The Official Yarrabah
Bandido History |
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the Beginning there was The Announcement.... And The Announcement was GOOD !! IN THE BEGINING..THERE WAS THE ANNOUNCEMENT Yarrabah, school for the intellectually disabled at Aspendale would be pleased for the Bandidos to represent them in the Murray to Moyne. We need a team of 12. The School have entered a team in previous years and offered support vehicles and crew. You'll be getting further news soon and possibly a meeting will be setup at Yarrabah to meet the organising committee. THE SCHOOL HISTORY The Murray to Moyne is a 520 km team cycle relay event to be held on March 22/23. Yarrabah caters for children between the ages of 3 to 18 with special needs. They are situated in Aspendale. The rules state that all teams that enter the Murray to Moyne must support a health care organisation. Phil & I attended a meeting with the Yarrabah Special School's special events co-ordinator, David Lean last night. They have an entry for the Murray to Moyne for 10 riders but unfortunately they do not have a team as yet. The team from the previous 3 years will not be supporting Yarrabah this year and we have been invited to ride for the school. By accepting Yarrabah's invitation we benefit from the following: Paid entry fee Accomodation Meals Supplied Transport to Mildura on the Friday and back to Melb from Port Fairy on the Sunday Two 12 seater support vehicles and trailer An experienced support crew of 4 BANDIDO COMMITMENT Our commitment is to RIDE our hearts out over 500 kms from Mildura to Port Fairy and to raise funds in the process. We will be given excellent support to raise sponsorship by receiving a covering letter from the school's Principal outlining the work that they do in the local community. Collection of the sponsorship funds will be collected through an official school invoice by Yarrabah. For the Bandidos, this would become an annual event to compliment charity activities plus Round the Bay and the Alpine Classic and at the same time as a group we offer something tangable back to our local community. Phil & I came away from the meeting feeling reasonably positive. The decision to support Yarrabah lies with a group decision and the response to those who wish to ride this marathon event. INITIAL MEETING FEBRUARY 2002 Yarrabah will provide 2x12 seater buses and drivers and there will be at least one back up car for us. They will provide a custom trailer to carry our bikes. Each bike will be velcro strapped into place by the riders.. The buses will be travelling to Mildura on the friday but riders are free to make their own way there. Note that if you want to drive to Mildura there are restrictions on the number of support vehicles that can follow the 'convoy'. In the past some riders have flown to Mildura...you can, at your own cost. The buses will obviously follow the team all the way to Port Fairy providing food and drink on the way. If the team splits they will follow the slowest rider but with 2 buses they can still manage to replace the riders at any given time. Riders will generally ride about 50-60km stretches in a team of four before the next team replaces them. The rotation continues unabated to Hamilton with food and drinks taken on the bus, on the run. Usually teams form larger peletons with a group of supporting buses following the pack. This means that rider replacements must happen smoothly so the new team can stay with the pack and, clear rider identification is required at night so the support crew can easily distinguish us from other riders. Each rider will need lights...not a flashing front light, one with a reasonable beam as there are no street lights out there!! Two or three changes of clothes are recommended if the weather turns bad altho only one m2m top is required. Hot and cold weather gear is required as both extremes can be encountered. The weather will determine how 'easy' the ride will be. One year one of the guys present rode thru the night until 4.45am and had .75hrs sleep before getting back on the bike. If a cold wet southerly is blowing, expect the worst. In the last 2 years, the Yarrabah team has had their riders in bed in Hamilton at 11pm...after the whole group stopped for a meal so, it can be "easy". There will be one team captain who will call the shots. Training should involve stop/start riding...the hard part is getting your body to work after doing a few hundred kms, having a rest then getting back on the bike at 11pm. With three teams each rider is scheduled to ride 180kms usually in 50-60km blocks but any rider can ride further. There is an obligation that riders will not ride their share during the day and leave all the night shift to others so...we ride as a team. There is a lead bus that will control the pack from time to time so, for example, we all arive at Port Fairy at the one time. There are rules for riders and support vehicles and we will be keeping to them. We will have 2 riders from Yarrabah joining the 12 man team. Dennis and david are their names, they will ride with the Bandidos this saturday. Accommodation