25th Anniversary Ride Report
Over at Grahame Keast’s blog is a ride report for the recent 25th Anniversary of Bike for Bibles ride. The ride was from the 6-13th of December from Sydney to Melbourne.
BIKE FOR BIBLES 25th ANNIVERSARY
From 6 – 13 December I was a roadie for the 25th Anniversary ride of BIKE FOR BIBLES. Fancy that! 25 years ago Bob Forest, (see photo) his son and a friend rode from Sydney to Melbourne. They raised about $2,000 for the purchase of Bibles through the Bible Society. This ride expects to raise up to $60,000 to support Wontulp-Bi-Buyu indigenous college at Cairns in Northern Queensland. The rides over the past 25 years have raised in excess of ten million dollars for literacy development throughout the world. While there are rides in other countries (eg Canada and India) most rides have taken place in Australia.
“It was great to have Bob Forest (one of the original riders) have a cameo role by riding on day 1 and day 7. Bob is over 70. There was a tribute given to Bob and his wife Betty at the end of the ride.”
2009 NSW Rides
The Snowy Mountains Bicycle Ride
January 18 to January 23, 2009
This ride will be based at Berridale, half way between Cooma and Jindabyne. Bicycle riding around Berridale is just GREAT!
Good roads, very little traffic and great scenery, what more could you want. Accommodation and Meals for this ride will be a “do it yourself” arrangement. There is a large variety of accommodation available in Berridale.
Not only will you have a holiday and enjoy your riding in the Beautiful Snowy Mountains, you will also have the opportunity to be involved in supporting one of Bible Society’s Mission Projects with a fundraising program. All of Bible Society’s Mission Projects give many people from here in Australia and around the World to learn and experience the Love and Grace of our Wonderful God and to learn of the Gospel Message of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
For more information see The Snowy Mountains Bicycle Ride
The Lithgow to Bathurst Cycle Challenge
March 14 to March 15, 2009
With 4 distance options on the Saturday ranging from 83k to 124k, and on Sunday we ride 83k from Bathurst to lunch at Lithgow, which will allow you to get home without getting tied up in the Sunday afternoon crazy traffic.
The routes for both days are mainly off the busy highway. There is no fundraising involved for this weekend ride, and whilst the cost of $120.00 per person for the weekend covers food and accommodation, there is a small amount built in to go towards a number of Bible Society Mission Projects here in Australia. This ride is great for the regular weekend cyclist and all of your cycling mates, start organising your own group now for this Weekend of Excellent Cycling.
For more information see The Lithgow to Bathurst Cycle Challenge
The Central Coast Hunter Valley Ride
April 19 to April 24, 2009
This Bike For Bibles ride will be one of Great Adventure, New Experiences, New challenges and Mountains of Great Fun!
It will also be one where you can enjoy your cycling without being exhausted every day. The daily distances are within the capability of most cyclists. You will have an Absolutely Great Time!
Bike For Bibles rides are just a great way of enjoying yourself with a whole heap of happy bike riders. You will ride through some magnificent Australian countryside – - all part of God’s amazingly brilliant creation.
But this Bike For Bibles ride is not only just about us having a good time in the great Australian outdoors, it’s all about us riding for a purpose in life.
On this ride we will be riding to raise money through donations to support a number of Bible Society Mission Projects here in Australia to provide Bibles, education, literacy programs, and health and hygeine initiatives. It is through these programs that many Australian children and adults will have the opportunity to experience the Love and Grace that God has for all His people and to also learn of the Salvation Message of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
For more information see The Central Coast Hunter Valley Ride
Ride Across Australia - Perth to Sydney
August 17 to September 19, 2009
Are You Ready for the ride of your life?
Are you ready to accept the challenge of cycling 4100Km?
Are you ready to accept the Purpose of this Epic Journey?
It was in December 1984 that Bob Forrest with his son Dave and Dave’s friend Wayne McCamley set out to ride their bicycles 900 kilometres from Sydney to Melbourne. Bike For Bibles was born!
