Audax Perth 25th Anniversary Ride

I want to sincerely thank Perry and all his volunteers who organised a fabulous ride to celebrate 25 years of Audax in Perth.


It was my first ride that included support at each check point. What a great way to get through the 200km. The volunteers were friendly and cheerful when Glen and I rolled in. This gave me extra incentive to get to the next checkpoint. At Chidlow, food was saved for us, the kettle had just boiled and there was still plenty of pumpkin soup and fruit cake.

The ride itself was brilliant. The Gazelles bolted and Glen and I settled into a comfortable pace. A couple of buddies cruising along on recumbents catching up on the latest, sun shining and the scenery picture perfect. In some sections it felt like I owned the road as there was no traffic at all. Glen is very strong up the hills as I struggled to maintain the same speed. Brilliant when you realise how effortlessly he floats the 17kg trike uphill as if was a sub 9kg roadbike.

The challenges of the day were of course completing within the time limit, the long climb out of Bindoon and Toodyay. I had never done the Bindoon hill before and it wasn’t until I was half way up it that I realised… this is it…and with a nice high cadence got over it and into Dewar’s Pool Road.

The last time I crawled out of Toodyay it was 35+ degrees, on my own and I only just made it with a mechanical issue on the rear wheel. This time riding with Glen, we paced ourselves up the steep inclines and they seemed to flatten under my pedals with no hint of distress.

There is no shoulder on the Great Eastern Highway section and I was very happy to get off it into Coates Rd. Into Werribin Rd, the Checkpoint crew waved as they drove past and I mistakenly thought Wooroloo was the Chidlow checkpoint. How my heart sank and mind played games with me. I really struggled on the last section into Chidlow.

Refreshed after the compulsory checkpoint stop, my Ayups lit up the road and it was very reassuring to see so far ahead. Out on the country road without any street lighting, those lights showed their brilliance.

The shoulder on Great Northern Highway is very wide and smooth with little debris along the way. Trucks and cars could be seen in the rear view mirror long before they could be heard. And finally the last checkpoint with all those wonderful people congratulating us and feeding us. It had been a super long day for them and without their cheery support the ride would have been very tough indeed. So once again, many, many thanks to Perry and all the volunteers for such a memorable ride.