I enjoy riding my bike, sometimes I need reminding though. Sometimes I sit at home and think about all the traffic around me when I cycle, I think about how it would feel if I fell off and skidded a long the tarmac, I think about the tough up hills and forget about the down hills.
Thats why I wanted to write this post, to remind myself that cycling is fun, it can make you feel alive, its a different sort of effort than running, one where you can take it pretty easy if you desire.
Back in October 2012 I did the Sydney to Wollongong MS bike ride. I did it with 5 other people and we decided to do it as super heros. I don't really train much for bike rides so I did this without much proper training but with a good base from running and some cycling at the gym.
I had planned on wearing my Wonder Woman costume that I wore for the Tough Mudder but the day before I got it out and realised it was in a pretty miserable state. I set about knocking myself up a Super girl costume, it wasn't great but at least it was comfortable on the bike.
The Gong ride is 90km and you start at the park in St Peters, we got the train down and met the rest of the guys. Despite the suggestions on the website that you could wear costumes there were not a lot of other people dressed up and so we got quite a few stares!
From St Peters we went through some quite boring residential/industrial type areas, then we got to Bright Le-Sands which was nice as we were riding next to the ocean. We then headed into the Sutherland Shire, I especially liked this bit as its by home turf and although we didn't ride past my house its always nice to see the areas you are so familiar with.
At one point we got split up, three of the boys were up ahead, Michael Clease and I were in the middle and the girl dressed as Wonder Woman had got left behind. When I noticed this I told Michael Clease that we should wait for her. After a couple of minutes she caught up. As we headed out of the Sutherland Shire and towards the Royal National Park there was a big down hill.
We went down quite fast and the next thing I knew Wonder Woman had hit the curb and skidded to a crash! Not being able to stop in time I squealed to a halt hitting her slightly and fell to the floor.
Well luckily Michael Clease was not too far ahead so he came back, Wonder Woman was cut and grazed and had injured her thumb. Later we found out she'd broken it and would need surgery!
She was helped by some kind volunteers and made it to the first rest stop at Loftus were we met with the other three in the team. Wonder Woman and her husband Batman pulled out of the ride and got a family member to pick them up.
By this time we'd lost about an hour and were some of the last to leave the rest area.
There were a few steep down hills that tested my nerves and Michael Clease raced paced me. The last few ks were undulating through the outskirts of Wollongong and into the park at the finish.
My only gripe was that apparently we one first price for our costumes but as we arrived after the ceremony they gave it to someone else!
I had a great day, there were some awesome views, I was glad to get on the train at the end but I would definitely do it again.
http://www.gongride.org.au/
