Sunday, February 22, 2009

Day 10 - The flat, sun and fire trucks

Today started with a massive reminder as to just how lucky i am. I awoke to not only find the car packed ready to go but also my clothes for that day laid out ready for me to put on. As you would imagine I was totally wiped out the night before and had dosed off after dinner, meanwhile Adam had stayed up to the wee hours packing and organising.

Adam definitely had a good eye for shots, this was taken at Apex Park.

Once we were both up and ready we headed out to Apex Park and got the bike ready to go. Here we had to wait to recieve a call from ABC Gipsland who wanted to conduct an interview. Once the call was done it was back on my bike and pedal, pedal, pedal, no matter how much my legs told me it was a bad idea. Now I have dreaded leaving Lakes Entrance the entire trip because a few months ago I drove down the hill I'd have to cycle up. I must say I had no troubles up the hill this morning and was very chuffed at the fact that I screamed up it without raising so much as a sweat. The rest of the day was exceptionally flat, with gradual ups and even more gradual downs. I found myself just continuously spinning and my bum could feel every turn. As it turned out, even with the late start I still arrived early to the rests and I really did appreciate that extra 5-10min rest.

Today heated up quite fast and being a dry heat this was not the best section of road to be on. I was however very good and forced myself to drink double what I would normally. An interesting game I've leanned to play on the road to pass the time and distract from the pain is called count the fire vehicles speeding in my direction... Today's tally was 7 and they were all on the last 10km of the ride. So far fire safety seems fine but we are staying alert.

I finally found my pedal boat, not so sure I'll need it any more given this heat

Once we got to Sale we were greeted by the Sale / Maffra Parkinson's Support group at the Sale Showground. Given the heat we all took shelter and a seat under the shade and chatted for the better part of an hour, which was so very nice especially after riding alone. It meant a lot that this support group went to such lengths to get out to say hello and I thank them. I would also like to thank Rob, the grounds keeper at Sale Showground, who provided us with a lot of support.

Sale / Maffra Parkinson's Support group and I shading under a tree.

The afternoon was spent setting up camp and heading into town to collect supplies. One of the required supplies was Araldite as at the first rest stop the sole of my cycling shoes sheared off and has since been held on by duct tape (not the most sturdy). Tonight Adam and I plan to go the the Greyhound's Club and play some Bingo if we can (I've never played Bingo before).

Tomorrow is a fairly short day into Moe which my legs are grateful for.

Rest easy.

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