at Mildura and Hamilton is 4.5 star so we can shower and have a good meal before setting off early Sunday morning and a shower has been arranged after the finish, before the drive home from Port Fairy. The ride proper starts at 11am saturday and finishes at 11am sunday. We will leave Hamilton approx 7am sunday for the last 80+km into Port Fairy. David Lean will be attracting a range of companies but we have a financial commitment to pay for team jerseys, maybe some m2m polar tops for us and the support crew and bike spares. We may be involved in press photos for the school and local papers as part of the promotion. We will propose a range of fund raising options to the riders in the next week. CLOTHING The jersey design is locked in and the sizes, long/short sleeve options have been ordered. The order for the bandido clothing is in and the goods should be ready for PB's pool party. We are doing a special run of t-shirts and polar fleece tops for the support crew with the bandido logo and the yarrabah logo. We can use our bandido gear. MEETING # 2 Meeting with Yarrabah people Leon and i met with Pauline Musgrave (principal), Trevor Browning(president of council) and David Lean last night. They are a good group of people to work with, obviously very committed to the cause and they are very pleased to have us on board. ACTIVITIES * before the ride we will do a photo shoot with some of the kids for promotions/local newspapers. this will be a 9am weekday shoot but it does not need to include all of us. * we will get some photos or video clips on the ride for yarrabah to use for promtion as they build up for the 03 ride. * a wazza write up of the event would help too.. * a photo of the team and support crew is required for the certificates of appreciation...which go to major sponsors. * after the ride we'll do a barbie at yarrabah on a sunday with the kids and parents so the parents can say thanks. * we will prepare a rider profile for the yarrabah newsletter...the source of the bulk of their donations. * we queried the necessity for 4/5 star accommodation but agreed to leave it as is for this year. Yarrabah will cover that cost. TRAINING, PUBLICITY AND LOGISTICS UPDATE Should i be worried that some of you were not riding on the weekend?? ....were you tapering or just being wussies?? The bandido clothing should be thru this week but the special run for the yarrabah staff and riders will take a bit longer. ...the jerseys are still on track We are planning a photo shoot for preride publicity. to involve the Yarrabah kids it will have to be a mid week morning shoot when they are school. We don't expect all can make it but if you can...the more the better. we are looking at a monday or tuesday morning at 9.30am for 1/2 an hour, next week or the week after. we need you in your bandido colours with bike. if you can be there, please respond Just confirming the travel plans...we will be bussing to Mildura on friday 22 march and home on the 24th after lunch in port fairy. steve B will fly in to mildura friday night and PB may drive there and back. Leon is doing a sponsorship run later this week. i have some yarrabah promotional flyers you can use. again, if you want them, please contact me. For those of you riding in the m2m, we'll deliver the jerseys next week. the cost will be $80/85 (short and long sleeves) for the jersey and $100 entry fee. payment on saturday or on delivery of the jersey would be appreciated. MEETING 14 MARCH Notes of meeting with the Yarrabah team held last night 14 March BANDIDOS BIKE TEAM MURRAY TO MOYNE (M2M) Meeting held 7.30 pm on 14 March 2002 at Yarrabah Present Pauline Musgrave, Judith Wilson, Judith Gough, Maggie Veigh, David Lean, Trevor Browning, Phil Irvine, Leon Sims, Bob Beattie. Purpose To finalise bike ride arrangements. Items discussed and actions. Issue Action 1. Bike rider numbers. Some confusion re team number being 77A or 10 and need to be as per specs provided Pauline to check with M2M admin re correct number and then arrange an order with Reflective fabrications Tel 9562 3998. Quantity 12, red lettering on white background 2. Reflective vests. Bob to check if council can supply and if not we will purchase 1.5 metres of reflective tape per rider and staple/pin to riding gear. 3.Transport to Mildura 11 riders plus support crewNOTE …NEED TO BE AT SCHOOL AT 8AM ON FRIDAY TO PACK AND DEPART BY 9.00AM SHARP 3 Accomodation and meals at Mildura Booked rooms, dinner booked and breakfast available. 4.Saturday lunch Support crew to get items in Mildura and make sandwiches and provide fruit. Dried fruit etc to be available.Riders to bring their own energy drinks etc. 5. Saturday dinner Team decided to ride straight thru to Hamilton and then eat. Need to go to pizza etc as motel dining closed 6. Hamilton motel Booked for bed and breakfast 7. Hamilton Yatch club. Booked for showers and lunch 8.Transport to Melb on Sunday 12 riders plus support crew. 9. Wheelbrace and tarp for trailer Trevor to provide 10. Sinage for trailer and bus David to arrange signage for trailer and at the same time, arrange for “Yarrabah School” to be put on the school bus in blue letters 11. Second bus David to arrange credit card payment and Bob Beattie to pick up on Thursday night. 