Lunch to the FINISH LINE!!

Hello again - so a week has passed and I am finally going to finish the grand adventure that was the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Before I go on, can I say, that the last two stages were our favourite part of this adventure!! This entire journey was difficult.... really difficult, but then again, so is Cancer!! But at this point, after being refueled and feeling fresh again, we were ready to hit the streets and make our way to the finish line. The rain had hit hard again while eating lunch and now the skies were beginning to clear and there were only two more stages to go!!

So we have travelled a total of 192.55km now, according to my trusty little ordometer and unfortunately, so far, it hasn't been wrong! When my brain was convincing my body to continue on for a total of 118k until tent city, my ordometer told us that it was over 120k until we pulled into the camp site, so the sign above told us that it was 49k to go to the end - that meant my trusty ordometer would have to say 241.55k for us to have reached the very end. The brain was now telling the body the rules - no walking! No stopping! The end is only 49k to go AND we still had one more rest stop. The only place acceptable to stop is the final stop to change back into my Ride jersey (as Carly had a white jersey on at the moment). But before leaving, as advised by Dad, time to put on dry socks! It would make the rest of the ride much more comfortable. Check the socks... hmmm, all soggy! Maybe someone should have told me that saddle bags are not waterproof! So on the road we go, soggy socks and all!

This feels familiar, suburbia, this is the environment in which we had done the small amount of training that had been done before the great adventure! Granted, on the Gold Coast and not Brisbane, but suburbia none the less!! This felt really good! Traffic, traffic lights, bike lanes, signalling, rolling hills. Fantastic! So now, I apologise Michelle (she had ridden with us through some of the insane hills and we vowed to keep on track through these areas - once again, I took off on Michelle! I explained to her that I just had to take advantage of the feeling that I could be strong through these areas, before we hit another area where everyone else could overtake us again!! She seemed to understand and was happy to let us go off at our own pace!). My pace was great fun. I enjoyed it immensely, we found other like-minded riders and I have to say, that from this point on, not one hill conquered us! Although without the help of one of the riders, one definately would have. I'll tell you about that one later.

We rode through suburbia, past some amazing homes, through an industrial estate and along more suburban streets until we hit the final pit stop somewhere between Redbank Plains and Inala. Our change stop and as time went on, what became a gasbag stop. It was here that we ended up having some conversations with some other riders, riders that (gasp and surprise!!) were impressed with our riding, we discovered that we had been utilised as a challenging pace by a number of riders that were around us. Did I mention that this stage felt really good! We zoomed down rolling hills and dropped into a heavy gear and pushed up small steep hills with strength and left riders behind! None of the 'leaving behind' bits had been happening in any of the other stages! It really felt fantastic. So next thing, we have spoken with Sharn and given her an extimate of our arrival as both her and mum were waiting for us on the roundabout at the finish. Based on the intensity of the last stage and the length of it, we estimated that we would be coming in at about 3pm (not the smartest estimation, as at this stage it was 2:14pm!!) and I was still chatting to several other riders! So when we jumped onto the bike after changing into the 'Ride' jersey (which was wet!) if was close to 3pm already and we still had to travel 23.3k to the end. This was a truly enjoyable ride with plenty to look at. One part of the ride getting closer to St Lucia had amazing properties to rival Toorak! We rode through a HUGE round about with lots of traffic which was quite an adventure. It appeared to be an exit off a freeway and had a large shopping centre nearby. Despite being in the thick of suburbia, there were still some challenging hills to dig into which made the ride enjoyable AND challenging! I had been riding on and off with several of the people that I had chatted to at the last stop, one of these riders had trained around these areas and had noticed my earlier weakness with long intense hills - she prewarned me about an upcoming hill at the very end. We rode together up to that point, then she slipped ahead and told me to look down and focus on her back wheel and not to look up - not even once. She knew that I could make it, but if I looked up, I may just convince myself that I couldn't! I only wish that I could remember her name, but, unfortunately, I cannot! This hill was insane! This hill was steep! This hill was a killer! This hill was a first gear only hill! So we rode... and rode... and rode, until I had no more gears to move through, my poor little legs were peddaling and my bike was barely moving, but I wasn't stopping and each time I lost that back tyre, I wouldn't look up, I would just dig deeper and pedal harder until I could see that back wheel again. Until it happened! The hill crested! I yelled a thankyou to my wonderful assistant, who just smiled and told me that she wouldn't have bothered if she didn't think I could do it and then she took off - unfortunately, taking off was not an option for me - I was spent! I rode leisurely on the last 1.8k to the end. I went around one corner and could already hear cheering and the sound of the announcements! As I rode on, I went around a round about and came along a stretch and there in front of me at the very next round about were two very big smiley faces - one blowing kisses and one waving, between clapping and cheering. What a complete buzz! Not only had we finally finished this epic ride, but we had people waiting for us to get in too!

