Day 2 Morisset to Buladelah

On again

Up at 5.40am to pack up the tent. Last night i forgot mention that Johnny gained his nickname - Reg the Conductor - After trying to sit in the vacant seat at the emergency exit of the mini bus. Thats our Johnny - always thinking of others and offering his seat to others.

Ray somehow survived the night in his livable coffin. My mattress decided to deflate at 10.30pm the previous night. We left the camp ground to ride to breakfast at Morriset Country Club. No notable mention here, except that Johnny must be sponsored by Ceylon Tea, as he used 4 bags to make 1 cup.

We left Morriset to head off to Hexham. Cliff from day 1 (Cliff Peters Printing - aka the Red Baron) moved up the ranks to Pack 7. We thought he was dreaming - but didn't catch sight of him for the rest of the day. A pity, as we thought we may have grabbed a sponsors name t-shirt at dinner.

The 42 kms to Maccas at Hexham was a good pedal - arriving at 10.45 having left at 7.50. After morning tea 4 of out team moved upto Pack 7, obviously thinking the Baron was onto a good thing. Our numbers now down to 17, we felt we were the Pack to be in, and started some moves that would have pleased the hardest judges of Ceroc. Once over the Hexham bridge, we began the rollovers, which to the simplest road rider is pretty straight forward. Nevertheless we even managed to master this procedure, and flew past Heatherbrea, with high hopes of hitting Buladelah well before the 4.00pm Souths Manly game.

Moving on towards Karuah, I started to reflect on the new sponsors shirt and nicks (shorts) I was wearing, having been distributed last night after dinner. All the Kelleher boys wore their new kit, although unfortunately Chris Kelleher couldn't make it, and his gear was worn by John. After 60 kms or so, I realised the new nicks weren't as well padded in the rear end as my other nicks. This was compounded by the fact that i had a distinct numb feeling in the rear section of my seating.

I have since rang one of Kevin Rudds 2024 medical advisers, and suggested that he convene a panel to investigate if we could eliminate anesthetists from Prostrate operations, as I feel sure that after 3 hours riding in a non-padded pair of shorts on a non-gel seat by males diagnosed with such problems, that one could have the procedure done in an hour, not feel a thing, have a cup of tea at the same time (imagine the hospitality dollars - not to mention if we offered the service to overseas patients!). The good doctor could have a wow of a time, and all would be happy.

Before setting off on this ride, I heard 2 things of interest. One was that male bike riders often had an enlarged prostrate. I now feel an expert in this area, and am happy to advise any bloggers. Secondly that bike riders can suffer from a decreased libido. I'm no expert here, but am appreciative of the home support over the past 3 months in training of over 1500kms. And 910kms this week. And Mark is doing 2000kms in the USA in August / September.

Back to the bike riding - we were cruising into Karuah when I popped a tyre, with a massive puncture. 12 kms out of Karuah wasn't too bad, but again it was my rear wheel. On the way out of Karuah, I then found I had another flat BEFORE leaving for the third leg to Buladelah. Whilst Ray may have been the Investor, I had now become the Speculator, accumulating two flats in no time, and breaking all starting records for flats at the beginning of a session.

Adrian Dixon - our brother in law - joined us at about 12.15, and began taking photos. He did this constantly in the afternoon to Buladelah, often lurking in the bushes on the side of the road, peaking out to take a shot or two as went by. Some of Pack 9 thought we were being stalked, but were soonn assured all was OK.

Unfortunately on the way into Karuah about 4 kms from town having left the Freeway, our skipper Chris landed in a sunken tarred pothole, which caused him to lose control of the bike. He flew awkwardly into the air and sideways, landing heavily on his side. Riding in formation, Lee broke off into the side grass bank, whilst Dave caught in the spotlights veered but ran over Chris's front wheel. It was all pretty scary, but luckily Chris was OK apart from some heavy bruises and lost skin. Luckily we have a doctor in our group (who is also a physio - waht luck hey!) It showed just how quickly something can go wrong, and the need to concentrate and work as team when riding as a pack. Earlier on, there had been a bad accident near the exit to Dungog, when three of the Pack 1 riders crashed at 50kms a road on the freeway, after 2 tyres had merely touched. On guy had a broken collarbone, another taken to hospital (later discharged), with all having serious skin loss.

Leaving Karuah, we had 45 kms to Buladelah, and rode steadily as a pack to arrive at 3.30pm

We travelled 128kms in 5 hours 25 minutes averaging about 23.6kms an hour.

At dinner, I was lucky enough to win the major raffle, which was a Toyota. The other winner actually wanted the Toyota, so I swapped them for their prize, which was a Black BMW. I am over the moon, as so many times i have wanted a black BMW, but all I could do was sit and watch. No more i promise you.

I'll post a picture tomorrow.

When we got home from dinner to the Caravan Park, somehow Ray's hutch had been either ran over, or sabotaged. I did some emergency repairs, but am worried that with heavy dew, it may not survive the night.

Off to my tent now - dew heavy, but I think some of my sleeping bag is dry

Riding from Buladelah to North Haven tomorrow