Today, a mail came through on the Marrickville BUG mailing list, detailing a meeting between a representative of Macquarie BUG and BNSW. There’s more detail here, but the following points (with my comments interspersed) were discussed: BNSW will not put any resources (by which I mean funds or paid staff) into supporting BUGs – Andrew Dodds, who runs the BUGs… Read more →
The amount raised was $334. Thank you again to all who contributed, personally and on behalf of the MS Society.
I’ve finished the diary, had it proofread for mistakes, and an proud to say that I have raised $290 (so far) for the MS Society. That’s the best I have done since 2003, I think. Thank you to all the sponsors who contributed, and I hope that you find that the diary is interesting reading, and a reward of sorts… Read more →
I’ve started annotating/labelling my [tag]photos[/tag], and the first day’s lot are now public on [tag]flickr[/tag]. The set is here. [tags]cycling, Big Ride, NSW[/tags]
I’m home and getting data off the GPS and camera. It’s nice to be dry and in clean clothes. One thing I’ve found… saved tracks on the Garmin Etrex don’t contain enough information to be uploaded to Motion Based (specifically the timestamps). That means that I only have the first two days recorded there for when the Edge had battery… Read more →
I’m writing this from an internet cafe in Port. Unfortunately I’m trapped in IE as there’s no plugging my USB stick with Firefox mobile into the machine. That means that I’m going to be brief and make sure that I clear the browser cache as thoroughly as I can at the end. Day 6 was a bus trip from Wingham… Read more →
I’ve just managed to find an internet cafe in Wingham (a computer shop that supplements its income by supplying on-line access), so I can type up a sumary of the time spent so far ie. the first 4 days: Taree to Tuncurry Tuncurry to Bulahdelah Bulahdelah to Gloucester Gloucester to Wingham Day 1 was stinking hot. We left Taree at… Read more →
This morning I received a phone call from a woman in the BNSW office, which was a reminder about the Coach on Saturday morning. She confirmed that they will be loading from 5am and trying to leave as close to 6am as possible. This is a nice touch that was missing in the last few years.
The Big Ride pack arrived today – it’s small compared to the last years’ efforts and some things are better and some are worse. First, the ride guide (PDFs available here if you want to have a look at the contents) is smaller and has plasticised cover. The glossy pages might better handle getting wet, as well. It’s also in… Read more →
The NSW Big Ride is starting soon again, this year. As usual, I am collecting money to support research into Multiple Sclerosis for the MS Society. This year the course is a rough figure 8, starting at Taree on Saturday the 17th; south and back via Forster, Bulahdelah and Glouster to Wingham. Then it heads north and back via Wauchope,… Read more →
I’ve been looking at the Big Ride website, deciding if it’s worth entering next year, given the poor organisation last year. Unfortunately, the online entry process (which I’d prefer to do), doesn’t inspire confidence. Compare the page at Bicyclensw.com.au – Overview with the process at the Gong Ride. The latter is a proper entry form that is tailored for the… Read more →
The Big Ride 2007 website is on-line in a tentative form. There’s no map yet, but the ride starts at Taree, has a rest day just 13km away, and completes the circuit to the Taree via Port Macquarie, as I understand it.
I promised that I would make my Big Ride data available in Google Earth format. Here it is – both Big Rides and small rides around Sydney.
On the ride home this evening I found myself riding next to Alex Unwin, the BINSW CEO. As I was wearing last year’s ride jersey, he recognised me as a rider and started chatting with me. After a comment about the RTA approved helmet I was wearing (a trade cap), he got to talking about next year’s ride. Apparently it’s… Read more →
I have the final tally – it’s $373.50. Thanks to workmates, friends, family and all others who sponsored me. An especially warm thank-you to the top sponsors: Des and Deb; Deborah Niski; my brother James; and Bobbie, who deserves extra praise for collecting money while I was actually on the ride.
I have created a portal page for the big ride diaries. In a fit of madness, I decided that I could create route data for the previous years’ rides and draw them all on Google Earth. Having done that it was an obvious leap to use it as a starting location for the ride diaries.
Now all tracks are yellow and the hand-crafted route is purple. I’ve also widened them all a bit, as well, so they should all be more legible. Link
This is the link: Link There are maps of the rides so you can see where I was (this is day 3). Update: Some of the map images seem harder to see the routes on, than I thought when I was editing them. Also the Google Earth data file is the one for the second-last day, rather than the total… Read more →
This year was more of a chore. Due to a Kidney infection, on the 5th day (from Tumut to Gundagai) I suffered extreme dehydration – a core temperature of 40 degrees celsius – and collapsed at the first aid station. The put a canula on me right away, and a drip, and sent me by ambulance to Gundagai Base Hospital…. Read more →
I’m off on the Big Ride tomorrow. A quick count of my sponsorship money shows that I’ve raised about $300 for the MS Society. The exact amount will depend on the exact distance I ride, as my brother James has sponsored me to 10c/km. If I get a chance I will find internet cafes and blog when I get to… Read more →
