The Ride

Eric is an IronMan

2008-04-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

So despite all the debauchery that has gone on during The Ride, the original reason for cycling up the coast of Australia was to combine travelling for experience and training the Panther IronMan. Hopefully we got across to all our faithful readers that the former objective was met, time and time again. As for the latter, we might have said we covered the basics but if we excelled at anything, it probably wasn't training. This did worry Aaron as Eric set out to compete in the IronMan a few days back. Although Eric does seem to have a habit of competing in races he hasn't prepared for, this one was meant to take an entire day to complete. Probably not the best time to realise you're not prepared.

Speaking of not being prepared, my half-hearted attempts at bringing my tri bike out for the race failed. So as of T-3 hours till the close of bike registration, I was set to ride my 29er hardtail mountain bike. For those that don't know, this IS NOT the bike made for a 112 mile bike race between a swim and a run. I was prepared to accept the challenge of being not only the only person out of 1600 without a tri bike, but be the only person on a mountain bike. I was not looking forward to competing in my first IronMan on a friggin mountain bike. Fortunately I meandered my way around the IronMan Village and met Victor, the owner of a local bike shop in Port Macquarie. He hooked a brother up with an Avanti carbon, Shimano Ultegra Road bike to ride with! Needless to say I was jazzed that one less thing was going to be working against me in the race. I also managed to find a used tri suit to wear during the swim (luckily I did as I would have been the only person not in one!). Come sunset the night before the race I wondered the city content with my new tri suit, my trusty Avanti, and my good ol' Asics.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew had carried the tradition of debauchery in Byron Bay, having entered a completely booked out city, Aaron and Flav found a commune cabin outside of town and updated their wills. They were meant to be in Port Macquarie the night before the race but as travelling goes, they opted for the overnight bus arriving minutes before the race started.

That night Devon cruised up from Sydney on the 400 hour train journey that would taken about an hour on the ICE in Germany. Waking up to some heavy rain, I ate my muesli and drank my coffee, then made my way down to race day registration.

I realised quickly that my blue swim cap placed me in the first of 5 swim brackets, which for reasons I'll share later, was not a good thing. As I was waiting to enter the water, Aaron and Flav came running up. Having no idea where they were supposed to be staying and only having minutes before the race was to start, they yelled at the taxi to drive to stop at the first hostel on the way to the IronMan Village. They ran inside this 'random' hostel, threw their bike and bags down, and continued on to the start. Fortunately they made it to see me off, and they actually managed to throw their bags in the correct hostel!

The Swim was 2.4 miles (5.2 kilometres) and consisted of two laps thru the harbour. A steady low tide turning current gave the swimmers false confidence in the first section of the race. Don't fret though, the absolute mayhem that is the start of any IronMan quickly rid most swimmers of any sense of accomplishment. Like perhanas attacking sickly fish, the competitors set off, more fighting to stay afloat than swimming, 1,600 people fought for water and for placement. Amazingly, this obnoxiously congested swim situation nearly didn't let up for me. This is why I should not have been in the first bracket. I spent the next 75 minutes sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, getting passed by stronger swimmers. They would also take the liberty of grabbing my ankles, locking arms, and hitting my face as they fought for position. I tried to constantly remind myself this is a 12 hour race, a few minutes in the water means very little. My goal for the swim was 75 minutes, so considering the length of the mayhem, I was not too dissapointed with 76. But I was well excited about riding on a road bike for the first time in 60 days (as opposed to a hardtail 26 lb mnt bike with a 50lb trailer attached).

The bike ride was a three lap course that had some nominal hills to speak of in the beginning and ending quarter of the laps. My legs did take a few miles to warm up but I felt like a rockstar on the hills (thanks to the up-till-now dreaded 50lb trailer!). I remember at one stage I was climbing a moderate hill of maybe two hundred meters long and I must have passed a good 2 or 3 dozen riders just on that hill alone. I would approach the hill and see the riders slowly downshift, eventually get out of the saddle, and ultimately accept a slow climb up the hill. Meanwhile, I was downshifting only about halfway up and even then I sat on the saddle and happily hammered the hill. It was a cool feeling for sure.

The romance of hill climbing did subside by the end of the second 36 mile lap though. I was still relatively well off but my right hamstring, just behind my knee was letting me know he wasn't happy with me. I decided to ignore the little bugger and continue to hammer as best I could. After all, I had no idea how the run was going to be accepted, so the bike was my chance. I distincly remember at mile 76 on the bike, during one of the ascends, I felt the first build up of lactic acid in my quads. This concerned me more than anything. It quickly subsided but returned again at mile 80. This was the same time my hands were getting fairly annoyed at the constant vibrating they had to endure over the last 4 1/2 hours. I also had eaten 8 powerbar expired chocolate gels at that point. hmmm. I have had to ride/run with lactic acid build up before, and though it's not fun, it is doable. I just had been hoping that with as much riding as Aaron and I had done, the old lactic tactic would stay away till part way thru the run. I was stoked to see Aaron and Flav while on the bike each time I came in for another lap. Must have been a bit weird for them though: they'd see me come in and pass them in about 6 seconds, then I'd dissappear for nearly 2 hours before returning for another stellar 6 second cameo.

Although I was tiring on the bike, I felt it was more localised to the cycling muscles, my overall body did not feel tired. If true, this would have proven to be most helpful on the run. I came in on the bike in a disappointing 5hrs 58 minutes (my goal was 5 1/2 hours). Total time now read 7 hours 14 minutes. Time for the run.

I got into the transition, had a wee, grabbed my 10 more gel packs for the run and happily saw Devon and Flav; then I saw Aaron as he cheered me on in complete excitement and support, yelling to maintain a healthy pace, never stop for more than a fuel recharge, and pull back slightly if I start falling apart. I actually felt really good considering I had been racing for over 7 hours at that point. I was ready to accept the hardest and most unknown part of the race. I had yet to run more than a half marathon at this point. I had NO idea how my body was going to cope with this. All I knew was to keep myself fueled and hydrated, find a rythm and stick to it.

