The drive there was filled with music, laughter, Snakes and Subways (hooray!). We only had one incident where Ed (brother-in-law) and I had to physically restrain Linda from jumping from the car to visit Ray’s Camping Store. Since discovering camping was our accommodation for the ride, Linda has visited every known camping supplies store in Victoria (and I’m only exaggerating slightly). Ed and I only had a moment’s notice of Linda sighting the store in Warrnambool that day… her shriek of “Rays! Rays!” and subsequent salivating over the dashboard as she leaned forward, hands splayed on the windshield… warned us, and Ed put pressure on the accelerator and we were soon past that beckoning haven of tents and camping equipment.

Arriving in Portland around 3.30pm we only needed to follow the other vehicles packed with bikes to find our camp.

Parking at the back, we approached a very nice volunteer who told us to just go in, find a spot and pitch our tents.

So Linda and I made a couple of trips with our bags… and nearly keeled over with the weight…

Every rider was allowed to take 20kgs of ‘stuff’ with them – including all of your clothes and camping equipment. You could have a 20kg bag or 2 x 10kg bags. I had a 19kg bag with clothes and some of the camping equipment, and Linda took 2 x 10kg bags – one with clothes, the other with our tent and some food items.

We pitched our tent (with much more decorum than we had in Linda’s Living Room the night before!) and decided to go through our luggage and send back the ‘non essentials’ with Ed to lighten the load. So we dumped the umbrella (dumb move), 2nd pair of shoes (dumber move), some bras (still to this day I wonder how much they weighed!), some other items of clothing, our inflatable matresses (incredibly dumb move – choosing those pathetic light foam ones instead), and some toiletries.

After delivering these back to the car and plastering Ed with an abundance of good-bye kisses and hugs, Linda and I waved goodbye as he drove away. Poor guy had another 5 and half hour drive back home to Melbourne. Thanks Ed for getting us to and from the ride – you’re a gem! xx

As we wheeled our bikes to the camping ground entrance (a large oval) we passed two guys unloading their bikes from their car. One remarked, “It’s the Great Vic Bike Ride, not the Great Vic Scooter Ride.”

Linda cast him a withering look (don’t mess with my sister-in-law, buddy) and I simply smiled… I was sure there would be more of this over the next 9 days. One of the simple pleasures of riding a footbike in an area where they haven’t been seen before, and your potential as an athlete hasn’t been recognised is that you do tend to land a bit of… shall we say, fertilizer??? The good thing about fertilizer, though, is that it helps things to grow!

Back to our ‘home’ we secured Linda’s bike and stored my Kickbike in our tent. Now we wondered what we were supposed to do next as we hadn’t been briefed about what to do when arriving at the campsite. So we took off to find the information tent for more… you guessed it, information.

Wandering around the oval, dodging bikes, bodies, tents, toilet trucks, shower trucks, and a funny flying football that kids were throwing around, we finally asked someone who didn’t look as lost as us where we needed to go. He pointed us in the direction of information – and we were able to see a map of the campsite and pick up our lanyards (green for vegetarian meals) which we would get tomorrow night. This pre-camp night we needed to get our own meal.

Linda and I decided to walk into town to get some food and grab some water for our ride tomorrow. We had decided to steer clear of the water supplied by the ride, because feedback on the taste did not make us overly enthusiastic about drinking it. Thunder and lightning overhead and a cold wind stirring up caused the maiden voyage of our She Shell waterproof jackets from Ground Effect (thank you Ground Effect, I can honestly say that your She Shell is one of the best investments I have ever made).

Hmmmm… where does one go for food in a medium sized town when nearly 2000 people (and potentially 5000) suddenly arrive?

The pizza shop of course! And these were real pizzas – well worth the hour waiting for our vegie pizza minus cheese to come out… but it was cosy inside and we met some really nice people in the pizza shop!

We made it back to our tent… leaning into the gale force winds…

And the storm hit – I really don’t know how we didn’t get blown away!

It poured rain and the wind gusts smashed our little tent. One part one side of the tent buckled in so low it enveloped Linda completely! I stared with horror while Linda nearly killed herself laughing over the next 3 minutes… these Stewarts really are a strange clan! 

