Today’s final hubbard award, and the “Hubbards Hubbard” for the ride went to Jonathan for having the smallest legs and feet in history. Jono’s ankle socks came half way up his calves and thats where he chose to fashionably leave them. Jono also has a unique ability to pull the funniest faces whilst cycling you will ever see.

Today’s final yellow jersey went to Bill Cox for his involvement and commitment to not only this ride, but all other previous rides as well. Bill is a very handy cyclist with a heart of gold. Well Done Bill.

Today the riders fuelled up up at Tallwoods Resort, before donning their slightly soggy cycling shoes and boarding the bus back to the Pacific Highway.

Once we reached the highway the riders all geared up, mounted their trusty steeds and were on their way for the final destination 160km away. At this point we decided it was time for a final group shot (Oh what memories).

First and Final rest stop for the day was at Browns Flat 20km north of Heatherbrae and the guys were making great time due to the tail wind. The boys were averaging almost 38km an hour and were running 30 mins ahead of the 2pm arrival time in Newcastle.

Time for the final leg into Newcastle. So far we had avoided the rain, but 5km into the final leg down she came making the last 46K soggy and uncomfortable, atleast we still had a tail wind. The guys pressed on and made great time and made the final turn into Ronald McDonald House Newcastle just after 1:30pm. Top Effort Fellas.

All the riders received a hero’s welcome and there was lots of kisses and cuddles from excited family members (and riders too).

Once inside Ronny Donny house the riders changed and had a bite to eat and a catchup with the family. Some formal presos were done to thank the volunteers and sponsors, and announce the “Riders Rider” which this year was presented to Brett Hadley. Brett worked tirelessly as a lead rider, but also was on hand to help with mechanical issues (and there were heaps), offer advice to the Hubbards, assemble bikes for school visits, being a major sponsor, and for being a top bloke. I could keep on going on about Brett’s achievements but it would just embarass him, so lets just say he definately deserved the award.

After the formalities, the riders retired to scrub up for tonights black tie grand finale function at Klosters BMW Newcastle. The venue was awesome, and Andrew Daddo (as MC) ensured the punters found out a little of the rides shenannigans (not too much though). The function featured Ice Carving, Great music, a chance to unwind, as well as an auction which raised a further $20,000 for the ride. Thanks to Adam Sherman and the Newy licencees for putting on the grand finale bash.

That pretty much brings this years ride to a close. 1015km over 8 packed days. $375,000 in much needed funds for Ronald McDonald House Newcastle and Tamworth. Friendships forged that will endure, and a trip which none of us will ever forget.

Thanks to all our Sponsors, Riders, Support Crew, and Volunteer’s who made this ride possible.

Wilko, Gibbo, Brenno, and Zok signing off.

Today’s Hubbard award was awarded to Philip Jobling.

The briefing saw the presentation of the Yellow Jersey which was handed to Chris Rodgers for his continuing commitment to his personal health, well being, as well as his commitment to the ride and the charity. Well done Mate and thanks for you significant contribution.

Lincoln’s nutritional talk today left an impression (not), he gave free reign to eat and drink as much as we like hoping reverse psychology would work (wrong, wrong, wrong – doesn’t work Mate).

First Assignment for the day was a short ride to Hastings Public School for our final school visit to discuss RMHC and Bicycle Safety. The Rural Fire Service also did a talk on fire safety. Each class was awarded a First prize and Runner up prize in the colouring in competition. 2 lucky winners also had their names drawn from the box to win a brand new BMX by Alani Cockshutt who is a student at Hastings Public School. Alani’s family stayed with us at Ronald McDonald House in Newcastle when Alani was seriously ill.

The staff and students raised $286 for RMHC which was gratefully received by Ross Bingham, Thanks to all involved. After a quick Q&A the boys mounted up for the first leg into Kew for our first stop some 40km ahead.

The guys battled some horrible conditions and the rain did not relent. The boys made great time considering the conditions and reached the first stop by 11:45. The boys rehydrated very quickly and were back in the saddle headed for Taree Macca’s for Lunch.

After another tough 44km leg in terrible conditions, the boys reached Taree Macca’s at 2pm for some well earned lunch and a chance to get out of the rain. Thanks to Evo and the team at Taree Macca’s for looking after us.

