Well a big cold, wet, long, blowey sorry as*sed day for the Bandits. The wind howled. The hail blasted. And the rain fell in buckets. It was a day to to get down flat as a lizard over the crossbar. In case the wind ripped your head off...

THE STATS
Trip 220km, Av Speed 28.8kmph, Max speed 82kmph , Height climbed approx 1000 metres, 8.1 hours effort.
Elapsed Distance : 820km
{nb: av speed up to Jindabyne was 36kmph...until we hit the wind...that gives you an idea of the head wind}
Dead Kangaroos : approx 20
Dead Sheep : approx 10
Dead Wombats : approx 5

THE RIDE
Ahh what a ride. A real test of the character and a lot of other bits. They didnt call this ride THE CHALLENGE for nothin folks. Nearly four thousand metres of hill climbing followed by 220 kms in the hail, wind and rain. Thats a challenge by any standards.

The Bandits set out at 6:30 in the morning. We somehow missed the hail but luckily caught the rain. Big steep downhills in pouring rain seemed a good chance to start racking up some good prangs but only one casualty fortunately. We have this great memory of caning down the hill from Thredbo with the rain and wind howling up our dates. Spray from the back wheel pluming up 10 feet and then being flung over the top of our heads. The Perfect Storm.

The ride down to Jindabyne heralded an easing of rain and the wind assistance was terrific.

Tea at Cooma was one of the best we have had. However that was the last good luck of the day. We turned 90 degrees to go North. And the wind turned 90 degrees from the West. We now had a howling gale in our teeth. It was carrot time for the Bunnies....

From the below you will get the picture that we were already pretty stuffed. The gale was the last straw. There was a very big handing out of carrots. Every hill ensured the absolute bottom gear was engaged. We looked quite pathetic really....

The worst moment for mine was trying to stand up on the pedals during the up hill section and getting blasted back down onto my sore bu tt by the wind and the rain. When we hit some of the ridges, the wind nearly took our helmets off.

We also has the constant olfactory support of dead wombats, sheep and kangaroos.....

However the kilometres did fly by fairly rapidly. The tea breaks were life and morale savers.

Sitting back after some beers and a good meal at the Canberra restuarant, we decided it was definitely worth the grunt.

COMMENT OF THE DAY
"The only consolation of the ride was getting it up the ass"
[a pithy statement from Al Presidente regarding the strong tailwind whacking our rear ends on the way to Jindabyne]

...Another classic from the Pres below
"Did you see any wild life today guys"
EP "Yeah, a tortoise"
"Where do you see it?"
EP "On the road..... It overtook me as I was going up the hill"

THE PROTAGANISTS

APB
The Punisher was seen at the start. Then the finish. In between those times he was on the bike. Said he had a good day..

AL PRESIDENTE
A man in pain. His back hurt. His legs hurt. His neck hurt. When he tried to think, his head hurt. Most of all his knee hurt. Came good as we got into Canberra and cracked open the beers.

CLIVE
The Scarlet Pimpernel arose groaning. Would he ride today? He did... Did he ride well? Like a champion. He was often observed jumping off the front of the peleton to pursue errant kangaroos. Many unhappy comments regarding his bot. Wins the rear end award for the day.

PHIL
Nuggety again was solid. Does this man ever have an off day? Actually ha ha (i shouldnt laugh but too late i typed it) he nearly had several offs. Rain or wind Nuggetty had several cases of the handlebar shakes. We all paused on his first. And in a moment of soilidarity, tightened our headsets in sympathy. It did look rather funny from behind...a man who looked like getting the gravel tattoo....

WAZZA
Yep. The legs that lit up a mountain were called up for duty today. The handlebars were carressed like a lo ver in a vain attempt to present a low profile to the howling wind. A day with one period of discomfort. At tea at Michelago, a chocolate brownie fueded with my intestines. Judging by someone presenting us with the technicolour yawn a few kays up the road, I was not alone. ....
The weather also got the better of me. I must have changed clothes about 10 times during the ride.
My puncture was a marriage in heaven. I had no sooner fixed the durn thing when .... psssssssssssssssttt ... the presa valve did an Apollo on me. I heard it tinkle somewhere down the road .... Had to wait for The Young One to get me another. Big delay. Actually rode alone for an hour with no one in sight as far as i could see both forward and backward. Have a look at the picture to, er, get the picture... verrrry desolate

STEW
The young one is getting bored ...he has been keeping his mind in shape by argueing with his dad. Today Stu got all my prizes. He was there just as I got hot. When I got cold, he appeared. When we needed a drag, he appeared. When I got my puncture he appeared....

Unfortunately the young one leaves us today !!! He will be replaced by his Mum Kerith. This is a disaster as far as Im concerned. The chances of hearing his MOBY album hammering out of the Porsche window as we ride appear to be very very very slim....

BANDIT GUEST INTERVIEW
[We will be trying to provide a guest interview on each remaining day....]
Today we feature WALTER. A Medico from Me Le Bourne. Walter is definitely a gear man. Apart from the de jure ultra spiffy lycra gear, Walter had the best rainsuit. A head to toe goretex NASA style riding outfit for all weather. We got it today so Walter hit the bulls eye. HOWEVER Walter has got one of the best bikes on display and hence has drawn the first straw for our interview. Take a look at the pic. A top spec Specialised fully suspended MTB. Walter came whipping past me on the way down to Thredbo. The man who knows no fear. I nearly browned out just looking at his swoops down the hill before he disapeared....

Tomorrow we away to Bundanoon. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY KILOMETRES. Oooochamawhoosha our bots can hardly wait for another pummeling on the pommel. We have to be up at 5:30. Again..... hells bells I can hear those funny voices again...

ps : to see the latest news and pics go to
http://au.oocities.com/bbchallenge2001/index.html

or go to the Bandits Mega Site
http://www.baysidebandidos.com

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