The first 4 miles were all but completely tragic. My body quickly objected to a change in muscle use, heart rate, rythm, and fatigue. My right hamstring successfully recruited my left one to join in what was soon to be a complete objection to said activities. My nipples, which started to resemble one's eyes after being sprayed with pepper spray, were now re-exposed after the bandaid nipple covers came off, my feet were really hoping for a softer track to run on, and a pinched nerve was letting itself be known in my neck. I seriously wondered how I was going to manage another 22 miles (34kms) of running. I decided both my hamstrings were being too bitchy to deserve attention, my feet would get over the pounding, and the pinched nerve in the neck was only an annoyance. But the nipples, the nipples needed attention. They stung something fierce and weren't going away. I ran a solid 2 miles with my hands holding on to my shirt pulling the shirt off the raw nipples. I thought to myself, 20 more miles of this and my arms are going to fall off. Luckily I decided to give my arms a rest and realised I had stretched my jersey just enough to keep it away from the holy nipples. Sweet, one less thing to worry about.

I banked on my hamstrings holding on for me as I've stressed them before and they always pulled thru for me. I did slightly change my run to keep my speed without extending my stride, so hopefully they would see that as a nice, diplomatic gesture. I knew a breakdown or body crash was at least possible, if not probable. Fortunately in the mean time I finished the first of 3 legs for the run and did so in an hour and thirty minutes. I did some very fuzzy math to realise if I managed to keep this pace, I'd stand a good chance in finishing the race in under 12 hours! The prospects of finishing so much faster than I thought wound up giving me just enough determination to manage the fatigue.

I spent the next hour and a half running a 5 second thought thru my head, over and over and over again: turning the finishing corner and seeing 11hr 57min on the course clock. In the meantime, about 2 miles ahead, Aaron was staging the cheer of the race for me. He had summoned literally hundreds of people to cheer me on once I arrived. Expecting the normal, though super cool, cheers of Aaron, Flav, and Devon, I was smiling ear to ear when the masses cheered my fighting attempts at finishing under 12hrs. It was at this point that I told Aaron I had a fighting chance of destroying my hopeful time and breaking a benchmark time.

With less than 4 miles to go and a quarter of a lap left, I had about 40min till the 12 hour mark. It looked probable that I'd make it, but I didn't want to take chances. I picked up the pace just a notch and hoped that the determination would carry me through. I had been stopping at every station (about every 2km) for 4oz of water, 2oz of Gatorade, 1/2 a banana, and an orange slice. I also had 25 gel packs at that point, probably about 4 liters of water, and around 3 liters of Gatorade. I decided to skip the last station just to make sure I made the time. About half way between the last station and the finish line my system was out of energy. I could tell I was on the verge of a critical nutrition crash. I really hoped I could just get to the supporters a few hundred meters ahead, near the finish and get the hunger out of mind. I turned the corner to see the finish line read 11hr 54min!!! I'm telling you, it was one of the best feelings I think I had ever experienced. I really was proud, as silly as that sounds. A bonus lied in the fact that the fan club Aaron recruited and I grew to recognise with my little 'run-by' comments were at the finish to cheer me on. Hundreds of people lined the finish corridor, so many that I missed Aaron, Flav, and Devon right next to the finish line!

About 30 seconds after I crossed the finish line, both knees locked up, my hampstrings tightened, and my completely exhausted body let me know how depleated of everything it was. After the race I ate a plate of chicken curry rice and pasta. 45 min later I was starving so I had a nice, big plate of lasagna. 3 hours later I woke up starving so ate a large pizza. 3 hours later woke up starving again. I ate a garlic butter baguette and a ham and cheese sandwich. 5 hours later, starving again. It wasn't till the following night that my hunger normalised and I finally went to the bathroom. I also couldn't walk normally for a week. Flav commented about my eating and said that I was pretty much just made up of lasagna and pizza at that point.

And so The Ride concluded, as gloriously as it started. No doubt a trip, a journey, an adventure never to be forgotten. Thanks for coming along with us, thanks for your comments and support. Although it wasn't always easy, it didn't always make sense, it was well worth it!

Eric & Aaron

Fraser Island Off-roading!

2008-04-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

Eric does not like over night buses.

Aaron does not like them either.

Flav thinks they are great.

oh ya, we flew down from Cairns, but the comments about the overnight buses are no less true. We arrived in the soon to be rockin' town of Hervey Bay on what was easily the best sunset we had seen this entire trip. We settled into the hostel and met loads of people during the pizza buffet dinner and got to talking to them about their recent Fraser experience. We didn't know if it was just by chance, but something like 3 out of the 4 people we spoke to didn't really have the greatest time. We had heard nothing but greatness about the island before, but so many people had trouble with their group. (on Fraser you take a 4x4 and pack 10 backpackers into and hope for the best).

Well we started off the Fraser Island group experience with a Chinese Firedrill at the first stop we made. Given that 8 out of the 10 people didn't know what that was, it was quite a laugh and set the tone for the rest of the trip. The ghetto blaster then took over the rest.

Aaron took the helm with his absolute zero driving experience on the left side of the road. Eric and Flav were a little concerned. But Aaron managed just fine as we were all smiles with our first experiences driving on this sandy island. We made it to Lake Wabby for some lunch, hiking, and swimming. The lookout for this lake took all of us by surprise. It was an aqua green lake set in an oasis of sand dunes that seemed to span the island. The sand was only interrupted at its edges by lush green trees. Truly a sight to see.

We hiked down the trails to the lake and Flav played a bit of football with some fellow Brits while Eric went for a swim and Aaron topped up his tan next to the Danish girls. Oh Aaron. We cruised from there to find the night's campsite along the 75 mile beach on the Eastern side of the island.

At this point we had already established that we probably had the best group of the lot. We all seemed to be bouncing off each other's humor, along with the ceiling in the 4x4 with Aaron's erotic driving. good times. We hooked up with another group and it turned out we got on with them just as well. It was gonna be a great weekend trip indeed.

After setting up tents and releasing the cooking animal that laid deep insight Flav's soul, we all enjoyed yet another awesome sunset, good tunes, plenty of laughs, and a seemingly endless supply of drinks (including our new drink, an aussie cheapo wine also known as goon).

