Day 7 & 8 - Coming to an end

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A lot can happen in 200km!

Well it’s been a whirlwind couple of days for us, lots of riding, lots of laughs and a few tears shed today as we finished to an extremely warm welcome at Home Hug.

Yesterday was a long day - 134km in total making it the longest on tour - but it was the day that would see the team really gel, keeping together and riding in packs on the long highway stints. We were fortunate to get a solid group of the girls together and were riding strong, strong enough to pick up our fellow rider Frank Newton along the way. From there we formed a pack of winners, helping each other through the headwinds and k’s. Given the common theme of chatter amongst the girls all week about squashed peaches Frank soon became none other than Frankie and the Squashed Peaches!

After a long day of riding we regrouped at dinner to reflect on the week and receive our awards from the Captain! Kel was awarded the slippery slip streamer and 4 days without a bog award, pretty self explanatory really, so we’ll spare you the detail! I was awarded for putting up with Pete which in reality wasn’t so bad, after all he did my washing EVERYDAY! 😊

Post dinner we enjoyed a few drinks, karaoke (for some) and plenty of laughs (for those of us watching the karaoke). Nikki wowed everyone with her amazing voice, Renee took to the stage for a spot of rain dancing, Frankie hit the dancefloor with his funky moves, Lyn showed everyone how gracefully she could fall (twice in a 5 minute time period) and Kel and I well we just sat back and took it all in, enjoying the entertainment until... Kel needed to go to the toilet, the men’s toilet. So laughs ended up being on Kel who thought the transvestite looking toilet signage meant that she was in the ladies!

Laughs and long rides aside today was the end of another amazing Hands Ride experience. It seemed like a very long day on the bike as we spent a little more time at water stops to reflect on the week but also the team rode with one of our older riders Frank Fingleson. He wanted to get in the van to make sure he didnt slow us down but as it turned out the crew all stayed back to help him through the last 30km of the ride to ensure he didnt miss out on the experience. That’s what we love about the Hands rides 😊

On the last water stop of the day we were plesently surprised to be welcomed by a local celebration, the were walking down the street playing instruments and were happy to see a bunch of riders arrive so we joined in the festivities with them and the local ladies were teaching some of the female riders how to dance with the entended fingers - very cool experience. Just one of the random things that happen along the way 😊

Coming into Home Hug is such a beautiful and rewarding experience. Some of the young kids met us at the road and rode their bikes into the orphanage with us (some of them were little trikes with training wheels - so cute) It’s the reward for all the hard work but it’s the opportunity for us to meet the healthy happy children, tour the amazing home that I’m proud to say my Dad has been a part of creating, and just be in the presence of so many beautiful smiling faces. Faces of gratitude and appreciation for all that we have done in the last 8 months and all that we will continue to do as our support of Hands grows. The kids put on a concert for us with singing and dancing then took our hands to show us around their beautiful home. We then enjoyed lunch with them and made our way back to the hotel where we had an amazing celebration night with the kids to enjoy the finish of the ride and reflect on our journey.

Reflecting on the ride Kel and I both admit that it was no where near as physically challenging as the first time. Yes the roads were flatter but the biggest thing for us is that the anxiety wasn’t there about being able to complete 800km. Ok so Kel didnt train as much as she would’ve liked but that just meant she had to work a bit harder mentally to get herself over the line, and she breezed through. Mentally I think the experience is always going to challenge you as you celebrate the highs, work through the lows and generally just push yourself to your limits. Some of us have heard Pete talk about food for your soul, this experience has definitely been food for our souls.

From here Kel will go on to spend 1 day at Home Hug Orphanage with the beautiful kids and I will be heading back to Bangkok to prepare for ride 2... another 800km! I’ll be keeping the blog going for those that are interested, and Kel and I will be reunited once again in 2015 when we do this all over again!

I’d like to thank everyone that has followed our journey and provided words of encouragement throughout. And thanks to Mum, Dad and Tara for welcoming us at the end of the first ride, thoughts go out to big sis and the boys who unfortunately couldnt make it over this year but know that there is room for you whenever the time is right.

Until 2015 lot’s of love...

Kel & CT

xxx



PS: Sorry there are no photos but the WiFi keeps crashing so I will upload photos once I get good WiFi 😊

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