Today was an early morning, it had to be as we were going to be the first official vehicle to cross over the new Gateway bridge.

Every body was buzzing as we set off for a 15km run to the base of the bridge. Today we were the first of 175,000 people that would go over the bridge, quite an achievent for the Tour de Cure guys.

After a quick speech and an additional $5000 cheque handover we were off over the bridge.

After the honour of leading the palaton over the bridge we stopped and had some breakfast then off on our last 130 km to the end.

The ride throgh the glass house mountains was fantastic and you could feel the excitement in the guys and girls. The feeling that we had achieved something great was a feeling that we all had.

After stopping at Australia Zoo for lunch we had a police escort for the remaining 20km into Mooloolabah. It was the first time since Sydney that we had all ridden together and it was a great sight

The final few km’s was fantastic with people lining the street and clapping and cheering our achievement. I got the greatest surprise when I say my friends and family that I didn’t expect to be there had flown up from Victoria for the day. It was a great feeling to have completed a great physical and emotional journey.

It just proves that if you dream a dream, set a goal and go for it that something others thought was impossible was achievable.

I even got my face on the local paper with Nicholas my son.

With my Mother in Law Doreen a survivor of Cancer

With my Brother and Dad who surprised me by coming up from Melbourne for the day to see the finish.

After some drinks and celebration we then headed to the Marina where we had a great night of celebration and awards to finish the Tour off.

There were several mentions on the night of my outstanding contribution to the Tour media coverage, and Baretts will feel lonely tomorrow not having me in shot with him !!

Thank you to everybody that contributed to this great cause. My personal tally of donations has just passed the $20,000 mark !!

Special thanks to everybody that sent me messages of support, it kept me going to the end.

Today was an easy day for me as I have done this run many times in the training. We left the hotel early to get to Warner Brothers movie world for the morning media commitments and from there rolled onto John Paul College. It was great to have a small day before the home run, and to have an afternoon relaxing with Family and Friend’s before the finish.

Here is a couple of photos.

Today there were a lot of sore heads from the night before so we didnt roll out of town till the 10.30  mark.

I got up at 5.30am and went up to the lighthouse to watch the sunrise. It was absolutly beautiful seeing the sun come up on such a clear day. The sunrise team were up there doing the crosses for the sports so I got my head on the TV again !!

Once we got running it was a pretty quick trip trip up the coast going through Murwillumbah and onto the Gold coast where we stopped at Crust pizza for a bite to eat before going to our rooms.

It was great to see Kathryn and the kids at the crust stop. Even though I have been really busy I have been missing them a lot.

Today started with a short ride to the shopping centre for a meet and greet with all the Grafton people and Woolworths handing over a cheque for $15,000 to the Tour de cure. After that we rolled out of Grafton and off on our 178km day.

Today the boys decided that they would conduct a time trial to warm us up for the day and we split into groups to take on the 20km. We averaged over 40km per hour for the 20km but that only making us third overall with the best average time of 45 km/h.

The rest of the day was spent winding its way along the Clarence river which was absolutly beautiful.

As we approached Byron Bay the scenery turned to absolutly stunning making it a great run in.

After dinner it was announced that the team had a late mark in the morning so the leash was off and a few of the boys went for a big play rolling into bed at around the 3am mark!

Today was a great day as we descended from the Table Lands down into Grafton. The good thing was a lot of the morning and some of the afternoon was spent descending the Gibraltar Range.

We stopped for lunch at the Raspberry lookout which was a stunning backdrop for morning tea. From there we had a 14km decent which was really fun reaching speeds of up to 65 kmh.

Our lunch break was at the beautiful Mann River where we ate up for the journey into Grafton.

Even though there was a lot of decent there was also a lot of climbing. We ascended 1800 meters and decended about the same amount

All in all the day was pretty good for me  my legs are really strong and my body is holding up well with a liberal coating of BUTT CREAM each morning!

Tomorrow we are off to Byron Bay which is about the same length so I am looking forward to a great scenic ride.

Paul

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Read the article “Tour de Cure hits Grafton” in the Daily Examiner – click here

Well the reported hill called Devils pitch failed to live up to its reputation. Definatly the Moonies the day before was much more of a challenge.

The hill was big dont get me wrong. It went for around 8 km but was a good level climb that you could settle into and set a good pace on. When we got to the top we were surprised it was that good.

Maybe I am getting a bit fitter because I have pulled up pretty well. Tomorrow we go to Grafton and I think its a good time to get off the tablelands. This morning there is a huge frost so its bloody cold !!

Tommorow is supposed to be -6, today I think its about 2 degrees !!

Paul

As if yesterday wasnt bad enough  today will be a house of pain. My legs are feeling like I have done a lot of work yesterday and today there is the mother of all hills to climb.

Todays leg is not long but there is a 10km hill near the start.

Update – Day 4

Well I got up it and I wasn’t wrong.  It was the mother of all hills. It started out gentle but went on forever and just as we thought that we were nearly at the top there was more. As we rounded what we were thinking was the last corner there was more but the kicker was that it turned upwards. The last 3 km was 12% gradient!

My legs and bum are hurting more than ever but I made it to the top !!

So tonight as I sit here writing this my bum hurts more than yesterday and I think my legs are jelly.

Tomorrows ride also has a kicker. The locals are giving us the drum – Its called Widows Peak and from all reports its WORSE.

Think of me tomorrow as I ride to the top!!

Paul

Today was one of the toughest days ever for me, not because of the hugest physical challenge of my life but because it was Mothers Day as well.

As we stood in the bitter cold this morning at a little after 5.00am one of the leaders gave a bit of a speech.

He said.

“Today you are going to face a huge challenge, one that will take you to places that you may have never been before. Today there will be times when you dont think that you can get to the end of this ride so you need to dig deep and find a reason, a reason that you are here.”

Being mothers day I immediatly thought of Mum, taken from us at the age of 49 by cancer. So there I stood amoungst 70 other men and women with tears flowing down my cheeks thinking of mum and how she would be the wind at my shoulder today pushing me along. 

During the ride at regular intervals there was some big hills and my mind kept wandering back and thinking of Mum and how 49 is way to young to die.

I knew I had my reason for riding today and I am proud to say that I not only made the distance but I smashed it !! My training, the 4.30 am starts, all the river loops and longer rides paid off today, and that little extra wind at my back helped too.

Paul

Well I am sitting here a satisfied but a little bit nervous at the same time.

Today and Yesterday have been great days (100km and 120km) but tomorrow I face the biggest physical challenge of my life.

We are riding 288km from here in the Hunter Valley to Tamworth.

I have to admit that I am a bit nervous about that. We have trained hard so we should be able to do it but ……………………………

I will let you know how I go tomorrow.

Wish me luck

Paul

Today was the first day of the tour and it started early, we rode from our hotel at 5.00am to breakfast and then onto the Channel 7 studios to feature on the Sunrise program.

Todays ride was really great over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and onto Terrigal for the night.

Here is a photo with a couple of the girls at the channel 7 launch