Well there was a pleasant southerly tailwind and not too much rain for this year’s edition, which was welcome! As always there was a great atmosphere, and lots of variety in what people were riding.
The following riders won our awards for Courage, Perseverance and Camaraderie, and get a $50 voucher from Omafiets bicycle shop.
The Award for Courage – to the rider on the most inappropriate bike Sax Cucvera – Sax was hard to miss, on his tandem, with “George” the skeleton strapped to the back! George was pedalling the whole time, but it’s hard to say how helpful he was.
The Award for Perseverance – to the rider who was the last to arrive at Newcastle Baths Carl Davison – Carl had an unfortunate run-in with a roundabout in Bateau Bay, and ended up in Gosford hospital with 7 broken ribs. Undaunted, he’s already planning to ride next year’s Newcastle Overnight!
The Award for Camaraderie – to the rider who most graciously aided another in their hour of need Yoon Kim & Yung Lik Wang – Yoon & Yung were riding with Carl when he took his tumble. Not only did they wait with him until the ambulance came, but they walked his bike 1.5km to a 7-11 who stored the bike for Carl. Yoon & Yung even thought to finish Carl’s ride on his Garmin!
An honorable mention goes to Julian Guinane, who assisted a couple of riders with punctures.
Starting tonight from 6pm at York Lane bar for pasta (carb loading to the serious) and perhaps a coffee or a drink (for the more hopeful than confident) we are on.
Registration will be open from 6 and there will not be a queue then so come early and have a chat. Chris will be there from Omafiets to sort out any last minute bike dramas ( as long as these dramas don’t include things like “I’ve just spotted a big crack in the frame”
We will then move up to Observatory Hill around 8 ready to head off at 9 for Newcastle…
Weather forecast is ok…
Sydney area
Mostly cloudy. Medium chance of showers, most likely during the morning.
Don’t forget to try and find a little bit of cash for the tea stop at Mt White we will have the usual vast array of goodies from Kitty at the fruit shop and Aldi, and who knows if they have any left there might even be Panettone….
So with less than a week to go things are looking good. Dave has updated the map to include the Fernleigh Track extension and returning us to the reopened Newcastle Baths.
York Lane Bar is putting on pre ride dinner from 6pm and as usual we are putting on the tea and biscuit fruit cake stop at Mt White. Don’t forget to bring along a little cash as a donation as I don’t think we will have any other way unless we manage to borrow something…
The weather gods really were looking down on us last night as I joined ~160 fellow riders on the Newcastle Overnight ride. The day had been wet and I was preparing for a soggy 170km up to Newcastle. But those fears were unfounded. We ended up with perfect conditions – little wind, comfortable temps and zero rain.
The assembly point was Observatory Hill, just on the southern side of the Harbour Bridge, and we were treated to an amazing view across to Luna Park as we waited for 9pm to roll around. There were bikes of all types, which simply reflects the all-embracing culture of what is almost an underground cult event! Recumbents, tandems, flat pedal “regular” bikes and I even spotted a TT bike. People who love riding getting together to do something slightly crazy by the light of the (mostly) full moon.
And so we set off, rolling over the Harbour Bridge and then heading north out of the city. Various groups formed, got broken up by traffic lights and new groups came together.
Out of the city and we came across our first major climb, heading up Mt White. Riding in the dark was fun and my lights (and brain) coped well. We did hit some foggy patches and that was more freaky as there was no way the lights were getting through that pea soup. Thankfully those patches were short-lived and ended up not causing too many issues. There were few cars around and those that came across us were considerate and gave us plenty of space.
At the top of Mt White volunteers had set up a food/drink stop with plenty of food on offer and hot instant coffee available. I got there at midnight and took the opportunity to have a hot coffee and then decided to press on rather than sample the food.
I only had one bottle on the bike, filled with Infinit and the plan was to replenish that with Powerade as I needed it. That became necessary at around 2am!
At around 4am, and with 50km to go is when the struggle started. The lack of sleep was starting to tell and I was getting sore and uncomfortable, and ready for it to be over. I managed to get through the next 25km and at that point stopped at another service station for a refill of Powerade. At that point I figured another caffeine fix would be a good idea so an iced espresso joined the party!