At this point it was decided the final 28km leg into Hallidays Point via the Lakes Way was far too dangerous because of unsurfaced roads due to roadwork’s, as well as the prevailing weather conditions. With help from the support crew the bags were unloaded and all riders changed and were bussed into our accommodation at Tallwoods, Hallidays Point for some R&R prior to tonight’s function. Some of the riders availed themselves of the massage services provided by Lorellin Day Spa (thanks heaps).

Today’s briefing saw the presentation of the Yellow Jersey which was handed to David Munro for his consistent and ever improving cycling skills and his outstanding contribution to the charity from last nights function raising ($46,000). It’s also Munna’s Birthday, Happy Birthday mate.

Lincoln gave a highly educational talk on balanced nutrition to ensure the riders are not consuming non essential calories. On behalf of the slightly overweight group (OK, maybe more than slightly overweight) we say thanks.

Today’s Hubbard award was awarded to Graham Lees for breaking a gear cable, exploding a tyre, and visiting the local GP due to a wasp sting. For those that don’t know what the Hubbard award is take a look at the following link to get a bit of a general feel for what it represents. It is a very light hearted award given daily by John Lynch.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hubbard

The boys made great time and reached the Urunga rest stop at the 31km mark in just over an hour. From Urunga the guys pedalled some tough hills and reached the Paddy’s Rest Area at the 75km mark just south of Macksville right on time. The sun was really beating down and was approaching 26 degrees with no wind in sight. The boys rehydrated very quickly and were back in the saddle headed for Kempsey Macca’s for Lunch.

After Lunch the peleton headed for Kempsey South Public School for a school visit to discuss RMHC and Bicycle Safety. Each class was awarded a First prize and Runner up prize in the colouring in competition.2 lucky winners also has their names drawn from the box and received a brand new BMX bike. Congratulations to all the winners.

All the staff and students then sang David Munro Happy Birthday, (nice princess cake!)

The Staff and students also kindly made a donation to RMHC which was gratefully received by Ross Bingham. After a quick Q&A the boys mounted up for the final leg into Port Macquarie some 46km ahead. The guys battled some pretty rough road and traffic conditions and there was some pretty strong wind making progress tough.

After 161km and 9.5 hours the guys arrived into Port Macquarie at 4:30 to check into the Mercure Centro Hotel for some much needed R&R before tonight’s function.

Tonight’s function was held at the Westport Club hosted by Brett and Jacquie Jones. The function room was fabulous and looked a million bucks (great effort guys). The fundraiser included a silent auction with items donated by all the local businesses, as well as a traditional auction with some fantastic memorabilia items. The night was fabulous, well organised, with some great entertainment and some scrumptious food. Total fundraising for the night exceeded $20,000 bringing our ride total to $327,000.

At the completion of the festivities the group walked back to the Hotel for some well earned sleep. Big thanks to all the guys who organised tonight’s function especially Mel and Allan Turner. It was outstanding.

Day 7 Completed. There are now only 275km and 2 more sleeps until we see our families in Newcastle. We are all missing our loved ones heaps. Tomorrows ride takes us into Halidays Point via Taree with 114.7km ahead of the guys.

Gibbo and Brenno signing off.

The stars of the morning award ceremony were the two Rossie B’s. Ross Baines was the recipient of the Hubbard award for exceeding the maximum structural design load for his seat post on the main decent of Day 5, and Ross Bingham was awarded the Yellow Jersey for not only his continual hard work and dedication to RFSK and Ronald McDonald house but for also being a much improved, hardworking and dedicated member of the RFSK rider peleton.

The first stop of the day and third school visit of the week was at Grafton Public School whose staff and students raised in excess of $300, thanks guys  and well done! 11 prizes were awarded for the colouring in competition and 2 lucky students were also the winners of a brand new bike.

The ride said goodbye today to Wilco and Zoran with a quick dash off to Coffs Harbour Airport, thank you guys for all your hard work we can only try to follow in your footsteps….

The guys hit the road again and worked nicely as a group through some very picturesque country side.

Hot and humid conditions and a few mechanical issues made the going a little slower than expected today , but these were easily overcome by the more technically proficient members of the crew. Ross Bingham was resplendent in his Yellow Jersey today and was seen to be sitting in the bunch surrounded by his faithful comrades.

After a quick drinks stop at Coramba it was full steam ahead to Coffs Harbour. Thanks goes out to Mark of the Coffs Harbour Highway Patrol for his police escort for the final 6kms into Coffs, making the journey through the busy city centre to our stop over destination of Novotel Pacific Bay resort a very safe one for all involved. The completion of todays’ stage leaves 439Km of ride time ahead.

