Have Kids, Will Big Ride

So I guess our family of five constituted one third of the Coffs contingent on this year's Big Ride! (Only two bikes though!) And this year we were 'pros' - having completed the 2006 ride from Holbrook to Binalong. We were a bit unsure about whether to go back again, but the 'retrospect' had set in; I won an entry! - plus we now had a triplet (instead of a tandem + trail-a-bike) which really needed a decent road test. In the end it was too hard to say no, despite our concerns with the rainfall statistics for that time of year on that part of the coast!

We did do it a bit tough last year - so we upped our training this time with a combination of our own family rides, and building up time in the saddle by getting to as many BUG rides and Saturday community rides as the work and (kids') recreation calendar and grumbling children would permit. It all paid off (whoever said training is overrated?!).. and we think we handled this year's ride really well. Our backsides didn't complain, and we rode all the hills. Most days we were riding in the middle of the field. The only time we were even noticed by the COGS riders was the Gloucester to Wingham day when we got 2 flats on the triplet before even getting out of the main street. It wasn't a good feeling being just about last out of town, but we gradually caught up with people (and the attentive COGS rider realised he didn't need to talk us up each hill, and drafted us down the next!)

As the other Coffs riders would have noticed, we certainly weren't the only people there riding with kids on tandems. (There were even two other triplets!) Contrary to what you might expect, the kids coped with it all amazingly. They thrived on the social life with the other kids - every night making a bee-line from dinner to dodge ball games on the oval (where possible), and we would have to drag them off to bed so they could get up at 5 am and do it all over again the next day!

Doing the Ride with the kids probably makes our experience of it somewhat different to the rest of you. Yes, we do get envious of those of you who are able to get up later, packed earlier, and on their bikes before us! (And 7 am photo shoots are just impossible!) We ended up hanging with quite a few of the other dads and kids who ride tandems - both on and off the bikes. Drafting each other in a tandem/triplet train along some of those flats and down the hills is a hoot! Most afternoons we were pressured to go swimming - their idea of the Big Ride is a regional pool tour (and so they aren't so impressed with towns with no pools!) But in hindsight the hydrotherapy isn't such a bad idea... And getting a dip in the ocean a couple of times this year was a bonus as well.

Our grand plans to ride up to Comboyne (via Elands) on the rest day didn't eventuate. Common sense prevailed , the 'peasants' revolted, and so one other dad + kid and us drove up (visiting Ellenborough Falls on the way), and stayed in the great accommodation we had pre-booked. If you ever want to investigate the area for bike riding (apparently there are a lot of great MTB rides around there) we'd recommend the place we stayed - A Country Affair. The owner, Steve, is a keen bike rider and is keen to help in any way, including doing drop offs and pick ups for rides. (They provided freshly baked bread for dinner and breakfast as well!)

The dads drove the cars back to Taree and Wingham the next morning and caught the shuttle bus back up. Despite the kids being disappointed to have missed (winning) Red Faces at camp, we were glad we didn't risk the triplet on the truck. And we got to sleep in a king size bed!

Anyway, we certainly got to experience a range of conditions this year - road, campsites, and weather. The first day I nearly got heatstroke, and the last day - well, 'wet' doesn't seem to describe it adequately! When we were finally on our way home we suggested to the girls that maybe next year Dad and I could do the Big Ride by ourselves. "No way!" came the response. "We want to do it again!"

I think we may have created a monster...

Tracey Schmidt

The 2007 NSW Big Ride

Well, 15 cyclists from Coffs Harbour completed the annual weeklong NSW Bigride along with about 1170 other cyclists. For many BUG members this ride is the highlight of their cycling year. Congratulations to April and Steven who successfully completed their first Bigride. Apparently not their last they tell me!

So how did you go? I’d love to hear your comments.

I think the ideal ride would have everyday a downhill like Comboyne with scenery like along the Lakes Way and would have at the end of each day a surf like Tuncurry, a campsite like Gloucester with a stream to swim in, dinner in a sawmill like at Buladelah and a place to roam around like Timbertown.

