15 Jun 24
On Friday afternoon I flew up to Brisbane with Roger (my bike!) to do my first QLD brevet. I had actually never finished an Audax 600, although attempted two. Even though I’ve done plenty of rides longer than 600km, it’s something I wanted to tick off, and also use in my training for goals later in the year. On building the bike in my hotel room I noticed that something wasn’t right with my brakes. On closer inspection I found the rear brake pads were half way out of the caliper and the bolt that holds them in was GONE! Lucky I always carry spares so it was a simple fix. A quick test ride and I thought everything was ok only to then find play in my cranks. I tightened the preload adjuster and crossed my fingers that all would be ok.
Saturday morning was a 6km ride to the start where I dropped my overnight control bag and then we were off! 11 starters. I was glad for a wheel to follow in the dark through the first bike path section (thanks Mark!) but I was soon after on my own. Little did I know the full peloton was only about 5 minutes behind me all the way to CP1 
From there I joined Greg and Kirstan for a bit and we eventually formed a group of 8 for the rest of the day/night. Although the regrouping took a lot of time, the company was fantastic and all those lights definitely made descending pot holes roads feel a lot safer! The monster climb over the border was tough, as expected. The scenery was beautiful, but the ramps (and cattle grids) relentless! The highlight of my day was riding into Lismore to a hug from my brother who was following my tracker 
weirder moment of the day was meeting Chris Hemsworth at the Kyogle Pizza Hut and having his kids cheer out the car window as they passed us on our way out of town. We arrived into our night control at 12:30am. 
From there I joined Greg and Kirstan for a bit and we eventually formed a group of 8 for the rest of the day/night. Although the regrouping took a lot of time, the company was fantastic and all those lights definitely made descending pot holes roads feel a lot safer! The monster climb over the border was tough, as expected. The scenery was beautiful, but the ramps (and cattle grids) relentless! The highlight of my day was riding into Lismore to a hug from my brother who was following my tracker weirder moment of the day was meeting Chris Hemsworth at the Kyogle Pizza Hut and having his kids cheer out the car window as they passed us on our way out of town. We arrived into our night control at 12:30am. 
After a very insufficient 2 hour sleep (
) we were up and out into the rainy, dark morning. One DNF had our group at 7 but it quickly split. I didn’t feel confident on the wet roads descending as fast as the boys so hung back and solo missioned it to Byron with Kirstan not far behind me. A great morning view at the most Easterly point of Australia. Another 30 minutes or so riding I caught up with Bhanu, Ernie, and Jason and joined them for most of the day. Great company and strong riders. Another day of beautiful country scenery and once the rain passed, great weather. Another big climb up over the border, with the gradient getting up to 25%! I was feeling really strong on this section so rode it solo and regrouped with Jason and Ernie at the top. Brian, Sue and Justin were waiting at the top with cold coke and food which was a brilliant surprise!!! The rest of the day was a bit of a slog fest with access roads back towards the city before bike paths. About 50km from the finish my right hamstring gave up and any pressure through my leg felt like it would cause damage. So spinning it was. I also started getting sleep deficiency vertigo which is something I’ve experienced before so while not alarming is quite unpleasant. Nothing was going to stop me from finishing though. I am so happy to have finished this incredibly demanding route with such tough climbing. It’s definitely one to remember 
much thanks to Brian for organizing!!
) we were up and out into the rainy, dark morning. One DNF had our group at 7 but it quickly split. I didn’t feel confident on the wet roads descending as fast as the boys so hung back and solo missioned it to Byron with Kirstan not far behind me. A great morning view at the most Easterly point of Australia. Another 30 minutes or so riding I caught up with Bhanu, Ernie, and Jason and joined them for most of the day. Great company and strong riders. Another day of beautiful country scenery and once the rain passed, great weather. Another big climb up over the border, with the gradient getting up to 25%! I was feeling really strong on this section so rode it solo and regrouped with Jason and Ernie at the top. Brian, Sue and Justin were waiting at the top with cold coke and food which was a brilliant surprise!!! The rest of the day was a bit of a slog fest with access roads back towards the city before bike paths. About 50km from the finish my right hamstring gave up and any pressure through my leg felt like it would cause damage. So spinning it was. I also started getting sleep deficiency vertigo which is something I’ve experienced before so while not alarming is quite unpleasant. Nothing was going to stop me from finishing though. I am so happy to have finished this incredibly demanding route with such tough climbing. It’s definitely one to remember much thanks to Brian for organizing!!
