It’s bedtime for Rode-Ragers after our first day of riding, which proved to be quite eventful. Taking off at 5:30am, with Ryan as our first rider, the pace was set early on. Following Ryan, there were three blisteringly fast rides from three of our girl riders, Lacey, Rory and Chloe. Lucas took over for the longest ride of the day, including a tough stint with no motor. The riders are not sure what all the fuss was about. This was followed by a stop at Pine Creek, which gave the riders a break, while  our hard-working techies, including Ben Curtis and Daniel Montgomery, made some repairs and adjustments to the vehicle.

Aleece and Justin rode next, in the increasingly intense heat of the early afternoon. Despite the tropical conditions, they were kept surprisingly cool thanks to the effectiveness of our new ventilation system (designed by Daniel Ross). We were also very pleased to have our safety procedure confirmed and the road trains with which we have shared the road have in no way caused any issues or concerns. With over 300km under our belt and well on-target to reach Mataranka in good time, fate intervened yet again, with some electrical glitches foiling our plans. We regretfully loaded up ADIMOV into the trailer, and transported to our camp ground to begin repairs and prepare for tomorrow. Despite the challenges of the day, everyone remains happy and positive, and after drying out our tents (which were still wet from this morning’s meteorological misfortune) we headed to the Mataranka thermal pools for a relaxing swim.

During our swim we undertook a live video cross to the Damascus awards and achievements evening, to celebrate the achievements of team members who accepted their awards from afar. Brad Decker was the recipient of a Year 8 Endeavour Award, Bryan White was the Year 9 All Rounder, Rory Purdie won the Dorothy Griffin Scholarship for a Year 10 student, Clancy Purdie won a Year 11 General Endeavour Award and Lucas Brennan was awarded Year 12 All-Rounder and was also President of the SRC for 2009. The award recipients continued a long-standing tradition among EBT members of all-round achievement, endeavour and involvement in the school community, which was celebrated with cheers, splashing and general underwater jubilance.

Our generous hosts at Mataranka Thermal Pools prepared a tasty dinner for us, and we enjoyed good company and good food before completing our preparations for tomorrow. Liam Howlett and Leigh Taylor’s efforts were particularly appreciated today, as they persisted valiantly under difficult conditions maintaining all of our gear and equipment.  We’re looking forward to sleeping in until 4:30 tomorrow (the luxury!) before taking on the beginning of the Red Centre, with a 325 km leg from Mataranka to Renner Springs.

View photos here.

GG