The next morning we all had to wake up by around 8am as the sun was blasting our tents with some intense heat. It was gonna be a hot one. We gathered the goods, assessed the damage, which included the disappearance of Aaron's bag with his passport and wallet. He searched around for the better part of an hour before finally finding the darn thing 30 meters up the hill. Seems this was courtesy of the local dingos that took a liking to Aaron's manly musk. hmmm.

We set off up the Sand Highway on the Eastern side of the island and made a few stops at the beached ship, the sandy pinnacles, and eventually Eli Creek. En route, 19 year old Brit David (not Flav) wanted to give driving a go, so we gave him a shot and immediately regretted it. We're not positive, but we think it was his first time driving. If it wasn't, then he must collect clutches back home for fun! After about 10 minutes we could smell the clutch burning up and we reigned the crazed driver back in. Not long after we made it to the the Champagne Pools and enjoyed a bit of a swim in the only part of the ocean not infested with breeding Tiger sharks and man-killing jelly fish. We found out the name of the pools couldn't have been more appropriate. The waves that crashed over these rare island rocks bubbled over the top of the rocks and down into a pool. It did indeed look like champagne. Eric tried to drink it.

That night we ate a monster pasta dinner and freely drank the rest of the goon till the wee hours of the night.

The following day we set out back down the coast to Lake McKenzie on our way back to the ferry. Despite expecting a cool sand bar lake, we were all surprised at just how beautiful the lake was. Crystal blue water, the purest of white sand, and all of it surrounded by lush green trees. We vegged out by the lake and soaked up some rays for a few hours before setting off for the ferry. We actually became separated from our group on the way back as they decided to go wash their dishes and we opted not to. We got on the ferry and there was no sign of our other group. We pleaded with the ferry captain but no loving was coming out of his corner. He was setting off exactly at 4pm. Thinking the poor friends missed the ferry we were all bummed that our planned post Fraser Island party was going to be a downer.

Some 45 minutes into the ferry ride though we crossed paths with another ferry and with Eric's telephoto lens, we could see they did indeed make it, just on the wrong ferry. Fortunately they were both bound for the same wicked party that was soon to ensue.

We thought it funny that the "party" night before we left for our Fraser trip (which would have been a whole group's post Fraser welcome back party) was really mellow. Only a handful of people hung out after the pizza party. Compare that to the dozens that were partying their faces off when we got back. Our night was a bit more wild. We had a great time telling stories of our recent adventure, enjoying a resupply of drinks, and making the most of the last night we had together. At some stage, Eric thought it appropriate to rehearse a scene from Anchorman, you know the one where Ron Burgundy receives an urgent and horrifying news message, and he needs everyone to stop what they're doing and listen....CANNONBALL!!! Oh yes, into the pool he went.

If the awesome party didn't solidify our position as having the coolest group ever, breakfast the next morning would have. Twelve of us all dragged ourselves off for a really good breakfast just off the beach as we kept riding the wave we found so entertaining.

Fraser Island was all that it was cracked up to be and so much more.

On to our Action Sports

2008-03-29T00:59:00.000-07:00

With a final sprint into the never so excited to be seen town of Tully, Aaron rocked on for a dramatic first place, landing 2,183 kilometers! Eric followed in soon after, still smelling of booze from the previous night's field trip. THE RIDE has finally come to an end and was celebrated in good fashion, like it was 1999. We got into town and booked the last 3 beds at a banana pickers backpackers place. Talk about weird. Crazy canadian dude accused Aaron of smuggling bed bugs, we're putting money on him being looped on crack. Aaron told him paranoia is worse than bed bugs.

After we were cleared by management, we commenced our post race party. We scoured a massive meal and met up with a dutch and aussie couple, whom we saw in three different towns in as many days.

The next day was our great river rafting trip. But first we had to meet the soon to be powerhouse of Team Carnage, Sir David Flavin. Flav silenced the crowds and brushed away the competition as he entered as he stepped off his mini bus to face the raging Tully. Team Carnage enjoyed a picture perfect day and hit the biggest rapids. On the bus to the Tully, Aaron gave the call for all those wanting to "Go big or go home" and we summoned the only other two people that wanted to go big.

Raging down the river we had mastered our power strokes, convinced our guide we were up for the biggest rapids, and we only lost one team member. Aaron came up with the brilliant idea of seeing how long him and Eric could stay in the raft without ever holding on, even thru the class 5 rapids. It wasn't long before we lost a man. See the picture to figure out which man went down.

We had a killer day out on the river, jumping off cliffs, swimming down class 3 rapids, and having water wars with 4 awesome chicks in an enemy raft. Flav nearly died 17 times as he faced imminent doom. He stood strong in the face of danger, stared at death straight in the eyes and said, "Is that all you got! I'm going big!" Chad caught him crying in the corner 4 minutes later.

We had a few drinks at the Tully cafe before heading back to Cairns for Chad's last night and Flav's inaugural night. This was bound for greatness.

We made till dawn as Aaron and Eric wondered why Chad was going for a bike ride. Little did they know it was after 4am and Chad wasn't going for a late night ride, he had to leave for the airport. We quickly grabbed a few items we wanted to dump off, of course it was only a day later we realised we could have used most of the things we dropped off.

The next day was nearly a trip to Fitzroy Island but 2 hrs of sleep on our first day off in 50 days was not exciting. Instead we chilled Lagoon side with the lovely ladies from the enemy raft we met the day before, enjoyed a twilight fire show, and danced our faces off again at the bars.

We then managed the ferry to Fitzroy Island and rocked the kasbah on kayaks all day. We would eventually circumnavigate the island, stopping half way for some wicked snorkeling and hiking. We ate lunch in a boulder cave after seeing the most beautiful stingray Eric, Aaron, or Flav had ever seen. We also found Nemo.

We hiked to the summit of the mini island but did so via cliffside vines and canopied trees. Climbing up a 30ft vine, Aaron and Eric crept thru the tree tops to find Flav charging the backside boulder cliffs. We were running around the boulder island like a bunch of kids off Ritalin. On our descent, Aaron stumbled across a crevasse that split down the 30ft face we climbed up. It was only wide enough for us to slide thru sideways, Flav's nipples are still sore. but that could be because he keeps rubbing them when Aaron's looking. Not sure.

