SOUTH OZ BIKE RIDE

ADELAIDE - Sat 26^th  – Weather approx. 24 and sunny

Adelaide was the meeting place for the gang, comprising Silvia, Siggy, Nicole, Sara and Greg, Ian and Elfi and a couple of cowboys named Mark and Dennis straight out of the Raw Hide, but without their trusty horses. They’d heard something about wild brumbies in OZ and rounded up two on the Friday. Keen to give them a trial run they headed south to Glenelg via the Big Y to pick up Elfi and Ian. Glenelg was the location for a hearty fry-up; it could be some time before anyone feasted on a good breakfast. Suddenly Elfi shouts,  “Siggy”, a wave of hand goes up and the rest of the Wild Bunch steps down from the Iron Horse namely the Adelaide Tram, and the team is united. The rest of the gang agrees breakfast may not be the same for the week ahead. So much talk makes time sweep away and it’s back to a downtown bar for a few beers and the AFL Grand Final. What a day for the Crows, Adelaide went wild. Dinner that evening was arranged for the whole gang at a restaurant a few blocks away, however, Silvia does a run and has dinner with a mystery man. The team returned to the Y and prepared for the early morning departure.

Greg, Sara, Ian and Siggy sitting on the fence.

SEDAN – EUDUNDA (75KM EXT TO 83KM) - Sun 27th - Weather 27o

Sara had the gang organized, the bags travelling to Stateline depot. in a cab while all of us walked or cycled to the departure location. It was an early rise but Silvia still had last night’s gear on. She was walking into the Y as her team members where heading off. Had she just got back from dinner? The team split up and travelled to Sedan in two coaches. Those on the second coach were united with Dominic a kind of one man travelling minstrel show, who didn’t have his store of The Elixir of Life to sell to the town folks from day to day but bought up all and any elixir they could offer him. The Start was well organized; perhaps the low numbers made it easier, under 500 riders. Some people had a stop after only going approx. 10-12km. They reckon the first few kms were all up hill. The rest of the day’s ride was one of rolling hills, beautiful scenery and a headwind. The hills were alive with many shades of green, bright yellow, purple, orange, birds singing and the whistling of the headwind through the trees. The countryside really was some of the most picturesque seen on any Big Ride. The first day’s ride was extended a few kms due to road works and the organisers were keen to keep us on sealed roads, something N.S.W. could learn to do. Water was a bit late getting to the final rest stop so Silvia, Mark and Ian shared out their last supplies and headed for town. Ian was keen to pursue the route to Eudunda to watch the Bulldogs win him 4 big ones. It was tough for the Dogs, made even worse by Mark cheering on the wrong team. Silvia and Mark, keen to keep Ian happy bought the beers and Ian thought, “what’s money”. I’ll Tell You What Money Is, …oops let’s continue. All that was left of the day was setting up camp and enjoying the first night’s dinner. Did someone say, “enjoy”?

EUDUNDA – BURRA (89KM) - Mon 28^th – Weather 30 and hot

It was described as undulating to flat and that’s just how it was, but the booklet forgot to mention a head wind. After a small climb out of Eudunda the remainder of the day’s ride was across open plains again with stunning colours, but that head wind was something else. Everyone fought it all day. Mark and Ian met along the way and cycled together and somewhere meeting Silvia. She told the boys to ride with her but as Mark and Ian rose to the top of one rolling hill you could see Silvia going over to one in front. The final approach to town was a great down hill, which lead straight to a coffee shop that made the best  iced coffee. From there only a step across the road to the local pub. That night the gang went to Redruth Gaol where the movie “Breaker Morant” was filmed in 1979 and was being shown in the prison courtyard.

