... Our lead vehicle, Chris, Jae and Jack, always there keeping us safe... Kevvy and Skip bringing up the rear, car full of broken bikes, broken bodies at times, but always with their words of encouragement to get back out on the road...Shane and Tracey, our third car looking out for the riders with their carpet over the cattle grids, slowing us down as we approached, always caring, always watchful... The Smiddy riders coming together as a team, too many to mention, helping struggling riders up climbs with a hand on the back...running behind schedule, shortened lunch break to 20 minutes, all accept the decision without complaint, Smiddy spirit shines through our crew... Smiddy rider, Bill Maddock's emotional story about his daughter losing her 8 year old friend through Leukemia, tears were shed, a steely resolve entered rider's heads to get on with the job at hand, life is indeed good and we are indeed grateful for each and every day, thanks Bill for the wake up call... Sharky mechanical, help me Jimmy, chained wrapped 3 times around crank arm, Jimmy saves the day, Chappy freight train express back to peloton, world of pain, can't stop smiling..! Country roads disappearing, close to Ipswich, hot cars, hoons abusing us, back to reality, already yearning for solitude of country again... Centenary Highway, huge verge, safe again, massive tailwind, peloton smoking hot, 30km/h average into afternoon tea, made up time, back on schedule, we are awesome..! Last safety brief, concentration high, keep up the talk, on our way home, all 50 riders on the road, no more van time for anyone, 3 more minor mechanicals, threat of rain, does not develop, the last climb up Indooroopilly Road climb... 2km to finish, 4 girls shepherded to the front, Coronation Drive, traffic jam due to the footy, 15 minutes to travel 1km, peloton need to move, frustration but excitement, nearly there... Detour taken, sneak in the back way, Shane has warned the crowd of 100 waiting for us, over the crest, there they are, loved ones, family and friends, warm embrace, disbelief and relief we have made it, extreme joy... Smiddy huddle time, Nic Read, our youngest ever rider singled out, rode entire way, no van time, done it tough, lost Dad to cancer 18 months ago, completed ride in memory of his Dad, crowd of 150 people applaud, Sharky and Nic in middle of huddle, hold him tight, both in tears, this is what Smiddy is all about, hope for everyone...! All acknowledged in the huddle, 3 cheers for road crew, riders, Lions and supporters, final chant of "Smiddy Smiddy Smiddy" and it's a wrap... Row thanks road crew with gifts from riders to show our appreciation... The crowd slowly leave, taking with them memories that will last a good while... Smiddy crew last minute meeting, unpacking of vehicles, who drives what vehicle home, plan for tomorrow, we are last to leave, once again Adam Smiddy Park is quiet, until we visit again in 2013... I still miss my mate each and every day, especially on any day we finish an event at this very special place... Until next time my friend!
Thanks guys again for all your support, be sure to enter your email address on my blog site if you are keen to receive automatic updates of anything that I write on Smiddy events. I love having you along for the ride. My site address is http://marksharkysmoothy.blogspot.com.au/
Be sure to drop me a line if keen to experience any one of our 7 Smiddy events in 2013. To register your interest or to find out more please visit the Smiddy website at www.smiddy.org.au or email me directly at sharky@smiddy.org.au
Take care.
Sharky
Saturday 2 June 2012
Midi Smiddy - Day 2 report
Distance:158km
Average: 27km/h
Climbing: 631 metres
The drenching that never came!
Yesterday the rain started in Toowoomba at 6:30pm and did not let up all night. After a restless 5 hours sleep the alarm stole its way into my cloudy head and my first instant thought was - 'Is it raining?' A quick look outside suggested we were in for a wet day ahead for the 160km trek to Warwick. Roll out time happened at 7am and all the riders were decked out in their wet weather gear expecting a drenching. To our very favourable surprise, not 10km out of Toowoomba, the first hint of blue clouds on the Western horizon suggested we just might not get wet at all. And I am pleased to report this is exactly what happened. We got through the entire day without a drop of rain falling on our head. Sure the wind was up and at times it made the riding difficult, but for the majority of the ride we were lucky to have it either behind us or at our side like an ever faithful puppie.
Smiddy peloton rocks!
The first day or riding is always a test for the riders to gel as one huge 50 strong peloton, but experience has taught us that realistically it is not until day 2 that we are successful. Once again, like clockwork, the Smiddy peloton came together and we rode as one for the entire session today. Kevvy, in the follow vehicle, was mostly happy with how the peloton looked from behind and that is always a good sign that we are pulling together. I love how so many riders just naturally help anyone that is struggling, and what this does is keep the momentum going within the group. Which results in our break stops being either on time or ahead of schedule. Today we beat our 3pm finish time by 5 minutes and the riders must be congratulated on a job well done.