We made it back to the kayaks and Flav took over steering for the boat. Neither one of us could figure out why in the world we couldn't steer to save our lives. Flav was hitting the darn pedals but the friggin thing kept turning on us! After about 15 minutes of snakey curves, we were told our rudder was up. We felt like proper Japanese tourists at that point.

We are now getting ready for an AWESOME 5 day trip to the largest sand island in the world for some 4x4 offroading, shipwreck exploring, freshwater lakes, and late night campfires on FRASER Island! We are well excited. Of course this means we have to box up our bikes, which takes about 14 hours. Not cool.

Biking has re-commenced!

2008-03-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

We left Airlie Beach heading north towards Cairns. The towns were fairly spaced out which made logistics a bit tricky with food and water. The sun was blaring and humidity was high. We tried to refuel in Ayer but with the Easter Holiday, everything was closed except for Subway which ended up being our lunch, dinner, and morning snack the next day! The area north of Ayer was beautiful but so desolate, even finding a remote turnoff to camp in was difficult.

Finally, we found our oasis - a partially dried up creek bed with sand bars. We were a bit worried about the crocodiles but after seeing the dozens of bird-eating spiders in the bush along the side of the road, we decided to chance it in the open, sandy creek bed. The moon was full and the bugs and birds were out. Despite being somewhat close to the highway, the animal noises were still louder than the occasional traffic. Fortunately, Aaron had his screen tent, Eric had his 4-season tent, and unfortunately, all Chad had was Aaron Rinn's fleece bag-liner hand me down. Which, oddly enough, is still in great shape and can keep you quite warm if you're camping at 12,000 feet in the Sierra's - however, when it is 80 degrees at night with 100% humidity, it can be quite uncomfortable to say the least. You may be thinking to yourself that he could have simply slept on top of it, but you must remember the size and number of the mossies (mosquitoes) out here which could have carried him away in the night!

The next day we packed up the bikes and headed to Home Hill. We stopped at the only open business, which was of course a pub, and ordered up some lunch. We talked to a local who had been drinking at the pub since 1942 (and most likely drunk since then). We asked him if there were crocs in this neck of the woods and he said "oh yeah, Mate, You better just stay 50meters from the creeks, just the other week a guy got dragged out of his tent by 4 meter croc - he didn't live to tell about it!" To which we replied, "right, we'll stay away from those creeks!". We were then off to Green Acres Resort (ha!), which sounded quite refreshing. We had been riding for several hours with no sign of it when we finally came across a lone gas station to ask for directions to Green Acres. The friendly lady behind the counter said, "Well, you found it alright, this is it!". Needless to say Aaron's motto is to keep your expectations low and you just might be pleasantly surprised. Even Aaron wasn't impressed with Green Acres! It was getting late and we wanted to get a bit more mileage under our belt. They pointed us towards a town called Giru up the road a bit. We found the turnoff just at sunset and the bugs and frogs were out in full force. It was so bad we had to put our sunglasses on just to ride through them all. They were crawling around in our helmets with Aaron's hair providing the least amount of protection! We were running into so many bugs, it actually sounded like it was raining! There were dozens of frogs on the road as well, especially under the occasional street light. We found accommodations above the town pub and were able to take much needed showers!

Townsville was the next spot on our trek which is located on the beach. They have areas of the ocean partitioned off by giant screen nets to keep out jelly fish, saltwater snakes, and host of other animals that are not very human-friendly. It was very odd to see a beautiful beach and ocean but you could not go swimming in it. This has had an adverse effect on Eric's swimming training to say the least.

So the biking has been going well. Chad's ultra-light packing has kept him breaking wind (meaning drafting, not something else :-) and leading the pack. We're averaging about 30 km/hr and doing about 80-120km per day. Two days ago Aaron and Eric broke the 2,000km mark! Aaron's legs still show no sign of getting any bigger. Eric on the other hand, looks like he should be trying out for one of the rugby teams out here. Today is our final biking day and we're off to the Tully for river rafting tomorrow. Aaron needs a prescription for Prozac for the onset of his upcoming depression because The Ride is coming to an end. Eric, however, has stepped up his drinking game to an all-time high, but unfortunately it has been at the cost of his Ironman training. Stay tuned to http://www.ironmanoz.com/ to see how he actually does (Stu, Chad's coming to your house to watch the festivities!)

P.S. The Whitsunday Sailing blog is updated more as well...

Sailing The Whitsundays

2008-03-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

After a 4 hour wait at Brisbane Airport, Eric and Aaron joined forces with the one and only, Chad 'Deez nuts' Zdenek, looking fit as ever. Must have been from all the training he did that one day.

We were really excited to meet up with Chad, spice things up a bit, and see what kind of sailing genes we had in us. We made it to Magnums Backpackers in Airlie Beach for some pre-sailing preparation and partying. We spent a ridiculous amount of money on groceries but we figured the likelihood of being marooned was pretty good. So more food was better than less since collectively we had about 4 minutes of sailing experience.

We occasionally had to deal with some wicked wind, high seas, and a bit of confusion about sailing techniques. But thanks to Bryan and his guidance thru the adventurous seas, rather than sailing the safer routes, we found ourselves enjoying beautiful bays and lagoons completely to ourselves. On a few occasions we were the only boat heading into the treacherous weather in order to seek salvation on abandoned islands. The pay off was grand to say the least. We did manage to maneuver around the weather really well. On two occasions we were seemingly the only boat enjoying the rays of Australia's golden sun.

We started our tour with a 2 hour boating lesson from Ian The Great and for some unknown reason, after the lessons, which, to varrying degrees, we did not fully understand, he couldn't get away from us fast enough. Aaron sent him off in the dingy and he ran off, as if he knew the weather was about to turn and he didn't want to get caught in it. So, just like that, the three stouges had the vessel to themselves, for better or for worse.