That first year they raised $2000.00 and through Bob’s Energy, Enthusiasm, Excitement and his sense of Adventure and Challenge, and his love of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Bike For Bibles rides around the World have raised many Millions of Dollars to proclaim the Word of God in many, many countries throughout the World !
To celebrate Bike For Bibles 25th Birthday we invite you to Experience one of the World’s Great Cycle Journeys, to ride across the Australian Continent, 4,100 kilometres, from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, from Cottesloe Beach to Cronulla Beach !
And to celebrate the birth of Bike For Bibles in Australia, we have been challenged to channel all our fundraising efforts for 2009 to support a number of Bible Society Australian Mission Projects.
We have been challenged to raise in excess of $250,000.00 for this Ride Across Australia Epic Journey.
For more information see Ride Across Australia - Perth to Sydney
The Annual Hunter Valley Classic One Day Tour
May 23. Enjoy the ride. Enjoy the vineyards, enjoy the scenery!
Mulga Bill Bicycle Festival Weekend
July 25-26. Enjoy a good fun weekend? This is it!
Blue Lizard Cycling Annual Ride
Oct 10 – 17. Always an excellent Ride!
2009 Cairns to Melbourne
The Cairns to Melbourne Inland Ride
April 5 to May 2, 2009
Are You Ready for the Challenge, the Adventure, the Experience and the thrill of riding 3200 kilometres from Cairns to Melbourne along the Inland Outback route. This will be the Ride Of a Lifetime ! We will have Fun, Fellowship and a heaps great time ! But this is also a ride with a Purpose.
We are riding to raise funds to support a number of Bible Society Mission Projects.
- Bible distribution in Australian schools
- Bible distribution for Chaplains in hospitals, prisons and mission to seafarers.
- To provide Bibles, Literacy Education, Health & Hygiene etc in a number of Indigenous Communities in Northern Australia
- To provide support in the training of Aboriginal Pastors at the Wontulp-Bi-Buya Aboriginal Theological Training College in Cairns, Queensland.
- Distribution of The Prize sports Bible and DVD
- Grants to assist Scripture and Religious Education in schools.
We will be attempting to raise $100,000.00 on this ride. Most riders will be attempting to raise in excess of $5,000.00 each, so they need all the support you are able to assist them with in this incredible Epic Journey down the middle of the East Coast of Australia.
This is a BIG ride with a Big Purpose – can you help ?
For more information see The Cairns to Melbourne Inland Ride
Perth to Albany Day 3, Narrogin to Wagin
Officially only 55km on the map we managed to stretch it to around 75km for the day. After 2 days of heat and hills it was actually nice to have a more sedate day. We left Narrogin via the Agricultural College and headed towards Wagin on Tarwonga Rd and Piesseville Rd.
Narrogin Baptist our stop for Tuesday night.
Here are some action shots of our riders.
Wagin Baptist, our stop for Wednesday night.
The obligatory shot of the Giant Ram at Wagin.
David had his birthday today on the ride.
Perth to Albany Day 2, Brookton to Narrogin
Still feeling the heat today. The 96km was hilly and did I say warm ? The wind was really quite kind today and helped push us towards Narrogin. We sure would have had to work harder if that wind was in our face.
Just for some variety, we turned off at Pingelly and took the road via Pumphrey and Dryandra. We had planned to stop for lunch at Dryandra Village, but we found it was at the end of a 3.2km of gravel road. None of us fancied 6km of pea gravel on skinny tyres so we used the side of the road instead.
Geff by the sign at Pumphreys.
The back road via Pingelly was pretty, full of fields of barley, oats, wheat and canola. The farmers in the group gave us city slickers an education in how to recognise a crop – and even more how to recognise a good crop.