Finally we prepared for the next day – I filled the 2 litre bladder of my Ground Effect Back Pack – the Reservoir Dog – which I absolutely love. It has more than enough room for my pump, tubes (1 deep rim for the front wheel, and a 16inch tube for the back), money, tissues (you never know when nature may call while you’re out on the road), hydration gels, apples and dates, bottles of Gatorade or Powerade and of course the 2 litres of water. And no, before you ask – I just love Ground Effect’s products; I’m not sponsored by them… yet???  LOL

We finally settled for sleep – and fortunately we had camped near one of the toilet trucks so its generator’s hum blocked out any snoring that we were warned about from nearby tents. Looking forward to the 50km start tomorrow…

Brisbane’s South Bank was a sea of moving billboards as brightly lycra-ed cyclists shuffled too and fro… scooting along just like footbikers…

The sport of Footbiking was represented by Alan Stewart, Bruce Cook, Lyn Armstrong, Alex ‘Jack Rabbit’ Heta and Deb Stewart in the 100km route, and Karen Toll aka ‘Tingles’ decided to go it alone by completing the 60km ride from Beenleigh to the Gold Coast.

Despite headwinds and rain, the temperature and humidity was pleasant. The course was fast coming out from the city as the bike route weaved through underground bus terminals to eventually meet up with bike paths and finally the road. With no road closures and close to 10,000 riders it was nice to see human powered vehicles dominate the road.

Even though this wasn’t a race, Alan Stewart broke another Australian record for the 100km at a time of 4hrs 15mins. Excellent work Alan! Wish the rest of us could finish with such decorum and look as fresh during the following television interview at the end of the race.

Bruce Cook flew along averaging over 21km/hr, passing many cyclists along the way. Thank you Bruce, you’re a great advocate for the sport.

Despite a bout of food poisoning in the morning – sending her to the toilet rather than the starting line! – Deb Stewart still managed to average 19.9km/hr over the 100km route. Deb has also discovered a new technique for fitting her Kickbike in the toilet cubicle with her… no one else was going to deny her the opportunity to ride that Kickbike to the Gold Coast!

Lyn Armstrong and the Jack Rabbit managed to finish the 100km course in a respectable time even though work committments and other sporting activities kept them from training and preparing for the longer ride. Sheer guts and determination kept them going and allowed Lyn to set the official record of the first Australian Female Veteran to kick more than 100km straight. Congratulations Lyn!!!

Karen Toll, who only started footbiking a few months ago completed her longest ride ever – 60km. Great work, Tingles! Looks like those hill rides are working for you! Good to hear you’ve entered into the Mt Tamborine ride coming up shortly.

There were many cheers of encouragement to the footbikers from cyclists and bystanders, and the quote of the day from one cyclist to another:

“I’m drafting behind her so that I can stare at her butt”. Fellow cyclist replied, “And that’s the reason God made scooters!”

Cheers to all – and we’ll see you again next year!

Applause!  Applause!  Cheer!  Cheer!

After an infinite amount of replacement tyres and tubes, and 6 pairs of shoes, today Alan celebrates his 1000th consecutive ride in a row. As a celebration he completed a 100km ride this morning (gee! I can think of lots of other celebration alternatives!)

In between a crazy work schedule Alan managed to complete each day of riding anywhere from 10km to 100miles by getting up at 3am on some days or scooting along at 11.30pm on some nights just to meet his quota.

Alan obviously needed to be strategic in his schedule to avoid overtraining, by incorporating ‘easy’ days after hard workouts.

Congratulations Alan – and here’s to a further 1000 consecutive days of riding!

Bruce Glover, contact for the Ipswich 100 has contacted us about the 2010 ride, inviting all Footbikers and Kickbikers along.

So please mark the date in your diaries and join the other scooter-happy folks.

As hinted after this year’s ride, there will be the Ipswich 100 as well as the Ipswich Imperial, a 100 mile (160km) challenge.

Details at a glance:

When: 28th March 2010

Start/Finish: UQ Ipswich Campus (and are through the rolling hills of beautiful South East Queensland, through Rosewood, Warrill View, Peak Crossing, returning to Ipswich).

Ride distances:

• 10km
• 50km
• 100km
• 160km

Organised and run by the Moggill Mt Crosby Lions Club with all proceeds donated to charity.

All rides are fully supported with marshals, refreshment stops and support vehicles.

The Ipswich 100 website is currently being updated with information – details will be available soon.

But first, a huge thank you to the Sponsors, TSL Project Services Pty Ltd – Chartered Quantity Surveyors, for all your Tax Depreciation Schedule needs. TSL was represented on the day by Steve and Tracey Lunniss and their two gorgeous girls. And while mum and dad competed, the two Lunnis Girls disappointingly missed out on racing on the day as the imported Kickbikes for children were slightly longer on the delivery time and didn’t arrive in Australia as scheduled. Oh well, next time girls!

