2013 Chain Reaction Ride – Day 5

Ahhhh-brrrrrrrr. What a cold morning!

And hectic! We are late, again, despite us arising at 5.30am.

We head off into bracing high-plains air with my Strava KOM from the night before safe (always wait for the group to go through before uploading it! ;p ), and roll through endless hills until we reach the Monaro Hwy, which we follow into Canberra.

The day is a bit of a blur to be honest – we just spent a lot of time managing cars, mechanicals and so on, into Canberra.

It is pretty cool rolling into Canberra with APH (Australia Parliament House) as the backdrop.

Riding toward Parliament House

Canberra in autumn is pretty beautiful, lots of colour.

The Novatel is a welcome stop for the night, with its well-appointed bar, bevy of Australian Financial Reviews and most importantly, a gym. Tim puts me through a hectic Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) warm up and ergo session. I am shocked. This is followed up by a session of hefting weights around. Sadly it doesn't fully mitigate the damage of sitting in the car for the past 5 days munging down on cakes and salad rolls.

The day is highlighted by a very, very poignant speech by the mother of a kid with a congenital heart defect (something the ride is raising money to help fight) – there is nary a dry eye in the house. It really brings home what we are all here for – to ride (or support riders) and challenge ourselves to raise money for sick kids.

See more photos at the official blog.