Having a shorter day today meant that we had some spare time after we arrived in town, so we went to the Narrogin Recreation Centre and had a swim and a quick rest. This is a bit of luxury we could all get used to, a swim after a hard day in the saddle.
For dinner Mark and Jo are looking after us, we are sitting here smelling the barbecue sizzling. It is such a buzz to have someone cook for you. Thanks heaps for feeding us hungry mob Mark & Jo.
Jo’s chocolate cake with soft prune centre was worth riding 200km for.
Tonight we are bedding down at the Narrogin Baptist Church hall. The Narrogin Baptist Church celebrated it’s Centenary in 2000. Just as anside, my maternal great-grandfather DJ Morris was a pastor here 1915-1920.
The Centenary Mural at Narrogin Baptist Church.
Perth to Albany Day 1, Armadale to Brookton
Perth turned on a stinker of a day as we prepared to leave from Armadale. It was a hot 35C in Perth and we sure felt it out on the road. The wind was strong and hot and swirling around but thankfully mostly in our favour.
So we opened our register with 113km. Personally, I had forgotten how hard it is to put in that many kilometres over a hilly course. The temperature sure makes you work hard for your distance.
Not much to remark on the road kill front except for a delicious looking long legged frog and a beautiful fluffy fox cub.
Brookton Highway was pretty quiet and the drivers were very polite so all we had to worry about was just how many more hills there were and how long before we could fill our drink bottles again.
Geff, David, Wes, David and Alec ready to leave from Armadale Kelmscott Baptist Church.
David demonstrating the luxury of his inflatable bed.
Some delightful soul dumped a load of asbestos fencing in the road side parking.
We arrived in Brookton at 4PM to discover that Carolyn had prepared a feast for us to enjoy at our leisure. We bunk down tonight at the W.B. Eva Pavillion.
Yours truly, your blogger for this ride.
Premier day for Hobart track ride
Ride report by Tim Wherrett and Mark Polonsky.
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TON OF ENERGY: Charlotte Hanemaayer, 10, and Kaisorn De Hoog, 7, were two of the younger riders. Charlotte rode 110 laps and Kaisorn did 78 laps. What an amazing effort! |
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RIPE FOR RENOVATION: Doug Bonnitcha, Bible Society Southern Action Group chairman, and Pat Flanagan, of the Central Men’s Shed, check out the donated bikes. |
What could be better than spending the morning of AFL Grand Final day riding around a suburban bike track to raise money for Bible Society literacy projects?
For 48 Hobartians, and their many sponsors, there was nothing better.
Blessed with a superb day and an enthusiastic group of riders, some powered around like pros and others ambled along like… well, they just weren’t in a hurry at all.
Tim, Derek and the team from Wellspring did a great job co-ordinating the ride, ably supported by volunteers from churches around Hobart.
Next year, Tim’s planning a road ride in conjunction with the track ride, because with the increase in riders over the past two years the New Town oval track has at times been a bit congested.
In a new development, the Central Men’s Shed collected around 20 old bikes that people donated to be renovated and given to refugees and other needy people in the community.
2008 Tour de Youth Ride Report
Ride report by Paul Edwards, Ride Leader
Our ride this year travelled through some of the most beautiful countryside of our state. We left on an overcast Sunday morning from Australind and headed off for Busselton. We had a few new leaders on the ride, Colin and Jenny Spencer from Bunbury. Jenny’s first task was to man the bus and trailer to travel behind the team and warn them of traffic. A bit of a baptism of fire but she did such a great job, we kept her there for most of the ride. Husband Colin rode for most of the week, thoroughly enjoying the interaction with the kids and other leaders. One of our leaders had a minor spill from his bike on the road into Capel, witnessed by three of the locals to make it just the more humbling. This was the only incident on the ride.
After a lunch stopover in Capel, we reached Busselton, where we were hosted by the Church of Christ.
