An Australian charity called Pedal Against Poverty raises money for World Youth International, an international childrens charity. Every year for two weeks in April it gets people to organise bike rides for charity, from fun events like a half hour ride around the local park to a long distance endurance ride like my bike tour. It’s a good fit for what I am doing. You can donate online at the following site:
Donate Here!

Find out more about the charity organisations at the links bellow.
Pedal Against Poverty
World Youth International
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Rapha – Performance Roadwear

Many thanks go to the good people at Rapha for kindly sponsoring my adventure this time around. Indeed Rapha clothing was part of my equipment for my previous tour in Australia although no-one at the company were in anyway aware of what I was doing! A former work colleague gifted me some Rapha roadwear prior to my last tour including a T-shirt, cap, gloves and a gillet. I was very pleased and impressed with everything before so I’m quite happy to have some new items to roadtest this time.

The Rapha range is quite substantial and they have provided me with just about all the clothing I’ll be taking with me. This includes bib-shorts, lightweight jerseys, fixed shorts, base layer, socks, cap and one of their awesome lightweight stowaway jackets. This stowaway jacket in particular is extremely impressive. It’s feather light at just 165grammes, windproof and water resistant, packs up into a jersey pocket making it ideal for brisk early morning rides. After I’ve thoroughly road tested the items I’ll post some more in-depth reviews.

You can find more information on the full range of Rapha performance roadwear by visiting their website http://www.rapha.cc/

In addition to tackling the road from Melbourne to Darwin with just a backpack to carry my equipment I’d also decided not to take a bicycle with me. If you’ll pardon the pun I wanted to recycle what I could in Australia. In Melbourne there are a few good bike stores which stock good quality seconds and there is a community project called CERES which endeavours to encourage sustainable living. At CERES there is a bike shed which quite a large amount of unloved bicycles and parts waiting for a new home.
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One of my friends managed to get word of what I was doing to Sean Kelly who called me a few days before I flew out to wish me all the best. It’s not every day that one of your heroes and one of the all-time cycling greats calls you to say good luck – of course I made a fool of myself gushing like a child instead of a 28 year old adult. In fact I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m simple but how bad.

Part II starts here!

In April, I returned to Melbourne to complete the final leg of the original planned adventure which started in July 2006. Due to time and financial contraints the last time around I didn’t make it up the middle through the Red Centre to see towns like Coober Pedy, Alice Springs or indeed ‘the’ Australian icon – Uluru. In my time back in Europe, though it was good, I always felt like I was not yet done so I decided to return and finish what I’d started. Armed with little more than a rough route, some bike tools and my cameras I took off once more for Australia.
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