It was a 170km ride starting at 9pm at Observatory Hill, Sydney to Newcastle Baths.
I initially considered maybe doing it, but it sounded a bit long and tiring..
I was irrationally worried about my husband doing it as I had been affected a few months earlier by the gentleman who was killed by a truck while participating in a long ride.
My husband reassured me that one must not go through life avoiding things that 1 person once died from.
Which is a really valid statement.
Otherwise we'd all either be sitting in the middle of a room not doing anything, although, I'm sure someone must have died from doing that at some point in history..
Anyway, everything went fine and apparently the group stuck together quite effectively (however my husband is a pretty strong beginner rider who can keep up with the more experienced riders if need be).
2 Things I Learnt From Husband Doing The Newcastle Overnight
1. I don't think I want to do it (right now).
Despite it sounding like a challenging event with a bunch of nice people (I mean, who has the energy to be an arsehole while cycling 170km.. surely you run out of air at about 80km.), my husband's by-line for the ride on Strava was "Everybody hurts . . . sometimes . . . everybody cries . . ." which is the song he sings when he climbs.
But, his description of the last part of the ride and how at the last stop, everyone's pretty subdued, and it's about making conversation and being easy going and staying positive.. I'm just not sure if my personality would be that conducive.
My husband even mentioned there was a point on the ride where he thought "if my wife was here, she would be crying right now".
Anyway, not for right now, maybe when I'm old and wise AND A MONSTER CYCLIST. Teehee..
2. Using lots of chamois cream is important
I always marvelled at photos of how much chamois cream was used by experienced cyclists - eg.
Without going into too much detail, despite my husband bringing along a ziplock bag of chamois cream to reapply. It was not enough.
He described parts chafing that I didn't realise even made contact when cycling.
As I have never ridden close to 200km, now I understand why this (formerly considered EXCESSIVE) amount of chamois cream is required.
Yay for chamois cream.
