But...but... we've got immunity...?

I think it was the December of 2003 that we went camping for New Years, somewhere out near Tathra. As a glaring reflection of the pop culture at that time, an unintentional game of Survivor played out. I was in Team Shakira. Team Aguilera didn’t stand a chance. Carly’s Mum had thoughtfully provided the immunity: a hideously ugly belt made of seeds and shells, a gift from a recent trip to Thailand. At the end of the trip, we decided there was no more worthy recipient of the immunity than Mr Bump, Carly’s car. He had taken quite a beating traversing the dirt trails and ditches, and done a stellar job of getting us back out again. Despite his age, Mr Bump delivered us many hours of carefree motoring.

Last month, Mr Bump succumbed to the great big scrapheap in the sky. Yesterday, we received the immunity belt in the mail. Thanks Carly-le!

There has been a whole lot of stuff going on with Crunk that I have not blogged about. At this point, I’d like to say “one of which times ended up like this” and insert a picture, but technology is not my bitch and the photo in question will have to remain on my tantrum-throwing phone (sooo getting an iPhone for Christmas). Let’s just say that the roadside scenery 55km south of Canberra is lovely at this time of year.

Immunity has found a new home with Crunk, and I am placing what I know is a farcical amount of faith in it. I attempted to drive the car back from choir practice yesterday, but an unfamiliar car, in the dark and hilly backstreets of Petersham, is not a good combination for someone who has pretty much forgotten everything she has learnt. Then we saw that it was leaking something.

I hate you, car.

In other news, the choir are singing at Leichhardt Community Church (cnr Lord and Foster Sts) at 7pm-ish this Saturday 18th December with some other acts. Now, for anyone scared of walking into a church, don’t panic. Apparently there were drag queens performing last year. So I think you’ll be ok. Besides, we’re not half bad, so if you’re interested please come along! Plus I just found out that that the show is also a fundraiser (as with all things choir, the details were classically vague but I’m sure it was for a good cause), so in your face, challenge Number #2!

Straight faces

During the course of the ride, I think I can safely say we made 2 strangers laugh. The first was a lovely lady cyclist we met on the incline between Waterfall and Red Cedar Flat – Carly and I were talking about inspirational sausages at the time. The second was as we pulled up at a traffic light in Thirroul, and I (perhaps pre-emptively) exclaimed “We’re so close!” An older, wiser cyclist, had a good chuckle at this.

That brings me to a grand total of 4 laughing strangers and a newfound determination to find a way to catch up on this. One of my ideas had been to break into a dance whenever I could hear somebody’s iPod on the train. I tried it this morning but all I got was one slightly alarmed businessman, one confused urban youth and a carriage full of commuters getting suspiciously more interested in their phones and books all of a sudden.

Sydney to Gong - the saga

5.20am. That’s what time it was when Ben left the house, in the dark, on Sunday morning. I wished him luck, waved goodbye, and decided to try to get another hour’s worth of sleep before getting ready myself. It didn’t work. We were too buzzy.

I had planned big things for Woodstock the bicycle – he was naked: pannier-less, sans-basket. I thought I could shove a bag with a change of clothes and various other goodies under the pannier rack, but then I freaked out at the last minute, worried that the bag would come flying off and wreak all kinds of havoc. So in the end I went with a bottle of Gatorade and a lightweight jacket, with my ID and some loose change in a coin pouch in the back of my gym pants. We were streamlining. In my mind, I needed all the help I could get and if that meant slightly less wind resistance, then I’d take it.

Woodstock and I met Carly-le and her new bike Lady Bump at Newtown station. Carly was even wearing an orange bike shirt, which for someone who has more than a passing aversion to this colour, was already a spectacular step forward. One small step for lady, one giant leap for lady-kind! We wheeled our way down to Sydney Park and were greeted with our first volunteers, frantically waving their plastic noisemakers and pointing giant foam fingers leading us to the start line. We hadn’t even started and we were getting cheers.

Ben’s group had left the starting line at 6.15am so he was well on his way. Our start time was 8am. We saw the main group surge from under the starting flag while we ate a preparatory Mars Bar, shared a free muffin and pinned our rider numbers on. We also nabbed some free Power Bar Gel Blasts, intense little chewy sweets claiming to be pure energy. We saw two bears on a tandem go by. And then we went under the flag, and were on our way. It was 8.05am.

If there was one thing we didn’t want to do, it was burn out early. Neither of us had ridden anywhere even close to 90km in one sitting before, so our mantra became “slow and steady finishes the race”. Most of the roads at the start were segregated by witches hats, so I felt pretty safe, and since we’d left after the main 8am rush we didn’t have the problem of being stuck within a cluster of cyclists (or a ‘peloton’ as I learnt the collective term is for such a group). This had actually been one of my main concerns – being trapped in a pack and having to keep up with them for fear of causing an accident. Fortunately we had long stretches of road to ourselves and were overtaken by many more pelotons as we continued to the first stop at a leisurely pace.

