{"id":19751,"date":"2019-05-23T09:29:29","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T09:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/?page_id=19751"},"modified":"2019-05-24T01:18:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T01:18:07","slug":"the-petite-boys-not-the-fat-ones","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/?page_id=19751","title":{"rendered":"The Petite Boys – Not The Fat Ones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Well another year had come and gone and I hadn\u2019t had a chance to hop on the bike since the last Oppy when Mark asked if he should book the accommodation in Port Douglas in May for our overnight Petite Oppy stop.\u00a0 I thought that there was a good chance that booking accommodation was a sensible start.\u00a0 I assumed that we would roll out with a variation of our regular team consisting of Mark, Nola, Jordan, Toby or Zoe (Mark and Nola\u2019s very capable offspring) and myself.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Before we had a chance to reach the computer there was the cry from the kitchen that Nola was riding in the Third Extremes this year.\u00a0 Yep, Gayle had poached one of my main support riders.\u00a0 No dramas – we should be right with the rest of the crew.\u00a0 Maybe both kids could ride this year.\u00a0 Alas Toby cracked a gig playing cricket in England, Zoe discovered Europe and Jordan had sold his bike.\u00a0 So it was down to Mark and I to try and find another rider who could enjoy the prospect of towing me to Port Douglas.\u00a0 After a few potential team mate false starts we cracked the code in the week before the Oppy with the ever obliging Kev Tomlinson.<\/p>\n

It seems that Kev had been reading a lot of the press of the big boys who were going to ride from Bowen to Port Douglas and set a record in the process.\u00a0 He was a little concerned what average speed we would be riding at and which of his bikes he should ride to keep up.\u00a0\u00a0 After a little while Kev realised that I was serious when I said that the longest ride I had done since the last Oppy was 56km the previous weekend.\u00a0 His aspirations of achieving a record in the Petite Oppy faded as we discussed the option of taking his trekking bike because we hadn\u2019t been able to find a support driver either.\u00a0 Fortunately for the team, a couple of nights before we were due to set off on our ride Zoe flew back from Europe so we would have a support vehicle after all.\u00a0 For Kev it was back to the BMC fast bike and a trip to see Gary at Bicycle Central for some new super strong fast wheels.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We had set a crafty little course that started in the high country at Walkamin and finished in the lowlands of Mossman and Port Douglas.\u00a0 As luck would have it there was also a very helpful tailwind to assist us on our way.\u00a0 We set off from Mark and Nola\u2019s place in Walkamin at a little after the planned 7am.\u00a0 From there we cruised around the back of Chewko Road into Mareeba for \"\"<\/a>our first coffee break of the day with 23km under the belt.\u00a0 Kev decided that the riding was pretty easy and he needed a bit of light reading while we were riding and slipped into the Newsagent beside the coffee shop to buy a copy of the Women\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

From Mareeba we scooted out of town towards Mount Molloy with the biggest tailwind ex Tropical Cyclone Ann could muster.\u00a0 I think I even managed to find myself on the front at some point during this leg.\u00a0 Just outside Mt Molloy a flock of motor bikes roared past.\u00a0 A few minutes later we cruised along to our designated coffee shop at 63.6km only to discover what th\"\"<\/a>e rush was all about.\u00a0 About thirty bikers had all sat down to enjoy their soy lattes.\u00a0 Not to be outdone Big Kev rolled his bike back in amongst the other hogs and threw his lycra clad leg over the saddle drawing a few crude comments from the biking entourage.\u00a0\u00a0 We were famished after such a long stint in the saddle and went in for a bacon and egg burger and assorted drinks.\u00a0 The bari\"\"<\/a>sta assured us that he wouldn\u2019t be long with our orders so we settled in for some light banter with our Biking Brethren.\u00a0 There were some discussions about the merit of stretching and how it could actually be a helpful practice to adopt now that we were all getting to be old.\u00a0 Kev and I thought we should leave that to our young under fifty sidekick.<\/p>\n

We set off from Mt Molloy with the expectation that we would meet up with Zoe in Mossman around lunch time.\u00a0 Mark was very pleased to see that Bushy Creek was behaving itself this year and he didn\u2019t need to rescue brown snakes from the flood water.\u00a0 Shortly after Bushy Creek we took the Euluma Creek Road up past the Julatten School where we could have had our fifth Democracy Sausage for the day if we hadn\u2019t just devoured half a pig in Mt Molloy.\u00a0 We could see evidence that the roads in this area had been under water recently so we were quite thankful that we had been spared that pain.\u00a0 Before we knew it \"\"<\/a>we were at the top of the Rex Range looking out over a somewhat wet and windy Mossman.\u00a0 After a little stop to discuss the possibility of a slippery descent we set off down the Rex Range.\u00a0 Our fears of a slippery ride soon gave way to a beautiful dry bit of road that we \"\"<\/a>were able to zoom down.\u00a0 As we entered Mossman I again found myself on the front of the bunch copping a fair bit of banter from my fellow cyclists.\u00a0 We arrived to find Zoe waiting for us and Googling flights back to Europe.\u00a0 At 100km it was time for lunch so we made our way to the Goodies Caf\u00e9 about halfway down the main drag for a great chicken wrap and milkshake.\u00a0 About this time Kev started suggesting that we should add in an extra five kilometres to the ride so that we could say that we had done 100 miles in the day.\u00a0 Hmmm we will see.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After a lovely lunch we said our goodbyes to Zoe who had a better offer back up on the Tablelands and set off for Wonga Beach.\u00a0 The tail wind, rain and tram tracks provided an interesting ride for most of the way up the coast.\u00a0 Just after Kev had reminded me that I had just doubled my longest ride for the year there was a little section of Bamboo Creek Road that managed to twist back on itself pointing us directly into the wind for the first time all day.\u00a0 Kev decided he should take one for the team and jumped on the front and proceeded to punch out a very tidy 30kmh into the wind.\u00a0 Unfortunately my legs were not quite up to snuff and I popped off the back just as quickly.\u00a0 Before long the wind was on our back again pushing us towards Wonga Beach.\u00a0 A little navigational glitch meant we rode all of the back streets of Wonga Beach hoping that Kev\u2019s Garmin would assure him that he was on course again.\u00a0 We decided to take a quick stop at the servo to top up our water bottles and regroup navigationally.\u00a0 While at the servo Mark had a curious discussion with the local Iceman about ownership of his chicken wrap.\u00a0 Fortunately the kimono wearing drug crazed local found a car to jump into before being sped away.<\/p>\n