As we crossed the line, I heard Carly's name getting announced - no-one mentioned me, but I know that they were all watching me! I held pride of place on the handlebars after all!

The challenges that were super tough and sometimes completely unexpected were what made this adventure so completely amazing. Also, I'm not sure if you picked up on it, but the one main goal I set for myself - DO NOT GET SWEPT - I achieved! We may have walked some of it and we may have struggled through some of it, we may have considered allowing the sweep vehicle to pick us up while the skies were pouring gallons of water onto us and we were spending a massive amount of time climbing evil hills (and adding blisters to the back of our heels - did I mention that bike shoes are designed to ride your bike in, not climb hills in), but no matter what challenge was thrown at us (even falling - ok, so that really wasn't very dramatic!) we did not get swept!!

So we got back to the finish area, grabbed a bite to eat and a cuppa and got out of the soggy nix, sox and jersey and climbed into some comfortable, dry clothes and went over to the sign up tent to sign up for the ride next year! So our team already has three riders so far and we are really keen to recruit! Sign up fee is only $50 and includes all of your food, your glorious sleeping quarters and entertainment! All you need to do is join in our fundraising adventures and raise a minimum of $2500 for the cause and you have until August next year to raise it by!! So what are you waiting for, have you clicked on the link yet? www.conquercancer.org.au join our team - Curves Southport.

Watch this fantastic video to get a taste of the adventure! This was posted by one of the other riders, who has kindly given me permission to add it into my blog. Thanks Casey. If anyone knows how I can embed this into the blog - please let me know, meanwhile head on over to Casey's youtube vid and check this out!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk6f4sb-Wmk

So, that was my adventure and I am Cwa - Cat with Attitude! Cheshire Grins to you!!

Next week, I will be blogging to you all about our little walk we will be going on! We are so lucky to be on the Gold Coast - there are some amazing beaches here, so next Saturday, we will be walking on them and taking full advantage of them....the catch....we are aiming to be walking with a minumum of 150 people to raise funds for the Cancer Council. Our event - the Challenge to Conquer Cancer has been embraced by the Cancer Council as the official launch event for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the launch of Pink Ribbon promotions - so please, join us! Everyone is welcome, as cancer does not discriminate. It is only $15 and 100% of the funds are being donated. We will also be providing a light breakfast at the end of the event. You can choose to walk 5k or to run 10k. Wear your most fantastic pink gear and if you are game - your bra (or your wives, girlfriends, mothers and best girly friend - if you are male - you know you want to!!) on the outside to highlight the event is for Breast Cancer Awareness. We would love to see you there. Saturday 1st October @ 7.30am at Narrowneck Surf Beach, Main Beach Parade on the Gold Coast.

Remember, individually we are strong,

but together, we can change the world!

Smiles to you, Cwa!

From camp onwards!

The portable showers which were worth the wait!!

Hello.

So it has been a little while since we have been in to update the blog and I know that you are all hanging in complete suspense. Right?
Well, anyway, this blog will be a little longer and I will be getting back on at least once a week to update from now on! A cat's life - sometimes life just gets in the way.
So.... where was I? That's right. End of Day 1.

This event is so well organised, the only thing that they needed more of, was people to massage our tired and exhausted bodies. Unfortunately, we didn't go to check the massage tent until after the shower and by that time there was a wait list sooooo long that they had stopped taking people on for massage. I pity the poor people who were volunteering their time to rub down these sore bodies, I am sure that they would have been feeling the pain in their own bodies by the next day.

Directly next door was the Yoga tent and opposite were areas to chill out and as the day wore on, we had hit our sleeping bag, the chill areas kept on going. Fires were lit for people to lounge around with a beverage or two and they could sit around outside and listen to the live music going on inside the MASSIVE tent.