The women’s 1km Sprint took off at seperate intervals for each competitor, as did the men’s. The 2.5km Time Trial was a group event with a ‘no drafting’ decision.

Sharon Simmons, Personal Trainer and newly dubbed ‘Kickbiker Extraordinaire’ absolutely blew the female contingent away, blasting the previous Australian Record of 2mins 52 secs with a 2mins 37secs in the 1km Sprint. Sharon also went on to take out the previous Australian Record for the 2.5km of 7mins 21.3secs with a time of 7mins and 9.7secs.

Alan Stewart led the field in the Men’s 1km Sprint and 2.5km Time Trial matching his previous record in the 1km of 2mins 7secs (much to his disgust!) and breaking the previous Australian Record in 2.5km of 5mins 50.1secs with a time of 5mins 49.46secs. Alan has recorded much faster times in training, but unfortunately, the conditions and an oncoming bout of the flu did not work to his favour. From all of us here at Footbike Australia, great work Alan! Looking forward to you blasting these times next year.

The times and places for the events are as follows:

Mens 1km Sprint

1st place – Alan Stewart 2mins 7secs (1st place Open and 1st place Veterans)
2nd place – Alex Heta 2mins 22secs
3rd place – Bruce Cook 2mins 25secs (2nd place Veteran)
4th place – David McKinnon 2mins 30secs
5th place – Steve Lunniss 2mins 32secs

Women’s 1km Sprint

1st place – Sharon Simmons 2mins 37secs
2nd place – Kerrie Lathopolous and Tracey Lunniss 2mins 41secs
3rd place – Deb Stewart 2mins 47secs

1st place – Lyn Armstrong 3mins (Veteran)

Men’s 2.5km Time Trial

1st place – Alan Stewart 5mins 49.46secs (1st place Open and 1st place Veterans)
2nd place – Bruce Cook 6mins 11.82secs (2nd place Veterans)
3rd place – David McKinnon 6mins 27.27 secs
4th place – Steve Lunniss 6mins 40.16secs

Women’s 2.5km Time Trial

1st place – Sharon Simmons 7mins 9.7secs
2nd place – Kerri Lathopolous 7mins 44.45secs
3rd place – Tracey Lunniss 7mins 54.25secs
4th place – Deb Stewart 7mins 55.60secs

1st place – Lyn Armstrong 8mins 30.06secs (Veteran)

Then came the 200m Sprint, and Alex ’The Rabbit’ Heta showed his dynamo legs again. Quite a feat considering his attendance of a Christmas Party the night before and his favourite Football Team winning (we’re sure the elbow was a little sore the morning of the race, Alex!)

Men’s 200m Sprint

1st place – Alex Heta 23.35secs
2nd place – Bruce Cook 24.67secs (1st place Veterans)
3rd place – David McKinnon 25.07secs
4th place – Steve Lunniss 28.70secs

Women’s 200m Sprint

1st place – Sharon Simmons 25.77secs
2nd place – Kerri Lathopolous 26.90secs
3rd place – Tracey Lunniss 27.71secs

1st place – Lyn Armstrong 29.31secs (Veteran)

A good day was had by all, and special thanks go to Bruce and Lyn for all of their preparation for the day, as well as the Judges, Megan and Graham. Without your help the day wouldn’t be such a success. Medals and Prizes were handed out to all competitors, including sunglasses, bottles of wine, bidon cages, and TSL bidons.

Sorry to all of the people who came down with the flu and missed out on the race – keep kicking and we’ll see you at the next Championships in February 2009!

Name

Occupation: Marketing Consultant (online and offline)

Age: Ooooh – ancient!

Records:
Current holder of the:
Fastest Century (165km) Footbike Distance
Fastest Australian 100km Footbike Distance
Fastest Australian 50km Footbike Distance
Fastest Ascent (Mt Coot-tha)
Fastest Australasian Scooter Descent (clocking 94kph)
Australian Men’s 1km Sprint Championships
Australian Men’s 2.5km Time Trial Championships… (boy, this is getting tedious!)

Rides:
Millenium Kickbike with a Mavic Helium Wheel

Training Regime:
Daily footbike rides, covering all distances from sprint sessions through to 100km.
Daily weight training.

With a life-time of exercise behind him, Alan’s natural sporting ability has transferred to the sport of Footbiking. He currently has completed over 680 consecutive training days on his Kickbike, and dutifully trains whether there be rain, hail or shine – althought on one ride late at night during near-cyclonic conditions, we did expect to find both Alan and his Kickbike floating out in the Bay near where his training circuit is. Fortunately, both rider and bike returned safely, with tall tales of near misses with falling trees and flying debris.

