Well here we are we are finally at home, the grass is longer (someone will have to mow it), the bins will need putting out and there's a HUGE pile of bills to pay...welcome home! Sounds almost sad but the truth is i am just as excited about the next phase... buying some land in Uganda then starting the building project!!! PRAISE GOD... however as i reflect over the last week or two i look back at the absolute privilege to be a part of such an awesome event. I have personally had the most amazing time of my life and cannot give enough words to describe the things i have seen, the emotions i have gone through and the pain i have felt but i also stand in awe of the achievement we have made as a team, sure i did a fair bit of riding but it would be IMPOSSIBLE with out the amazing team out there helping me all day and almost all of each night. God has created Australia as a vast arid place oh and its a bit windy too! In the aridness most of it was a wonder to look at and some of it most magnificent, wait till you see some of the photos or come along to a presentation night we are planning to have (email me if your interested (info@raceacrossaustralia.com)... and i will email the details as soon as they are at hand we will have video and photos and wait till you see the ROO incident.
Looking back over the race i would say that we have a real hot go at it and i know that i worked very very hard in trying conditions and only came up 15hours short and if i only had one day with a tail we would have given the record a shake, had i have HAD as many days of tail as the current record holder i would be confident that i would have met my own goals! However that is not what happened and the wind didn't blow and that's life! Deal with it, that's racing. The truth is the Sydney to Hobart record may not be held by the fastest boat just the one that worked real hard and that got good winds! Please don't misunderstand me, the guy who is the current record holder is a super strong guy and worked darn hard to get the record and deserves the HIGHEST amount of respect...
Having said that our lives as Christian are reflected by this race our lives are often thrown cross winds trying to get us off our paths or heads winds that are problems that wont go away you have to just keep on battling through them, just because we are Christians it doesn't mean we win everything we attempt or have every business plan make us rich, that's not the way it works, our job is to continue to try our best and always reflect a Christlike image even in those difficult times. This race has also made each of us a little different, for me i know that (regardless of being super tired) i can always be more polite to my team as i know a couple of times i got frustrated. For others this journey has taught them all different things, they all experienced the emotional highs and lows that i as an endurance racer experienced and whenever we are 'stretched' we all learn new things about ourselves...
About the race and not riding into Sydney, well, after exceeding the current record time, i really wanted to reach Sydney and register a 'time' however at that stage i had been riding for some 40 hours with only 1hr of rest, which meant my team had also been trying to keep up and they were completely exhausted. I stopped and looked at each of the teams faces and could see that they were fully spent, the weather was inclement with two electrical storms either side of us and if it had of rained it would have dragged the time to complete out further than the 15h expected at that time. I was amazed about their concern whether i could deal with the fact i was stopping short of Sydney, however i explained that as a 'true racer' my goal was to break the record not just to make Sydney, finishing 20 hours after that was not a consolation prize - AT ALL. Dave had to leave erlay for a funeral and Mitch had a plane to catch,so we started as a team and we finished as a team!
I am pleased with my achievement 3550/3600 kms riding across our Great Land in 8 1/2 days because (i hope) that the final funds count will shown that the funds raised will reach around the $50,000 which is a huge amount of money and will do great things in Uganda and Rwanda - this being my true purpose and goal in doing this. I am satisfied with achieving this part of the goal. It also leaves something on the table as incentive if there is another next time???? (normally after such a long and gruelling race you don't want to look at your bike but not this time, i would seriously consider it again but ask me again in three months, then i would truly know)
I must say that i could not have done any of this with out the unconditional love and support Debbie had given me, not only during the last two weeks but over the last 4 months i have trained. She is an awesome woman and i am the most blessed man on earth to be her husband.
To all the team (whom i have given special Mr. Men names - which will only be revealed at our presentation dinner/night) Gerry, Dave, Mitch, Peter, Rob, Lynne, Joel (his beautiful smiling face shouting encouragement out the top window of the Britz) Paul and Ray whose support for a couple of days and Pauls help before the ride was awesome. I particularly want to thank Johann and Kathy Poppenbeck, Joel and Loren their whole family have shown me support that goes beyond the imaginable, their support and encouragement truly inspired my Day 8 ride (600+ kms) in one day!!! When you start to say thanks you always leave people out but i also want to thank Rob and Lynnette, Em, Ben for all coming up and cheering the team on. I also want to thank every one for their emails and 100's of sms's they really made a difference. A special thank you to Glenn Dekker who took this challenge on in a very busy time in his calender and i particularly want to thank the Principle, teachers and students at Donvale Christian College. And last of all i want to thank everyone for their generosity, encouraging emails and support stay tuned and check back in regularly as we start the work in Uganda in Dec/Jan. We also have some other 'races' we may announce in the next month or so. I also want to hear from anyone who may be interested in racing across Australia with plans to formalise this into some kind of race! Email me at info@raceacrossaustralia.com
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