12. Roster for riders Bob to look at a clipboard and “fridge magnets” for rider shifts. 13.Car fridges Bob Beattie to get two polystyrene boxes for ice. 14. Contacts Phil to prepare list of rider home contacts etc 15 Communications David to get two radios for buses.Support crew to have mobile phonesMost riders will have mobile phones. 16, Other items School to provide..Milk, water, coffee, paper towels, toilet rolls, garbags, foil, noodles, gaffer tape, fluorescent marker, insulation tape, first aid kits, drink containers, push pots for hot water, plastic cups, reflector bands for ankles. The support staff are Maggie, Bob, Judith and Judy driving two back up 12 seaters. One will have a trailer holding 10 bikes, 2 bikes go in one bus. We will be wearing luminous numbers on our backs…please byo pins A new requirement is for each rider to wear a luminous vest or jacket. We are looking at getting council vests or will use luminous tape on jerseys or jackets if it's wet or cold. Bring spare cycling clothes both wet/dry and cold/warm and casual for the trip up and back. Nicks and socks may need a change over night if not on the run on Saturday. Please check your lights too and make sure you have spare batteries. Each truck will have a walkie talkie but it is recommended we each take a mobile in case we get stranded…we can call the mothership. Bikes are our responsibility so bring what you think necessary as spares including spare wheels if you want. I'll take a track pump so flats can be fixed on the bus…maybe a second for the other bus would help too. We will meet at 8am at Yarrabah to load the bags and bikes on the trailer, we depart at 9am. The support crew will provide bottled water, if you want to add your special brew please bring it along. Food… sandwiches, creamed rice, noodles and hot drinks will be provided on the bus all day and night so we will not stop for dinner. Once we hit Hamilton we may go a small meal b4 bed and have a better breakfast. Lunch after the ride will be a "bigun". Meal in the hotels are covered but not drinks so byo money if you want a snog. LOGISTICS UPDATE 18 March 2002 10 of the bikes go on a trailer...the bikes are held on via velcro straps and do not touch anything or each other. we pack and unpack them too. no packing required. the other 2 bikes go in one of the buses. Yarrabah are providing all meals so need to bring anything except money for a few beers friday night and sunday afternoon and any epo type goodies you may want to sustain you on the ride. yarrabah will provide plenty of sandwiches and goodies on the ride itself too. The weather looks as tho it will be warm but if it's a cloudless night it could be very cold so foot warmers are a good idea. PACKING LIST To all M2M Bandidos. I thought I would share my packing list with you guys because I always forget something. This way we can compare notes and add that vital item that we forgot. I figure that if we ride a max of 6 x 1 hr sessions (taking into account the possibility of rain) I'll need the following gear. Jerseys 3 (all Bandido) Knicks 4 Shoes 2 Socks 5 Under shirts 4 Mitts 3 Rain jacket Arm warmers 2pr Leg warmers 1pr Track suit or warm jacket Towels/wet washer in plastic bag Bidons/tools/pump/spare tubes & tires/lights POST RIDE WRAP UP (REFER RIDE REPORT ON WEB SITE) What a great long weekend. What an effort. What a challenge...and what a write up. Thanks wazz for detailing the highs and lows of such an exciting event. We all have our special moments many of which are rather fuzzy now thanks to the heat and exhaustion. For me being first team on the road passing thru Warracknabeal, the road side lined with people cheering the bandidos on was an absolute thrill...and as the the hours ticked by before the second team arrived, so too was the significance of the moment etched into their minds. they had seen a great moment in history... Great memories, enjoyable moments and fantastic company. I think all would agree that the Yarrabah people are something special and made our weekend all the more possible. In the aftermath of the weekend, my thoughts turned to the financial commitment to Yarrabah in holding their position in this event which has been an essential fundraising opportunity to the school for several years. It was a difficult position that they were in with the team of the past 4 to 5 years pulling the pin so late in the year. I'm sure you would be in agreement with me that we need to be committed to having this event on our annual calendar, with a full year required to fulfill a successful fundraising plan. With the resources in the Bandidos the work load can be shared more evenly resulting in some very positive input & results. Let's have some feedback soon as we will be invited to a debrief shortly after Easter and a thank you BBQ soon after that. the end…. For the Bandits Mega site : http://www.baysidebandidos.com Click on the images below…(they will be added to later) |
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