The other thing that was fabulous was the MASSIVE tent that had tables set up for everyone to eat at and a stage for the speeches, presentations and live band and entertainment. I was so keen for bed after the shower that I hit the dinner spread by about 4.45pm, ate, forgot about everything else and headed off to the tent (in the tent city) to read for a little while and go to sleep nice and early. Really, not such a silly idea. Remember, the night was to be spent in a tent city. I would be sleeping within very close proximity of many other bodies - bodies that snore, talk in their sleep, moan, snore, and did I mention snore! Wow, I have never heard such an orchestra of sound such as that of a snoring tent city.

After a while, the snoring becomes a sound that equates to people sleeping soundly and doesn't really bother me too much. The new mat that I am sleeping on is comfortable - the first one that Carly has ever owned! The new sleeping bag that I am sleeping in is lovely and cosy - also the first one that Carly has ever owned! and curling up beside Carly is wonderful as she is wearing brand new thermals and is very warm and toasty. The 13 year old kid sleeping directly beside us in the next tent, however, is somewhat annoying. He woke up about six times throughout the night - "Dad, are you awake? Dad, I'm not sleeping. I'm bored now because I'm awake. Wake up, I want someone to talk to." To which 'Dad' does not reply, go to sleep, everyone else will wake up - you are sleeping in a tent! But proceeds to say, oh really, what do you want to talk about? Oh I don't know - (son), etc. So every two to three hours this conversation would start back up and continue. I discovered that 'Mum' had been in their tent and hidden lollies and chocolates, had changed their pillows, had added extra blankets, that sometimes the satellite phone would work, but that other times it had no signal amongst other tidbits that were revealed through the night.

At 5am, it was time to rise and greet the morning!
Now the showers had no wait whatsoever!

I went on to the MASSIVE tent to see what the breakfast spread had to offer. Pancakes, snags, bacon and poached eggs. Plenty of protein on offer. Top that off with a steamy hot chocolate and we are almost fueled up and ready to go. This time we know what is ahead of us - 120.55 kilometres to go till we reach the end! Plenty of hills, lots of potholes and suburbia towards the end. We know that there are pitstops approximately every 25 kilometres apart and our mindset is fabulous! A little knowledge makes a huge difference. We also know that those massive hills will be tackled from the opposite direction as the route is just reversed. This is good, as we know how many times we got off and walked yesterday, so today the challenge is on to try not to walk as much!! You'll notice that I didn't say not to walk at all. Again.... knowledge.

Collecting my bike at 5.56am Sunday morning

So, getup, fall out of bed, drag a comb across my head, make the bus in seconds flat...this is what is going on inside my head for the first two hours of the day! Credit to the Beatles for these lyrics. The good news is it keeps Carly pedalling over the hills, hills that previously she had walked. Look down at the ground and move the legs in time to the lyrics and make it up and over the hill! Yay! (See pics to the left - one of the first hills we hit! You will see Carly riding her bike down on the lower left side of the  first shot - white top and what looks like a purple helmet, in the second shot, still pedalling further up - didn't stop on this hill). Then we hit one, one that stops us, that moment that you are trying to push your way up and over the hill and your eyes look up instead of down and you catch sight of them - the people that have got off their bikes to walk! Your brain says, 'Well, there you go. You can do it now. Get off. It's hard - this hill. Walk. They are. You can.' Next thing you know - we are off the bike. That wasn't the plan! The plan was ride the hills, look down and ride. The problem was, we are riding on our own, we looked up and all of a sudden (I truly believe that the body could have gone on!) the brain convinces the body that the jig is up. So as we are walking up the hill, Carly starts a conversation with Michelle, a lady that she doesn't know about this exact thing. They decide that once they get to the top of this hill, they will jump back on their bikes and ride each of the hills as far as they can, then not let each other give up. Good theory, except that Carly & I like zooming down hills, Michelle is not as keen. It still helps for a while though. We get to the first pitstop without another walk!

The second stage is much of the same. However, I lose contact with Michelle quite a few times, don't walk any hills and get along quite nicely. Hit the next pitstop, refuel, refill the water with gatorade (I am struggling a little now!), catch back up with Michelle and head off again.