Monday morning saw us heading off again in drizzling rain to make a stopover at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory for lunch. One of the features of the Tour de Youth is the healthy, yummy meals along the way. Food Bank were able to provide some Magnum icecreams and, along with the chocolate from the factory, the riders were fuelled all the way to the Deer farm on Caves road where we spent the night. The venue was great with a pool and table tennis table and heaps of room to spread around.
The rain just pelted down during the night, a little noisy in a tin shed. Our morning ride took us to Margaret River main break beach at Prevelly Park and on to Giants Cave for lunch. The ride to Karridale took us through the Boranup forest; an amazing part of God’s creation, our ride making use of a very hilly gravel road through the middle.
The folk at Augusta Anglican Church provided the venue for Tuesday night and our evening meal. We all appreciated this great example of country hospitality. Wednesday morning the wind was from the west and blowing strong. Road speeds were high and as the rain was steady the distance through to Nannup was covered very quickly. Riding through the most beautiful bush land with all the wild flowers had Colin, an environmental scientist and budding botanist in raptures.
Wednesday night was spent at the Goose Hut at the Loose Goose property, 6km out of Nannup. Our hosts Grant and Larraine are great supporters of our team and donated the cost of our stay to the Bible Society.
Our last day’s ride was from Nannup back to Busselton. Most of the team jumped into the water at Busselton, I’m not sure exactly why, it sure looked cold to me. The ladies at the Seventh Day Adventist church set up a lovely meal for us, presenting us with medals and a card each congratulating us on our efforts for God’s kingdom.
We returned to Bunbury on Friday morning after a cooked breakfast again by the SDA ladies and ran our car and caravan through the car wash before everyone headed back for home. Our team raised over $5,000 for their efforts and all the participants left planning for the next Tour de Youth ride with great enthusiasm.
Womens Ride featured in Central & Midlands Adocate
Ruby Carter and Tanya Chapman were featured in a recent edition of the Central & Midlands Advocate. The article mentions the recent womens ride and also featured a nice plug for next years 2009 Perth to Sydney ride.
Ruby was actually part of the Perth to Hobart ride 5 years ago, not 8 as the article suggests.
2/10/2008 5:51:00 PM
TWO Moora women cycled from York to Perth over two days recently to raise money for literacy work around the world.
Bike for Bibles is an annual ride which Ruby Carter has been doing for eight years.
This year she was joined by fellow cycling enthusiast Tanya Chapman and two other women from Perth on the 90km ride.
Eight years ago Mrs Carter made the cycle from Perth to Hobart and four years ago cycled to Adelaide for the fundraiser.
Next August Mrs Carter will be joined by her husband Lyall and friends Luke Humphries, Chris Porter and Ms Chapman when they will ride from Perth to Sydney.
Bike for Bibles supports literacy work around the world, with New Reader Scripture Booklets being distributed to help people learn how to read in their own language, while learning about the Gospel.
Mr and Mrs Carter and a number of community members from all walks of life meet every Saturday morning at 8.30am at the Moora Telecentre and go for a cycle.
The cycle can be as fast or as relaxed as the individual requires and the group accommodates all fitness levels.
Mrs Carter encourages all community members to come for a ride with no on-going commitment required.
Perth to Albany Adventure Ride
Well the plans are all in place. We leave Perth (Armadale) on Monday 20th October and start with a good 4-5km (up)hill on the Brookton Highway before riding the rest of the 105km to Brookton. After enjoying a home cooked dinner and staying in the Shire Hall overnight we head to Narrogin on Tuesday. Again we enjoy another home cooked dinner in Narrogin (getting rather spoilt aren’t we). Overnight in Narrogin on Tuesday we head to Katanning on Wednesday.
Thursday we plan to be in Wagin overnight. Friday its Cranbrook and Saturday we are due to arrive in Albany. Sounds pretty easy when you say it fast (or type it). I think that actually doing the riding might be a little more challenging! The focus will be on fun and keeping safe. We will be fully supported with a van following us all the way.
Will keep you posted.
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