Well folks I made it!!!!!! Day 11 was Gosford to Sydney
I am very sorry that I have not posted this earlier.....but it has been a whirl wind couple of days, as you can imagine.
Well day 11 started off pretty early......I left gosford at approx 5.30 as I had quite a big day ahead of me. It wasn't one of the longest days in regard to distance, however it was going to be one of the most gruelling terrain wise.
When I left Gosford it was very cold, 7 degrees celcius, and I am sure that my lips would have been blue, if I could see them through the fog that was hanging around this morning. But where there is fog, there is also going to be clear skies ahead, which couldn't have been more true. The sun started to rise at about 6.30 and the fog started to lift. By this time I was about 6km before the Mooney Mooney Bridge. Now for those of you that don't know this bridge it is three lanes wide in both directions and at a rough guess the gorge below the bridge would fall approx 150m-180m straight down. It is a huge bridge that spans approx 250m across a gorge. The winds that rip through this gorge have caused many an accident and it has wind socks placed at either end of the bridge so that passing trucks and caravans know how dangerous a crossing that it will be at any given time. It was definately, without a doubt the scariest part of the whole trip. There is no shoulder to ride on, you get to share the left lane with all the trucks that navigate these parts. As the trucks where hurtling past me (it is a 110km/hr traffic zone) they tried to swerve away from me as best they could, but their trailers still get up quite a nasty sway at the best of times........It was the scariest 250m of my entire life.....my heart was in my mouth the whole time
Well I made it through there and then after passing through the Calga Interchange, made a left and headed onto the Old Pacific Hwy (as I have mentioned before, you're not allowed to ride on certain sections of the M1 freeway) I cycled up through The Popran National Park for about 17km......straight up...I was now sitting on an average speed of about 12km per hour....I was about 4.5km's from the top when I was stopped by a policeman at a road block telling me that the road was closed from Mt White to Brooklyn.......I was ready to cry as he told me that I would have to go back and get back on the M1. So I gathered all the will I had to not turn on the tears, turn my bike around and head over ground that just took me about 1.5hrs to ride up. Fortunately, majority of the ride back was down hill....but it was the principal, damn it!! The road back took me a little over 35mins and it also brought me out 3km's back from where I originally turned off in the first place.......so all in all I had added an extra 20km onto my trip in the space of about 2hrs.......I was far from being a happy camper at this stage!!!!
The ride over the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park was spectacular. The winds were low, or close to being not existant at all, the sun was warming me right down to the bone and there was not a cloud in the sky. I could not have asked for a more perfect day to end my trip. I made up great time as I headed through the range......there were some pretty steep uphills, but they were more often than not complimented by some just as steep downhills......I really made great time through the KC National Park.......and the views are some of the most breathtaking of the entire trip. I am a little disappointed now that I didn't stop through there a little more to take some more pics than I did, but contending with the trucks through this mountain range was all that I had on my mind......It was still a 110km/hr traffic zone, and I can safely say there were definately alot of people who thought that that was a typo and was meant to read...120km/hr....
Well I made it into Hornsby, one of the far outer suburbs of Sydney, by about 11.30.....and considering that I had earlier in the day added an extra 20 or so Km's to my trip....this was record time. I don't know if it was the awesome weather that Sydney was putting on for me, the fact that I knew it was my last day, or perhaps a combination of both, but today, I was on fire. Nothing was going to stop me.......except for perhaps my now very rumbly stomach
I pulled over in a park at Hornsby, jumped off the bike, parked it up and had a bite to eat and a bit of a rest under a tree. I called the office and told them that I was due to arrive at approx 2.00 - 2.30pm at the rate that I was going. I had quite a long rest, about 35mins as my knee was now protesting worse than ever, it was now a lovely shade of purple from the constant turning motion, and the apparent small cartiledge tears that I was suffering. But it was only 2hours to go.....there was no stopping now. Yet again I made it through the suburbs in record time......I originally thought that this would be the worst part of the entire journey....as the traffic population through here is quite dense, and Sydney drivers are not known to be the most courteous around (no offense to any Sydney-Siders), but they were quite the opposite.....majority of the drivers changed lanes to avoid me and didn't try to overtake me in precarious spots to turn in front of me. With everything being in my favour I turned onto James Ruse Drive (where our BMD - NSW office is) at 1.09pm......I called the office and let them know that I was about 5mins away. Fortunately James Ruse Drive is predominately downhill for most of the way to the office.......as I coasted down the hill, I was struck by all of these overwhelming emotions.......Happiness, disbelief, pride, anxiousness and generally felt like I wanted to explode with the feeling of accomplishment......It is like no rush that I have ever had before.....there are just no amount of words that could describe the feeling at that very moment......I was so emotional that the old eyes started to well up with tears, but just before I could shed any tears, I pedalled over the rise, just before our office building, to see all of my collegues lining the street with huge big signs with "Welcome Dannii" and "Congratulations Dannii".....I just broke out into the biggest smile (which didn't leave my face for days mind you).....Some of the company directors and managers where lining the street geeing me along and popping streamers over me as I rode toward the office. When I got there, everyone was there to welcome me, cheering me on and showering me with champaigne.....Fortunately I was wearing my Fluoro yellow jersey that day(my leaders jersey.....hehehe), because boy did I feeling like a winner
I am very sorry that I have not posted this earlier.....but it has been a whirl wind couple of days, as you can imagine.