In the third stage is where things begin to change a little. No walking! Okay, so some walking. But only once and it really was a HUGE hill and it wasn't my fault (or Carlys) truly. The intention was to ride. Looking down, not up, pushing the legs around, using body weight to get the pedals around. Carly looks down and notices that because she is getting tired on this hill, the bike is swaying a little from side to side. The thought pop's into her ead - 'Be careful Carly, the side of the road drops down to the clay, you don't want to hit that edge' and what happens within less that a second? Boom! We hit the edge of the road, the bike drops, Carly is still cleated into the pedals and we both go down! Now we walk. Michelle is there and the first thing Carly does is yell out to her - 'we're fine, don't you dare stop pedalling - get to the top of the hill, you are almost there!!'. Michelle stops. Carly has super mild grazing, nowhere near good enough to elicit any sympathy from anyone, on her right palm and right knee. Now we are all walking. 

We get to the top of the hill and go through the usual - take off and enjoy the downhill ride. Head down, Bum up and go!! The speedo on the bike hits 62.5km, which wouldn't be fast in a car, but feels awesome on a bike! Then we notice the clouds come across and then the rain hits along with crazy winds! Crazy cross winds, with big butted hills! At 62.5km per hour on a bike. Hold on... tight. The rain turns into a deluge, a downpour, if you live in Qld, you may remember it. It really got wet on that Sunday! I know. I was in it. We rode through this along Pine Mountain Road - the road with the potholes - but now, the potholes are filled with water - now they're not as easy to see! We finally turn off Pine Mountain Road and head towards suburbia and in to Ipswich, we are still riding in crazy crosswinds and rain. We ride in this until we got close to lunch, then about five minutes away from the lunch stop - it stopped! Yay, at least we could eat without rain.

Grabbed our yummy lunches, sat down in a beautiful gazebo and the sky opened up with force! The rain was so heavy it was like sheets of white gossamer. All I can say is yay to the gazebo! There was something quite soothing about sitting under cover with the rain hitting the roof and being sheltered while eating lunch.
Did I mention that the food is super yummy! Lunch today is a salad with chicken, pasta, pesto and chilli - soooo good. If you want an adventure with yummy benefits, do this ride next year. Truly. This yummy lunch made up for the hills, potholes, rain and gail force winds.

Anyway, my little paws are getting sore from all of this typing, so until I blog again, Cheshire grins to you.

I am Cwa, Cat with Adventures and this was my big bike adventure - Ride to Conquer Cancer.

Day One - Lunch to Camp...

So here we go - 'hop on ya bike!' and off we went, happy. Bike has been 're'serviced, body has been refueled, sock has been changed (and the single thrown away - deal with that sock monster in my washing machine! Now I may pull a pair out of the wash!!). Now we just had a 'mere' 46 kilometres to get to camp - how hard could it be, we had already completed over 70...
This is when we discovered that there is someone with a serious sense of sadism on the planning crew of the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Feeling fantastic, we all head away from lunch in our own time... to be faced with a hill that cars drive up by dropping to first gear! This hill is one serious hill! Apparently it is 1.4 kilometres with a gradient of 12% - are you reading this? I'm talking to you serious cyclists. This is one of the places you need to come and visit. This is the wall of the Wivenhoe Dam from what I understand. I'll be putting a Garmin post up (which I will pinch from one of the other riders' data) at the end of the Ride Adventure blogs to show you all where we went. This is truly a challenge. Every single person that rode their bike past us (while we were walking our way up - this is going to change next year - we WILL conquer this crazy, mad, sadistic hill!!) Carly yelled encouragement to... by name... loudly. In their wiseness, the organisers of the Ride had provided every single participant with name plates that had to be attached to their bikes, which meant that when you felt like you couldn't go on, a friendly voice would yell out encouragement - it was truly fantastic! The atmosphere that this one little idea created, made this one of the best events that Carly has ever participated in, and she has done a few!! It was my first!

Top of the hill = stop, nibble on something sugary, rehydrate, then jump back on the bike, get down low and go, go, GO!!! OMG - so much fun! The wind in my ears at 70km an hour, bring it on, again and again and again. Yeeehaaaa! Now I understand what Carly sees in thrill rides!

After this HUGE hill, we had several others and it all started to become way tooooo much, we began having random discussions with strangers who would get halfway up the next hill and then fall off their bikes, cleats still attached! We, of course, had to do the right thing and stop and walk with them! The brain started to give up before the legs towards the end of this section. Carly kept trying to not pay attention when someone in front would give up and get off their bike, but, it gets really hard to keep going. The last hill of this section, we forced our eyes down to the road and made a pact to not look up until we got to the top, short and steep, go legs, go legs, go legs. Push down, Pull up. Don't stop! Next thing, rewards! At the crest of the hill and looking at a descent so sweet with a sweeping bend on a cambered road. Yay, this was going to be fun!

