Riders Blog

CONGRATULATIONS!  To the nineteen sensational riders who rode into Forrest Chase at 11:40 am on Sunday, hot tired, thirsty and having completed an ultra endurance event, to raise funds to support people with Cancer  

$280,000 have been raised this year to date and if we can reach $300,000 it will make a total 0f $750,000 in there years, a fantastic effort by any stretch of the imagination, and a huge result for the wonderful red sky ride team. 

The night before the final days ride was a lovely dinner at Settlers Inne in

The longest distance ever ridden in one day on a red sky ride -187 km.

Most riders had a disturbed sleep with trucks moving through all night and no air-conditioning at the Mitchell Hotel in Wagin on a night which probably didn’t drop below 26 degrees. After a long day of hills and suffering from cumulative muscle fatigue, it was a bleary eyed and still smiling bunch that gathered for breakfast.

Despite the past two years having strong head winds from York – Narrogin, and  therefore a reasonable expectation of strong tail winds today, at least on the  Narrogin – York stretch, the weather  gods had different ideas and another head wind was delivered with gusto  ( no pun intended!)

In the honoured tradition of all the rides, the strongest riders went to the front to protect the  bunch, and worked themselves into almost total exhaustion and in their  words, they were in the “house of pain”. Hollywood ( Mark Drabble) Cadel  ( Evan Collis) Wolfman ( Mark Hoyer)  Cipo ( Mike Mathews)  Biscuit   (Mathew Miller) and Tinkerbell  ( Peter Pang) did a truly extraordinary job  and 13 exceptionally grateful riders collapsed with them on the lawn at Pingelly for morning tea.

The last 87 km saw more rotation through the group as the wind eased slightly and everyone could sense the end nearing .  A nasty fall at a railway crossing saw 5 riders meet the tarmac at speed,  no major injuries, but with skin lost, bikes buckled and helmets tested it was a good 45 mins of standing around in the heat while dressings were applied by the wonderful nurse Clare, bikes were repaired by our amazing mechanic Adam and everyone took on extra fuel and water for the last 40km. A very tightly formed and slightly slower moving bunch left the railway tracks behind, and arrived in York very ,very happy to see the end of a long day in the saddle.

We were met by the District Governor of Lions Neil, and his wife Dot,  the Shire President, Pat,  and a wonderful array of Lions volunteers who had cooked up a huge volume of sausage sizzles, and were somewhat dumfounded by the rate they disappeared. A fantastic greeting given it was such a hot and humid Saturday afternoon to come out and welcome us.

Yesterdays Jersey winners were:

Scottish Masonic Foundation Mountain High – K2 (Kim Hosking)

AHG Knight Sky – Wolfman (Mark Hoyer)

Southern Coast Transit Superman – Iceman (Al White)

Webb & Brown-Neaves Yellow Jersey – Biscuit

 Sodexho High Five – Vicar (James Mathews)

Toughen up Princess - Iceman  ( Al White)

When I asked Maverick (Kim Gilbert) about today’s ride, once I edited the swear words, I was left with all the H words - hard, bloody hard, hills, head wind, humidity and heat. I reckon the Red Sky Riders are full of G words – good, great, guts, grit, gumption and finally grateful to get to Wagin. 

Getting on the bike after a day off can be a mental challenge but head count had them all present and accounted for as we left Bridgetown.  We love the rest day in Bridgetown. Pool and dart in the pub Wednesday night, late breakfast on Thursday, browsing the shops for the girls, clean and fiddling with bikes for the boys. In the afternoon, Joanne and Brian Moore organised an event with the Bridgetown town councillors at the Red Panda Cafe (food shared with Braking Cow cafe). Wine was supplied by the local winery – Tanglewood.  We had a great time and received a donation from our friendly host at Nelson’s. Thanks Gary.

