Queensland Ride for Sick Kids

The riders met at the Salt House bar for refreshments late in the afternoon. We shared a few laughs before heading back to the Shangri-La for the reception. Both the Berthers and the Vincents did an amazing job of organising the function. Tammy welcomed the guests and the night started with some music from Tarscha the RMHC ambassador for the TSV house. The silent Auction was impressive. With pleanty of fantastic items up for grabs. With some of the top items going for in excess of $4000.

By the end of the night JB proudly announced that we had exceeded our fundraising target, the Cairns function had raised over 30k!

With the Range behind us we rode the flats into Cairns. We arrived at Cairns City McDonalds one hour early and were greeted by Channel 7 who interviewed both JB and Scott. We had lunch and then continued on to the Shangri-La. We arrived before check in so the group started the dismantle of the bikes ready for their flights home tomorrow and some R&R before the function tonight.

After a good night’s sleep we awoke to a chilly overcast morning. We headed off dreading the thoughts of more hills toady.  Fortunate there wasn’t too many as the group sped along the Gilly’s Highway to Cairns. After a full day of climbing the range yesterday it was about time we got to spend time coming down and the group enjoyed 20km of winding downhill often hitting 60kmph. This time it wasn’t the bikes holding up traffic, with the leading group out pacing the cars down the windy stretch of road.

The group did it tough on the Palmerston Highway climb to Millaa Millaa; there were light showers as we climbed thru the clouds. Often the visibility reduced to 50 m which on occasion was a good thing because we couldn’t see the top of the hills in front of us. We regrouped at the Millaa Millaa pub and had some lunch. As we started the final leg to Atherton the fog was so heavy we couldn’t see 10m in front of us and decided to stay together until it cleared. As we closed in on Atherton we finally had some flats and then after a long climb into town we raced downhill thru Atherton to McDonald’s. Thanks JB for shouting us a late lunch.

after seeing the Physio in Innisfail last night; it was a relief for everyone. The bad news was that Mike A was The good news this morning was that Jodie was starting to get some feeling back into her hands out with a tear in his Quadriceps.  And Mike B expressed concerns to the group about being able to finish the leg, Robbo put his hand up to finish it for him. It was a chilly start with some light rain as we left Innisfail McDonald’s after breakfast (thanks to Chris’s team for lunch yesterday and breakfast).  It wasn’t long and we started climbing, rolling hills turned into bigger hills. At the 20k mark Bolts swapped with Robbo and we continued on. The team split and went at their own pace for the next 20km.

Sad to leave Mission we headed back up the hill to the Highway and continued north to Innisfail. We lost Jodie off the bike today, with pain and numbness in her forearms and hands from the previous day not subsiding Jodie decided it best to give them a rest and see a Physio in Innisfail. The highway was rough riding and we made good time as we headed through the cane fields. We arrived at Innisfail McDonald’s were we were greeted by Keith and Chris Vincent and we all tucked into some burgers. Next stop was the Good Counsel Primary School. The riders received a ‘rock star’ cheer from the kids as they rode into the hall. Once again Scott and Mike did their talks to the school on bike safety and RMHC. With this the last school we were to visit on this year’s ride we then all assembled to say goodbye to Helen. It was a shame to lose Helen as she was riding so well, but her timing was impeccable as tomorrow is the hill climb to Atherton and there were a few others thinking it would be a good time to leave as well.

There were still 20km to go to make it to Mission, 10km up and 10km down. It was hard getting back on the bike after such a long break in Tully, the group split into two through the hill climb. As we turned the final corner we could see the beautiful blue waters of Mission. Helen, JB and Jodie were quick to make use of the spa for a massage and the rest of us hit the beach for a swim. Refreshed we met at the bar were Helen shouted the team dinner, some went to bed after and some kicked on at the beach under a beautiful full moon with Dunk Island as the backdrop.

We arrived in Tully for a much needed rest stop. We were greeted by Dave with a big lunch he had prepared in town, the two chickens, ham and bread rolls were quickly devoured. After a long break we headed to the school. While we waited for the kids to finish their lunch break some of the guys joined in for a game of footy. The kids assembled and Scott took them through his bike safety talk and then Mike talked to the kids about RMHC, both were well received by the teachers and kids. Helen, Jodie and Sandy then judged the colouring in competition to huge cheers from the school.

We set off after Breakfast at Ingham McD’s and made our way North. Fortunately the day started a bit cooler than yesterday and the 50km to Cardwell was nice riding. Except for the first hill climb we experienced. It was our first decent climb and tested a few of the sore bodies from yesterday. At the top we got our first views of the ocean.

We had a great night at Lee’s. The all you can eat buffet (one plate only) was cleaned out early by Wazza. We enjoyed the rest of the night at the bar and everybody was early to bed after a 120km day.