Blair's Nullarbor by Bike

Abstract -> Tangible -> Real (Yikes – 2 weeks…)

Thanks once again for your miraculous and overwhelming donations! Now at $3,255 and well over my original goal of $2,850, I still get a little tear in my eye and tingle in my tummy whenever an email notification arrives for yet another donation received. 

I have joked that at $1 per km, I should continue riding east from Adelaide towards Sydney and home – so far per dollar I would need to ride an extra 405km which would get me well into Victoria, to the township of Kulwin, and nearly across the Murray River and into NSW.

So, my Lifehouse donation goal has now been reset to $4,000 – $1 a km: Perth to Sydney, why not? (What next: New Zealand? I’ll need to strap floaties to my bike for that one 😊.) Please jump on board and keep the $$ going to a good place.

Anyway, with 2 weeks to go this abstract concept is becoming a reality I can touch. I am ready. Next stop Perth, then the long and winding job of riding east begins.

Overwhelmed and Humbled (4 weeks away)

Most is in readiness with 4 weeks to spare. Paniers and bags have been packed and repacked and packed again; bike is serviced; training kms accrued.

I’d like more than ever to thank all who’ve donated thus far! A big shout out to:

BOWY Cycling Apparel

Safe Zone Locksmiths

Metrolock Locksmiths,

Lock Rite Locksmiths,

Raine and Horne Unlimited (Balmain),

Planet Properties (Croydon), and

Ray White Real Estate (Dulwich Hill)

…for backing me and the Life House on this adventure. I am indeed humbled and overwhelmed.

Thanks yet again – safe riding as always, Blair out 

Butterflies and Brazenness (6 weeks ‘til it begins)

Happy to report that all is progressing well, 6 weeks until my big ride begins.

 Many kilometres have been banked pedalling my trusty bike Goldilocks, and while the tummy butterflies are furiously fluttering, I’m actually feeling confident I can really do this. 

The route has been earnestly planned – with my arrival in Adelaide scheduled for October 5, some 29 days on the road. I’m aiming to cover around 100km a day. My longest day is on September 22: 196km from Border Village to Nullarbor Roadhouse (which serendipitously happens to be my 55^th birthday so hopefully a big tailwind blows that day), and several rest days will be taken along the way.

I’m also taking three golf clubs with me to play the famous Nullarbor Links, the longest golf course in the world – 18 holes across 1,300km between Kalgoorlie and Ceduna (for which I have not practiced at all).

Big thanks to the lovely people who have donated thus far. $910 by $1 per kilometre gets me to Day 9 and just passed Norseman, just shy of $2,000 to go to get me all the way to Adelaide!

Please I urge you to keep the donations flowing – keep my wheels rolling, and keep the dollars coming to the Lifehouse.

Thanks again – keep riding safely – seeya soon. Blair out.

And so it begins (in less than 3 months…)

Yes, less than 3 months now until the beginning of my bicycle ride from Perth to Adelaide - some 2,850kms - and my excitement and nerves are growing daily.

 While I have actively been training and planning for coming on 2 years, the idea for such an adventure has been brewing in my head for much longer, and I feel lucky and privileged to have the opportunity, will and health to give it a red-hot go come September 7^th, the day I ride east out of Perth.

 While I'm doing the ride solo and unsupported, I am hoping to bring others along, to spur me forward 1 kilometre at a time, though donations and good will. That’s why I have set my Donation Target at $2,850 - $1 per km, but I’m sure we can go beyond that!

 Why Chris O’Brien Lifehouse? We’ve all been touched by Cancer and its horrors. I recently lost a dear friend and football teammate – Marin (Muddy) Sardelic to this disease, and before his passing he was monumental in his fundraising exploits for Lifehouse, a cause I would like to continue. I have recently been cared for myself at Lifehouse, having had a nasty BCC cut out of my neck, thankfully I am all fine now (don’t forget your suns-smarts kids!).

 And so, in the lead up to my journey, there is still much training and planning. With this first post on my very own Lifehouse Fundraiser page, I look forward to seeing the dollars roll in even before my two wheels out.

Thanks for now – ride safe – seeya on the next post. Blair out.