| The Challenge : DAY 1 :
YEA |
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| Saturday
13 October. THE CHALLENGE : DAY 1 : YEA: THE DAY OF THE DRAGON Im going up the Country Where do ya wanna go? Im going, Im going, to where the water tastes like wine... Yes folks , we are now in Yea, in the country. Just like that. In the wink of an eye (and 120 kays later) Where the wine is drunk like water A day of great occasion, a day of weather, a day of pain, and a day of inititiation... A quotable quote in this context comes from none other than El Presidente.... "I felt there MAY be a point on this ride where I would wonder why on earth i'm doing this ride ...i never thought it would be on the first day ..........again and again !! " What a start to the ride, so many images, so many people, the crowds, the festivity, a tale for the grandkids to be sure to be sure boyo We kicked off from Bayside, with the obligatory masocism of adding 30 extra kays by riding to the start at the Exhibition Centre. On the way we popped into Porsche and quaffed / inhaled / sponged several plateloads of Danish Assorted, Coffee and orange juice. Additonal togs provided to wear to boot ...jacket, shirts, cap. (bearing in mind Porsche had donated the bikes, given us riding nicks and helmets) MANY THANKS to our Porsche support team of Michael, Ross and Pam... Our cup runneth over. [Just listening to the sound of those motors and looking at all that aluminium and stainless plumbing under the bonnet would have been good enough for me ] The Exhibition Centre was...er welll...an exhibition really... all those beaut bikes, Treks, Colnagos, Specialised etc ... Phil, our man, was present, with loud hailer in hand. Again his organisational abilities aounded. We we packed, ribboned, buttoned, re-documented (in case we had lost our original set), re-supplied with even more food, and then videoed and camera'ed. EP was struggling to rise to the occasion. Muttering "My mouth is getting RSI from all this smiling...lets get it on the road and blow some people away" ...It must be hard to keep all that competitive instinct and energy on a leash... Then we were off, down the road heading north. All those milticolorful bikes and hot lycra. Who could miss us? We looked like one of those very long human powered Dragons at a Chinese festival. Traffic light followed traffic light. And then suddenly we were in feilds of green... They sort of snuck up on us... Ah the country. Good oil and Balm to the troubled city soul. One often drives past these scenes in a car but the bicycle provides a new initimacy. The air brushed the face. The rain freezes the thighs. The grass seeds ignite the hayfever. The aroma of road kill. ....Heaven. It was a day of all the weather. Together. There were steamy periods of shedding wind jackets and vests. There were periods of freezing rain where 3 layers and a rainjacket were bareley enough.... Somehow it just added to the atmosphere. Then there were the hills. One would ride along happily surveying feilds of emerald green . Lime and orange hillsides....the smell of melaleucas and euculapts, then effort would become present, the gears changed, lower, lower...click click click ...damn no more lower gears... The green vision would would dissolve to a slighly reddish hue and then greyt & black. Sort of speckldy. Head down. Boring holes in the gravel. Breath sawing holes in lungs. Legs muscles starting to twitch heralding the lactic cramp attack.... Hello, half way into the first day and you are dogs meat sonny. Elvis, Laurie, Ricardo and Trevsy (only out for the day to escort us) idly amused themselves baiting those other Challengers with high levels of testosterone.... Pushing them to speeds over 40 kays and burning their thighs to marshmellow lava before dropping them.... Nice try guys. We're going back to our spa's tonight. Enjoy the next 8 days. Hope your legs work tomorrow !! We passed a shack in a feild alongside a road. A couple of heavily bearded dudes sitting on the porch. Taking in the view... Of a road? ... Hail fellows, well met!!.... Ahhhgedstuffedyawangers. Doyanohowstoopidyalookk??... Have a nice day. Hope you find the dough to get a TV. Then, providentially , a layby loomed up and we were in lunch territory. Cokes, cakes, sandwitches vanished in between the sentences. Im hungry. Whats next? Our phyio, Lisa, assumed an angelic and saintly status in the space of 5 minutes. Oooh yes, thats good, more of that..... Oooouch, less of that Lisa ! The back into the fray with our dear friends. On cue the most bitterest, frosty and downright antisocial northly dumped a few truckloads of rain on us. Hey ! We took a weeks leave for this !! Back off ...we're trying to play in the hills of clover... We were reminded : If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. The enemy was that old Mother, Nature... ..the mind would now be adjusted. That mind which rules between what is reality and what is pure visualisation. We were no longer pushing a pen. We were pushing a Shimano crank. Of the finest Japanese Samurai Steel. We are Warriors. We are no longer pushing keys on a pad. We are pushing the big gears. Gobbling up the Kays. Going where no bike has been before. Onward and upward.... To infinity and beyond. Zinngg. We were in Yea. Hail the victorious conquerors. Eaaaasssy A cuppla lates, half a dozen bananas, all of that sugary goop we had been carrying (that we forgot to eat en route), a packet of nobbys, more bananas, some biscuits, another coke and a beer another beer and a last one ...and... er ...what...yes.. we were restored. More physio from Lisa. Morre ooos and arrrrrs. Supper and Bandit pissup now await. Better get this off before i fall prey to the ceetoo haytchfive ohhatch. (A joke for the chemists.) A last word. Many thanks to our Bandit mates who braved the weather and hills to join us. We love ya. Many thanks to our families for letting us oddessey. We love ya even more !! Until later. Ariba. A postscript : spare a thought for Stuart, our Porsche Boxster Support Vehicle driver. Life doesn't get much tougher than this… The poor possum was yawning his head off tonite whilst us sturdy souls were wading thru food, exploits and toping each others stories of pain and prowess. He gallantly evaded questions on his tired state seeking to reveal that, yes, we were a boring bunch of farts. The problem is that the Boxster has a manual gearchange. All the gear changing had worn him out. Unless Lisa the lithesome pysio was forthcoming, he might not make it to the end…. To view the latest pics, go to : http://au.oocities.com/bbchallenge2001/index.html Foe the Bandits Mega site : http://www.baysidebandidos.com Click on the images below…(they
wil be added to later) |
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| Bayside Start | El Pres with
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The Bandits
at Reserve Rd |
The Porsche Show Room |
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| & more... | Exhibition
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Lunch | Yea | |
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Yay ...its Yea | |||