Thegreat ride

By Tania Martin
THREE hills cyclists have returned from a 2317 kilometre trip to Uluru to raise money for research into cancer.
Mt Dandenong’s Craig Everard and Adam Pater and Peter Doonan of The Patch joined 10 other cyclists to raise $55,000.
Both Mr Everard and Mr Doonan had been touched by cancer before and decided it was a great cause.
“I chewed over it and then I thought it was something I would never have an opportunity to do again,” Mr Everard said.
“So I decided I would give it a go.”
At first Mr Pater said no to the trip.
“I thought there was no way,” he said.
But Mr Doonan decided to join the ride and soon after Mr Pater jumped on board.
Mr Pater said he had never ridden that far before.
“It’s like doing 13 around the bay in a day in one big trip,” he said.
Mr Doonan originally dismissed the idea.
“It was a huge ride and I thought there was no way,” he said.
“But then I couldn’t sleep for two weeks and I decided this could be sensational, really hard but what a great opportunity.”
The trio formed a group of 12 riders and five support crew for the trip.
Once the decision had been made they set about raising cash for the cancer council.
Together they raised almost $20,000 towards the final total.
Mr Doonan said the support from the local community, schools and businesses had been fantastic.
Students and parents at both Mt Dandenong and The Patch primary schools pitched in to help raise cash for the cause.
Mr Doonan said the trek was the biggest ride any of them had undertaken.
“It was pretty gruelling and many of us started carrying niggling injuries as the ride went on because you didn’t get a chance to recover and then it was just a case of managing your injury so you could finish,” he said.
The group had to ride about 180 kilometres a day for 13 days.
But there was one day they pushed through the pain barriers and rode about 240 kilometres.
“We tried to make up time when we had favourable winds,” Mr Everard said.
Mr Doonan said the long-term forecast had shown the last day would be really tough with strong head-winds and temperatures in the high 30s.
“We were very worried about that so we put ourselves ahead of schedule so we only had to do 110 km that final day,” he said.
Mr Everard was also lucky to make it through the trip struggling with the flu.
He said one day he was spiking a fever but shivering on his bike. “One minute I was hot, then next I was shivering,” Mr Everard said.
“I did consider at one point chucking it in but I stuck it out.”
The trio said the trip was something they would do again. Mr Everard said that although it wasn’t easy, it was all worth it in the end.
Mr Pater has urged anyone thinking of doing something similar to give it a go.
“It was an amazing experience and there were so many reasons to say no – there are never enough reasons to say yes, but you should just say yes,” he said.