Cycle Against the Beast – 2022
5th March, 2022
Today was the day to check out of my hotel room, as I would be staying at the local footy club with the rest of the Pedal Cure 4 MND guys. Like the day before, I went in search for a bacon and egg roll. It wasn’t really a search. I just went back to the same place I went to yesterday morning! After breakfast, I checked out of the hotel. However, they kindly let me keep my stuff on the upstairs balcony while I took a bit of a walkabout. I wanted to find the footy ground, and I had no real idea where it was. In fact, it was not the place I was expecting it to be! It was in a completely different part of town (which wasn’t that hard, as it’s only a small town), not too far from the hotel I’d been staying at for the last couple of days. This ultimately made it easy.
After checking out and lunch, I made my way to the footy ground. Some of the others had started turning up. Had a little chat. But I had a flat tyre to take care of first, which I’d been neglecting to fix for the last couple of days. It didn’t take long to find the leak, once I found the kitchen and filled up the sink. With the tube patched, the front wheel was reattached, I ‘set up camp’ and then I started talking to people again. It was nice to catch up with people I’d met two years ago along with new people.
The afternoon was getting on and it was soon time for us to go to the bowlo for dinner and the evening’s function. This evening, we’d be hearing from a couple of scientists from Macquarie University sharing about the advancements in detecting MND/ALS affected genes in IVF embryos. As a result, they’re able to screen out the nasty Beast where that person will never develop the disease. We also heard from former Aussie Paralympian, Scott Reardon. Scott lost his leg when he was a kid, due to a farming accident. Instead of moping about it for the rest of his life, it was a catalyst for launching him on to a new path that would lead him to Paralympic glory competing in three Paralympic Games. I’m not sure I’d have the same grit and determination if I suffered a similar injury.
Tomorrow, we start cycling as a group for a week for the next 880 km. There are going to be early starts over the next week.