The amazing support of the O'Shanley's and Bottlemart Pittsworth
Our scheduled stops today included long time Smiddy supporters at the Bottlemart Pittsworth Motel, who put on a great morning tea in the comfort of their nice warm restaurant area. Lunch is in Clifton at the 120km mark at a pub called O'Shanley's. Kathleen and Fletch O'Shanley have looked after the Smiddy riders since we first ventured here 3 years ago. Each rider and road crew member is served up their own individual hotpot of 100 year old secret Irish stew. The recipe has been in the family for over 100 years. The O'Shanley's always make a donation to the Smiddy cause and I am sad to have to tell you that Kathleen is now overseas in Ireland fighting her own battle against cancer as I write this. Everyone at Smiddy sends Kathleen, Fletch and her family all the positive energy that we can muster for a speedy recovery.
Peloton arrives safely to Warwick and Smiddy huddle by Ollie.
Our finish into Warwick was at the Horse and Jockey Hotel, where the owners in Jo and Gary Lawrence, provide beautiful clean rooms and warming hot showers for all the crew. They also get out of bed earlier than a rooster on heat, to make the crew a delicious and sumptuous breakfast. Rollout is at 5:45am Sunday and breakfast is from 5am. So they are up very early and we are in awe of their continued support to Smiddy. Thanks heaps Jo and Gary. The huddle today was bolstered in numbers by several family members traveling to Warwick to cheer their love ones in as they finished, and to share in the community function held tonight. I asked long time Smiddy rider and friend, Oliver Clissold, also known as Oozo, (for reasons best not told in this blog, but which was fully explained tonight by the man himself up on stage) to take on the huddle, as he has been involved in Smiddy in some way since the beginning in 2006.
A night in Warwick with the Smiddy crew
The function tonight was a community event that involved a welcome by the Deputy Mayor of Warwick, a live band, my blog reading, a great talk by Pat Howard, who is General manager of High Performance Cricket Australia and former test player for Australia. Although he was usurped by the amazing story telling talents of the great Anthony Herbert. Wrapping up the night was an emotional talk by one of the Midi riders in Michael Van-Ewik, who is also our oldest rider at 62 years of age, fit as a Malley Bull and a surviver of cancer. The night ended with Rowan and Anthony running an auction that netted a fantastic $10,000. Smiddy rider Steve 'Furious' Russell paid 4k for a signed 2011 reds jersey and fellow Smiddy rider Andrew Watts paid $1,500 for a complete Smiddy kit worth just $200! The highlight for me tonight was having my Mum and Dad and my Brother Terry and his Wife Denise attend, making the drive here from Toowoomba. Dad surprised Rowan by walking up on stage and giving him a losing Saints neck scarf from the 1980's. Row started the bidding at $20 and it eventually went for $200 to road crew member Chris Geeves. That was my Dad's way of making a contribution and I was touched. The food tonight was nutritious and plentiful and no one walked out of there hungry. The function started at 6:30 and was wrapped up by 9:30pm with the riders all looking to get as much rest as possible for the 11 hour day ahead of them tomorrow. A special mention must be made of Tracy Vellacott, who each and every year helps the team at Smiddy to run these functions and help us to fill the hall with nearly 100 people. We are indeed fortunate to have Tracy on our side.
Final thoughts by Sharky
I am going to go deep on you here so please bare with me if I can't quite get my thoughts down in words. The one thing I love about these Smiddy events is that it gives the riders and road crew a chance to let out some of their emotions. We all lead busy lives, we all tend to bottle things up, some minor and some major issues. The freedom of being out on the road with like minded individuals creates the perfect opportunity to let out some of the demons so to speak. It always takes a few days but once you let the infectious positive Smiddy spirit in, you realise it is okay to have a cry, or talk to a mate or loved one about something that is bothering you, or simply to express to a mate how much their friendship means to you. I see this happening now on day 2, and I can nearly guarantee you, with what we are going to put ourselves through to get home tomorrow, that it will be happening even more so by the end of day 3. I look forward to giving each of the riders a man hug and a steely look in their eyes, that I hope conveys to them what their sacrifices mean to me and our amazing team at Smiddy. Today we were joined by 2 riders in Andrew Watts and Greg Martin; two better blokes can not be found this side of the black stump, maybe on the other side, but definitely not this side! Anyway these guys are great mates of mine and I am chuffed to bits to have them in the Smiddy peloton. I reckon also that a hug is a certainty from Watty, while Marto will be an interesting challenge. I suspect 220km's of hills and wet weather tomorrow will soften him up a little!