It was so good! Down the hill, wind in my whiskers, round the sweeping bend, nice lean in, and what do our eyes see ahead of us?! The last Pit Stop! It took sooo long to complete this measely 22 kilometres, but there it was - done! Only 24kms to go until camp. Rest, rehydrate, munch a little (don't you love cut up orange pieces, it reminds me of school sport at primary school!), spoke to a few Ride people sho reassured us that the rest of the ride was a breeze, the hardest bit was all over and the last part was basically a nice easy long cool down. Carly's been a fitness trainer for a very long time, her interpretation of long cool down and their's conflict completely! Although, nobody ever said that this ride was going to be easy and if it wasn't a challenge, it wouldn't really be worth it, so hear me loud and clear. This last '24'kms was anything but easy.
I am pretty sure that I haven't mentioned that Carly has a little computer on her bike, it has 8 functions, but on this ride, the most important function was the ordometer. Throughout the ride it has given us hope, we look at it to see how far we have been and to see how far we have left to go for the day. We were pretty proud of ourselves. We had covered the k's and definately only had 24kms to go to reach the campsite at 118kms. So we pushed over the hills and dug deep for this last stage. The hills that apparently didn't exist, they weren't long - just crazy steep little numbers! We didn't walk one, it was after all, the last stage for the day. The fun part was down hill on them! Short and fast.

Obviously not us! Someone very happy to be at camp!

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This doesn't look like 118kms! Doing it hard!

Then according to my ordometer as we were approaching the very last kilometre we had another hill, slow and steady up, followed by the same style of down. I noticed a tourist street sign (you know those coloured ones that point out tourist bits to check out) stating Somerset Camp, but no little 'Ride' arrow indicator that we were to turn at the street, so we kept pedaling on. Glance down at the ordometer, it now says 119km. I'm wondering if this is time to turn back, when I see one of the 'Many Cyclists on Road' signs, so we are obviously going the right way. Next, we catch the warning, right turn ahead sign, see the friendly police officer watching out for traffic on the corner, look beyond him and see it! Yes - IT! The sign that says '120kms'. We have ridden 120kms so far! Head - you really need to stop having an impact now. No chance. The last 550 metres of this route was the slowest on two wheels yet! The speedo kept telling us we were well below average speed as we tried to force the legs to keep on pedalling, it really couldn't possibly be much longer. 8kph... I am ashamed to write it, but there it is. That was our top speed as we road the very last leg to camp. On the up side - we did it! We had made it through Day 1 without getting swept! We rolled into the campsite at just after 2.30pm, 120.55 kilometres from where we started at 6.30am this morning.

Tent city - here we come! Pick up our bag, camp mat and sleeping bag and consider sleep first, that is, until we get under a stiff breeze downwind of ourselves and realise that we cannot possibly put up with that in the confines of a tent!! So, we get our stuff back to the tent, grab a change of clothes, towel and toiletries and go join everyone for the one hour wait for a shower.... so worth the one hour wait for the shower!!! I have never known a shower to feel so good - and I didn't even pedal, that's what I brought Carly along for!!

Roaming around camp

Anyway, I am Cwa - Cat with Adventures, and this adventure is the very awesome Ride to Conquer Cancer. Love and Cheshire Smiles to you!!

Into camp, putting the bike in to
rest for the night.

Carly looks dreadful! So glad I didn't pedal!

Ready for bed!

First day - Day one of two...

Dawn to Lunch - 72.3kms...

