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Well, the ECCC is now over for this year and don't our quads know it!
The ride started on the morning of Saturday 29 November with a breakfast BBQ in Brisbane on the river at Metroplex. It was a small but enthusiastic crowd that joined
us for a healthy meal of Sausages, bacon and eggs with all bread being donated by Tip Top. Just the start we the riders needed for our first day in the saddle.
It was also at this breakfast that Mr John Smallwood presented us with the combined sponsorship collected from a good number of the Metroplex occupants. The occupants managed to pledge $3750 which Metroplex Management, in its extreme generosity, then matched. Needless to say all of the participants were absolutely blown away by the $7500 kick start we were given before the ride even started. This was just the boost our fund raising efforts and spirits needed to ensure that the event was a success. A big big thanks to all of Metroplex for its assistance with donations in the form of money and goods!
At 9:00 AM we posed for the obligatory photo and set off. Ben and I, the main organisers were ecstatic to finally be on the road on our very slick tandem bike kindly leant to us by Cannondale. Many Months of organising had come together and we were actually on our way!
The next 11 days, with no rest day, saw lots of hard cycling, lots of fun and many many stories, some of which will never be told. "what happens on tour
stays on tour!".
During the first 5 days we averaged 110 km per day and yielded about $1000 in donations from people on the street, in shopping centres, pubs and clubs.
Of course a reasonable amount of this money went on food and petrol as sponsorship in these areas was not forthcoming.
The last 6 days averaged a little less than 100 km per day but involved many steep hills and strong southerly head winds. WE were also getting pretty
tired by this stage. This didn't stop us however from raising about another $1000 in donations from the public.
Just to give you an idea of the challenge we faced, a typical day looked like this:
6:00 AM - Rise and shine, eat breakfast, pack the trailer, slap on the sunscreen and prepare for the days ride
7:00 - 7:30 AM - start the ride
9:30 - 10:00 AM - first rest stop for water, more sunscreen a little stretch and perhaps a Mars Bar or two!
11:30 - 12:00 Midday - second rest stop, a little lunch, more stretching, more sunscreen and water and perhaps another Mars Bar
1:00 - 2:00 PM - Arrive at our destination
2:00 - 3:00 PM - Prance around in our bike riding gear fundraising for Blind Citizens Australia and generally talking to people about blindness and what
we were doing
3:00 - 5:30 PM - Free time. Usually spent stretching, showering, sleeping swimming, bike maintenance, cooking, eating and drinking. Of course myself,
Ben, and Andrew (AKA Ryno) had other responsibilities such as speaking with the media, confirming accommodation, updating the website, shopping for food
and double checking our route and plans for the following day etc etc.
6:30 - 8:00 PM - Preparing, eating and cleaning up after, dinner
8:00 - 9:30 PM - Getting dressed up in our official ECCC polo shirts provided by Minarco and hitting the pubs and clubs for donations.
9:30 - 10:30 PM - Preparing for bed and getting off to sleep.
Then repeat for 11 days. Wow!!, looking at that, I still can't believe we managed it.
It is particularly amazing in light of the fact that many nights were spent in unfamiliar environments and often involved sleeping on the floor. Noisy
Schoolies Week partiers and rowdy nocturnal Peacocks also added a little spice to a couple of our nights.
So, on top of the $7500 given to us by Metroplex, we managed to raise about $2000 in donations. When subtracting about $1000 in expenses we arrived home with just over $8500 in our charity bank account.
It was excellent to ride into Sydney over the Harbour Bridge and down to the Opera House on our last day (Tuesday 9 December). Just like our farewell breakfast,
we had a very small but enthusiastic welcoming committee to clap us over the line. The feeling of completing such an amazing challenge was awesome. It
was a relief to all of us to know that we would not have to get up the following day at 6 AM and sit on a bike seat. Finishing the ride was also a little sad. Many
of the riders expressed the fact that they would miss the companionship of the other participants with whom they had forged new bonds. A couple of riders
were heard suggesting, only partly joking, that we should continue on to Melbourne. Maybe next time?
It was quite difficult to dig deep for that last bit of energy to complete those less glamorous tasks required such as dropping people
home, cleaning the bus and other support vehicle, removing window signage and so on. Even after this was complete there was still lots to do as we were
yet to have our "Back to Sydney Bash" being held on the evening of Thursday 11 December.
The Wednesday and Thursday was spent organising food, drink, stereo and PA equipment etc. You know, all those things to make a welcome back bash what it
should be. In the end the Bash was a great success, we didn't raise much money out of it but it was great to celebrate our achievement with friends and
family, some of which we hadn't seen for 11 days or more.
Friday was of course committed to cleaning the venue and returning unused beer etc. I know, unused beer? Well we did have a lot and we did try ...
And still, it is not over yet. We now have to collect our personal sponsorship money, run a raffle, send out receipts and thank you letters,present the money to BCA and start thinking about next year. Yes!!, we are thinking of doing it all again next year, though perhaps we will timetable
in a rest day next time.
All in all it looks like we will probably raise somewhere between $20000 and $22000 for BCA. A far cry from our goal of $100 000, but still a excellent
effort all round.
A big thanks to all of you who supported us in various ways ranging from providing sponsorship to providing time and to of course providing the friendship and love we needed to get us across the line.
If you are interested in being a part of this event next year, or have any suggestions on how we might make it better, please send an e-mail to
darren@cyclechallenge.org
WE hope you enjoy the photos presented below. Be sure to drop into our site from time to time as updates will continue to be made as time permits. You may also be interested in learning about the raffle we are currently running.
