This next 24 hours was begun after a short coffee break at which time Rob who got us to the 72 hours, swapped with Mitch. This was not going to be an easy session as the stillness of the morning had made way for more head winds – will they ever change or end? This was a question that was on all of our minds – however Damian remained calm and positive – but you could tell he was hurting.
There was not too much chit chat on the road today, but Damian simply ground out the kilometres with Mitch in support. Mitch did an awesome job yet again, with the speedo showing around 15 – 18 km/hr, yet they were peddling like it should have been 30-35 km/hr. Mitch battled on towards lunchtime – this was a very slow section. Lunch was planned for the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse, while this wasn’t far away it seemed like it would never come. Mitch could not keep up with Damian, when Damian decided enough was enough and he was going to show the wind who was boss, when he virtually sprinted the last 10 kilometres into what seemed like a 40km/hr headwind, he made it to lunch 15 minutes ahead of what they expected.
There was an extended lunch break at the road house where some of the team enjoyed showers and the proceeded to enjoy some very nice steak sandwiches – the manager could not believe it when Johann ordered 8 steak sandwiches. It was nice to sit in the air conditioned road house even for a few minutes and enjoy this break. The wind did not seem to be letting up – but the road to Melbourne was still there. So Damian refreshed his drinks, re-applied the zinc cream and sunscreen and like a gladiator about to enter the arena, he got back onto his bike and continued into the head winds with Greg now in support. These two guys settled into a groove and managed to push out a steady 17 km/hr into these winds. Then as if things couldn’t be any harder Damian blew a tyre, but within minutes the team got another bike ready and out to him and he was on his way again. The tyre was repaired by Rob and Dave in the back of the Transporter and the battle continued.
The going was really tough but Greg supported Damian incredibly and maintained a fairly consistent 18 km/hr into some quite savage winds. The two of them even played little games to try and take their mind off the wind – not sure this really worked – it was so in your face! Given that this was now 4 days of head winds Damian’s energy and mental stamina was beginning to be sapped. This guy is truly driven by a passion and cause that is truly God given, because anything less than this would have made anyone else stop.
The two guys did enjoy the steep downhill run into the Madura roadhouse, but you can hardly call that justice when you climb a metre at a time for nearly 12 hours and then get to a downhill that only lasts for 300 metres! The team enjoyed dinner here and the public phone booth was put to good use with calls to home, even a long awaited call from Damian to Miss Sunshine. Damian also had a conversation with a “local” that confirmed the fact (like we didn’t already know) that “it always blows easterlies around here!” The plan after dinner was to do as many kilometres as we can and get to a truck stop that was 67 kms away, Dave would go out for the first 30 kms and Ray the balance. However, this was not to be – Damian and Dave peddled strongly but could only manage around 15 km/hr into some nasty head winds of around 30 – 40 km/hr. Damian pulled over and decided that it may be time to have a sleep and get an early start in the morning. With this in mind Ray also cam out to ride, in order to try and get the team to a truck stop. This only lasted 20 minutes – so we called it a night and settled in just by the side of the road. It was at this point that we decided to also switch back to Victorian time, therefore losing 3 hours in this day – given the type of day it’s been this was not a problem for anyone. We decided to get up at 4.30am and go again.
The team statistics for day 4 reflect some gutsy and inspiring work – you could probably have doubled these numbers if there was simply no wind:
Rob rode for 3 hours 20 minutes and covered 88 kilometres
Mitch rode for 2 hours 30 minutes and covered 36 kilometres
Greg rode for 4 hours 55 minutes and covered 91 kilometres
Dave rode for 1 hour 15 minutes and covered 15 kilometres
Ray rode for 20 minutes and covered 6 kilometres
If you looked at this closely you would have seen that the first 3 hours and 20 minutes yielded 88 kms and the balance 12 hours yielded 150 kms – the wind was strong!
The team woke up at 4.30am (now on Victorian time) and got ready and were on the road at 5.15am with Ray riding on support, but the wind was still there and no better, it took just over an hour before Damian said “we are going back to bed”. So that is what we did – we went back for another 2 hours sleep, when he woke up he got dressed and said he would go out on his own for a while. He did this and set about riding at a consistent 25 km/hr – UNBELIEVABLE!! The first hour and 10 minutes with Ray yielded 20 kms, which was quite good considering the conditions. However, after 2 hours sleep and a renewed energy Damian clocked up 41 kms in 2 hours.