Well day 11 started off pretty early......I left gosford at approx 5.30 as I had quite a big day ahead of me. It wasn't one of the longest days in regard to distance, however it was going to be one of the most gruelling terrain wise.
When I left Gosford it was very cold, 7 degrees celcius, and I am sure that my lips would have been blue, if I could see them through the fog that was hanging around this morning. But where there is fog, there is also going to be clear skies ahead, which couldn't have been more true. The sun started to rise at about 6.30 and the fog started to lift. By this time I was about 6km before the Mooney Mooney Bridge. Now for those of you that don't know this bridge it is three lanes wide in both directions and at a rough guess the gorge below the bridge would fall approx 150m-180m straight down. It is a huge bridge that spans approx 250m across a gorge. The winds that rip through this gorge have caused many an accident and it has wind socks placed at either end of the bridge so that passing trucks and caravans know how dangerous a crossing that it will be at any given time. It was definately, without a doubt the scariest part of the whole trip. There is no shoulder to ride on, you get to share the left lane with all the trucks that navigate these parts. As the trucks where hurtling past me (it is a 110km/hr traffic zone) they tried to swerve away from me as best they could, but their trailers still get up quite a nasty sway at the best of times........It was the scariest 250m of my entire life.....my heart was in my mouth the whole time
Well I made it through there and then after passing through the Calga Interchange, made a left and headed onto the Old Pacific Hwy (as I have mentioned before, you're not allowed to ride on certain sections of the M1 freeway) I cycled up through The Popran National Park for about 17km......straight up...I was now sitting on an average speed of about 12km per hour....I was about 4.5km's from the top when I was stopped by a policeman at a road block telling me that the road was closed from Mt White to Brooklyn.......I was ready to cry as he told me that I would have to go back and get back on the M1. So I gathered all the will I had to not turn on the tears, turn my bike around and head over ground that just took me about 1.5hrs to ride up. Fortunately, majority of the ride back was down hill....but it was the principal, damn it!! The road back took me a little over 35mins and it also brought me out 3km's back from where I originally turned off in the first place.......so all in all I had added an extra 20km onto my trip in the space of about 2hrs.......I was far from being a happy camper at this stage!!!!
The ride over the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park was spectacular. The winds were low, or close to being not existant at all, the sun was warming me right down to the bone and there was not a cloud in the sky. I could not have asked for a more perfect day to end my trip. I made up great time as I headed through the range......there were some pretty steep uphills, but they were more often than not complimented by some just as steep downhills......I really made great time through the KC National Park.......and the views are some of the most breathtaking of the entire trip. I am a little disappointed now that I didn't stop through there a little more to take some more pics than I did, but contending with the trucks through this mountain range was all that I had on my mind......It was still a 110km/hr traffic zone, and I can safely say there were definately alot of people who thought that that was a typo and was meant to read...120km/hr....
Well I made it into Hornsby, one of the far outer suburbs of Sydney, by about 11.30.....and considering that I had earlier in the day added an extra 20 or so Km's to my trip....this was record time. I don't know if it was the awesome weather that Sydney was putting on for me, the fact that I knew it was my last day, or perhaps a combination of both, but today, I was on fire. Nothing was going to stop me.......except for perhaps my now very rumbly stomach
I pulled over in a park at Hornsby, jumped off the bike, parked it up and had a bite to eat and a bit of a rest under a tree. I called the office and told them that I was due to arrive at approx 2.00 - 2.30pm at the rate that I was going. I had quite a long rest, about 35mins as my knee was now protesting worse than ever, it was now a lovely shade of purple from the constant turning motion, and the apparent small cartiledge tears that I was suffering. But it was only 2hours to go.....there was no stopping now. Yet again I made it through the suburbs in record time......I originally thought that this would be the worst part of the entire journey....as the traffic population through here is quite dense, and Sydney drivers are not known to be the most courteous around (no offense to any Sydney-Siders), but they were quite the opposite.....majority of the drivers changed lanes to avoid me and didn't try to overtake me in precarious spots to turn in front of me. With everything being in my favour I turned onto James Ruse Drive (where our BMD - NSW office is) at 1.09pm......I called the office and let them know that I was about 5mins away. Fortunately James Ruse Drive is predominately downhill for most of the way to the office.......as I coasted down the hill, I was struck by all of these overwhelming emotions.......Happiness, disbelief, pride, anxiousness and generally felt like I wanted to explode with the feeling of accomplishment......It is like no rush that I have ever had before.....there are just no amount of words that could describe the feeling at that very moment......I was so emotional that the old eyes started to well up with tears, but just before I could shed any tears, I pedalled over the rise, just before our office building, to see all of my collegues lining the street with huge big signs with "Welcome Dannii" and "Congratulations Dannii".....I just broke out into the biggest smile (which didn't leave my face for days mind you).....Some of the company directors and managers where lining the street geeing me along and popping streamers over me as I rode toward the office. When I got there, everyone was there to welcome me, cheering me on and showering me with champaigne.....Fortunately I was wearing my Fluoro yellow jersey that day(my leaders jersey.....hehehe), because boy did I feeling like a winner