 
So, here we are, pedalling away on our bike to the first pit stop. Left the university at about 6.30am and pedalled out of BrisVegas via some very pretty suburbs, which reminded Carly of Melbourne - almost a tad 'Toorak' although... not quite. Out through to some busy roads, onto an interesting bike track that went over a river and then under a bridge and on to Sumners Road, Progress Rd, Ipswich Rd and on to our first pitstop. Not so bad... at this point. Rode through a couple of industrial sites and hit several 'rolling hills'. Hills that I enjoyed, I felt great, good strong run-ups, good run down the hills, some great speed, start pedalling at the bottom, put some sheer thigh strength into it (have you seen the size of Carly's thighs!) and climb up to the top of the hill. Wahoo! Heaps of fun. Then we hit some of the real stuff! More challenging hills, this is where we discovered that we probably needed to do more hill training, in fact, maybe we should have done some hill training... any hill training would have been better than the amount we did. If you could see me, you would see me shamefully hold my head down, whiskers dropped shamefully by my side as I tell you - we did no hill training... yep, none. So when we hit the first pit stop at 23kms, we were actually really happy to stop, despite having down further distances, the hills took much out of us. It took us about an hour and 23 minutes to do the distance. Carly was already complaining that it was unfair that we were not sharing the pedalling, not my fault my legs wouldn't reach the pedals!

Pit Stop 1 - somewhere between
Inala and Redbank Plains

First experience of trying to find our
bike, one of eight pit stops over the 2 days.

As you can see - most people were
 keen to stop at this point! - (Ash Elford)

Left Pit Stop 1 to head through Redbank Plains, past the cheering station at 42.16km - came zooming down a hill past cheering supporters and then pushed our way up a hill that any seasoned cyclist would find a breeze - I am sure that you have worked out by now that we are far from 'cyclist' let alone anything with seasoning!! But, despite the ride proving to be more challenging than we had expected, we had still not allowed ourselves to be swept. Stay away sweep vans! They had began to loop around the course like circling vultures - we got the distinct feeling that they were witnessing our pain and just waiting for our reserves and willpower to die! Not just yet! No sweep van for us. Not long past the cheering supporters (I just checked the map - 4.7k later), we hit Pit Stop 2 and it was surprisingly fast after the adrenalin kick of bells ringing, people screaming and signs proclaiming that we were all doing an 'Epic thing for Cancer research'. Hit Pit at 46.8km at 9.25am.

Pit Stop 2 - Ipswich



The Evil Pine Mountain Rd - actually taken on
Day 2 by Ash Elford - but you get the point!

Now came some of the real challenges! Between Ipswich and Ferndale Memorial Park, where we stopped for lunch, was one incrediably rough Pine Mountain Road. I'm sure I haven't yet mentioned to you my very 'wise' choice of steel water bottles. Although, between the two of us (that's me and Carly!), we were not aware that if we squeezed the biddon holders tighter, the constant noisy rattle of metal on metal while vibrating over some of the roughest roads we have ever witnessed would have been stopped.... so in the mean time, every person we rode near looked suspiciously to their right expecting a very old bike that was falling apart on the rough roads to pass on their right, not our gorgeous pink Giant Avail. I even had some well-meaning riders ask if everything was alright with the bike. We got to the point that as we came up behind a rider,Carly would holler 'Passing on the right, but I am sure you could hear us coming! It's alright, the bike isn't falling apart, it is the steel water bottles'. It wasn't until Day 2 (one the very same road!!) that someone said to me, 'Are those steel bottles driving you insane? Did you know you could just squeeze your holders tighter and it will stop that crazy noise?'

It was through this stage that our so-called 'bike service' really came into it's own. You see, in all her wiseness, Carly decided that it would be a really good idea to have the bike serviced the day before the ride, despite the fact that the bike seemed to be lovely before the service. This is one of those moments that Carly rarely has, it's not broken, so let's fix it anyway!! I guess you would say, it was a boy-moment.

On these more challenging hills, my gears were playing up really badly, so badly that Carly stopped talking to me and started talking to the bike. Not stuff that can be repeated on the blog, but definately to the bike and not to me! She would go to change gears to climb a hill and the bike would work through 2-3 gears and then not engage at all, then drop down through a number of gears all over again. She couldn't change through the three big cogs (yep, I hear cyclists groaning everywhere right now, I should know what they are called, but, sorry, I don't). The gears would just jam up altogether! Couldn't go up or down. So besides the legs being shot and the lungs suffering, the bike was not playing nicely with us, which made us consider tipping the bike upside down for a bike mechanic and a sweep vehicle! Yep, a sweep vehicle! So, Carly walked and I continued to hitch a ride. Each time we hit another hill, Carly would continue to try to struggle with both the gears and the hill, then we would see someone hop off their bike and start walking up the hill and that was it - Carly's head was done! The body would have probably coped a little longer, but the anger with the bike's misbehaviour and the head justifying walking over riding started to win out on each hill from this point forward. We finally reached the lunch stop at Ferndale Memorial Park at 11.20am. At this point, Carly took the bike directly to the mechanics and said some rather crude statements about the quality of the service she had paid for the day before and asked if there was anything that could be done about it before she found the nearest lake (or dam) to throw said bike into. Mechanics smiled, said 'more than happy to fix it, go have lunch and kick back for a little while and then head back to pick up your bike.' Smiles all round, music to our ears! Food and a serviced bike. Yay. Rather hungry after riding/walking 72.3kms.