About this time discussions of how far we had to go started up.\u00a0 We all seemed to have slightly different odometer readings.\u00a0 Mark was the furthest along the road (I thought his should be the official measure), I was in the middle and Kev brought up the rear with two \"\"<\/a>options to choose from (one up to three kilometres less than the other due to a button pressing error early in the day).\u00a0 We ultimately decide to add in a bit of extra distance to make sure that we all had at least 160.9km on the clock when we stopped for the night.\u00a0 Mark and I chose to ride as far as Kev\u2019s Garmin needed to go to reach the distance and then left Kev to sort out the difference between his Garmin and watch without our assistance. OCD is an interesting affliction.\u00a0 Ultimately we rolled into our accommodation at the Mossman Holiday Park (aka The White Cockatoo, apparently clothing optional in its day????) all very happy with a good day on the bike.<\/p>\n

After a beer and a car shuffle to Port Douglas we ventured down to the local bowls club for fish and chips and a beer.\u00a0 We noted how \"\"<\/a>important it is to keep the food and drink up during exercise.\u00a0 During dinner we were getting updates on where the Third Extremes were at and decided that they wouldn\u2019t be in to Mossman until about 12pm.\u00a0 This was important information as we had a couple of them sharing our cabin later in the evening.\u00a0 After deciding that election night viewing was pretty limited we turned out the lights and waited with our eyes closed for the girls to arrive.\u00a0 Pretty much bang on cue around midnight the Extremes rolled into camp and whispered to the whole resort what a great ride they were having.<\/p>\n

The next morning alarms seemed to come way too soon, but it didn\u2019t take long for the hive of activity to start.\u00a0 The Third Extremes beat a hasty departure headed for Port Douglas.\u00a0 We got away a little later and headed off towards Cooya Beach in the dark and rain.\u00a0 Just as we approached Cooya Beach we saw the tail lights of the Third Extremes come back onto the main road.\u00a0 We thought that we would catch them pretty soon as we had less distance in our legs.\u00a0 Boy were we wrong!!!\u00a0 Those girls were tapping out a cracking pace into the headwind and we only gained about 20 seconds on them in the 12km before they turned off to drop into Port Douglas.\u00a0 Our course took us a bit further south to Craiglea where we turned towards Port Douglas and came in on Old Port Road.\u00a0 When we finally hit the smooth asphalt with a tail wind pressing gently in our backs the pace soared and before we knew it we were approaching our destination.<\/p>\n

We were greeted at The Lure by the Third Extremes who had just \"\"<\/a>set a Queensland record for an all female Oppy team.\u00a0 Well done girls!!\u00a0 What an awesome ride.<\/p>\n

The Petite Boys were pretty proud of their humble achievements and started talking about next year and who needed to be released from the roster so that they could go and ride a full Oppy.<\/p>\n

I would like to thank my fellow Petite Boys, Mark and Kev for dragging me around the course. What great company you were and what a fantastic ride we shared.<\/p>\n

As a post script – the name Petite Boys (Not the Fat One) came from a misunderstanding that I had for many years about the meaning of Petite.\u00a0 When I was much much younger we had a visitor who said to my mum that her daughter was a \u201cPetite little thing\u201d.\u00a0 I had always thought that the girl in question had a striking resemblance to Kermit\u2019s love interest so made the assumption that Petite must mean somewhat large (pre Google days of course).\u00a0 I should have looked in the dictionary when I first heard the word as it wasn\u2019t until many years later that I was in an argument saying that somebody was not at all petite that the error in translation became apparent.<\/p>\n

(23 May 2019)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well another year had come and gone and I hadn\u2019t had a chance to hop on the bike since the last Oppy when Mark asked if he should book the accommodation in Port Douglas in May for our overnight Petite Oppy stop.\u00a0 I thought that there was a good chance that booking accommodation was a … Continue reading The Petite Boys – Not The Fat Ones<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19762,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19751"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19768,"href":"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19751\/revisions\/19768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}