Charity — Getting Out There

Melbourne to Adelaide in a school dress for charity: looking back

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:00:29 +1000

This time last year, I undertook a huge challenge that I’d never even dreamt of before, let alone attempted: I rode my bicycle from Melbourne to Adelaide, wearing a school dress for the charity One Girl’s [One Girl’s (One Girl Australia, 2022): One Girl — Educating Girls to Change The WorldOne Girl At One Girl, we break down the barriers that girls face in accessing an education. We do this by running girl-led programs in Sierra Leone and Uganda to drive positive change for girls and their …] 2019 Do It In A Dress campaign, raising money for the education of girls in Africa.

The charity runs this campaign every year as their major fundraiser, and the idea is that participants come up with fun and/or challenging activities whilst wearing a school uniform dress (in honour of many African school-aged girls who can’t) and their respective friends and family sponsor them and donate to the overall cause. I had the idea in February 2019 to do something a bit hard, a bit different, and came up with Bike It In A Dress, my effort towards the campaign. In June, I became an official Ambassador for the One Girl’s team, and set out planning and training for the big ride.

I raised $3,482.93 for the charity, who collectively raised about half a million dollars to help educate girls. It was so rewarding, knowing that I’d personally helped 11 girls go to school for the year, as well as being a fantastic physical and mental challenge that a year later, I’m still buzzing about.

Where did it go?:

I created a blog at ~~bikeitinadress.org~~ (since retired) to help me track and post about my own journey. I’ve duplicated some of those blog posts on this site as well so you can still read about my journey…

Saturday morning Creswick run

Sat, 04 May 2019 18:10:10 +1000

I made another run out to Creswick today, taking a slightly different route to avoid a long gravel section of roadwork, and taking in a bit more of Pootilla — what a great name eh? — and Wattle Flat.

It was also the first chance I’ve had to field-test the Jakroo cycling bib that arrived on Friday! They look fantastic, and importantly, are heaps better in the comfort department, and I hope to be able to get a good shot of them whilst I’m wearing them on my next ride to show you guys. They really made a difference to the ride and I’m sold.

I met my partner and daughter in Creswick for a coffee and then headed back. When I first rode this distance just a month ago, it was the farthest I’d ever ridden. I’ve since pushed that milestone out to 60km with the Ballarat–Skipton Rail Trail ride, then to my first 100km on 24 April when I rode to Beaufort and back.

It was nice to reflect during my ride how far I’ve come in just a month, and I decided to try and augment my training with some off-bike physical activity. I’m going to try and hit the gym a little, though I’ve always hated gyms, and might even try some pilates and/or running (if my doc approves!) to try and strengthen my core and ensure I don’t hurt my back again.

Sleeping arrangements

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 15:54:26 +1000

With my primary focus lately on fundraising, training and basically getting the word out there about my ride from Melbourne to Adelaide for charity, it’s actually been a nice diversion to contemplate something far simpler: where am I going to sleep each night?

Not wanting to ‘waste’ money on proper accommodation that could be far better spent on the cause, and being an enthusiast of the outdoors anyway, the obvious answer for me has always been to camp rough in, or near, each town/stop on the journey. So the next consideration quickly became weight and size to enable my camping gear to be stowed on the bike or trailer.

I also didn’t want to be sleeping on the ground each night, in the springtime rain, only to then ride 100+ kilometres during the day and sleep again on the ground. It’s with this in mind that I first started contemplating a simple hammock and tarp setup. After a little bit of research, I happened across a great little gem whilst shopping in Melbourne at a store near Hardware Lane called Platatac. Platatac specialise in ‘tactical’ products for law enforcement and military, but they also have some great light camping products — which makes sense as no Army soldier ever wanted a heavier pack.

The Snugpak Jungle Hammock fitted almost every requirement that I had, so I took the plunge and parted with $80, then sprung another $100 for the Snugpak All Weather Shelter light ground tarp to go with it.

I intend to properly ‘field test‘ the setup soon, so I can be sure it will be sufficient to my needs.

First century achieved

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 17:57:20 +1000

On 29 December 1928, Don Bradman, Australia’s, and some say the world’s, greatest cricketer, scored his first international test century. It was against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in the third test of the 1928–29 Ashes series¹. Today, the annals of Australian sporting history just saw another defining first century.

Smashing the 60kms I completed on 7 April, I pushed my limit out to 100 kilometres today, riding from Ballarat out to Beaufort on the Western Highway, and then back again. I really started to feel it at about the 80km mark, and by the time I was done, I was done. Feels great now though!

https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/bradmans-first-century ↩︎