Soon after I reached what I considered the highlight of the route. If I weren’t so tired and sore by then I would have loved it even more, but it was still lovely. The route put us onto the 16km Fernleigh track, a sealed rail trail which wound its way north through bush land. The sun was coming up by then and, with it, the birds were waking up. I passed an incredibly noisy, but beautiful, flock of rare black cockatoos – always so special seeing those birds. Another highlight, at the end of the trail is the 180m curved tunnel. I had seen pictures of it and so it was a buzz to see it and ride through it.
Finally I was in the final few km and rolling into Merewether and the ocean baths. I stepped off the bike a shade before 6.30am totally stuffed, but equally chuffed to get through it.
In the meantime St Pete was driving to meet me at the finish. He was able to sleep before hitting the road and timed it well. It was only around 15mins after I got in that he turned up, ready to celebrate with breakfast on the waterfront and a swim in the ocean baths.
All in all it was a fabulous adventure. As an Audax Australia hosted event it cost the princely sum of $6 to enter, plus $15 for the one month Audax membership fee. Even when you add in the optional Audax Australia finisher’s badge for $8 you get an incredible value for money event. No road closures, no event marshalls, just a bunch of like-minded individuals living life to the full and supporting each other to the end.
A magic night, a magic memory and hopefully the first of many more. But first, I have some sleep to catch up on!
A big thanks to my St Pete, as always, for providing my personal taxi service and letting me sleep most of the drive home and the afternoon after we got home! And Coach Scotty who, as always, prepped me perfectly to take this on and execute to plan. What a team, understanding and believing in my version of fun. Or is that crazy?!
A group of 4 men hid behind some shops and threw eggs at us as we rode through Long Jetty.
At Bateau Bay, a P plater was swerving across the road, we caught up with a rider whose mate was clipped by that rider. Took him into the bunch and delivered him safely to Newcastle.
Other than that – a great ride!
Danni
In other news
Firstly, thanks yet again for an amazing event! This was my 5th overnighter, and I loved every minute. Even the awfully painful ones!
No real stories to tell, other than the fact that I was blasting disco tunes on my bluetooth speaker for the climbs at Mount White and Calga and a lot of people seemed super grateful for the motivational music. That, or they were just trying to be nice
. I know they helped my spirits anyway.
Additionally, Chris fixed my bike issue at York Lane. I was so worried I’d have to bail given I couldn’t shift gears, but he came to my rescue.
Have attached the photos I took. Again, thanks for everything!
Jase
Some good friends and I have done this ride twice before and were looking forward to a third time but an unfortunate recent accident left me with a broken arm.
The solution (obviously) was to ride a tandem. You don’t need two fully functional arms if you’re not steering, right?
The usual stoker for the bike we selected is a 10 year old girl so we had to make some modifications including a longer seat tube, additional grips and, most importantly, longer cranks. The cranks we selected had a much bigger front chainring so we had some minor issues with the chain and front derailleur but nothing too much to worry about.
Generally there were no problems at all for the first half of the ride although the big descents are a little bit terrifying when you’ve got to give most of the controls to someone else. There were less interactions with local wildlife than the previous year but more with local wild life (almost got hit by a lady driver who was looking out for ghosts and not cyclists).
Sax
Thank you very much for the great event and the stop at Mt White which was highly appreciated!
Overall, the ride went very well but I had one minor incident with the Hoons around Moonee, I was hit with a plastic water bottle thrown from a white VW transporter, it just hit me on the back so no impact, Artem Chupis was behind me and witnessed it.
I heard later that someone was knocked off by one of these hoons in the same area, by a grey mazda 3 but assume you have already been made aware of this so good to mention my incident if speaking to the local police.
I’ll be encouraging more of my mates to give this a go next year,
and timed it well. It was only around 15mins after I got in that he turned up, ready to celebrate with breakfast on the waterfront and a swim in the ocean baths.
newcastle overnight 