Today’s ride from Bridgetown began 45 minutes early to try and avoid the heat.  The cloud cover also protected the riders from an even possibly hotter day. The other aspect of the today’s “flat” ride was the hills. It was a rollercoaster of one hill after another. At the top of every hill, the riders could see the next one coming. What great staying power they had to keep pedalling up and over each challenge.

One lady on the road between Bridgetown and Boyup Brook, pulled over to give a spontaneous donation.  That is the sort of thing that makes it all worthwhile.

Don’t let anyone tell you cyclist don’t have egos. We had to photograph all their highly cut calf muscles to see who wins the best leg competition.  All except Iceman (Alan White) because we all know he doesn’t have calf muscles.

In Moodiarrup We met up with Rose, a regular stalwart of the Red Sky Ride. Rose has met us in Kojonup for the last two years with her fund raising efforts. This year Rose and Maureen had put together well deserved and well received refreshments in the Moodiarrup Sports Complex. Rose never ceases to amaze us with her yearly total which this year came in over $2800.00. Well done Rose – you’re fantastic.

A tired and relieve bunch pulled into Wagin in the lovely park below the Giant Ram. (Hey Chester’s, the photos of the ram will have to wait till tomorrow. The hotel, showers and massages called.) We were welcomed by the Wagin Lions Club with cold drinks, sandwiches, cake and fruit. They also graced us with a donation.

Tonight we are staying at the Wagin Hotel complete with creepy butler standing attentively in the corner.

And the last few words from some of our riders:

“ the toughest day thus far” Sonny (Sonny Rahim)

“while up front it was like riding behind a barn for everyone else” Biscuit (Matthew Miller)

“flat and I enjoyed being a wind block!!” Wolfman (Mark Hoyer)

“thank god for Nutrigrain” Wilson (Jo Wilson)

“what hills, what wind!!!!” Evan Collis

“my feet are burning” Tinkerbell (Peter Pang)

“so are mine” Iceman (Alan White)

“probably one of my hardest rides ever, I have to dig deep” Clare Bare (Kuzich)

“hilly” The Kid (Sonya Debeham)

The highly prized jerseys yesterday were awarded in Bridgetown on Wednesday night (the riders had to kerb their enthusiasm for wearing them for a whole day :

Scottish Masonic Foundation Mountain High jersey – WI -GGLES (Michael Chester)

AHG Knight Sky Jersey – Cadel  (Evan Collis)

Southern Coast Transit Superman Jersey – Cipo (Michael Matthews)

Webb & Brown- Neaves  Yellow Jersey -  Sonny (Sonny Rahim)

Sodexho High Five Jersey – Flex ( Steve Marchesi)

The Princess award – K2 (Kim Hosking)

Pain, suffering, hills, big hills, bigger hills and more pain and suffering. So goes the riders summary of the day.

What an amazing ride though! The riders showed sheer guts and determination, lots of humour ( until the 50km mark when, with another 100km to go  the hills knocked the humour out of the most devoted rider. ) Wiggles ( Michael Chester) threw a chain at the  bottom of  a big hill, had to stop to get it back on, and then managed to spin his way up to the front of the pack – even in the cars we could hear the riders yelling “ WI GGLES, WI GGLES , WI GGLES “ to cheer him on. Sensational team effort!

Some of our strongest riders put in an extraordinary effort assisting the riders experiencing real pain. Hollywood ( Mark Drabble) commenting  that he saw pain barriers crossed like never before. Superhuman efforts by Sonny ( Sonny Rahim) leading at the front  on many  an occasion, Cipo  (Mike Mathews) Wolfman ( Marco Hoyer) and  Hollywood assisting whenever needed,  Cadel ( Evan Collis) talked Wiggles up the final soul breaking hills, getting him there  with mind as well as body intact, and Dorothy ( Marco De Campi) discovered the power of mind over matter. Well done  to everyone for a truly extraordinary days riding.  Every dollar donated ( $278,000 to date ) was paid for in triplicate today.

