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| Main Beach Byron Bay |
Across the country too,people in the far flung town of Broome were living blissfully unaware of the apparent "need" for development and civilization.When I spent the Christmas of 1987 camped out in a station wagon parked by Cable Beach there were no fancy resorts,just one caravan park,a couple of pubs and the small row of stalls selling all things related to the pearl trade for which Broome is famous.It was bliss!
These three towns are now dramatically different with Byron Bay,of the three,the colossus of change.
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| Now where is this? Thailand?Bali?Byron Bay? |
Don't get me wrong,Byron is an awesome place to visit but like most tourist towns,the essence of the place soon gets lost once the streets are lines with chain stores,upmarket restaurants,fancy bars and ridiculously overpriced coffee-shops.What was once "special" is replaced with generic replicas of every other place that is trying to be as special as the next.That is the price we pay for popularity I guess ,I just wish that some of these places weren't THAT popular.
My stay in Byron Bay has well and truly made me realise just how unfit I have become as I am now out of the hibernating fashions of the Blue Mountains and into the almost naked fashions of Aussie beach culture.It is pretty hard to hide the pudge when your are at the beach swimming.I figure that the only positive behind the sad mess that I have become is the "before" and "after" photos should be interesting.I am hopefully looking at losing as much as fifteen kilos between now and when I join the tourists in Western Australia feeding the famous wild dolphins at the beach in Monkey Mia.Having fresh fish thrust at me by a sunburnt Backpacker would be sad evidence of my failure but I am hopeful I won't be mistaken for a stray Minke Whale,just a very hungry guy with cyclist tan lines.
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| The "Hubb" of Byron Bay |
Training rides continue as I deal with the incredible heatwave hitting the coast and the concern I have of climbing the Great Dividing Range has been replaced with a very real concern of getting hit by lighting during one of the many thunderstorms that are terrorising the region.One American tourist died in his tent not far from where I am after a lighting bolt hit the tree he was camped under,the surge passing through the tree,into the ground and through his tent.In my campground in Byron a tent inhabited by four female Schoolies was hit and the campsite destroyed.Luckily it was during the middle of the night and the girls were in the pub getting drunk.When they arrived home they found their gear floating in a huge puddle where their tent used to be,all their electronics fried.The only girl I spoke to about was surprisingly cheerful saying "It's okay,we go home tomorrow and now we don't have to take so much stuff on the plane". Gotta love the simplicity of youth.
Interestingly for me,that storm is the one thing that has broken the ice between myself and most of the others who are staying here.As someone who is old enough to be the parent of most of the inhabitants,I'm not really very high up on the social scale and as is the lot with many single men my age,I am pretty much invisible .I get a lot of "what is that old guy doing here?" looks and apart from an Argentine asking me about the cricket game I was watching on the communal television,nobody had spoken to me in conversation for three days.The joint experience of surviving that epic storm changed all that and now I have had a bunch of fun swapping travel stories with a few of the youngsters over a glass or two of wine.
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| One thing that has remained,the traditional Aussie Pub. |
The loneliness of travelling as a single,middle aged person is quite real and I often get quite sad when I see couples or groups of friends doing their thing exploring the world.That little factoid, I know, is quite the opposite to that most of friends think life is like for me.I always have people comment on how awesome my life is when they see my travel pictures on Facebook or my stories chronicled in blogs,the reality, I often tell them, is vastly different.Interestingly once I am out in the middle of nowhere the loneliness tends to disappear as it is around others when I am reminded that I am by largely by myself in life's little adventure.
There is much truth to the saying that "A crowded room can be the loneliest place in the world"
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| This is one place that is all Rainbows and Unicorns |
Filling in time in Byron isn't hard and I tried to do my best to play the tourist while I was there.One day I made the obligatory trip to the lighthouse just to say that I actually rode from there and then did the bike tour of fancy Wategos Beach where the rich and famous have their holiday houses,down to Tallows Beach for a swim where my Epic Ride stone sign was made seven years ago and then down the cost to Lennox Head and back.Another was spent in a coffee shop setting up this blog (which I might add takes an inordinate amount of time so I hope it is appreciated) while swapping stories with the passing parade of customers.
