With the return to Dubbo and a short ride into Macquarie Home Stay the curtains are drawn on the 6th edition of the Tour de OROC.
What a week, some are speculating that it was the best OROC ever and there certainly were some real highlights.
The two Olympians were outstanding, humble and down to earth, they were a lot of fun to ride with, taught us a few pro tips and tricks and captivated us with their post dinner talks. Thanks Sara and Brad!
YTG! Having 8 ladies riders who kept the pelotons running smoothly with their superb ride captaining not only did they prove to be as endurable and witty as their male counterparts but also looked far better in Lycra. Thanks ladies. (if you were wondering, Yeah The Girls)
We had our first e-bike rider, who turned 78 on the ride, fully demonstrating the possibilities and opportunities that the e-revolution can provide. A couple of riders were begging Kev for a swap towards the end of the longer days, and he managed to make it stretch his batteries through the long days with micro-e-management and the just a touch of range anxiety!
We reckon we have cracked the Guinness World record for the most sponsors on a jersey, the count is at 127, 3 of those are our own logos and there are a couple that the judges might question, but we think we will towel up the standing record of 116. More to come!
So how was the ride! The ride was just over 740 km and the lead group spent about 23.5 hours on the bike while the tail was on the saddle for over 28. This was a massive effort, the extra time on the bike is hard on the body (particularly the posterior) and also meant they had less time to recover at each of our stops.
Over the 6 days we had 34 riders. Of these, 20 riders rode every day while the rest joined us on their bikes for anywhere from a half to 4 days. Huge kudos to the Mayor of Walgett Shire, Jasen Ramien who rode with us from Walgett to Lightning Ridge also to the 3 strapping young lads from Cobar who joined us for their longest ever ride. Great to have our old OROC mates Simon Friend and Peter Singh who doubled up as taxi drivers ferrying our Olympians to and from Dubbo. Also good to have Peter Hollingworth, Jim OBrien and Simon Logan join us as well. Thanks gents
We ate, and ate, and ate! Riding big days burns big calories and refuelling was a serious business and so was hydration. Our hostees with the most kept a tally of the hydration statistics; they supplied 41 bags of ice, 355 litres of water, 240 bottles of water and 300 cans of coke (John Reidy, really?). It is rumoured that a much larger number of blue cans were consumed by the tucka truck duo.
Stay tuned for
fundraising updates,
details about the 7th edition of the Tour de OROC,
dates for the Bourke and Brewarrina fundraising auctions
But now it's time to rest these weary muscles!