My Cycling History.

While I've been organising this next fundraising event the most common question that is asked is "How are you going to ride that far all on your own?" 

Well, I don't really have a definitive answer but I can vouch to having quite a rich cycling history, which should give me the energy to ride 4000km up the coast. Only time will tell really. I'm writing this post for 2 reasons, to give everyone some insight into my cycling history and to share some of my preparation and planning for this current endeavour.

My first bicycle was actually a tricycle and dates back all the way to 1988. I don't really have too many memories of the beast as I was only 5 at the time, I do remember I was only 1 of 3 children at Kindergarden who rode a 3-wheeler (so I wasn't really off to a good start on 2 wheels... eeep!!). It was fire engine red with yellow mags (which must have made an influence later in life). 

Me in the centre with my first bicycle

Having a rad time on the trike

It was a smooth ride, but after kindergarden it was replace with a bike which I rode solidly for the next 6 years. The Repco 5 speed Mountain Bike. Mountain biking was just coming into popularity and as we'd moved from Geelong to Mount Beauty (one of the Mountain Bike capitals of Australia) it was a given that the whole family were now on these gear changing, knobby tyred machines. Mine was black with burnt orange forks, where as my brothers was fluorescent yellow. These bikes fitted in beautifully with the another popular fashion item of the 90s: Happy Pants...

Dad, Lee and I riding in Canberra

Oh the good old days. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the Repco but unlike many others in Mount Beauty my brother and I were destined to other machines and a life changing form of cycling. Lee bought his first BMX at age 10 and I was to follow in his footsteps 2 years later, we soon became the official BMX Bandits of Mount Beauty. Let me be clear that we weren't rebelling (well mostly), but it was soon clear that BMX was on the come back. Being quite young at the time our parents guided us into BMX racing to keep us off the streets and more importantly to keep us fit while having a really good time. The closest BMX track was 85km away in Wodonga but Mum took us in every second weekend to race at club meetings. We met some great people in Wodonga who inspired us to race further afield and after our first big trip to Queensland and the National Championships in 1996 we were genuinely hooked.

Me in my first big race on my first BMX

The 1996 ACT Championships on The Haro Croup-ci

And Yes. I did race in my favourite Happy Pants...

From 1996 through to 2001 my brother and I competed around Australia on our BMX bikes, it was a great way to grow up as a teenager in a small country town and our family were right behind us. In fact my father even started racing in his 40s. He had fantastic success in his short BMX career winning the 1999 Australian Championships in the 45+ age class and also travelling to France to race in the 1999 World Championships where he placed 8th. Pretty cool to have a world class BMX racing Dad I think. My success in racing was limited but I enjoyed the fierce competitiveness and became stronger and stronger.

In 1998 I purchased this beautiful Haro Monocoque with Spin Wheels, it still to this day remains my favourite bicycle I've ever owned.

 Me (plate 70 racing the 1999 Aussie titles in Perth)

1996 was my introduction year to national racing, I was 13 years old and placed 14th in the State Championships. In 1997 I bought a new Mongoose Supergoose, it was a super light Aluminium bike which took me to 6th at the State titles and 40th at Nationals. Moving on to 1998 I was performing great on the new Haro Monocoque. I narrowly missed out on the semi finals at Nationals and was set for a good result at the State Championships in Park Orchards, Melbourne. 

Me (6V) leading the cruiser class event at Park Orchards 1998 Vic Championships

Park Orchards was one of my favourite tracks, it was super fast and had big jumps on the 2nd straight, I was racing really well in the heats posting a 1st and a 2nd before my 3rd race of the day. Competition was tough in the 15 year boys class with 3 former Australian title finalists in the mix, it became critical to get a good start to ensure a clear run at the 2nd straight big jump section. In my 3rd heat of the day I was pitted against two of the top riders in our class yet still managed to come out of the gate leading to the first jump, unfortunately I slipped a pedal and slotted into 3rd place before the first corner, amping up for the big double I rode a slightly higher line to gain more speed, thats when I was pushed high by the rider behind me and for that split second I hesitated. My last thought before waking up on a stretcher was "I'm going too slow to jump the double yet too fast to roll over it safely." A spectator had filmed my big crash and it wasn't pretty, I was going to slow yet still tried to jump the double, my front wheel slammed into the back on the landing causing my forks to snap clean in half. I was then spectacularly propelled through the air and ultimately collided head first into the face of the next jump, I then slid 5 metres along the buckshot on my head before coming to a halt. Many spectators and racers later approached me and thought I had broken my neck for sure, I awoke 10 minutes after the crash being stretchered off the track by the medical staff, neck brace intact and ambulance waiting to take me to hospital. It was a long night in some random hospital where I had a neck scan before being released with concussion, facial lacerations and a sore collarbone. My Victorian championships were over but the worst part was that I'd lost my confidence, or rather, I'd lost the ability to race without fear.

Face sliding result at 1998 Vic Championships.