The bike track along Brighton-le-Sands was a pretty cool. To our left was Botany Bay and on the other side of that was the airport, complete with 747s magnificently cruising in over the water. We decided to take some photos while we still looked ‘fresh’.

There were 8 pit stops along the way, and we checked in at the first one to adjust our seats (mine had slipped down to a level where I could just about lick my knees). 14kms down and we’d not even broken a sweat. However it was 16kms to the next one at Loftus Oval and I was quite relieved to see that one appear. We restocked on fluids and muffins (much tastier than expected). I’d received a text from Ben saying he’d made it past Waterfall and the 10kms after that were awful. We tried not to pay too much attention to it.

We passed the third checkpoint, Engadine, where the 58km riders were joining us. “Carly-le,” I said, “We could have started from here!” We continued all the way to Waterfall where we did a quick refill of our water bottles and pushed on. Carly saw an ambulance with a woman inside looking a little worse for wear. We tried not to pay too much attention to that either.

I thought Ben had his checkpoints confused, because after Waterfall it got breathtakingly grand. We were in the National Park now and had a super awesome downhill ride for what felt like an eternity. Dappled sun through the forest canopy, whipbirds cheering us on, just a few other bikes dotted on the road, no cars. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done. It was like a scene from some triumphant coming-of-age film. I felt like whooping and hollering and the wind whistled past like one long joyous high five. (I later found out that Ben’s group had been escorted down this section due to a quite serious accident halfway down. That, combined with being in a tight huddle of cyclists, made the experience not quite as enjoyable for him). It was also somewhere along this section that we hit the 45km mark. Halfway!

The next checkpoint after Waterfall was the National Park lunch stop. We had told ourselves we’d stop there and get a sausage, and that was quite a motivating factor once the wonderful decline started turning in the opposite direction. “Just after this next hill,” we encouraged each other. After what felt like a long time, and halfway up a particularly long and winding incline, Carly turned to me and said, very calmly, “Dee dee… where are the sausages?”

You can only imagine how disappointed we were when we made it to the checkpoint and they HAD RUN OUT OF SAUSAGES. Overall this event was extremely well organised, but the lack of sausages was a bit traumatic. Yes it was almost 12pm by this point, but it wasn’t like there wasn’t anyone behind us… we had to settle for a couple more muffins instead and Carly sampled some coffee. We had a little rest there and chomped up some more gel bursts before heading back onto the hill. Still 39km to go.

What we didn’t realise at this time was that we were halfway up Bald Hill – the toughest part of the course. Not knowing this was inadvertently an excellent strategy. It was reassuring to see how slowly everyone was taking off after the lunch stop, and we were all pedalling uphill but still with enough energy left to briefly converse with each other. There was an amazing man who had a buggy attached to the back of his bicycle, pulling along his wife who suffered from MS. We rode with them for a while. We also saw a surprising number of tandems and a few younger children putting in the hard yards. We even saw the bears again. We were so rejuvenated after the beautiful ride through the national park and the lunch stop that we didn’t seem to recognise we were in the middle of the difficult bit. We started overtaking people on these hills. We were machines!

Just as we started to tire of going uphill, a vast sky appeared. Otford Lookout greeted us, with 30kms to go.


This was the last time that Carly and I stopped. We were surprised at how well we were holding up, but we also could see Wollongong far in the distance. And the hardest bit was over (theoretically).

At the top of Bald Hill, we could see down into Stanwell Park and the Grand Pacific Drive ahead of us. Due to the steepness of the hill, we were escorted by police motorcycle down into the town, but at greater speed than expected. Going downhill is fun. The views were gorgeous and the beach smelt wonderful. Going over the Sea Cliff Bridge was fricking amazing too. Hello Pacific Ocean.

The last 20kms, while not terribly challenging terrain, was tough on tired legs. The hills were small but heaved with effort. Scarborough was the one place where we were forced to dismount, three quarters of the way up a sharp ascent. I made the mistake of trying to stand and pedal. It was my downfall (not literally. I am happy to say we made it through the entire ride accident-free). As we went by Scarborough Hotel, we observed a large number of bikes locked up outside. Turns out that many seasoned riders use this as an un-posted pit stop for a hard-earned beer. We pulled up at some traffic lights later and one of the policemen asked if we’d stopped there. We hadn’t, but some others in our pack had, and asked “you haven’t brought your breathalizer, have you?” In keeping with the spirit of the thing, the policeman patted his pockets and replied “nah, don’t think I’ve got it on me today”.