Really well organised Lunch station!

I have to say, everything about this event was amazing! It was really well organised at the Pit Stops and at the Lunch Stop. We had Sweep Vultures everywhere, roaming bike mechanics to help sort out bike furbys, such as, replacing tyres, fixing cables, and all manner of things like replacing tyres, oh and apparently they replaced hundreds and hundreds of tyres!! Many a bike mechanic was going to suffer from very sore triceps due to DOMS from pumping up tyres all weekend.

Distance left after lunch
- so they told us!

After eating a hearty ham sandwich, Cadbury chocolate (snack size of course), juice pack, nuts and sultanas and an orange, we went back to the mechanics where they asked us if we had actually paid someone to service the bike?! They had to adjust most of the cables, adjust the derailer and do something or rather to some other things!! They were quite upset that someone had clearly done a very bad job of our service the day before and advised us that if we were to go back, it would only be to get our money back off them. This service cost us zip, zilch, zero, nothing! So grateful. I'll tell you more when I update our adventures of the last '46'kms to the campsite tomorrow.

Bikes everywhere!

One sock down, seven to go!

Meanwhile, I hope you are enjoying the blog and my huge Adventure - the Ride to Conquer Cancer. I am Cwa - Cat With Adventures, Cheshire Smiles to you all!

I did the Ride to Conquer Cancer!

So it's done and dusted! We just spent two days cycling through areas of Qld that I never even knew existed - there is some very pretty places out there! So we started our adventure at 3.45am, Carly & Sharn got dressed and we all loaded the car. Backpack, camp mat, sleeping bag, bike, me. Check. Ready to go. Friends came to our place - the Mums (thanks to the Mums!! Barb & Doss - you are amazing!) and we were on the road by 4.10am.

5.30am, waiting for the day to dawn

Me and my support team - Carly, Sharn
Doss (far left) and Barb (far right)

Myself & Carly - ready to ride

Checked in at St Lucia Campus of the University of Qld by 5.10am and trying not to freeze my whiskers off by 5.15am!! Bag checked onto the truck and keen and super excited about the ride... now. We are here with 1342 other riders and between us, this event is the largest single fundraising event in QIMR's history, raising an amazing 4.7 million dollars for Cancer Research, still makes me emotional to think of all of the people that worked together to make this event and the scope of it a reality... and we were a part of this history making event! I am both proud and honoured. (...and bleary-eyed and sniffly as I read back over it - such was the emotional power of this event to me and what is worse, I am in a public place eating breakfast while I write and check this blog with tears streaming down my face - Carly)

The following is from the press release at the Ride website.

Funds raised from the Ride will support ground-breaking QIMR research into a range of cancers including breast and ovarian cancer, bowel cancer, blood cancers such as leukemia, brain cancer and skin cancers including melanoma.

“The support will have a significant impact on cancer patients through improved diagnostics, prevention and treatment options,” said Professor Gannon.

“Planning is already underway for next year’s event which promised to be even bigger and better. I encourage everyone to register today by visiting www.conquercancer.org.au.”

QIMR scientist and rider Professor David Whiteman spoke to the impact of the Ride. “I feel honoured to ride alongside these inspiring and committed people. Their hard work to raise funds makes a huge impact to my research into the causes of skin cancer - their support will make it possible to improve our identification of at risk patients and help address the growing number of people diagnoses with skin cancers and melanomas every year.”



Oz anthem, speeches, tears, and GO!

Ready to Ride to Conquer Cancer

It was emotional as we thought of the people we were riding for, those that had fought and lost their battles and those that were still battling on. Cancer survivers riding were identified by their bright yellow flags attached to their bikes. When you felt like giving up, and a bike with a yellow flag powered past you, it definately made you dig deep and keep on riding while every fibre in every muscle was screaming out loud and it felt like your lungs were about to explode! If they can battle cancer and get on their bikes to peddle what eventuated to be 241km, then the rest of us could do it too! I have sooooo much to share with you, but I would hate for you to get bored, so I am going to spread this blog out over the week and share many more pics with you.