BURRA – CLARE (44KM) - Tuesday 29^th – Weather 28 and hot

This morning set the trend for the rest of the week. Only 1km from camp and we all stopped for coffee at local shop in Burra. We all agreed it was a great way to start the day’s ride. Back on the bikes, some heading on route for Clare and others touring the Miners Dug Outs and the old Brewery. Sig and Ian teamed up with Sara and Greg but soon the chase was on to catch Silvia. About 12km later the fish was caught. Riding eased off and Ian managed to tag on, but not for long. Silvia pisses off again so Sig and Greg chased again. This was too much for Ian who saw a 200-300m gap build up. Determined to pursue the bastards he busted his gut for another 12km. He was phuqued (Greek meaning “filled with meat”). The gang stopped for lunch in the shade of a tree half way up a small hill. Sara joined them and it was photo time with a magnificent field of bright yellow Canola plants in the background. This day’s ride was also the start of the Township sprints, counting down 80km sign, 60km sign and first to the town/village name sign. The ride ended at Clare oval. Mark, Dennis and Elfi had already arrived in camp having not done the Burra tour. With tents up and the gang cleaned up it was off to town where we indulged in beer, shandies, squash and great mini pizzas. The barman informed us of a restaurant for dinner the evening of our rest day in Clare. We returned to the camp and looked forward to Rest Day.

CLARE - REST DAY - Wed 30^th - Weather 28 and hot

The camp awoke to bright sunshine, many people cleaning up and doing laundry. By mid- morning a group had gathered at another coffee shop and had a second breakfast before heading out on the Clare Historic Town Walk, famous for its lookout pit that offers a magnificent view of the town’s main supermarket roof. Back at camp Mark caught up with the gang having completed a round of golf, in time for the 1.00pm departure of the buses for a great afternoon’s tour of a few wineries. The bus the gang jumped on made tuff work of the hills. In fact Nicole could have past us on her bike. That evening we had a great feast at the Chaff Mill, helped down with a bottle of red from the Naper Valley, but it took Mark to go fishing and  round up the steer before we got served our main course. The place wasn’t even busy. 

CLARE - KAPUNDA (69KM) - Thu 1^st - Weather 30 and hot again

No caffeine fix today. This was a day that cyclists only dream of .  A tail wind all the way, but not just any wind, this was simply great. The team met at the Murray Edward gallery  about 2-3km off the route on dirt but worth the detour. Elfi aided Siggy with his pronunciation of “fuck” IN A BIG WAY! Sig thought for about 1.5 seconds that he was on his way for an early hip replacement. Sig and Ian thought highly of their team work that produced an average of approx. 28km/hr, until Silvia, who had gone out on her own, informed them of her 31.8km/hr average. That afternoon was spent downing beers and meat pies whilst Sig was in deep conversation with a good looking sort named Rhonda. Later that evening it was more beers at another local where an Irish band played and Dominic did his stand-up comedy bit and chucked peoples shoes out of the beer garden and into the local Cop Shop grounds.

KAPUNDA - TANUNDA (29KM) - Fri 2nd - Weather 19 and wet

It’s not fun waking up to the sound of rain hitting your tent. It was only a short day’s ride and luckily the weather brightened up. Team gang amalgamated back at a local bakery about 1km out of Tanunda. Sig and Greg were keen to clock up a few more clicks and they ended up doing  a 100km. That evening the team decided to stay in camp and help Sig down a bottle of port whilst watching Gina Davis kill off a thousand or two baddies, what a great movie?

TANUNDA - MT PLEASANT (41KM OR 60KM VIA BIRDWOOD) - Sat. 3^rd - Weather 20-24 cooler