We were looking for markers telling us how far we had to go, and each time seemed like it was lying. “That definitely felt like longer than 5kms.” My right knee decided to complain very loudly at around the 20km mark. We passed 15kms, 13kms, then finally 10kms. We had made it to Wollongong. Traffic lights kicked in and stopping became the enemy – red lights meant a dismount and violent cramping. I tried to push with my good leg and keep the other one moving but without the pressure.

Then, a bike path, and people waving, and lovely volunteers yelling encouragement as we neared the end. Stuart Park - 1 km! I could barely believe it. Then we saw the Finish banner – what an amazing sight. Determined to finish strong, we both pedalled up the path – and then were waved onto the grass towards the finish line which was a horrible swampy mess. It felt so cruel to have to crawl through this quagmire in the final 10 metres and all I could think of was “don’t fall off now… please don’t fall off now…” Fortunately, neither of us did. According to my watch (which was later discovered to have gained 20 minutes during the course of the journey… strange), we arrived at 3.55pm. 6 hours and 50 minutes of cycling. We were still amazed. Did we just do that?

Mission accomplished

Just so you know, we all made it to Wollongong yesterday. I had planned to take some video footage at various stops but freaked out at the last minute and realised I had nowhere to keep my camera while riding, so I will have to share a few photos from Carly's camera phone later. I will write a proper post when I'm not still so sore and tired (and hideously sunburnt), but the good news is, we made it the whole 90kms and were still smiling at the end of it. I was telling people it took us 6 hours 50 minutes but that was before I realised that my kinetic watch had somehow sped itself up by 20mins during the course of the ride. Weird. So, we did it in somewhere between 6hrs 30mins and 6hrs 50mins, including stops. Ben did it in something like 4 hours, because he is an incredible freak.

I'm so proud of us! And collectively we raised $1700 for MS. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday, really.

Keeping things interesting

Nothing much to report these last two days, except that I tried to get in touch with Father Kevin BC again, had a good chat to Carly-le about the bike ride which left me feeling a little lighter about the situation, and sang nicely at gospel rehearsal. Annoyingly one of our best gigs got cancelled.

A cancelled rehearsal left a beautifully open night, which was then immediately filled by the prospect of dinner with some friends it felt like we hadn’t seen for a decade. Sleep is a nice option too, but who can possibly pass up a chance to say hello to this little face?

Hi Baotze!

I’m going for a spin class with Scobie on Saturday morning, so, I may or may not regret that later. They’ve called it “Cycle class” to make it appear less terrifying but they can’t fool me. If that doesn’t strike me down with a migraine then we have 30th Birthday No. 1 Saturday afternoon, picnic style in the sun, and then later in the evening we move onto 30th Birthday No. 2 which is swanky dinner stylee and I will probably even wear a skirt, amazing. Then on Sunday we’re back at Day Job Studios to play with Bam— I mean, record some exquisite music with Briscoe. You know, just a regular weekend really.

And a gig at the Bald Faced Stag in Leichhardt tonight, for anyone so inclined…

Bike maths

It took me 35 minutes to ride into work this morning – new personal best. Self esteem win. I did however have another high flying business jerk dangerously cut me off on Abercrombie St at whom I yelled the C word very loudly, so I’m also glad I didn’t get arrested. Ben’s got some new App on his phone that tracks his journeys and gives him a reading of his average speed, distance travelled, etc. It’s pretty cool and significantly cheaper than buying one of those fangled bike computers. Yesterday he did 9.94 kms in 27.14 mins, so that’s looking like just over 4 hours to get down to Wollongong. A worthy target. Me, I guess I’m averaging out at around 40 minutes for 8.2kms, so that brings me in at the slightly less impressive time of 7.3 hours. Ben leaves at 6.30am so as expected will probably be frolicking in the ocean or gorging on French toast well before 11am. I leave at 8am so I’ll be lucky to arrive before 4pm. Yikes. Carly has tried to alleviate my concerns by reminding me that she doesn’t even own a bike yet... but I'm not sure if it's working.

It’s the 22nd, and I need to record my 2 songs. Jacob’s is entitled “Tiny Mantis” and is about distracting myself from bigger issues by watching the wildlife directly outside my window. Bart’s is entitled “The Ballad of the Substandard Cyclist” and is rather self-explanatory. To be honest, neither of them are 100% complete, but I was kind of hoping that if I pointed behind you and yelled “hey look at that really interesting thing over there!” nobody will notice.

Oh yeah, and we’re playing at Marrickville Festival on Sunday for a blazing hot 20 minutes. Come and be amazed! And also, make yourself sick on gozleme. But mostly be amazed.

