Narrabri cyclist Graeme Rapp is home after finishing his biggest endurance ride yet, an epic 7200-kilometre adventure from Broome to Sydney, via Perth and Adelaide.
The Bikes for Bibles initiative is expected to raise up to $250,000 for two projects: supplying bibles to members of the defence force and police services, school children, Indigenous communities and others, as well as funding a literacy program in Latin America to try to curb domestic violence.
The cyclists and their road crew, which included Graeme’s wife Michelle and fellow Narrabri residents Sylvia and Robert Hallett, set off on June 30 and arrived in Sydney nine weeks later, on September 1.
Graeme’s new endurance bike, built with a degree of flexibility in the frame to enable a smoother ride on uneven surfaces, stood up to the challenge.
Although the roads were sealed, some were ordinary.
The weather was also challenging, with Graeme joking that the cooks, including Michelle, earned a diploma in under-water cooking while preparing meals in the rain.
The group also contended intense wind.
“We had very strong head winds at times, winds that nearly blew us off the roads,” Graeme recalled.
Accommodation varied, with the group camping outside for 11 nights along the West Australian coast, and spending other nights camped in school gymnasiums and halls, churches and church halls.
At Angaston, South Australia, the cyclists and their crew were billeted by church families, who washed their clothes and offered hot meals and warm beds.
The cycling itself was taxing along the Nullabor, where the riders spent their longest days on the road completing about 175 – and sometimes 200 - kilometres each day, but the rest of the ride was easier.
Nine rest days were scattered among the 55 days spent on the road.
“The body gets used to it,” Graeme said.
“The first three weeks are probably the worst and by the time you get home it’s just like another day in the office.
“Across the Nullabor was the hardest part of the riding because the distances were so long, but once you came back to doing 100 to 150 kilometres, it was an easy day’s ride.”
He says it was a magical way to see Australia, not only because the scenery was magnificent, but because there was a community relationship between the riders and support staff.
“I would encourage every Australian to get out and see their country,” he said.
“It’s just an amazing country.”
The group encountered a man whose life had been changed after he started reading a bible given to him when he’d joined the defence force.
The man’s marriage and family were breaking down when he remembered his bible.
“That’s the whole reason why we ride, so that people will gain control of their lives and come to know the Lord themselves, so it’s about seeking forgiveness and salvation.”
Now Graeme just has to complete a ride from Sydney to Townsville, and another in Tasmania, to say he’s cycled around the entire country.