Yesterday, I set off at just after 7am with Sam, to try and complete the Strava BMC 79 Mile Challenge. This was what they set out on the Strava web site.

This September, 79th running of the UCI World Road Cycling Championships was won on a BMC teammachine SLR01.

To honor that huge accomplishment, BMC is challenging you to go out and complete a ride of 79 miles (or greater) in one day.

Lewy was in on the challenge as well, and we picked him up about 12kms into the ride. It was going to be a long ride for Sam. His previous longest ride was 108kms. You can read about that here.

So we rolled along at a leisurely pace. We got to the Shoalhaven River and the boys topped up their water bottles.

It was going to be a long day!

Then over the bridge, around through Bomaderry and then it was go time. We did the run along the north side of the river at a good rate and I was thinking “this wont take as long as I thought”. We turned off Bolong Road and onto the quiet road that meanders around the back of Berry. It gets pretty lumpy. Here are a couple of shots I got of the guys coming up one climb.

Climb boys, climb.

Sam doing it easy.

Lewy popped a mono, I just missed it.

Then it was a left onto Coolangatta Road and into Berry. We decided to keep going and have our breakfast in Nowra. Lewy was a bit pressed for time and we weren’t traveling anywhere near as quickly as I thought we would be. The run along the highway into Bomaderry is lots of little rises and downhills. We finally arrived in Bomaderry and stopped at McDonalds for a coffee. I don’t know who’s idea that was, but the coffee was ordinary at best.

Lewy decided he wouldn’t be able to fit the next loop out to Berry and back in, so not long after coffee, he left us to go to work. I am happy to say, he completed the challenge later that day.

Sam and I headed back along Bolong Road, quite a bit slower than the first time. It took us a fair while to get into Berry, and Sam wanted to stop at the bike shop to get some chamois creme. The guys at Berry Mountain Cycles were great, and Sam ended up on the Specialized saddle test program. He was measured up and they put a loaner saddle on his bike. It was quite a long stop, but Sam seemed happy. From Berry it was a 15km run into Nowra and lunch. Because Sam didn’t want to climb the hill going into Nowra proper, he suggested we stop at the swank restaurant on the banks of the river. I will let the pictures tell the story.

Lunchy Munchy

My first Reuben Sandwich

Honest, I didn’t feel as bad as I look!

That’s a lot of lycra!

I hate to think what the other diners thought of to chunky blokes in lycra sitting down for a Reubens sandwich. I had never had one before, and it was delicious. At $22 it would bloody want to be!

With our lunch behind us, we had 25kms of punching into the wind to get home. When we finally arrived, we had been on the bikes for just over 6 hours! Sam had banged out 131kms! What a tremendous effort. I was super proud of the big bloke.

Next stop for Sam, a 150km ride. 🙂

Challenge done, and Sam and Lewy get their first Challenge badge. Well done boys. Was great to be part of it.