So some stats, for the Nerds among us.

220 Registered

201 Started

138 (at least) finished.

We did indeed manage to generate a Bell Curve, with most people finishing in the 9-10 hour time (so arrived 6am till 7am).

The Shoot for the Stars award Jacqueline Mc Kenzie,  furtherest ride till the night “less then 30 km”. Trucking it out through the night on a pretty heavy touring bike, awesome!

The Shoot for the Stars award 2 Seth Shaunessy, also having only ever ridden 30km before

The Shoot for the Stars award 3 Harry Charlesworth, while he has done some longer rides before he’s the youngest finisher at 15 and may in fact wind up being a star !

all courtesy of Treadle.

The award for Courage – to the rider on the most inappropriate bike- wins a set of Ortlieb Panniers courtesy of Metro Cycles, Newcastle.

The award for Perseverance – to Partha Susarla who was last to arrive in Newcastle Baths- Wins a large Zimbale Saddle bag from Cheeky Transport, Newtown.

Photo: Partha picking up his repaired bike, including new fork from Omafiets in Redfern.

Paratha finished despite the fact that he took a fairly high speed tumble about 50km into the ride. The crash left him rather bruised, battered with a wobbly front wheel a bent front fork and no front brake. Despite being quite close to a train station and being counselled by other riders present to head home he decided to instead finish the ride.  Riding another 125 km like this makes him absolute champion and a very worth winner of the award for Perseverance!

Partha arrived at 10:30, so 13 1/2 hours riding.  You may have seen him on the night riding a Vivente Touring bike with a full size floor pump sticking out of a pannier. What a legend!

The award for Camaraderie – to the rider who most graciously aids another in their hour of need- Wins a Pair of Vaude Rain Jackets from Omafiets Dutch Bicycles, Redfern.

Chris from Omafiets was nominated for helping with a puncture within seconds of the start. Nick from Cheeky transport was also nominated for apparently pulling tools from inside his Brompton to help another rider with a fix at Mt White. Both are excluded form the competition for the dual reasons of being professional mechanics and event sponsors. But it does just go to show how nice our sponsors are, offering prizes, recruiting riders, riding themselves and lending a hand. We couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried.

But ultimately the prize goes to Mike and Roger Webber, two brothers from Sydney riding together on a pair of extremely well equipped bikes. Mike and Roger were at hand both times other riders came off their bike (we know of only two incidents, Partha’s as above and another more serious one involving at this stage a still unidentified rider later in the ride), at both sites they were immediately involved in rendering aid, and making sure the scene and other riders were safe. Will this seems rather bad luck for the two of them it seems little to have damped their enthusiasm for the ride and they finished the ride in great spirits. For their impeccable timing in rendering aid at both incidents and good cheer we think they are well deserving of the prize for Camaraderie!

Oh yes, one more thing, our volunteers who ran the tea stops, checked people in, stayed up late, drove people home end generally looked after us all deserve all our thanks. Thanks also to Jessy Rye our experimental mobile motorcycle mechanic, who cruised till the wee hours checking in on riders having problems. Very many of you have sent really heartfelt thanks, too many to fwd on and there has also been a bit of talk about which tea stop was best.  Last year the Gong went to Budgewoi, chiefly because of the proper coffee and homemade cake, Mt White have responded with homemade cookies and slices, though the plunger coffee was still a bridge too far..

Anyhow great thanks to Tracy and Cathy Hoven, Victoria Bond, Lucie Loane and Natasha Davies at Mt White and a rather outnumbered Bernard Hockings at Budgewoi.

All by Lucie Loane

Photo above by Ben Salmon

So as you can see above Newcastle Overnight 3 is over.  It was a success beyond our wildest expectations.  230 registered to ride, of these 201 picked up their card, passed lighting check and set out into the darkness.  So far we’ve had emails confirming 121 arrivals in Newcastle and only 3 who pulled out at some stage or other.  We’ve been sent so many great stories from the night it’s a little hard to know where to begin.

A group from Newcastle (Matt, Tim and Simon) turned the ride into a 500 by riding down on Saturday, back on Saturday night and then adding a little loop on top.

Graham Webber rode to the start from Lochinvar, then back again with us making for a 404km round trip in 22 hours.

From what we can tell the first riders got to Newcastle at 4:15am and the last rolled in at 10:30am. His story:

Thanks for such an awesome ride.
I did finish the ride although a bit late. I got there only by 10:30
next morning. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be there. But it was worth
it.

I had a crash around the 80KM mark, in the hills, lost control on the
loose gravel section of the cycle track. The guys that I was cycling
with, don’t remember their names unfortunately, were so helpful. One
person, Adrian from Perth, even stayed with me until i was feeling
better.
The crash left with me slightly bent front wheel (and unusable disc
brake on the front), so was riding slower than I could. I have bruises
all over but nothing serious.

I absolutely loved the ride and experience. Of course I wish that I
hadn’t crashed. But I’m thankful it is just superficial bruises. The
bike can be fixed! 🙂

Thanks again. Hope to see you guys next year!