Anyway enough from me for now, thanks again for following these blogs. The finish tomorrow is at Adam Smiddy Park in Park Road and we hope to arrive between 4:30 and 5pm. Lions will be there with a community barbecue and we would love it if you can get down there to welcome the crew in. The weather is looking ominous and I am pretty sure our luck of getting mostly dry conditions the past 2 days is about to change at 5:45am for our roll out tomorrow. I hope I am wrong...
11pm now and I have set a PB in finishing a blog! All the best and I will look forward to bringing you the day 3 blog on Monday morning.
Take care.
Sharky
Friday 1 June 2012
MIDI SMIDDY - DAY 1 REPORT
Brisbane to Toowoomba
Distance: 204 km
Average: 25km/h
Climbing: 2350 metres
As I write this it is 9:30pm and we have all just returned from a great feed (once it came out 90 minutes after our arrival) from the Southern Hotel Motel. I am tired and a touch sore, which you will discover why later in this blog, but for now I welcome you to the third running of the annual Midi Smiddy event. A 3 day ride that encompasses 570km's of hilly and challenging terrain. First stop is Toowoomba and let me tell you if you drive here it will take you 1 hour 15 minutes and measures 120km's. But if you choose to enter any Smiddy event, the shortest way is never an option. Therefore we meandered towards Boonah, which is south, Toowoomba is west. Eventually getting back on track as the course wound its scenic way through quiet rural towns like Rosewood, Grandchester, Laidley, and the flood ravaged township of Grantham.
Flagstone Creek Climb - Nothing else matters!
By the time the riders get to the base of the Flagstone Creek climb they have accumulated 195km's on the clock. In front of them was a 3km climb that should have a signpost at the bottom that reads - "Continue at your own risk, if you suffer from heart conditions do not proceed any further, and kids, please do not try this at home." But no such sign exists, so we stop the group and have a chat that went something like this - Riding is preferred on this 18% gradient climb but any means of forward motion such as walking, crawling, catching a taxi, getting in the support van, is surely recommended. Most people reading this will be familiar with the main climb up the Toowoomba range. A tough 3.5km climb that had a reputation for cooking cars in the Holden EH, HR era of the 60's and 70's. Well the Flagstone Creek climb makes the Toowoomba Range feel like a dimple in the road.
Now lots of things happened out on the roads between our start at 6:30am from the Qld Uni Aquatic Centre -where we were farewelled by a small but enthusiastic crowd of dedicated friends and family members- and to the base of the Flagstone Creek climb. But all those stories will be shared at the end of this introduction in my 'highlights for the day package.' Really today was all about 'the climb'. Some riders talked openly about it, while others appeared cool, calm and collected. Regardless of the approach, we were all quietly shatting ourselves. Even the silly buggers like Chappy, Oozo, Youngy, Rowan, Tim and myself who had done this stupidly hard climb many times before. That climb is my nemesis and each and every time I approach it with a hardened resolve to find a miracle cure to get my aging body up it without falling off my bike. Today my secret weapon was thanks to a man named Ian Watson and his Coffee Coaster Van. Ian has kindly offered 3 days of servicing the riders and road crew coffee needs, a first for any Smiddy event. I have not touched any form of caffeine since 2004. Ian conjured up a half strength coffee and I downed it 10km from the base of the climb at our afternoon tea stop. To cut a long story short the coffee tasted so darn good but the Shark climbed like a beached white pointer that had been out of the water for 3 hours!
There were so many amazing performances on this climb that it is impossible to single out all of them but here are a few:
1. Holly Berry started cycling just this year and the young lady showed the group her heart and soul by having a crack and successfully summating this climb.
2. The two young guns, Nick Read 15 and Simon Otero at 16 doing their family and friends proud by not only making the climb but doing the entire 204 km's today.
3. Robert Boyd, Rowan Foster and JJ for getting to the top first and then immediately returning down to the last riders and lending a pushing hand.
By the time the last rider made it to the top it was fully dark, foggy and the sweat from the climb had cooled the riders to shivering point. 11 hours had passed since we left the Uni and arrived into our lodging for the night at Jeffries Hotel. The riders had done Smiddy proud and all had certainly earned the premise of a nice long hot shower and a belly full of food. The Smiddy huddle was performed with road crew receiving a rousing cheer for their amazing efforts today to keep all the riders fed, watered and safe. Without these beautiful people giving up 3 days of their time this event would not be possible. While on the subject of beautiful people, a huge thank you to all the donors out there who have donated to their nominated rider. Smiddy is incredibly lucky to have so many people out there who care enough to help us in our efforts to fund cancer research!