Lighter moments were the lovely lunch and  generous donation by the Nannup Lions Club, Kangaroos and Emus escorting us at times, beautiful karris trees , and the encouragement of a rest day ahead in beautiful Bridgetown. A highlight of the day was the warm welcome and amazing generosity in time and energy of the Natural therapy and  wellness center in Bridgetown who , for the third year running, had 5  massage therapists waiting to support and pamper the riders, All volunteering their time for the red sky  ride, today and  tomorrow.

Jersey winners from yesterday were:

Scottish Masonic Foundation Mountain High – Wilson ( Jo Wilson)

AHG Knight Sky – Vicar ( James Mathews)

SCT Superman  Jersey -  Biscuit ( Mathew Miller)

Webb  &  Brown- Neaves – The Kid ( Sonya Debenham)

Sodexho High Five  -Tinkerbell ( Peter Pang)

The Princess Award – Sonny

A beautiful day in every way today – blue skies and a tail wind, stunning scenery from  Dunsborough to Augusta including the sensational Boranup  forrest  with it’s Karri trees that seem to reach the sky and hand painted cows everywhere as a part of the Margaret river region cow parade.

Everyone appeared to have a great nights sleep, no doubt enhanced by the sensational organic food, amazing coffee and generously  donated Halva’s from the unbeatable coffee shop Samudra, and the perfec tly prepared meals  and a few quiet drinks ( well roudy, actually as the slide show was on ) at Caves House.

The riders had a fantastic day and were all really strong in the saddle. Lots of undulating hills, a couple of kicks occasionally and the fastest ride most have ever done along the  notoriously dead caves road.

Morning tea, the first “official” morning tea stop in the three years of the red sky ride  (as in an actual location not a park)  was at the Margaret River Chocolate factory.  Inticing enough – with it’s beautiful gardens, VERY cute hand painted cow ( see photos) which riders were fighting over and of course, chocolate to die for. The surprise came when as the riders queued for coffee, they were told all the coffee, cakes and  slices were free as a donation from the Margaret River Chocolate  Factory.  An incredibly generous gesture, one suspects that the owner Martin Black, may have had NO IDEA how much coffee and cake hungry riders can consume. The affable and welcoming  manager, Karen, found herself  engulfed by smelly lycra clad bodies, explaining painted cows and  cheerfully posing for photos . The riders will tell you it was the extensive  training, strong muscles and  super focus that got them up the hills so well today, the real answer can be found in the  consumed fuel from the Chocolate Factory !

An added bonus was the arrival of a very large D’Orsogna truck. Given that D’Orsogna were the  first ever team sponsor of the red sky ride , and  have maintained their team sponsor status ever since, there was a rush by the D’Orsogna team members to be photographed next to “ their” truck,  with an initially  bemused but subsequently happily smiling truck driver.

Boranup Forrest is a truly unique part of the world. The stunning beauty was a  challenge for the riders in terms of maintaining their concentration on the wheel a few inches in front of them and trying to appreciate the amazing sights around them.  Throw in some high speed descents and  it was a credit to the focus and reflexes of the bunch that they had such a good ride.

Lunch ( fantastic sandwiches compliments of the Dunsborough CWA) , and the  end of the ride occurred at the  river mouth in Augusta with a yoga stretching class lead by Miche, wading in the cool waters by most of the riders and a postcard shot of the entire team at the end of the jetty.

Please blog the riders, they LOVE receiving messages from home, cheeky as many of them are!

The highly prized jerseys yesterday were awarded as follows :

Scottish Masonic Foundation Mountain High jersey – the  Big fella ( Shane White)

AHG Knight Sky Jersey – Hollywood ( Mark Drabble)

Southern Coast Transit Superman Jersey – Maverick ( Kim Gilbert)

Webb & Brown- Neaves  Yellow Jersey -  Miche Butler

Sodexho High Five Jersey – Dorothy ( Marco De Campi)

The Princess award – Flex ( Steve Marchesi )