After a hearty lunch (at 3pm) some of the riders took advantage of the massage facilities to rejuvenate their legs and bodies in preparation for tomorrows 164km stage from Coffs Harbour to Port Macquarie.

The evening function was organised by Dave and Carol Munro and was hosted by Bellbowrie Motors.

The highlight of the night was the auction which raised $46,000 for the ride. The main auction item was a Skoda Roomster which attracted some very healthy and frenzied bidding. This brought the total raised for this years ride so far to $306,000, which has already exceeded last years total. Well done to everyone.

Special thanks go to all of tonights sponsors who donated auction items and helped make tonights function a outstanding sucess. Invest Blue, Southern Cross Ten, Bellbowrie Motors, Coffs Coast Advocate, Skoda Australia.

Pacific Bay Resort and the Tranquility Spa have showed the riders and support crew some great hospitality which is very much appreciated.

Cheers for Now

Gibbo and Breno

]]> http://www.rideforsickkids.org/?feed=rss2&p=1533 http://www.rideforsickkids.org/?p=1490 http://www.rideforsickkids.org/?p=1490#comments Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:30:38 +0000 Phil http://www.rideforsickkids.org/?p=1490 After breakfast, the riders convened in  the lobby to announce the recipient of the daily hubbard award. Today the award was present to David Munro for breaking his bike the day before. This award was confirmed later in the day when he managed to fall of his bike, whilst completely stationery.

The riders departed Glen Innes in a thick cover of fog this morning which caused the riders to ride with a bit more caution as at times, visibilty was only about 20 metres. Once the fog cleared, the pace picked up and the riders began making up for some lost time. Lincoln has been riding with a camera on his helmut, which became loose and fell of causing the group to once again to come to a stop. So in 2 days, Lincoln has managed to break his bike and now an expensive helmut camera. As the group was leaving Glen Innes, they encountered some cattle feeding on the sides of the road which, saw the boys slow down to avoid any possible danger.

The scenery changed significantly as the group left Glen Innes and rode closer to Grafton. We went from fields of cattle and flat terrain to lovesh forests and rivers. At t he 80km mark, the riders were split into 5 groups to tackle the 14 kilometre down hill ride. Some of the riders hit speeds of inexcessive of 70 km/h down the straights and at times needed to slow down to a bout 20 km/hrs to navigate around some hairpin turns.

After the down hill run, the riders re grouped and continued on there way to Grafton.  After checking in at the Quality Inn, the riders took some time to relax and discuss todays events during the 192 km leg.

The riders and support crew had a fantastic dinner thanks to Georgie’s cafe, where the group took the time to hold a kangaroo court. This is were one is permitted to tell stories and or make fun at others expense. (All in jest  of course). This was a perfect way to end the day.

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http://www.rideforsickkids.org/?page_id=1101

The day began with breakfast at the local McDonald’s restaurant. Thank you, again to Chris, Julianne and all the staff at the Inverell restaurant for looking after all of us.

After breakfast we headed to Ross Hill Primary School.

The riders were welcomed by all the teachers and students from Grades 3 – 6. Lincoln spoke to kids about safety and gave them tips on how to look after their bikes. The local fire brigade also spoke to the kids about fire safety and explained to them what they needed to do in an event of a fire.

Two lucky kids from the school were drawn from a barrel and won a bike each. One of the riders, John Oulton purchased a bike from the previous night’s auction and donated it to the school which was won by a special needs student who couldn’t wait to take it for a test run.

After the school visit the riders began the 73km journey to Glen Innes. Just as the riders left the school, one of them suffered mechanical difficulties and needed to get to the local bike shop to seek a repair. This meant all of the other riders needed to wait for the repair to take place, so they headed back to their favourite place, the local McDonald’s restaurant.

It wasn’t possible to repair the bike in time, so the owner Mick from Bikes in Bryon did something really special and pulled a brand new bike off the showroom floor and gave it to the rider to use and continue on his journey whilst his bike was being fixed. It was then that we discovered that another one of the riders also had a problem with his bike yesterday afternoon, and due to the lack of parts for that particular brand, Mick also loaned him a brand new bike, straight off the show room floor.