Damian rode alone for 2 hours 40 minutes and then Ray joined him and rode past the 24 hour marker and we had covered 236 kms for this 24 hour period and accumulated 1354 kms for 96 hours – this is doing it tough.
There was not too much chit chat on the road today, but Damian simply ground out the kilometres with Mitch in support. Mitch did an awesome job yet again, with the speedo showing around 15 – 18 km/hr, yet they were peddling like it should have been 30-35 km/hr. Mitch battled on towards lunchtime – this was a very slow section. Lunch was planned for the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse, while this wasn’t far away it seemed like it would never come. Mitch could not keep up with Damian, when Damian decided enough was enough and he was going to show the wind who was boss, when he virtually sprinted the last 10 kilometres into what seemed like a 40km/hr headwind, he made it to lunch 15 minutes ahead of what they expected.
There was an extended lunch break at the road house where some of the team enjoyed showers and the proceeded to enjoy some very nice steak sandwiches – the manager could not believe it when Johann ordered 8 steak sandwiches. It was nice to sit in the air conditioned road house even for a few minutes and enjoy this break. The wind did not seem to be letting up – but the road to Melbourne was still there. So Damian refreshed his drinks, re-applied the zinc cream and sunscreen and like a gladiator about to enter the arena, he got back onto his bike and continued into the head winds with Greg now in support. These two guys settled into a groove and managed to push out a steady 17 km/hr into these winds. Then as if things couldn’t be any harder Damian blew a tyre, but within minutes the team got another bike ready and out to him and he was on his way again. The tyre was repaired by Rob and Dave in the back of the Transporter and the battle continued.
The going was really tough but Greg supported Damian incredibly and maintained a fairly consistent 18 km/hr into some quite savage winds. The two of them even played little games to try and take their mind off the wind – not sure this really worked – it was so in your face! Given that this was now 4 days of head winds Damian’s energy and mental stamina was beginning to be sapped. This guy is truly driven by a passion and cause that is truly God given, because anything less than this would have made anyone else stop.
The two guys did enjoy the steep downhill run into the Madura roadhouse, but you can hardly call that justice when you climb a metre at a time for nearly 12 hours and then get to a downhill that only lasts for 300 metres! The team enjoyed dinner here and the public phone booth was put to good use with calls to home, even a long awaited call from Damian to Miss Sunshine. Damian also had a conversation with a “local” that confirmed the fact (like we didn’t already know) that “it always blows easterlies around here!” The plan after dinner was to do as many kilometres as we can and get to a truck stop that was 67 kms away, Dave would go out for the first 30 kms and Ray the balance. However, this was not to be – Damian and Dave peddled strongly but could only manage around 15 km/hr into some nasty head winds of around 30 – 40 km/hr. Damian pulled over and decided that it may be time to have a sleep and get an early start in the morning. With this in mind Ray also cam out to ride, in order to try and get the team to a truck stop. This only lasted 20 minutes – so we called it a night and settled in just by the side of the road. It was at this point that we decided to also switch back to Victorian time, therefore losing 3 hours in this day – given the type of day it’s been this was not a problem for anyone. We decided to get up at 4.30am and go again.
The team statistics for day 4 reflect some gutsy and inspiring work – you could probably have doubled these numbers if there was simply no wind:
Rob rode for 3 hours 20 minutes and covered 88 kilometres
Mitch rode for 2 hours 30 minutes and covered 36 kilometres
Greg rode for 4 hours 55 minutes and covered 91 kilometres
Dave rode for 1 hour 15 minutes and covered 15 kilometres
Ray rode for 20 minutes and covered 6 kilometres
If you looked at this closely you would have seen that the first 3 hours and 20 minutes yielded 88 kms and the balance 12 hours yielded 150 kms – the wind was strong!
The team woke up at 4.30am (now on Victorian time) and got ready and were on the road at 5.15am with Ray riding on support, but the wind was still there and no better, it took just over an hour before Damian said “we are going back to bed”. So that is what we did – we went back for another 2 hours sleep, when he woke up he got dressed and said he would go out on his own for a while. He did this and set about riding at a consistent 25 km/hr – UNBELIEVABLE!! The first hour and 10 minutes with Ray yielded 20 kms, which was quite good considering the conditions. However, after 2 hours sleep and a renewed energy Damian clocked up 41 kms in 2 hours.
Damian rode alone for 2 hours 40 minutes and then Ray joined him and rode past the 24 hour marker and we had covered 236 kms for this 24 hour period and accumulated 1354 kms for 96 hours – this is doing it tough.
