18/05/2025
How to achieve a goal? Our founder had the goal of cycling South Australia’s 900 km or 560 mile Mawson Trail. Remote, long dry stretches, rough in places. With minimal bike mechanical skills she decided this wouldn’t be a solo adventure. But friends didn’t want to do it, or not right now. So after years of dithering and other adventures, she signed up to do it with Bike SA.
Today she’s back in Adelaide after 16 fabulous days and an adventure to remember.
The biggest ir perhaps only down side of cycling with a group is a fixed schedule, with of course no extra days off to deal with issues. So alas extreme saddle sores meant she had to sit out two days and missed riding about 120 km. But health comes first. Had she not rested then, chances are she would have been a hospital case, the sores were that bad. Instead today she’s still sore but happy and celebrating what she did achieve.
Sometimes we turn dreams into goals and fully succeed. Sometimes circumstances intervene. All we can do us to control the controllables, rejoice in the good and learn from the not so good.
So here’s a huge thank you to Bike SA, its staff, the dozens of volunteers, the contractors particularly Bill the bike mechnic and Geoff of Geoff’s mobile showers and toilets, all the footy and cricket clubs who allowed camping on their precious turf, the stations who hosted the group on their parched thirsty drought ridden land, and all the community clubs who fed everyone along the way. You were all fantastic. Our founder also wishes to extend a personal huge big thank you too, to all the riders and ride marshalls for their company, especially during some roasting hot afternoons, the hideous headwinds of days 2 and 3 and the afternoon to Rawnslet Station. Finally she says a massive thank you to the new friends she made along the way and to the ones that kind of adopted her and brought a lit of laughter to the evening meals, even if she never did participate in their early morning yoga sessions.
Bicycle SA