That’s 2 brand new “Giant” bikes off the showroom floor to allow us to continue on our journey. Now, the boys are pretty used to being the ones that are recognised for doing something for others, however when someone reciprocates that gesture and does what

Mick did, well that’s something very special!

So a big THANK YOU to Mick Hoynes from Bikes in Bryon for your generosity and keeping the riders on track!

Once the boys got going, they encountered a few hill climbs however they made good time.

The toughest part of this leg was getting over “Waterloo Mountain”. A couple of the boys chose not to ride the 4km leg to insure they saved their energy for the 5 days ahead. The group started together, however it didn’t take long to separate the men from the boys. Paul Wilks (the local rider who joined the group for this stage only) reached the top first, closely followed by the Doc, Paul Healey It was great to see that every one of the boys, who took the mountain on, made it to the top without any assistance.

After this hill climb, it was a gentle stroll into Glen Innes where we stopped off at, you guessed it, our favourite place for a late lunch, your local McDonald’s restaurant. Thank you Adrian Sippell (Licensee) and the staff at Glen Innes McDonald’s for keeping us well fed and welcome!

Most of the riders then headed off to the hotel to relax, whilst a few of the riders went off to receive a massage. Thanks Joan, from Nirvana Health Centre for all your hard work in keeping the boys loose and getting them ready for tomorrows leg.

The riders have a big day tomorrow, where they will be riding from Glen Innes to Grafton, so tonight will be a quiet and relaxing night. We had a very nice dinner at the hotel, hosted by Kim and Heinz Meinberg from the New England Motor Lodge. After the dinner, some of the riders went off to catch a few zzzz’s whilst the others kicked on and had a few drinks in front of the warm fire place.

Don’t forget to check out our photos by clicking on the FLICKR banner on this site or the FLICKR tab on the Facebook Page.

Here’s the latest messages for you

We kicked off the day at 5 degrees, in sunny Moree. The riders are now into the routine and everything seems to just happen after we rise. Trev springs into action to stock the tail end support vehicle. Geoff’s buzzing about because the RFS ute was stocked yesterday, Vaughan’s getting the bus ready to roll, the riders wander

around gradually dropping their bags next to the trailer. Wilko and Zoran prepare the Mobile Telecommunications Roadside Banter Photography Extracurricular Vehicle (MTRBPEV).

We arrived at McDonald’s Moree. The restaurant was presented immaculately. Chris and Julianne Rodgers treated the riders and support Crew to a hot breakfast (plus lots of yoghurt), and it was fast! The riders took time to enjoy their sustenance and prepared themselves for the ride ahead. Well done Geoff, who was the breakfast Shift Manager.

During the briefing the usual weather report was followed by the awarding of the Hubbard Award to one Lincoln Amidy. Although he is very experienced in endurance riding, roadside safety and event management, this did not prevent him from stacking it in completely avoidable circumstance twice in two days. Well done Linc, said John Lynch - the Old Master Hubbard, after he read his carefully prepared speech. The yellow jersey was given to Ross Baines today. Not only has he paid for the accommodation for the entire Ride For Sick Kids event, he has in addition raised over $12,000 at a recent golf day. Ross’ contribution this year has been over $21,000. Ross, much appreciated by the team and well done.

The ride started long and flat, much like yesterday. The 8km/h headwind wasn’t helping anyone. Even a slight breeze makes for a lot of extra hard work. An 8km/h headwind effectively slows riders down by the same speed. Four hours of cycling into 8km/h adds an extra hour to the day’s cycling. After approximately 20km, we hit roadworks. Hard packed dirt had marbly pebbles smattered across the surface. this would be fine, ordinarily. Funny how the water truck always turns up 5 minutes before 30 cyclists need to power through. Lucky there are washing machines at the hotel.

Neil Chivers took a nasty spill after clipping the back wheel of another cyclist. After some on-site first aid Wilko drove him to a nearby hospital for a check-up and Paul Healey followed on his bicycle. Neil’s fine but a bit sore. Having said that he did earn an afternoon in a luxurious cottage in Inverell. - thanks Ray for looking after us, and especially neil. Neil’s spirits lifted when he knew Wilko was heading into town for some elastoplast and cold beer.

A regular update has been prepared by Alison, Heidi and Terry from one 80 Digital on behalf of NBN. This has been designed to help members of the community have a better understanding of the Ride For Sick kids, and to receive a different insight to previous years. It’s been great to have them as a member of the team, and their contribution is certainly valued. More news on their updates to come!

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