Finishing the Smiling for Smiddy Charity ride
Smiling for Smiddy Cancer charity ride. 1600km from Brisbane to Townsville over 8 days.
The trip was pretty amazing, 200km per day for 8 days and finishing at Townsville for the riders regardless of the weather conditions. Day 1 leaving Brisbane from University Queensland got on the way after a remembrance speech and video about Adam Smiddy who lost his life to cancer aged 26.
My job was to supply mechanical repairs if and when the riders broke down and was put straight to work as the cow bell rang officially commencing the ride. Phil Anderson, 11 time yellow jersey Tour De France rider "Skippy" chain decided to let go at the start line and it seemed that the rain gods made the decision to turn the tap on full flow as the rain lashed down soaking us. Not recognising Phil as my mind was on the job we were left behind as the peloton, motor bikes and local riders pushed on to Dayboro. Only when I got into another support vehicle and made room for Phil's top of the range and full kitted out Malvern Star did we get on the trail to catch the peloton. The rain got heavier and heavier and we joked about how nice the car heater was but I knew at some point Phil would be out there churning the Km over like the rest of the riders. The mechanicals continued in full fashion that first day with no less than 20 punctures, one broken right hand shifter, 1 rear derailleur adjustment, two sets of cleats to be adjusted and five chains needing lubricated. I decided then that it would be fun keep a log of the repairs as each day rolled by with some obscure failures. Two of which stand out were a bandage repair to a BB30 then organise bearings to be to be freighted in from Rockhampton to a small village about 5 hours ahead and repair the bike later that night. The difficulty was trying to get the external internet to work and get mobile phone reception to organise who had the bearings and the freight. The other repair was a broken pedal insert into carbon cranks, which saw Chris push on in good spirit even although his right pedal wandered around in any direction. I tried to buy some araldite glue to set the insert in place as we rolled into the next village but it had turned into a ghost town and a local scratched his head as he racked this brain trying to help. Once at the campsite I done the rounds and asked the people staying there and eventually a kind lady took me over to her husband. They kindly had some Chinese equivalent and I prayed that this would hold the insert as I mixed the glue and hardener quickly fighting the light as the night darkness quickly fell in. In the morning the insert was holding but as the day went on the bonding came loose and we had to get a loan bike, which I swapped Chris's settings over to. The rest of the repair log you can read bellow when I put it in.
As the mechanic this meant sitting in the rear support car directly behind the riders at roughly 25km per hour every day until Townsville. Kev who looked like Santa Claus, the other driver plus main safety controller and I we had a great time even though it’s a stressful job. The expectations of my role was different to what I thought it should be and I changed the system to make it work faster and smoother for everybody. The rear vehicle is the main safety vehicle for the riders and shields them from road trains and cars. Constant radio communication between the front vehicle, road vehicles and us was paramount into the flow of traffic, so being the second driver occupies full concentration for the riders safety. The front safety vehicle had the gruelling job of relaying the traffic flow about the constant oncoming vehicles to us. Both Shane and Glen took turns over the days and a great trust between all of us was quickly established. When a bike broke down I would radio ahead to the front vehicle to pull back behind and take over our role while we stopped and I fixed the bike. The bike and rider then joined us in the car and we would pass the 49 riders and drop them off roughly 2-3 km up the road so they could merge back with the peloton were the cars would swap positions again.
During water stops and food stops there were constant repairs or tweaks to the riders bikes. This was on a tight time limit so eating was always during driving when the peloton got back on the road. Once the sleeping location was reached the riders would get there accommodation and we the road crew would continue to carry out the jobs needing done for setting up for the next day. This often meant finishing at 10 or 11pm after dinner and presentations. Morning breakfast was at 5am most mornings and on the road for 6-6:30am so the days were long. There were a range of riders on the tour and it was great to see stronger riders helping the weaker riders on any given day. A friendly hand on the back pushing so they caught up with the pack helped bond the riders and made them realise that they would not stop until they got to the Townsville in aid to raise money for cancer research. The same went for the road crew, which if were not there the ride could not have happened. There was nothing that the road crew would not do in aid of the riders to finish the ride. The lack of sleep and long hours were relieved when we arrived in Townsville and the spirits were high. The riders finished with a sprint race on the horse race track before drinking the free beers supplied by the race course bar. A great dinner and last presentations hosted by Rowan Foster were Maria Smiddy summarised the huge amount of food consumed, Schindlers list totalling the road kill over the 8 days and the newly formed Jimmy’s list were I totalled the mechanical repairs over the 8 days are just a few speeches to mention.
I would like to congratulate all the riders who travelled from Perth, Tasmania, Melbourne, Cairns, Townsville and Brisbane for completing the 1600km and the Road crew who I became great friends with for making it all happen.
We woke up on Sunday morning to say our goodbye's to one another after a great breakfast. Two riders and I decided to take turns and drive straight to Brisbane arriving at 2pm on Monday morning. It was a bit of a shock to be driving at the speed limit and to let you into a little secret I fell asleep in the rear of the ute, woke up, looked out the windscreen and panicked thinking to myself "where are the riders " then continued to ask Jay and Bill, which they replied with a laugh. It just goes to show how the Smiddy ride actually effects you.
For Maria and David, Adam's parents, I think you are amazing how you both put in so much effort into the charity ride when it is must hit so close to home each and everyday for both of you. For Mark the founding member and all the people who organise the ride, I take my hat off to each and everyone of you for making it happen.
Mark and Scott May have continued on with the ride to Darwin form Townsville in aid of cancer research so lets get behind them and make a donation to to help bring the total over $500 000. Catching up on sleep is the next thing on the list and going out for a ride when I get the opportunity.
Check out www.smiddy.org.au for the info and Daily journals and WIN television for the documentary.
Jimmy