We headed up to the northern islands of Hayman, Landford, One foot island, and eventually anchored on the north side of Hook Island. Having first landed on Landford island, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a few great Corona pics. Soon after that decided the circumnavigating of the island was in good order. The south side of the island was completely covered in coral remains. A beach in the making, the calm waters of the Pacific were slowly breaking down this oceanside cemetary. We eventually hit a cliffside rock section of the island, one that either required a massive hike up the hill, or a more exciting leap into the ocean. Needless to say we opted for the leap. Chad managed to snap the great pic that's on the site, then he had to toss the camera Aaron's way before he made his jump. Just before completing the island circuit, we realised the tide was coming in and the dingy wasn't anchored. Enter in beachside rock running.

That night we made it to Butterfly Bay and looked forward to a morning of Scuba diving and snorkling. After a dual certification process from Chad & Eric's Diving Extravaganza, Aaron was fully prepared for his not so very certified dive. You could see the fear in his eyes as he put the regulator in his mouth for the first time in his life, about 30 seconds before he'd be 15 metres below the surface. sweet.

Chad and Eric took a dive later that day and enjoyed the use of a leaky valve, a dead air gauge, and fins that didn't fit. Eric was the lucky winner with the dead air pressure reader and about 15 minutes into the dive, at about 8 metres of depth, Eric ran completely ran out of air. With about 8 ft of visibility, he could only just see the fins of his soon to be life support. Having taken his last (half) breadth of air, he grabbed Chad's octupus and began to breath normally again. To all the PADI certified divers, we made a safe ascent to the surface. To everyone else, we continued to dive for another 25 minutes.

We hit some fierce weather heading south to Hook Island Resort to pick up Devon. We managed to submarine the boat on several occasions, which of course brought us immediately to the front of the boat to fully experience it. We didn't see many other boats on the water that day...

Aaron was happy to find out the front port hatch was leaking water and completely soaked his luxury suite. That's alright, Chad and Eric blamed it on his overly aggressive steering of the vessel in the first place...

We made it to Hook Island Resort about 4 hours late, but Devon did have two other people to spend the day with on the island, that and a stalkish lizard that wouldn't leave her alone. That night we enjoyed another fine meal, a few drinks, and some late night swimming.

The next day we were heading to one of the highlights of the entire Whitsundays, Whithaven Beach. En route, we managed to come across 3 dolphins, a good 5 or 6 sea turtles, a half dozen 4 ft sting rays, thousands of blue soldier crabs, and a flock of Great White sharks. (The sharks weren't confirmed, but Aaron's pretty sure he saw them.) We hiked up the jungle trail to an epic lookout and enjoyed a clearing of the sky and the a completely desolate beach, at least that's what we thought. We went down to the beach to soak up the views from the ground level and stumbled across literally thouasands of these bizarre "blue soldier crabs". They burroughed in the sand when you approached them and then you'd be forced to walk over just herds of these little guys. very weird feeling. As we were wondering the beach the tide came racing in and totally changed the entire look of the beach.

The next day we really wanted to get to border island but the route that we would have had to take was "not advisable" because of 2-4 metre swells. But with all the experience we had sailing we figured we'd give it a go. We made it to Border Island and successfully got the dingy stranded on a super low tide. We were stranded but hardly bothered. We came prepared with a cooler of drinks, food, and of course, the ghetto blaster. We were good for hours.

That night we grubbed another delicious meal, and happily kept the boat another day. Miraculously, we were able to return the boat without running it aground. We're still trying to figure out how we managed it...

Now we're back on our bikes and have our 6 day stint up the coast to Cairns. Oh man, how quickly we lose our fitness!

Brisbane Baby!

2008-03-20T02:13:00.000-07:00

By the 11th of March, we had to catch our train into Brisbane in order to meet Chad at the airport. We thought we'd head out for a quiet dinner, a Guinness or two, and turn in early. Just when we thought the wild times would subside, we received a call from the party master. We were joined at the bar with two great girls, Callie and Rebbecca for what would turn out to be a not so quiet night. For Eric the party call came in the form of 27 gorgeous Guinness and an off-white, slightly torn tutu. For Aaron, it was all about a really hot, yet slightly disturbing white-man version of Tina Turner, complete with an overly tight purple boobalicious top, an '80s-licious gold wig, and some Armani shades. Needless to say we were in for a wild night (and ready for the competition). Oh ya, the wardrobe change was met with an equally laughable change in drinking patterns. An innocent mistake at the bar left Eric and Aaron with a pitcher of beer, each. Not willing to let beer get warm, we gave the cups a miss and drank straight from the pitcher. After a bit of that, we felt compelled to enter the "I'm a man but I like to dress as hot '80s women" dance competition. *see photo* :)

Eric took the stage by storm, after having dropped his drawers and sporting only the ass-torn tutu, he nearly broke the cross bars he decided he needed to dance on. The final tally was taken by crowd applause, and the poor guy next to him couldn't hang with Eric's pouring of his pitcher of beer into his mouth and down his tutu from two feet above his head.

Thanks for the fun and the motivation we needed to enter the competition Callie and Rebbecca! I don't know when the last time was that we laughed that hard. Our stomachs are still sore.

The next morning we raced to the airport and had to quickly pack up our bikes for Airlie Beach.

En Route To Byron Bay

2008-03-20T01:49:00.000-07:00

Aaron Liked Byron Bay.

Eric Liked Byron Bay too.

After a huge road ride from Evans Head at our fastest maintained speed yet, we cruised into the laid back town of Byron Bay for some well deserved fun in the sun. We were lucky to have arrived early enough to get a room and quickly headed out for the afternoon run to explore the town. We found out the town was worth a visit for several days. We enjoyed a night of live music at the beachside bar and got into our groove.

The next morning Aaron had the strength to wake up for a sunrise on Australia's eastern most point. We went for another run to the lighthouse and down the entire beach. good times. That afternoon we hung beachside and soaked up some gorgeous rays. It wasn't long before Eric realised the opportunity that lied before him, so he made the move, bought a bag of ice, a litre of cola, and good ol' Cap't. Oh man, good times for sure.