It was during that day when I was asked again about my trip and again the name of Greg McDermott and his ride around Australia was mentioned.In the conversation the gentleman I was talking to mentioned another amazing effort that he had followed earlier in the year,that of Ultra-triathlete Craig Percival and his challenge of doing 8 ironman distance triathlons in 8 days in all 8 States and Territories of Australia,all for the purpose of raising funds for the John Maclean Foundation.He was so amazed that anyone could do such a thing and he wanted to know if I had heard of Craigs effort.I very sadly had to tell this poor guy that just the day before I had received the news that Craig had died as a result of complications resulting from a knee operation he had undergone a few short weeks before. I told him that I knew Craig and that our little world was crushed by the news.Craig was such a fine example of the very best a person could wish to be and it just wasn't right that one such as he should be taken, not just from us, but his wife and two small children.It was actually that shock which kept me in Byron for two extra days as I paused to reflect on life and just how fragile it can be. I do have quite a few revelations to tell but I'll leave those for a little further down the line when the long and lonely road presents me with the right words..
Read about Craig's 8in8in8 Challenge here.
Until that road is clear and safe it is all about staying here and making the best of the weather.That,can get pretty hard to do after a few days when the novelty wears off and everything you have with you starts to absorb the moisture coming out of the sodden ground.Just a few hours of sunlight to dry things would be nice.
As you can probably tell,I am a bit of a fair weather cyclist and that is only partly because and am getting way to soft in my old age.The main reason is the safety factor.I have been hit by cars far too many times to be bothered going into battle with motorists when the weather is nasty and they can barely see out of their windshield.It is bad enough riding in good weather in this country.I will say though that the treatment I get from motorists improves greatly when I am touring mode and loaded down with bags and my trailer as opposed to being , "one of those Gay looking guys in Lycra".I haven't quite worked out why that is but I really do suspect that the "lycra factor" holds some truth.
*(Insert change of topic here due to rainy day with nothing to do)*
At the registration of the Ultraman Canada Triathlon Championships I met author Jim Gourley who was in town shadowing the race as research for his book "The Race Within:Passion,Courage,and Sacrifice at the Ultraman Triathlon". As Jim and I were talking the discussion my depression came up and he was fascinated by my openness about my struggle.I mentioned that this illness was actually quite common in the Ultra-fraternity and that for many the "pain" of training is much easier to deal with in masking the pain of the illness.He was staggered to hear that in the six weeks previous to that event I had done absolutely no training as a huge dark cloud had hung over me pretty much forcing me to bed for the duration.He promised to do some research into the condition and how it relates to athletes and include it in his book.Sadly for me and those who could have learned a lot from his words,the publishers imposed a word limit on his book and that section was dropped.
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| Craig Percival and Myself are featured |
That kind of crippling effect is exactly why I am out here on this ride.I need to separate myself completely and force myself to get out and train.This trip is that training.I have done it before and it would have worked a treat had it not been for one little accident.In 2011, I had gone through a terrible time after a relationship break up and was desperately suicidal for months.To change my way of thinking I hopped on a plane and flew to Anchorage in Alaska to compete in the Midnight Sun Marathon after which it was my intention to ride the length of the Alaska/Canada Highway.During the marathon I stepped off the trail and twisted my knee injuring it badly enough that I couldn't run and walking was painful.I could still ride though and for the next five weeks made my way through Alaska,the Yukon Territory and Alberta before an incident on the road with a truck on a rainy day (does this sound familiar) saw me end that ride by bussing it to Calgary to be with my Ultraman crew who drove to Penticton for the race.
I know that during the first two days most folks were shocked at how well I was doing having finished Day One and Two of this race (which I have won twice) in 4th overall.Some started wondering if I could get myself on the podium yet again after a long time just barely finishing but I was concerned about my knee.My concerns were well founded and despite all the hard work I had done to drag myself out of the dark hole I had been in,despite all the hard work I had done to get fit again,I couldn't run properly.The nature of the injury meant that I could lightly jog the flats but only walk the downhills.Running uphill wasn't a problem but on that course,downhills matter.In the end I finished second to last on the day and dropped from 4th to 14th overall for the weekend.It was a bittersweet result as I knew I was fit enough to do well but I had to be happy with just finishing healthy and back in the groove.That groove became a canyon as that race was the last time I was even close to being fit.Surgery to repair the knee followed my return to Australia and since that day I have been on a slow, intermittent,downward spiral back to the dark places I have known so well.
Even though I have done a few "short" rides since ( Singapore to Hat Yai in Thailand and a couple of laps around the Pacific Northwest in the USA) I haven't returned to the expedition style of ride that helped so much in 2011.I am hoping that this chance to ride away and force myself to physically suffer for weeks on end will turn things around the way it did in Alaska and Canada.I guess we will all find out in April when I line up for the UB515 Brasil Ultra Triathlon in Rio.This opportunity to go to Rio for this race was just the tonic and motivation I needed and I thank the organisers for the invitation. They don't yet realise just how much they may have helped me.
How long will this highway rejuvenation last?That I can't tell you.....As Long As It Takes!
Check out the UB515 Ultra Triathlon race website here
