A day for mad dogs and English women
It is a great honour for 'Bruicer'
and 'Dr Koala' to write the blog for the day.
These two gentle Smiddy men have been
part of 20 different Smiddy cycling challenges between them.
Why, you may ask, do we come back
each year for more suffering and pain?
There must be something very special
about the Smiddy family and the Smiddy vision of helping others less fortunate
with cancer.
The simple truth is, for both men,
Team Smiddy is like being part of a wonderful extended family, connected by
true friendship, camaraderie and love.
It's the love of helping others and
motivating each of us to do better in our own lives, though compassion for
others and sacrifice (especially on the part of Bruce’s wife, Jenny)!
Having lost friends to breast cancer,
Jenny has always been a supporter of cancer research and through Bruce's
participation in Smiling for Smiddy events Jenny has found another way to
support cancer research.
Of course, both men love cycling,
being outdoors and visiting beautiful places.
But we all know this is only a very
small part of the motivation to come back year after year. (But Dr K admits the
Pinot Noirs do help.)
One certainty about a Smiddy challenge
is that a surprise or two will always arise, which are sure to provide lasting
memories beyond the ride.
Dr K was rather upset with 'Sharky'
as they shared a room together at the Wedderburn Cottages.
Due to being completely deaf, Sharky
always laughs at Dr K’s silly jokes. Sharky is so thoughtful—he never carries
any cash, which gives you the opportunity to be generous yourself, and buy him
coffee, or anything really! What an exceptional man and father.
Today’s ride from Central Otago to
the east coast of New Zealand started in teeth-chattering sub-zero temperatures
of at least -5 degrees. This pushed all the riders into new territory.
The only exception to complaints
about the extremely low temperatures was Aunty Gabrielle, who, at the first
toilet stop, was noted to comment "I LOVE these conditions."
Uncle Andrew, a highly experienced
Qantas engineer, didn’t disappoint for the second day in a row. He had another
mechanical within the first two kilometres—this time a chain was off! He
definitely appears to be a loose cog and we look forward to seeing what eventuates
tomorrow!
At the first nature stop the
temperature was still only -3 degrees.
Several notable casualties of
hypothermia were lost to the peloton, as 'J-Dog' threatened us with his digital
ear thermometer.
This led to our two Kiwi ride
leaders, John and Ross being warmed up
in the sag wagon, as well as Mad Dog, Johnno, Sterlo, and Wayno. But
interestingly, no ladies had to be warmed up, until Briony succumbed after the
first decent descent.
'J-Dog' tried to nab Harry, whose
first temperature measurement was below 35.0 Celsius in his left ear. Harry insisted on a second
opinion, so a measurement was done in his right ear, reading 35.1 C, meaning he
escaped the sag wagon.
J-Dog kept his close eye on Harry for
the rest of the morning. It was so cold that the peloton looked like a 33
cylinder steam train, charging along the Otago plains.
The Otago sun made a feeble attempt
to warm up our cold bodies, but the Land
of the Long White Cloud prevailed at throwing not only extremely cold
air in our faces, but some stinging sleet.
It was almost lunchtime before the
kiwi sun started to smile warmly upon us.
'Mark the angel' literally escaped
serious injury and a visit to heaven, when during the first fast descent, he
developed 'the speed wobbles' and lost control of his bike!
He somersaulted into a grassy dip
like a Qantas pilot looking for a safe emergency landing. He escaped only with
some lost pride, small leg bruises and damage to Dr K’s new expensive pink
Rapha gloves.
Next time Mark will be sure to check
his wheel spindle is secure and safe.
'Uphill Harry' expressed his
enthusiastic nature once or twice too often, being called back so as to not
split up the peloton.
We were spoilt again by the amazing road
crew, who put on heart-warming soups and nibbles to nourish our cold bodies at
morning tea at the Dunback Bowling club, followed by yummy wraps and fresh
fruit at the Hampden Community Centre.
It was also apparent the road crew
spoilt themselves as well today, with some nice, hot pulled pork pies.
Matt’s topless photograph remains a
mystery in Michael Fellows' camera.
One day, we will eventually find out
whether a soft or hard lens was the best choice to bring out the inner soul of
this amazing bike mechanic.
Matt’s own prodigious photography
skills, linked with his great work, kept so many bikes on the road today and he
definitely lived up to his nick name 'The Lion King'!
For those of you who appreciated
finding the souvenir pine cones in your day bag—our spies in the road crew
confirmed the guilty parties were the innocent looking Pru and Lu!
The punishment they deserve for their
cheekiness will be determined at their upcoming Smiddy trial. In true Smiddy
tradition, Mr David Smiddy will be appropriated as the judge and jury!
The scenery throughout the ride was
spectacular—with rolling grassy frozen fields book-ended by massive mountains
in the distance.
Fortunately, we only had a small (but
still challenging) climb to take us to our first view of the ocean off the east
coast at 100 kilometres.
We stopped for Sir Michael Fellows to
take a group photo. Michael’s contribution to the Smiddy cycling adventures is
amazing and we have already had a taste of some exceptional shots he has taken
over the last three days.
Unfortunately, due to important
family reasons, he had to leave us this evening to return to Australia. We wish
him all the Smiddy love to get him through the coming days and weeks.
Today’s ride was a testimony to the
Smiddy vision of teamwork, spirit and mateship.
Johnno became the latest recipient of
the 'Smiddy Spirit' jersey, which he wore proudly and revealed for the last
sunny 'warm' 20 kilometres of the ride today.
For some of the riders, after two
(some three days) of cycling in challenging conditions today was another big
effort to arrive safely and together as a team to our final destination of
Oamaru—a pretty seaside town with lots of history.
A special mention should be made of
the efforts of Hollywood superstar Mark Trayner, who took it upon himself to
help Dr Koala up almost every hill during the day.
Dr K was very happy to help warm up a
very cold and grumpy Hollywood, by allowing the touch of the 'Hand of God' on
his back. Many others also helped Dr K and others in pain during the day,
including Archie, Peter, Ross, Killer, Mad Dog, Timbo, Johnno and Sir Stephen
Russell.
The day’s ride finished with the
traditional, warm Smiddy huddle (probably not a good idea in light of the
COVID-19 pandemic) …
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