There would be those who would disagree and say, no, we want more days with the heat radiating off the bitumen as on day one, more steep hills as on the way to Buladelah and Gloucester and heavy all night rain and a flooded campsite as at the final camp!
Yes, we sure had variety! And we tested or expanded our comfort zones!

I don’t know about all these over 60 year olds though. I hope if I ever live that long I will have realised you are meant to play bowls in your retirement!

Don’t forget to fill in the Bigride Survey on http://www.bigride.com.au. This has to be done by 15th April. It is your chance to say what you thought were the pluses and minuses of this years ride. But first add your comments to this by clicking on “Comments”.

Happy Cycling

John Gray

How to be a BUG blogger...

Welcome to Coffs BUG Blog - an interactive online journal and forum for our BUG members running alongside our Coffs BUG website . It is a way for BUG members, in between meetings and rides, to communicate about all things BUG and all things cycling. (Here's some more info on what a blog is.)

Any BUG member can contribute a post, and anyone can comment to give feedback on whatever has been posted. What is a post? It is basically just a journal entry, and it can be commentary, opinion, news, ideas, thoughts, links to interesting "stuff" ... whatever! As you can see, photos can be added as well.

The easiest method (at this stage) for members to contribute a 'post' is to email their post in any sort of document to trace(at)exemail.com.au. (replace the (at) with the @ symbol). Tracey will post it up for you as soon as possible - most likely same day. Photos should be attached separately in the email... and you should indicate in the text where you want which photos to be placed.

(If you are already familiar with blogging, or not fazed by working your way through such stuff, you could post your own posts. Talk to Tracey or John on one of the rides about getting the passwords and such.)

As the blog grows, we'll get a feel for the sort of categories of posts we have, label them, and then put a list of categories in the sidebar so that you can click on them and find posts on a particular theme.

Any photos of BUG rides would be terrific to post up. As you will see from the example post I did earlier the smaller photo in the body of the post links to a bigger size/resolution one - so it's fine to send a large size photo. [If you have some good photos, but only a dial-up connection I'll happily call in sometime and collect them on a usb-drive or cd] As the new website 'apprentice' (and on the lookout for more BUG photos) the better resolution you can give me photos in, the better, so that I can crop them down to the size required. If they are taken or given to me in a low resolution, I can't make them bigger!!

If you don't want to post, that's fine too. There is a comment feature at the end of each post (Select 'other', and use your first name..) Blog posters love to get feedback so have a go, and make them feel "loved". And this blog is all about conversation!


Tracey
BUG Website Apprentice & Blogmeister.

The Gospel According to John

My brother tells me cycling is the new golf but hey, I reckon it is the new religion. And verily I say unto you: liberate yourself from your motor cars, stir yourself from your slothful Sunday slumber and get on yer bike!

For mankind was intelligently designed to ride a bicycle. Do not the hands fall naturally onto the handlebars? The posterior naturally onto the seat? And the feet are cleverly designed to go round in little circles just like the pedals all due to that brilliant idea of having a bend at the knee!
There will be those who would argue against this and say that we evolved and adapted to the bicycle over time but they can produce no evidence to back up such silly ideas.

There are probably more people practicing this new religion on a Sunday than going to church and there are new converts all the time. Actually the churches would profit from a “Ride to Church” campaign! Kick it off in Bike Week maybe? Imagine the billboards outside the churches on cycleways: “Don’t ride past- drop in for communion and coffee!”

This also opens up questions about whether there is a cycling hell and a cycling heaven. Well, plenty of cyclists have related first hand experiences of both of them. They talk about that ride into Forbes on the last day of the 2001 Bigride into a howling headwind that reduced many to tears, or, back in the ‘90s, the 120 km Cooma Bigride day over mountainous terrain in freezing rain. Or, more happily, the two and a half hour totally downhill ride you can do from Kintamani to Ubud in Bali. Actually most cyclists idea of cycling heaven would be that it would all be downhill!

This new religion can’t promise eternal life but it can promise a longer, healthier, happier life and can back that up with statistics which all religions should have to do. And it could be the salvation of the environment too.

Anyway, I’m a believer!

Brother John 5/3/07

Bug Bikes.. Arrawarra - March 4