That night we had a SWEET prime rib dinner at a cool restaurant just across our live music joint. We topped off the night with a fire show, beachside of course. Unfortunately Eric managed to top the Maui burn back in August with a 3-4 second burn circling his stomach. Not so good times. But, as our friends from the movie Point Break infamously said, "Pain is temporary, Glory lasts forever, and Chicks dig scars."

The next morning we had to hit the road early for another huge ride to catch Chad in time in Brisbane. Fortunately we had an extra day pop in our schedule somewhere so we were able to chill beachside once again at Surfer's Paradise. It was a sweet beach spot but the town itself was a little too Vegas like, only a bit cheesier. Not to mention the contrast between Surfer's and Byron Bay. But we had our fun cruising the town, regrouping a bit, and going for another long beach run.

All in all, we loved the atmosphere of Byron Bay and definitely appreciated the opportunity to relax a bit.

Australia's East Coast - Finally!

2008-03-04T01:29:00.000-08:00

To say that Kosciusko is easy to hike is an understatement. You'd think that after 2 weeks of 8+ hour days of training, we'd run up the thing in about 2 hours. For the record, our planned run turned into a stroll that most grandparents could manage and we wore enough clothing for temperatures 20 degrees warmer. To say that the hike up Kosciusko was miserable is well beyond an understatement.

The food poisoning we last told you about, you know, the one that sent Aaron to the not so lovely lieu every 30 minutes, well, it wasn't food poisoning. And it didn't stop at Aaron. Half way up the hill Eric's stomach began feeling a bit like Spielberg made D-day look in Saving Private Ryan. Aaron had to make a few emergency stops and Eric just hoped he could manage to avoid the same fate. Aaron pressed ahead like the soldier he is but Eric felt like he had the energy of a lion after he's shagged for 22 straight hours.

To add glamor to the wonderful time we were clearly having, the weather was creeping in to say hi, since it had been nearly 24 hours since it last screwed us over, it was due for another summer snow shower. This is where our super thick, down lined and fur infused wind breakers and running shorts came in handy. oh, and the refreshingly breathable running shirts we opted for. Hmmm, good call.

To say the least, once making it to the top, we grabbed the slightly pathetic picture you'll see, tried our best to enjoy the beautiful view from on top of the world's highest peak ever in Australia. On our descent, the clouds dropped the temperature to just above freezing, with about a 100 yards of visibility. Our stomachs were about as averse to running as Hillary is to privatized healthcare. But, we literally couldn't take the cold the weather had brought in, the cold wind, rain, and eventually snow. After 6 hours of hiking our "3 hour hike" we made it to the heating room of our hostel and fell asleep for an hour trying to raise our body temps. Turns out Aaron's food poisoning didn't miraculously jump to Eric, we had both contracted Giardia. Suck.

At this point, neither one of us could eat. We barely made it up to our rooms only to crash for the night, minus a half-hearted attempt at eating some chips and a sandwich.

The next morning we faced the daunting task of continuing the bike ride we thought was such a good idea only a few weeks earlier. Again, neither had an appetite, and we were a bit less than confident in our ability to control our bowel movements. Then we met Vince.

Vince the Man was heading thru the town of Cooma, our overly ambitious next planned stop. Then we found out he was going thru our 3rd day's stop, Canberra. Then we found out he was going thru Canberra on to Sydney. We both looked at each other and thought, this is too good to be true, then Aaron said, "Eric, we better get more toilet paper." Vince and Bruce loaded all of gear into his monster 4wd Kia, unbeknownst to his mom, the owner of the car. Seven hours and 4 near misses later, Vince was a great car buddy, making the 6 day ride on our bikes really enjoyable. He's a stud earning his PhD and was doing field work on the mountain from the cold part of hell.

Arriving in Sydney, his mother had started a BBQ for all of us and we all enjoyed a truly unforgettable meal. Too bad we were still suffering a bit from our flirtation with Giardia, though Aaron was taking the lead on the effects. We wound up canceling our hotel reservations and stayed with Vince at his father's place in Croydon, a town Aaron became particularly fond of. Just around the corner was a bike shop that we in dire need of, given that Eric's bike had 2 broken pedals, a broken rear spoke, and a precariously loose cassette.

We headed into the city to find out that night was Mardi Gras, Sydney's 300k person gay parade. Aaron claims to have pictures of a man trying to groap and steal Eric, these allegations are erroneous! Erroneous on both counts! Any pictures to the contrary are probably fabricated. We met up with our Fiji to Sydney airplane buddies, Devon and Kristin for some afternoon drinks and parade watching.

The next day was our day trip to the Blue Mountains and the old mining town of Katoomba. If you ever go to Sydney, visit Katoomba, hike around the Blue Mountains, and go to the Common Grounds Cafe for lunch. What a great spot! Great food, awesome environment, and chicks with unibrows.

Having spent the last three weeks in colder than expected weather, we were thirsty for some sun! We now chill in the beautiful little town of Coff's Harbor, a few hundred k (kilometres) north of Sydney. Using the train to leap frog north, we arrived in the city at 1am, and for a city that just about shuts at 5 pm, this was no good. We were lucky enough to have the front door to the YHA hostel propped open slightly, which was more than enough of a welcome for these two nearly homeless guys. We crashed on their lounge couches. Despite having not slept in about 23 days, and getting to bed around 2am, we were up and out of there before they were the wiser.

We spent the day off the bike, and instead enjoyed a run, swim, and workout day. Awesome! We ran for a few hours all along the coast here and loved the views and trails. Oooh, we saw a bearded dragon lizard just hanging out. Eric was able to get a solid swim in around the pier while Aaron made good use of the surgical tubing for a beachside workout.

We will be getting to bed early tonight as we're planning on hammering out two big days on the bike to get up to the debaucherous town of Byron Bay.

But really, we're just jazzed that we're finally on the coast with warmer weather.