Alan is currently focusing on the upcoming Sprint Championships in November, and has already secured his position on the Australian Team at the  International Footbike Championships in Italy in 2010.

Thanks for being such an inspiration (to youngies and oldies, alike), Alan. Your contributions to, and support of the sport of Footbiking is much appreciated.

Where:
Criterion Bike Track,
Albert Bishop Park,
Hedley Avenue,
Nundah (not Hendra, but Nundah)

When: Sunday 23rd November 2008 racing starts at 1-30pm

Timings:

• Please pre-register with Kickbike Australia by Thursday 20th Nov 2008.
• On-the-day registration accepted from 12.00pm to 12.30pm. No registrations after 12.30pm,
  Competitors Briefing at 1.00pm all entrants must attend
• Bike track available for warm-up after briefing.
• Sprint heats start at 1.30pm.
• Actual race times will be dependant on registration numbers, so pre-registration will help.
• Prize giving commences 20 minutes after the last race – planned to finish 5pm latest
• Join us from 5.30pm for the World Championships Movie Evening at 158 Copperfield St, Geebung.

Our special thanks to “TSL Project Services” for their sponsorship of this event.
TSL Project Services are Chartered Quantity Surveyors, who specialize in Depreciation Schedules on Investment Property, helping you to save time and money, and pay less tax. Indeed, the Associate Director and Kickbiking Enthusiast, Tracey Lunniss has a passion for investment strategies in Real Estate, and can help you maximise your property investment. Visit the TSL Website for more details:

Classifications and Distances:

Sprints:

Female:
12-15 years (Cadet) 500 metres
16-17 years (Junior) 500 metres
18-44 years (Open) 1000 metres
45+ years (Veteran) 1000 metres
6-16 years (Children) 200 metres
16+ years (Short Sprint) 200 metres

Male:
12-15 years (Cadet) 500 metres
16-17 years (Junior) 500 metres
18-44 years (Open) 1000 metres
45+ years (Veteran) 1000 metres
6-16 years (Children) 200 metres
16+ years (Short Sprint) 200 metres

Short Distance:

Female:
12-15 years (Cadet) 1km
16-17 years (Junior) 1km
18-44 years (Open) 2.5km
45+ years (Veteran) 2.5km

Male:
12-15 years (Cadet) 1km
16-17 years (Junior) 1km
18-44 years (Open) 2.5km
45+ years (Veteran) 2.5km

The competition is hotting up for this next Footbike Championships in just over 2 weeks time, with young and old, newcomers and veterans of the sport marking down the days to the race.

Word on the grapevine is that Alex Heta, current holder of the Australian Sprint Record for 200m has been seriously training to retain his record against current 1km Sprint Champion, Alan Stewart. A little bird told me Alex trains with a photo of Alan taped to the footboard of his Kickbike… hmmmm… what could this mean???

The big show-down that spectators will be watching is the battle to pass the finish line first during the women’s sprints, between reigning Australian 1km Sprint and 2.5km Time Trial Champion Lyn Armstrong and the current Australian Women’s Open Sprint Champion, Tracey Lunniss.

And then the question of the day is: “Can anyone break Alan Stewart’s records in the Australian Men’s Sprint Championships, both in the 1km and 2.5km distances?” So get training guys and let’s set some amazing times.

Occupation: Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Associate Director of TSL Project Services Pty Ltd (sponsor of the 2008 TSL Footbike Sprint Championships in Brisbane)

Age: Well… let’s just say she’s in the Open Category of the Footbike Races!

Records:
Current holder of the Longest Distance (60km) under race conditions in Australia
Current holder of the Open Women’s 1km Sprint
Current holder of the Open Women’s 2.5km Sprint

Rides: The new Sports Max Kickbike

Training Regime:
Training Sessions several times a week with a Personal Trainer as well as regular long distance rides.

Tracey has done exceptionally well in her Footbike Career. After taking up Kickbiking only 11 months ago she already holds three Australian Footbike Records.

Tracey manages to juggle her role as Footbike Enthusiast with running a successful National Company of Quantity Surveyors, being a published author (with another book on the way) and mother to two gorgeous girls (who we were considering putting wheels on and making the Footbike Mascots!).