This qualifies Pratha for last finisher unless there is another claimant…

The biggest step prize, also we have a few contendors

Seth seems to be the leader with the longest ride till this one at 30km.  Nominated by Marcus

Hi guys…Thanks for an awesome ride!! We’re already talking about next year.
Not sure if I’m too late…was going to mention it, but forgot…but i wanted to nominate one of the guys I was riding with for smashing their longest ride ever record. Seth Shaunessy…his previous longests would’ve been return trips along the fernleigh track…so probably only 30 odd km. He only picked up his ogre 2 weeks ago!
Understand if it’s too late…

Again thanks for your efforts!! VERY much appreciated!

Cheers Marcus

The comraderie award has had a heap of nominations, Adrian as above,

Cormac from Andy

How do I nominate somebody? Eg Cormack.. What a guy!

Parag, from Jason

My Comraderie nomination goes to Parag. I met Parag at the Budgewoi pit stop. I was in pretty bad shape by this point. Suffering cramp in both legs and my fingers were numb. He offered to accompany me the rest of the way. Often coasting along to stay with me at my slow pace. Parag held good conversation to distract from the monotony of turning the pedals over. Took and posed for instagram photos. Offered me his water to save me having to get mine out of my bag. (who rides 175 ks on a bike without a bottle holder, seriously…) anyway his companionship and encouragement is what got me through the last section of the ride. and many more.

We would like to give the award to the people who stopped and helped the rider who crashed after his brake lever fell into the wheel on the section between Brooklyn and the first tea stop.  If you could self nominate on newcastleovernight@gmail.com that would be great.

Everyone seemed to love the tea stops.  From Carlin:

No one seems to be able to find the turns to Fernleigh track or the Budgewoi shortcut.  We’ll work on some signs for next year !

We will compile a few stat on times etc once we have them all.  We will also post a bit of a gallery of pictures once we have them all.

There is a fun youtube video to remember it all, we’ve lost the link but do a search for Newcastle Overnight and it will pop right up.  It’s fun watching the headlight dim as the night goes on, should have gone the dynamo path….

The view from the road side by Robert Hoehne

https://www.flickr.com/photos/roberthoehne/sets/72157649135433726/

Please read the following carefully and if you have any other questions about the ride then email us at newcastleovernight@gmail.com

Last minute things

Ride is in for this Saturday. The weather forecast is great but the ride carries on even in the event of rain, wind etc.

Riders need to register on-line before Friday, then sign in and satisfy a lighting check on the night. Without two independent front lights, two independent rear lights, a red reflector attached to the bike and a reflective vest we cannot sign you in. If in doubt read the lighting rules.

At the moment we have over 200 riders so leave some time for sign in a the start.

Sign in will take place at York lane bar from 6:00-8:00 pm or at observatory hill from 8:10-8:45 pm.

There will be a brief welcome and announcement before riders leave at 9pm.

It is worth repeating that Newcastle Overnight is neither a race nor a charity ride. There is no mechanical support enroute not is there a sweep wagon. If you are unable to finish the ride then you need to make your own way home, via hitching, train, or a call to a friend.

Around 60 km in at Mt White and at 120km in at Slade Park, Budgewoi we will have a road side tea stop. Staffed by some of our lovely volunteers, tea, coffee and snacks will all be offered. Bring coins or small bills to express your gratitude.
Note this carefully please: Even if we advertise a food spot there is every chance they could run out of food before you get there. Two bottles of water is a good idea, and at least a few things to eat. You should be taking on some food and definitely water at least every hour throughout the night.
Please make sure that you bring something to eat and drink with you.

We encourage comradeie and a sense of adventure and the few prizes on offer are geared towards this. Nobody ever remembers the speedy whippets who disappear up Mt White but they sure will remember who helped them with a puncture at 3am.

Prizes this year are:

The award for Courage – to the rider on the most inappropriate bike- wins a set of Orlieb Panniers courtesy of Metro Cycles, Newcastle.

The award for Perseverance – to the rider who is last to arrive in Newcastle Baths- Wins a large Zimbale Saddle bag from Cheeky Transport, Newtown.

The award for Camaraderie – to the rider who most graciously aids another in their hour of need- Wins a Pair of Vaude Rain Jackets from Omafiets Dutch Bicycles, Redfern.

The Shoot for the Stars award – for the three riders for whom the distance of this ride (175km) represents the largest increase in distance for a single ride. (i.e previous longest ride was the shortest) – each wins a four issue subscription to Treadlie Bike Magazine, courtesy of Treadle.

Don’t race the event. Do stop at red lights. Stop for any other riders who look like they could do with some help. Stop at the tea stops enroute and be kind to our wonderful volunteers who are awake to keep you fuelled. If you get to newcastle at 3am there will be no one to congratulate you and you will be two hours early for the cafe to open.

Check your bike. Pump your tires. Grab your spares. Charge your lights. Fill your bottles. Buy some snacks.

Set you on the night !

We have about 100 reflective mesh vests for sale at the start, so if you haven’t got one, and you plan to get there early we will be able to sell you one.  They are (as you can see above) a rather brief and flirty sort of a garment, best worn as part of an ensemble…..

Anyway they are $5.00 first in best dressed.

York Lane bar is confirmed as opening Saturday night. The bar is located in York Lane (just behind Wynyard Station) they will be open from 6pm till about 9pm.

Vegetarian Pasta is on the menu for $12.00. There will also be a number of drinks and sweets on offer as well as Coffee and other things that may keep you going.

Come along, meet your fellow riders, get your lighting check out of the way, tell a few lies…..

Right now the weather forecast looks good !

Saturday 8 November

Massively better than last year !