The High Country

2008-02-27T16:07:00.000-08:00

After getting a few logistical things taken care of in Albury, we set out for a less than ambitious 40k stint to the lovely little town of Tallangatta. We enjoyed one of the better sunset settings we've seen, set in a valley across a tragically low resevoir and rolling hills. The colors were brilliant! We arrived into Tallangatta at dusk and headed straight for the pub, still with our kebabs from Albury in our packs. With only two other people in the pub, we weren't about to pull out the kebabs we were earlier salavating at the mouth over. But, after a few skooners and plenty of questions about our ride later, we made friends with the wonderful Jo Stratton behind the bar. She offered us accommodation at the Tallangatta Hotel Bungalows, not only free of charge, but they came with two more skooners! sweeet. As we got comfortable there, aaron thought for a minute this is the kind of place that people check into, but they never check out.

We headed out early that day for an ambitious day of riding. We hoped to land in Corryong, some 80k away and over two mtn ranges. About half way thru the ride, with the sun blistering and the ladies totally absent, aaron found out the brilliant idea of spending precious communal money on a ripened cadbury egg was not such a brilliant idea. The egg hatched at the bottom of his camel pack and generously left remnants of itself on just about everything in his bag. No worries though, no calorie goes to waste here...he licked every bit of it up.

After enjoying the sites of a beautiful horse playing in a picture perfect setting, we arrived in Corryong well ahead of schedule. We found a community pool and Aaron had to stop Eric from riding his bike straight into it... we had a bit of a swim to lower the ol' body temp. at dinner we met Bruce and Paula and had a good laugh about how stupid this whole ride idea thing is...

We camped at a skate park that night and as we were searching for the perfect tent footprint, Eric walked into a spider web he didn't see. A bit startled, he looked up to see a ridiculously offensive looking spider, all hairy and red and huge and fangy and probably a baby eater. a pic appears in the slide show. He later saw a slightly smaller, though still disturbingly large spider, cruising around the ground about 20 ft from our tents. not cool.

We woke up to a less than fun wet morning and had a big day of climbs to Geehi. Geehi is a great site set between mountains with a crystal clear creek running thru it, parrots flying overhead, trout jumping for insects, kangaroos frolicking for food, and aaron bathing naked in the water. all very aesthetically pleasing!

We both couldn't get enough of this camp setting. the fresh water was deemed by our lab to be clean enough to drink out of (that and we had literally no way to get water for some 30k), and the dusk fire took the chill out of the air and the stars were brilliant.

we had been hearing for some time about the intense climbing we had in store for us before reaching Mt Kosciusko; what we didn't know was that the climbs were matched with equal downhills, making the climb about 3 times as long as it needed to be. also, not cool. we stopped in the Snowy River so that Aaron could pretend he was John Riley for a minute and we stumbled across a tiger snake, just in the middle of the path. if that wasn't enough, we came across two more tigers mating. Eric was excited to finally get a few naughty pics in our collection, so he snapped away.

For the final climb, the weather acted up and the roads got steeper. at one point, the winds picked up enough to start tearing down trees. we came across a 50ft tree that fell clear 'cross the road. Hit with wind and rain, we couldn't pass the tree without trying to clear the road. it was an accident waiting to happen. so, in a gracious diplomatic maneuver, we threw our bikes to the side, wiped the sweat, sunscreen, and rainwater from our tired faces and tirelessly moved the trees. 2 minutes later it was clear.

Perhaps the highlight of the day came about 50 meters from the top of the never-ending hill when we heard a car horn and a guy yelling at us to hurry the hell up. who was it but Bruce from the pub in corryong! he drove past us, ran out of his car, placed a beer in the road, and waved his hanker chief in a dramatic push to the top. Before we even had a chance to park the ol' bikes, Big Bruce already had chairs, blankets, snacks, and beer set up for us! bloody fantastic! We couldn't help but laugh at the impeccable timing of our new friends as we arrived into Thredbo.

We are now at the base of Kosciusko and are about to set out on our day hike and trail run, though Aaron is in recovery mode from a wicked case of food poisoning from the Hawaiian pizza he woofed down last night. facing the first night of comfy beds and a temperature controlled room, aaron had to watch the sound sleep eric was enjoying while he was up every 30 min yakking his guts out. Not to mention the runs he couldn't control that well. We're having a hard time writing now, as Aaron has to make emergency runs to the toilet to open the ol' release valve, rapidly becoming dehydrated. he's been drinking, only problem is it seems to be going straight thru him. He thinks he might die, a slow and agonizing death. but my vast medical knowledge says he'll be ok. But the man's a champ and he's up for the challenge of Australia's highest peak in the world.

Leaving the Coast and Heading to High Country

2008-02-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

So much for a flat island...we've left Melbourne after hanging out with Eric's friend Farah and have hit a few trouble spots along the way. We're still trying to figure out why the trouble finds us in the middle of absolutely no where. The good news is Eric is yet to get a flat, the bad news is Aaron's had 8 flats and he's gone thru all our tubes. The problem is the heat has shifted the rim tape, exposing the eyelets from the spokes, and we had nothing to fix it. suck. we think the problem's been worked out, though Aaron still needs to find a way to not have his ass hurt so badly. unfortunately that "hump" that we were supposed to push through keeps mounting for Aaron. the coming days through the mountains should be a bit of a challenge.

Outside of Melbourne we cruised through the quaint Yarra Valley on what probably is the most dangerous road we've ever biked on. At one point, a 36 wheel big rig could not have been more than 6 inches from Aaron's friggin handle bars. We were both ridden off the road by the f-ing wanker! :)

But, a few glasses of wine in the wineries was just enough to take the edge off. please refer to the pic for the details of this effect. after our 3rd winery, we completely lacked inspiration to ride much further, though Aaron made us continue. unfortunately dusk was setting in and the road was still dodgy. we needed to find a place to camp stat. heading into the first part of the high country, we found a clearing in the trees at just the right time. it was a beautiful, clear setting and we enjoyed a warm cup of tea. the view of the stars was quickly replaced by a less welcoming view of thunderheads. the night was spent with the hardest rain we've encountered yet. fortunately the fear of the campsite flooding never materialized, though everything was soggy and muddy by morning's light.

We decided to let everything dry out and in the meantime we went for a ridge-top jungle run. despite seeing koala droppings everywhere, the little buggers were no where to be seen. The rest of the day was packed with miles on the ol' trusty 29ers and our bob trailers. absolutely great farmland and high country riding with PERFECT weather.