Sharky's Top 10 Highlights from today:
1. Road crew magic! I have already mentioned the amazing job the road crew do, but here is another one for you. One of the riders, Jon, today cracked his frame towards the end of the ride, game over, too dangerous to continue tomorrow. Road crew Jae Marr offers to drive back to Brisbane and collect a second bike that Jon owns at his place in Paddington. Jae missed out on tonights dinner and celebration due to his selfless act of kindness. My heart -and all the riders hearts in fact- went out to him.
2. We had a professional photographer following the riders for half a day; Jack and his co-driver in Nicole were everywhere gunning for that perfect shot. That perfect shot came when they bogged their car on the side of the road and our road crew were required to tow them out.
3. Our youngest and clearly most enthusiastic road crew member is Jack Geeves, who at just 12 years of age is counting down the years until he turns 13 and can ride in his first Smiddy event. We look forward to riding with you Jack in 2015.
4. Pat Howard has the hairiest legs I have ever witnessed on a Smiddy ride. With so much hair the wind resistance is scientifically proven to slow him down by as much as 10km/h. But the big man just grins and bears this injustice to his cycling performance, soldiers on without a word of complaint and a promise to never lose the hair in case he is mistaken by his mates at the Cricket or Union for a cyclist.
5. Our bike mechanic, Jimmy Acomb, who was riding as well, lectured in his Scottish accent -that no-one can understand- for months to the riders about bike maintenance and service. Don't let the team down by turning up with a poorly running bike. At roll out from the Uni Jimmy discovered he left his battery pack at home for his nifty Shimano electronic gearing. End result; Jimmy misses 25km's of the ride while retrieving his battery and earns the greatest ribbing from the great Row Man at tonights wrap of the day. Jimmy turns a nice shade of bright purply red!
6. Craig from Townsville said to me her goal today was to complete at least 100km's of the ride prior to doing van time. Jodine not only killed 100km's but managed to ride the entire distance including the climb up Flagstone.
7. First fall of the day was taken out -very narrowly- by retired union player Anthony Herbert. Now Anthony is used to winning; in 1991 he was part of the winning Australian team that won the Rugby World Cup in England. The big man is 45 years of age now and has transitioned successfully to the world of cycling. He will not admit this but as I was sitting on his wheel I detected a ploy that suggested he needed a rest. A wheel was clipped, Anthony threw himself to the ground as if he had just tackled himself, let me tell you, impressive stuff! He extended an invitation to me to join him and it was too good an offer to pass up. I am now proud to say that I have been thrown to the ground, while on my bike, by an ex world Rugby Cup champion. I could not have been prouder to have some lasting memories of a dislocated shoulder, that popped back in immediately when I came to a stop half on my head and shoulders, a bruised right throbbing foot and a hip tattoo to replace the one that has faded from my 2008 fall when 8 riders came down on the ride up to Townsville.
8. Father and son teams in the Midi consist of Simon and Andres Otero, with Wife Francisco helping out with road crew duties. Michael and Flyn Van-Ewik, Michael, Sean and Tim Russell and road crew in Chris and Jack Geeves. These families bring a great flavour to the Midi Smiddy and it is a pleasure to have all of them on board.
9. Brent Chapman, Oliver Clissold, Jimmy Accomb, Kevin Enchelmaier, Chris Geeves, Wybrand De-Toit, Rowan Foster and Mick Young. All these guys have been in involved with Smiddy for a minimum of 5 years. They are now life long friends and we are so incredibly lucky at Smiddy to have such dedication to our cause from these people.
10. And finally but not least; all the new Smiddy riders that have joined us for their first Smiddy event. Thank you for not only coming on board the Midi Smiddy but thank you today for showing patience under extremely difficult circumstances. What you guys achieved today you should all be so very proud of your efforts. I often wish that family and friends could see up close and personal the immense effort that our riders put in during these Smiddy events. Most of us do it tough but let me ask you this? Is it not worth the patience, the suffering and pain, if through our actions we can one day stand up, stand tall, and say, "we helped save that persons life"? I think the answer will always be yes!
I am so proud to ride with you guys and girls and I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to welcome you to the ever growing Smiddy family.
It is now 12am and my eyes are as heavy as the fall I took today, but my heart and mind are in a good place!
If keen to help Smiddy reach their fund raising goal for the Midi Smiddy of $100,000 please visit your favourite riders everyday hero address or go to www.smiddy.org.au
Good night.
Sharky
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