Day 1 - Ipswich to Toowoomba - and hell mountain

Opening night - Ipswich

"Eat when you're not hungry and drink when you're not thirsty. Enjoy!"

And with those words of advice we kicked off the Glencore 1,000 Ks for Kids 2013 in sunny Ipswich. We were all handed a riders' manual - only slightly shorter than War and Peace - but very informative, and some silly hats. We carb loaded, we chatted, we laughed and we played a fun therapy game involving nuts, bolts, cotton wool, spoons and embarrassing stories. You kinda had to be there. And after reading this blog, hopefully, you'll almost feel like you were. Except without the chafing. Here goes!

Day 1: Ipswich to Toowoomba - and hell mountain 

In short:
Wheels which popped in a loud and dramatic fashion: 2
Falls: approximately 3; no injuries (phew!)
Mountains conquered: one
Hills climbed: it felt like 5,000
Bananas consumed: probably 5,000
Support cars which took wrong turns: 2
Expletives uttered: none - we're a polite bunch. Ahem.

Make no mistake: day one was hilly. Very hilly. Some parts were so hilly, we christened them "the rollercoaster." The up and down-ness of it all made for fun (if slightly exhausting) cycling and the amount of support amongst fellow riders was inspirational to witness. So great was the support that the shortlist of nominations for the 'Most Supportive' jersey was longer than the last hill we had to climb today. But more on that in a bit.

After a send off from a lovely man at Ipswich Council who give us all a gift to wish us well, our first stop was Laidley District School which had the coolest high climbing ropes structure you ever did see. We all wanted to have a go on it ourselves. Which may've been tricky in cleats.

But something even better was waiting for us: the Camp Quality puppet show, which teaches pupils how to be supportive and understanding of children living with cancer. It was a welcome early reminder of why we're all doing this. Kylie, one of the puppets, is wearing a hat because she has lost all her hair after chemotherapy; as she removes it, the pupils giggle but Kylie makes it clear this hurts her feelings, and the pupils apologise to her and encourage her to be herself, without her hat. Afterwards, a lot of the riders discussed how this must have a massive impact on the confidence of kids who are nervous about returning to school after cancer treatment because they look so visibly different from their peers, and suddenly those next few hills don't seem so hard to climb.

That is, until we get to the last hill: hell mountain. 3.8km of steep gradient in 30 degree heat. It was a beast. But we all got to the top through teamwork and an inspirational pep talk from our glorious leader, King, at the bottom of the hill as we shovelled down energy gels which taste only slightly better than eating your own colon. The sacrifices we make for the challenge.

At the top of hell mountain there were tears, hugs and woops. In true Camp Quality fashion, it was an example of optimism triumphing over doubt, mutual support getting us through a tough time and an awe-inspiring display of unrelenting resilience. Comparisons were made to last year - when they finished the mountain in the dark due to adverse riding conditions. This year we all made it up in beautiful Queensland sunlight. Another reason to dry those tears, smile and woop and get back in the saddle again. Which we all did.

Congrats to Renee, winner of King/Queen of the Mountain jersey -  who shot up the hill quicker than a monkey up the rock of Gibraltar. And without stopping (like several other riders). What a machine. And to Les, for pushing struggling riders up the hill - and winning the coveted Most Supportive jersey. The joker jerseys jointly went to our resident country singer Catherine and her partner James for doing an inelegant bike tango which resulted in eating dust and probably a domestic.

The toughest day is already down; tomorrow here we come!