Luck have it be, we arrived into Seymour in the knick of time to grab some fresh watermelon, a pint of ice cream, and pizza before catching the last train north to Wadonga. In Wadonga we were put up in a less than luxurious camper, but no complaints from these occasional transients!

Today we're off to the hardest sections of our ride, the mountains of the Great Dividing Range leading to the world's highest peak in Australia, a whopping 7,000 ft!! bikes and trailers make this peak a bit more like Everest. We're definitely recharged and we feel on the verge of hammering out these days. believe it or not, i think Aaron's spindly legs may actually be growing. I'll confirm later.

thanks to all those posting comments on this blog, we love hearing from you and we hope you're enjoying this rendition of our ride. we're spending those long riding hours talking about you all.

39 Great Ocean Road

2008-02-20T13:45:00.000-08:00

It turns out Australia isn't as flat as we thought, it is actually a hot place, kilometres are a bit longer than miles, and pounds are way heavier than kilos... and yes, our asses are still sore. but! we have seen an amazing part of the Oz coast.

Leaving Apollo Bay we had our best day of riding yet with remarkable views, pleasant rolling hills, a few head cam videos (thanks pat!), and plenty of picture stops. It was the sweetest ride yet! we jammed thru the hills but still made time to stop at the St. George river (barely a river, more of a creek) that was just off the beach. We cooled off a bit and then hit the road again towards lovely Lorne.

We arrived in Lorne around 6, both pretty exhausted from the sweet ride, and thought we'd top it off with a run around the bay and pier. We ran straight into the coolest girls in all of Australia just after 10. Aaron may not be coming home.

we just happened to have carried 2 bottles of wine and the ghetto blaster, which we all know is a party on 3 wheels. Sian, Steph, and Courtney were so cool they invited us back to their place to consume said wine and enjoy some beach side views, company, and music.

The next morning we had a great breakfast in town with Steph and Sian, though the OJ was not in fact complemented with champagne (as Eric thought and so chugged) but it was a bit off.

The weather finally turned on us, with the temperature dropping some 30 degrees and a fairly consistent rain. thanks to our recharge in Lorne, we were able to hammer out some good miles yesterday. oh! we had awesome Californian style burritos yesterday in Torquay, they were definitely really appreciated by these two Chipolte deprived Los Angelino's. we love chipotle.

Today should be a nice mixture of riding, breakfast in Geelong, trains to Melbourne for a bit of a city ride, then towards Healesville in the Yarra Valley for Eric's happy place: Wine Fest 2008 (a subsidiary of TheAustralianRide2008).

pics will still be posted, we are in search of a less lame internet cafe that gives us access to their computer.

We are both well and have a hard time shaking the perma grin we have from experiencing such a great place by bike.

we climbed two mountain ranges the locals call the friggin Alps (the equivalent to climbing Kanan maybe) in 95 degree weather. we did stop at the summit in Laver's Hill at a roadside bar/cafe called The Roadhouse! A great spot where we enjoyed a pint with two local guys who had plenty to talk about with us.

The first week of The Ride

2008-02-18T16:00:00.000-08:00

The flight from Fiji to Sydney was surprisingly eventful with two bottles of champagne, too many James Blunt videos, and the cameo appearance of the ghetto blaster. Brisbane Becky had the misfortune of sitting next to us while the Canadians, Devon and Kristin chilled behind us one row. A half bottle later, we pulled out the ghetto blaster to start the party...we may have been playing the music thru the landing of the plane, which Aaron and Eric barely remember happening. Customs was also a bit dodgy, as the pure euphoria of seeing our bikes in one piece sent us over the party edge.

We met up with Lisa the Rockstar and headed to bonzi Bondi beach for some slightly overcast but still warm skies. Our hostel had flocks of parrots chilling and singing in the trees above. The ghetto blaster made another appearance and enticed two girls from Norway to join us for the evening of dancing and late night kebabs.

The next day we set out on a slightly overcast day to explore Sydney central. A beautiful and spacious city and we hit all the main attractions, took our pics of the opera house, botanical gardens, Darling harbor, and harbor bridge, which we will soon be biking over. very cool.

After another day of Sydney seeing, we began our trip to Warrnambool starting with a taxi to a plane to a train then a bus and then finishing the day with a 2 hour assembly of our bikes at the train depot. Finding a hidden spot in a massive and beautiful beach side park, we crashed for the night.

Our ride started off with a coastal cruise, then a slightly undesired detour inland and up hill. Off the bat, Eric's trailer mysteriously came off the rear axle of his bike, nearly sending him pavement-side. Fortunately the doctor said most of his injuries were emotional.

After a long and hot day of riding on seriously back country roads with next to no cars we were dumped off onto The Great Ocean road. Aaron nearly hit a kangaroo when it jumped across the road in front of him on a dirt road. We later saw two more chilling countryside.

After another day of riding along the coast, stopping at small towns along the way, we finally arrived at one of the highlights of the entire Australian coast: The 12 Apostles. We were chatting on the trail to the beach and as we turned the corner we were awestruck at the beauty of these limestone monuments. We decided to stay the rest of the evening for epic sunrise and sunset pictures. We biked to a lovely nearby town of Princetown and went for a coastal trail run before heading to dinner at the only restaurant in town, deservingly named "The Talk of the Town". amazing views and surprisingly tasty food.

The following morning was a ride and a half, complete with heat, hills, too little water, and a well deserved beer at the summit in Laver's Hill. A few times we stopped and picked dozens of fresh blackberries, which line the sides of the road. Finding a hot spot of gorgeous berries, Eric felt a pinch of sorts on his ankle. Low and behold, he was bitten by a quarter sized brown spider. not cool. But no worries, spiders here aren't as bad as the snakes. Having no idea what to do, we wet napkin wiped it, and road into town. After a final descend into Apollo Bay, we were able to enjoy a setting sun over the mountains off the bay. after a little laundry, food, wine, and these written words, we're off again. We're both doing well and are still friends.

till next time...

eric & aaron

PS pics will be posted soon...you're gonna love them!