Tracey is grateful for the support of her family, with husband, Steve who is new to the sport of Footbiking and made his debut a 60km ride from Brisbane City to the Gold Coast on a Kickbike (congrats to Steve!), and Tracey’s girls who cheer their mum on in her Footbiking efforts, and manage to bring a smile to everyone’s face when they accompany mum to each of the events.

Tracey is currently training for the upcoming sprint championships in November, and has the long-term goal of competing at the International Scooter Championships in Italy in 2010 in her sights.

Good work Tracey – and we expect to hear more from you in the future.

We didn’t know what to expect… 

Here we were in a small country town, over an hour north of Amsterdam, and the first three people we had spoken to knew very little English.

We were hoping to find accommodation and then compete at the World Champs for Footbike Racing. To be on the safe side we arrived early at the event… but maybe we were a little too early. Apart from six people setting up the finish area there was no-one else around. 

When we eventually found the Event Organizers (who are amazing people) we were made to feel at home right from the start. They booked our accommodation with one phone call, and suggested we check in and come back in an hour. 

After following their suggestion, we arrived back to a flurry of activity, there were Scooters everywhere. The most Kickbikers we had seen together in any event was 14 at an organized Bike ride in Brisbane! People were walking around in uniforms, national flags draped over their sholders.

The atmosphere was warm and welcoming. It was like a big family reunion where everyone seemed to know each other, even though most had only just met. We were welcomed with open arms and appreciation, because of the kilometres we had travelled to be there.

The Opening Ceremony began with a glass of Bubbly for everyone, a welcome speech from the overall organizer and then we were in to the first event…

Six laps of a town circuit totalling 13.8km.

First the 25 women and cadets, then the 52 men, all lined up with the desire to be crowned the 2008 Scooter Racing World Champ. The competition was intense but the comradery amongst the riders was genuine. The prize ceremony was in typical Olympic style with the winners mounting a podium and their National Anthem being played for the town to hear.

It was then time to tuck into a Pasta Meal that evening, where a lot of exaggerated stories were shared and re-shared.

Day 2 dawned with breakfast supplied, and the chance to share your stories again, or to check out the competition for the day, and fit in a complimentary sports massage before the sprint qualifications at 10am. Held in time trial format, this race was your chance to beat the clock, and qualify for the finals in the afternoon.

At 12pm about 70 kids had their fun race. Then parents and supporters had their chance at a fun race, and the qualified juniors held their NAFCup Race.

The quarters, semis and finals were then raced over the next hour, resulting in a mens and womens World Champs, plus winners in the Vet, Open, Junior, Cadet and Pupil Cadet Classifications.

We then moved straight to the World Champ National Teams Relay, a race for 30 minutes and then 1 lap, involving 3 team members, but only 1 Scooter. Imagine the chaos of jumping off your Kickbike or Footbike at full speed, sprinting beside it until another sprinting team member has grabbed hold of the handlebars to take control, and jumped onto the plate when you let go. It was certainly entertaining for the crowd and a lot of fun for the participants.

Day 2 finished with the Prize Ceremonies and plenty of interesting stories over another Pasta Meal.

Day 3 started with breakfast and another Sports Massage, but the rest of the morning is all about the kids.

Races for ages 4 through to 9 kept over 100 kids busy – and tired them out a little. Then the Pupils (10 to 12y.o.) raced their long distance National NAF Cup Race over 9.8km, and Cadets (13 to 15y.o.) over 14.7km. Then in the afternoon the Juniors (16-17y.o.), Open and Vet (45+) Categories raced over 42.195km – a full Marathon.

Lining up at the start of the Marathon, and being surrounded by over 100 other Scooter riders was incredibly humbling. All I could think was, “just wait till we have events this size in Australia”. Some very impressive displays of supreme fitness and some amazing average speeds were achieved. The marathon was 9 laps of a country circuit, and was almost entirely flat… no chance to rest on the downhills. It was great for spectators who watched tactics unfold and lent some awesome support to the competitors.

After the prize giving it was then back into town for the huge World Champ “End Party”, where the 11 National Teams and all the World Champions were presented to the public on the stage. It was then time for a huge fireworks display and then the band began to play.

Breakfast the next morning was provided, but not as well attended as the previous mornings!

I have competed and partied at a number of Multisport and running events before but the atmosphere here was by far the best I have seen. The organisers certainly put on an awesome event and it was well enjoyed by all those attending.

We understand that the next World Champs are being held in Italy in August 2010, and we’ll be there again. So get kicking, as it would be awesome to have an Australian Team win the relay, as well as a few individual World Champs of our own!