Probably the best part of our BMX bandit ways was that our small community of 2000 people got right behind the idea of us building a BMX track in Mount Beauty itself. It took us many meetings and arguments but we secured a beautiful piece of land smack bang in the middle of town to build our track.  Eventually most of our friends ended up abandoning their mountain bikes for the 20inch BMX. After school we would dig and then ride home in the dark, and then when the track was built we would ride it every morning before school and every night after school. It became our teenage hang out, training ground and race centre. It was a great way to grow up. Eventually, we stared finding other types of riding we could do on our BMX bikes, we discovered we could jump off stairs, grind down handrails and ride on our back wheel for as long as we wanted. Most of us raced, but it was becoming clear that the serious racing type of riding was losing favour to us truly becoming BMX Bandits!!!

Me leading a race at our new Mount Beauty BMX Track

A different type of jumping started to take over

 We then took our skills to all sorts of obstacles.

X-up at Mount Beauty BMX Track

We took our riding to the streets of Albury/Wodonga trying to find new challenges on every corner.

I continued racing until the end of High School, and did regain my confidence. I placed 6th in the 1999 State Championships and 5th in the ACT Championships in my final year of racing in 2000. It was a really great way to keep healthy, active and have fun through my years at High School. 

After leaving school and home in 2002, I have never been without a BMX bike (I've owned 7) but it wasn't until 2011 that I finally bought a big wheeled bike. I bought 2 actually, the first is a 25kg beast which I rode from Hobart to Devonport, TAS, Australia. It was my first road bike ride and took me 14 days (3 rest days included) to ride up the east coast of Tasmania in May 2011, I carried a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, cooking stove and pots, all my winter woolies and of course a 5kg camera to remember the journey with. It was spectacular!

Day 1: Setting Forth from Hobart

Sunset at The Hazards on Day 4 after riding 200km

The Hazards rise over Wineglass Bay, one of my favourite places in the world.

Sunset on Day 6

My trusty steed at the Highest point on the East Coast at The Weldborough Pass (600m)
Day 9

Beautiful fields near Scottsdale Day 10

Sunrise at Bridport on Day 11

Sunrise in Westbury on Day 13. YES IT WAS COLD -2.1degrees C

So it was a gruelling introduction to road bike riding and touring with a lot of gear (up to 28kg). It was great fun and a fantastic way to see the countryside. I did learn some important lessons which will be helpful for the Ride Bikes, Not Elephants 4000km ride from Melbourne to Cairns. More on that later...

I love some of these statistics from my Tasmania ride:

Total Distance Ridden: 641km

Total Time Riding: 50 hours

Total Roadkill seen: 555 (sadly Tasmania is the roadkill capital of the world) 

Approximate amount of climbing: 5539m (Twice the height Australia's tallest mountain, Mt Kosciusko) 

Now, after my first taste of a big wheeled bicycle and moving back to Mount Beauty my attentions turned to another form of riding; Mountain Biking. I can't believe growing up in Mount Beauty that I never bought a Mountain Bike, the trails here are amazing and I have become slightly addicted to the XC trails and have lately been exploring some of the more technical Downhill runs. It has actually become a challenge in itself to juggle 3 different types of bicycling into my life. Although, I have never had more fun on bicycles than I am right now. Covering kilometres on the open road, keeping it rubber side down on the cross country trails, and flying through the air over BMX dirt jumps is the funnest way to keep active, healthy and fit.

A short video of my current riding escapades. (sorry about the low quality)

Now, all these experiences on bicycles of all forms should prepare me for my most ambitious adventure to date, Right?

hmmm, well, its exactly 8 weeks until my schedule departure from Melbourne and I have an A4 size list of things to organise, I also have to keep working so I can actually afford to go galavanting up the coast for 3-4months, not to mention I've got to do a lot of training. But I am confident it will all come together.

My main hurdle will be trying to raise awareness in the mainstream media, if i can catch a break there than it will make raising awareness a lot easier. The idea is simple; crazy man rides his push bike 4000km in winter with 25kg of gear, sleeping in a tent and cooking with a butane gas cooker on the side of the road. All so he can raise awareness for the plight of the Asian Elephant (domestic and wild). Sounds simple enough.

Things I am currently organising are:

Getting my bicycle upgraded to use flat handlebars so I can attach a handlebar bag and a GoPro attachment.

Designing and commercially printing Postcards to distribute along the journey

Designing a poster to put up in worthy establishments along the way. eg. bike stores, wild life sanctuaries.

Designing a bicycle sticker to trade for small donations.

Designing a logo and T-shirt print and sourcing a commercial screen printer for a cycling jersey and t-shirts.

Organising the actual cycling route, which roads are safest, where can I sleep etc...

Visiting the Asian elephants in Australia. How are they treated, can these visits be used to create awareness to elephant riding in Asia?

Sourcing and contacting any potential sponsors.

It's going to be a fantastic journey I'm sure, lets hope I can get to the start line...

Seeing this post is all about riding bikes, my next post will be about why we (Chantelle and I) started fundraising for the Asian Elephants.

Thanks for reading, let me know what you think.

Matt Rousu.