Day 5 Mitchell to Augathella 189km
We were expecting a hot one today, so everyone was keen to get on the road early, but not before we were fed a hearty breakfast provided by the P&C of the local school in Mitchell, certainly one of the hits was the muffins cooked by the local Mitchell Bakery – one of the best bakeries in Queensland!
Todays ride was broken up fairly evenly into 45km stretches. Our first stretch took us into Mungallala, where we continued to feast on home baked goodies. The support crew says we need to keep eating as we still have a tonne of food left and only 2 more days to get through it – where has this week gone!
We continued with a powerful peloton facing head winds, making the day a challenging one for our riders. However, they fed off the strength of each other and supported the riders who were struggling. The camaraderie and bond between these riders is so strong now that together they are pushing through all sorts of pain barriers.
As we rolled into Morven we got to visit the brand new pub in town the Sadleir’s Waterhole. It has only been open a few weeks, but they were kind enough to let 40 hot sweaty RideWest Crew members recline on their lawn and eat on their beautiful deck. After lunch, we squeezed in some quick merchandise shopping, a group photo of the whole 2020 RideWest crew and we were back on the road.
One of the highlights of each RideWest tour is the arrival into Augathella. The beautiful people that live in and around this town all come down to the local Meat Ant Park to welcome us and put on a delicious afternoon tea. And today, to guide us that last couple of kilometres into Augathella, was the gorgeous children of Augathella State School. Donning their helmets and proudly showing off their bikes, they led us into their hometown behind the flashing lights of the local police officer Lachlan. Their teachers said it was all they had talked about all day, making it a highlight not just for the children, but for our riders too, as those last difficult few kms of each day were made a little easier knowing they had a little buddy to talk to.
The local hospitality continued with Trevor and his team at the Augathella Bowls Club putting on their renowned corned beef and white sauce for dinner. Tonight, we got to hear from three of our new riders this year, Jo, Greg and Geoff on what RideWest means to them and what drew them to sign up. “Thank you for helping me write this chapter in my life. This is something we will never forget and it is so great to be sharing it with all of you.”
These moments of vulnerability and honesty, produce so much laughter and a few tears, but it is truly something we will all remember forever.
A few highlights from the team today:
Rob – All the cyclists just keep getting better. It was the best RideWest day I’ve ever had.
Emma – Seeing a better ‘honk’ success rate for PC with the truckies. And also coming into my home town and getting to share that with everyone.
Michael – The white sauce and corned beef dinner.
Geoff – The consistency of the riding. Everybody just keeps going.
Brett – Seeing Cam’s cat like reflexes to bunny hop over a traffic cone.
John Storie – Making it to my cabin in Augathella without breaking my ribs (that’s what happened in 2018).