Kitchen epiphany

Cooked dinner for Carla & Jez on Friday night – my first risotto. It mostly went ok, but the rice wasn’t quite cooked even after all the stock had been absorbed, so Ben had to give me a few helpful pointers. He also made some kick-arse garlic bread and we added a salad to boot. And the verdict? They both had seconds and even admitted to being full at the end of it. With Jeremy being quite a strapping young lad and Carla having earned an extra appetite since picking up a uterus hitchhiker, that was an achievement in itself. Win! They’ve got the pictures on their camera so you’ll have to wait for the photos.

I’ve very quickly learnt that recipes aren’t really my bag. I’m one of these people that skims through cookbooks and food websites, kind of scrunches their nose up at everything, and then proceeds to make it up. Cooking is very different to baking, and I grew up clinging to Mum’s metaphorical (and literal) apron waiting for my opportunity to sift flour or stir in the chocolate bits, so I’m ok with baking. And baking requires strict adhesion to recipe. One of the joys I’m discovering with cooking is that I can just make stuff up as I go along, and as long as I don’t do anything too ridiculous, it’ll probably work out. It doesn’t really matter too much how many carrots you put in or how much wine gets added (although I find ‘just a bit more’ to be a good rule), just trust your taste buds. It’s fun.

I also spent an hour cycling around Centennial Park with Carly on Saturday morning. What a fantastic way to start the day! Sunshine, puppies, the wind in your face. We managed four laps and probably could have managed another hour. We took it at leisurely pace, maintained a conversation the whole way around, and it was a lot easier than I remember it being. The only problem was, I was knocked out by a headache in the afternoon, even after taking pre-emptive painkillers. I think I am allergic to endorphins. It sucks. Actually it is because I get "exertion headaches", even though I didn’t feel like I was exerting myself all that much. Stupid exercise. This could pose a problem on the day of the event, but this 'exercise intolerance' feels like such a cop out that I am determined to ignore them. The doctor says 1 in 100 people or so get them but there’s nothing I can do about it that I’m not already doing, so, whatever. Anyway, the moral of the story is, I can cycle for an hour without wanting to die, so that is very exciting news. I think it was about 15km or something, so now I know I can get at least a 6th of the way to Wollongong.

Sunday songwriting

A quiet Sunday. How unexpectedly lovely. I've done some chores, been reprimanded by my Wii Fit, watched some stupid videos on the internet, ate some spring rolls. Carly-le called and let me know she registered for the Sydney to Gong bike ride, so that's awesome. And I finished a song, which I've now sent to Jacob to listen to... it's harmony central in the world of Garageband. I spoke to Bart yesterday about the doubling up of certain tasks, but his postcard specifically mentioned that the song has to be about one of the challenges I'm doing. This was not one of those songs. I may have time to squeeze one in before dinner though. The actual process of writing a song isn't that difficult. It's writing one that doesn't suck that is the real struggle. The beauty of Bart's challenge is, the song doesn't necessarily even need to be 'good', in theory... it's just a method (although being 'good' would be a nice bonus). I'm aware I spend too much time overthinking my music. Being forced to write something once a month, without the pressure of it being for the band, is going to be very mind-opening for me. "Even G, C, and D can be beautiful if the vibe is right." Those 3 chords work for a reason, even if Matchbox 20 did ruin it for all of us for a while there.

I got 2 more postcards this week, so I currently have a total of 20 challenges. Receiving one from my old english teacher was amazing, as I wasn't actually sure I'd found her; and I can't say I wasn't relieved when another challenge arrived which was to merely read a certain book.... and it wasn't even Ulysses or War & Peace or anything painful like that (I tried to read Moby Dick once but must admit I was well and truly beaten by about page 30). A few more challenges like that one might be nice. If I am to complete a full 29 challenges in 52 weeks that means I have to average completion of one challenge every 1.7 weeks or so. And I'm already 2.5 weeks into this thing. Ah.

Next week is my very last week of crazy shit, and then I can concentrate on this a little more. Step 1: driving lessons. Oh yeah, and I'm cooking salmon tonight.

We be riding a bike fo' charity, yo!

So, in rising to the challenge of one miss Carly-le, I have just registered for the Sydney to the Gong ride bike for MS. I was initially very excited about this, but my current emotional state on this latest action is wavering somewhere around the 'so terrified I might vomit a little bit' mark.

If you're feeling generous, you can donate some money here on my fundraising page. It will give you a sense of enormous well-being! In Australia, over 20,000 people currently have MS, but this figure is increasing as diagnosis methods become more advanced. There is no cure, so hopefully my pedal power will go a tiny way towards funding the research to finding one.

Still think I'm going to vomit... oh dear.