STAGE 17

Jack Gillard

Nardeen Hayden

Dunedoo to Coolah – Wednesday, March 24, 201051kms





A demanding day starting at 7.30am from the Dunedoo Hotel. While short the dirt roads had some heavy sand which claimed a number of riders.The four hour trek into Coolah was also over a panoramic mountain range, climbing some 400m in elevation from Dunedoo and then collapsing back to the valley floor with an invigorating 3km descent.Dave Stephens reached 73.3kmph in the descent.


“Good fun,” David Stephens said at the Coolah Central School where Nardeen Hayden gave another impressive safety talk on bike riding and the necessity to wear approved helmets.“He got me,” a laughing Mal Nash said.“I was almost 73kmph.”The big downhill was a rewarding end to a testing day where some of the dirt roads through local properties were capped in heavy sand.


Those sand parts claimed plenty of victims.


“I came down before the heavy sand,” Phil Stewart said at one of the drink breaks.


“Like a turtle on my back flapping around. Luckily I had Shane’o the medical man there just in case.”


John Mercer was another to come down in the sand while big Ken West said he fell twice.


At that stop Jack Gillard let loose his box of bocce balls for a quick game in the sand.From that break a number of riders walked their bikes for a few hundred metres until they reached more firm going.


“And you chose this route,” bus driver Brian Birchall radioed to ride organizer Barry Walton, who was struggling with the sand at one stage.“Baz’ arm came out in a one-fingered salute before a lilting voice replied over the CB “Always look on the right side of life”.


Then Bob Freeman’s voice arrowed out: “Westie’s down again.”


Luckily it wasn’t serious. A little further on and Baz warns Birch of a “water jump”.


“You need a snorkel,” asked a resting Tim Coates over the radio.


“A big one,” replied the metrognome.


Tim Coates was having a rest day to ensure his back and body would complete the final two legs, tomorrow’s 133km leg to Quirindi and Friday’s final 74km leg to Tamworth.


Coates has ridden the majority of the 1500km or so already covered on a Merida mountain bike given to him specially to ride.Tim, who is the president of the Tamworth Chamber of Commerce, Tamworth District Football Association and Tamworth Development Corporation, also runs Australian Training and Consulting (ATAC).He’s a busy man but delighted to be on the Mountain Bike Challenge.The Merida bike was given to him by one of his employees at ATAC, Geoff Tall.Tall’s stepson, Steve James, died tragically a few years ago.“He never got to ride it,” Tim said.“His mum said it would be fantastic if his bike could make the journey in support of such a great cause.”That bike has now travelled more than 1400km and will ride into Tamworth.One of the highlights for the riders has been the two school visits at Dunedoo and Coolah.Nardeen Hayden gave two interesting talks at both schools to some attentive and bright-eyed students.Her egg demonstrations were egcellent.At Dunedoo the principal was Peter Campbell, a former Pirate rugby union player from the early ‘80s in Tamworth.He has been there for about three years and loves his job in control of around 220 students.“The kids are great,” Peter Campbell said.“They love this type of thing.“We’ve had two other bike rides come through the last couple of years and the kids love talking to people about their bikes.”The school has a mufti day and gold coin donation and raises $231.They also, with the help of the local P&A, put on an afternoon tea.That night the local Lions Club hosts us for tea at the local Golf Club where another $680 is raised for the bike ride.