So for now, I am Cwa - a Cat with Adventures, this adventure was the Ride to Conquer Cancer and there is so much more to come! Love and Cheshire smiles to you.

Post post: Did I get swept? It was definately longer than I expected and climbs of 1.4k length and 12% gradient - enough to challenge the most athletic cyclist - did I let Carly pack it in at any time, did we let the sweep van pick us up? Keep watching my blog and I'll let you know. 

The Countdown is on...

Two more sleeps to go...

We are getting closer and closer each day!! Only two days to go until the Ride to Conquer Cancer! So excited! There are so many questions... how many riders? ... will the rain hold off? ... where exactly are we riding? ... can I actually sleep in a tent? ... will I actually want to ride on Day 2? ...and  the most important question - Can I avoid the Sweep Van? This is the ultimate goal for us, has Carly done enough training to avoid being swept up and taken off to camp in the van, goal = ride the whole distance? There is certainly enough time to complete the distance!! They have given us 11 hours to complete Day 1 - no problem, but will the body get through it?

The answer is just going to have to be a very loud 'YES'. It is for such a great cause that we are just going to have to make it. Cancer is such an awful disease that often doesn't pick and choose it's victims. Sure, we can live healthy lifestyles and lower our risk factors, but sometimes the bottom line is - it just picks you. Sometimes the last person you would expect to be struck down with cancer is the exact person it strikes. This is why we are doing this ride. To find a cure or proven preventative would be the ultimate answer! We are sick of hearing about someone else close finding out they or their mother/brother/father/best friend, etc is fighting a losing battle. So... hear me loud and clear - NO SWEEP VAN!

Okay, so that is the depressing part done!

Now the great part - we are doing this ride with a number of like-minded individuals who are all doing this ride to make a difference. I will find out exactly how many on Saturday morning at 5.30am! We then get to ride from Brisbane through to North Booval (where the first Cheering Station is!) on to the second Cheering Station in Pine Mountain (hmmm, Mountain - now just a little scared - stay away van - I will not be swept!) and then on to our camp site at Esk - Somerset Dam, I think. I will get an opportunity to take some great photos through the ride, so next weeks blog will have photos 'en masse' (oo, I do believe - that was french! Getting ready for Paris). We then sleep in a tent. Yep, a tent.

Then we get to jump on our bikes and come back to Brisbane via Pine Mountain and Darra. Being that Carly is a Melbourne girl (approaching 40 - always a girl!) who has lived on the Gold Coast for the last 14 years, we have no idea where it is that we are actually riding. We thank our lucky stars that we are doing this ride with many others, we'll just follow someone who knows the way!

Anyway, once this ride is over and done with and we have shared the photos and experiences, we may just show you around the Goldy and share some of things you must see if you are visiting!

Meanwhile, I am Cwa - Cat with Adventures! Cheshire Smiles to you all

Let me Introduce Myself...

I am Cwa, Cat With Attitude or Adventures or Alopecia or as you will see over time - many other words starting with 'A'. This blog has been created to share the everyday adventures that I get up to with one or both of my two 'guides' - Carly and Sharn. Carly and myself are currently training to do a charity ride for the Queensland Institute of Medical Research - The Ride to Conquer Cancer. To know more, pop on over to their website www.conquercancer.org.au. Our adventure with a large number of strangers banding together for a truly worthy cause begins next weekend.

Me - Cwa, having a small break on the Sunshine Coast

Me & my bike - a women's Giant Avail, currently 2 years old

In the meantime, we have been training. I let Carly ride my bike. She does have to complete the ride after all and if she didn't have my bike to ride, how would she?

Anyway this first Blog is to introduce me. I have been around for a while now and I figure that it is probably time I began sharing my adventures - past, present and future. So each week, I will share. I will tell you tidbits about where I live, places to go, places to eat, where I have been, the adventures that I have experienced and the adventures that are coming. By the way, I'm heading OS next year, need to know some 'must see' places in France - any ideas?

Anyway, I am Cwa - a cat with attitude. My next adventure is the Ride to Conquer Cancer next weekend because I believe if we can make a difference - we should at least try our best to!