The gang headed out bound straight to town for it’s daily drug fix at a coffee shop.. As the gang was preparing to mount bikes and set off, boobs came up in the conversation, at which point Elfi grabbed her boobs, Silvia grabbed them also, then Mark had a bet with Silvia as to how he could make her boobs move without touching them. He lost the bet but he wasn’t complaining. To the first rest stop it was cold and windy but this didn’t stop the team’s elite female, Silvia finally cycled with the Pegasus group for half the day. The weather improved and at the Mt. Pleasant turn off some of the gang cycled on to Birdwood to view the motor museum. Up to today cycling for Dennis had been more like riding a cart horse rather than a thoroughbred, but due to Nicole’s cold he got his chance to ride a light carbon-fibre bike. What a difference, he was really at home over a piece of equipment light and fast, in fact he commented on how it reminded him of Francis. In camp Elfi had already erected the tent, however the guy ropes had been tied incorrectly and the Velcro straps not fixed. Ian just wanted to correct things  but Elfi said things were OK and he was making a mountain out of a mole hill. Ian relied on his good mate Siggy and showed Elfi Sig’s tent only to find that the Master hadn’t fixed his straps. He may know a bit about bikes but don’t let him fix up a tent! That evening it was off to the Eden Valley Winery for dinner, except for Mark and Silvia who had made other arrangements. Just as they were about to walk off for the evening Super Cyclist Pegasus marched in the arena and asked Silvia, “what shall we do tonight”. Ian replied, pointing to Mark, “You and Him can have some fighting and sex”. Out from the dust Mark appeared ready to stroll into the sunset with his lady by his side. Meanwhile the rest of the team ventured to the Eden Valley dinner hall. This was an old building with a large open fireplace in the corner. It looked great but as the evening progressed so did the build up of smoke in the dining hall. People were talking about it but with nothing being done by the staff Ian decided action was the answer. Having complained to the management twice the third complaint was stated with , “and if  nothing is done this time I will do something myself”. Ian stormed through the dance floor, grabbed a large jug of water and put the fire out and was at once told to leave. Ian and Elfi spent the rest of the night sitting on the bus waiting to return to camp. It was a silent peaceful night at camp until Sig returned in a state of jolly making, giggling and carrying on like can some kind of animal on heat. 

MT PLEASANT - ADELAIDE  (56KM) - Sun 4^th - Weather 26 and just great

The final day in the saddle and only 8km out of camp and again the gang experienced a delightful coffee stop in Birdwood. Back on the bikes and down to the finish through the Adelaide Hills, offering us still more areas of natural beauty and scenery. Just a few small bumps and a really great windy downhill before travelling through the suburbs. Our team generally stayed together and cruised into Rundle Street park, the end of a week’s cycling through some of the best scenery and countryside of any Big Ride. What did the Boys and Gals do on completion of the ride? Yes you guessed it. Went straight to a coffee shop for a caffeine fix and tucker before the hard work of packing and cleaning up at the Big Y in time to catch the flying kangaroo at 3.45 p.m. The afternoon rush went to plan very well, even Siggy was on time, although he didn’t have to take down his tent and pack it. Could it have been classified as a dumpy spit when Sara almost committed murder when told by the airport shuttle driver it’s a dollar extra for the bikes. Mark cooled the nuclear rod down and in retrospect Sara had checked our travel arrangements only the day before with no mention of the extra dollar. Airport food - Do you like it ?,  cos Silvia does. Some of the team had to go to another bistro, the one Silvia was eating at ran out of food. Elfi and Ian were up in Business Class. Ian suggested they travel in the back with the gang. Elfi said he could if he wanted but when in BC why would you wish to be in EC. Ian agreed and stayed where he was. Back in Sydney,  final fare wells and in cabs bound for home. Mark and Dennis took a detour over to Maxwell Pde, via Silvia’s. 

DINNER AT DEE WHY - Mon 5^th

Monday breakfast at Maxwell Pde finished at approx. noon , it was a feast. Having cleaned up, dried off the tents, completed some washing  the Rapp/Maguire's and Mark and Dennis should have worked off the breakfast but instead of exercise toured up to Palm Beach and later over to Whale Beach for a coffee before returning home.  Dinner at Giovanni’s that evening included a few extras to the Big Ride team. Vicky and Bruce, David, Phil, Andrew, Jean-Claude and Sara’s relative all joined in for a great night. Mark insisted on walking Silvia to her car, which she thought was charming and then drove Mark around to Ian’s car where Elfi and Dennis were also waiting, but how cum it took 4 hours.

It was a great ride, full of wonderful scenery,  tremendous company and magic moments, good weather always helps and the time of year made for pleasant cycle temperatures.  Let’s look forward to more of the same.

The South OZ Gang send-off for Mark and Dennis at Dee Why