{"id":19959,"date":"2020-03-08T07:53:35","date_gmt":"2020-03-08T07:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/?page_id=19959"},"modified":"2020-03-08T07:54:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-08T07:54:26","slug":"wet-and-wild-wondecla-1-march-2020","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/?page_id=19959","title":{"rendered":"Wet and Wild Wondecla – 1 March 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of Audax cyclists in Far North Queensland have been on a steep learning curve of late, thanks to our latest offering – Wet and Wild Wondecla.<\/p>\n

Important Lesson Number One<\/strong> – Beware of casual comments about great courses.<\/em>\u00a0 A few months ago, Kathy mentioned a beautiful dirt circuit near Wondecla.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After a casual recce ride, including a crossing of the not-so-Wild River, Kathy was nominated as Ride Organiser – and the games began.\u00a0 She is still amazed that those off-hand comments then disrupted her life for weeks and substantially increased her consumption of\u00a0\u00a0soothing beverages.<\/p>\n

Which led to Important Lesson Number Two<\/strong> – FNQ has a wet season.<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0Kathy and her SAO’s team have beavered away at ensuring everything ran smoothly for our new ride.\u00a0 There have been working bees to cut paths through groves of lantana, string flagging tape in the bush, and contact locals who may harbour unfriendly dogs along the way.\u00a0 Kathy charted and re-charted the course, made repeated trips to check the creek crossings and anxiously watched the weather.\u00a0 In the deluging days prior to the ride, Kathy did an almost daily check of the Wild River Crossing – reporting its increasing level from ankles, to knees, to mid thighs to ……<\/p>\n

Important Lesson Number Three<\/strong> – There is always a Plan B.<\/em>\u00a0 Wondecla is tucked away in a particularly beautiful part of the world and laced with a maze of tracks just waiting for adventurous cyclists.\u00a0 With the Wild River living up to it’s name, Plan B was quickly instated and a new course was born.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the cyclists of Audax FNQ are not phased by the threat of tropical downpours.\u00a0 They know about Important Lesson Number Four<\/strong> – The weather gods smile on FNQ Audax<\/em>.\u00a0 On Saturday evening, Wondecla oval had grown into a tent city.\u00a0 By Sunday morning, the stream of traffic arriving at the grounds even prompted one local to drive in and check what was happening in his normally sleepy township.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

And….. the weather was cool, still and beautiful, thoroughly rewarding the 151 cyclists who registered for the ride.\u00a0 The check-in process was it’s usual hectic affair, but well managed by the wonderful volunteers on duty.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Everyone waited semi-patiently for Kathy’s ride briefing, mostly oblivious to the bits about the course changes and navigation, and anxious to be underway.\u00a0 And then an awesome stream of riders headed out of the oval and up the road ready for their adventure.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

As riders headed up the hill, keen to be off the black stuff and onto the dirt……..<\/p>\n