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Day 5. The final day. I should have felt more excited, or emotional, or something. Frankly though, I felt a bit under-slept and like I was coming down with a cold, so mostly I felt grumpy. I tried to be as perky as I could as we rolled out in the morning, and hoped that the zinc boost that Di had kindly given me would help stave off whatever was looming within me.

Team Cardno was scheduled to roll out for the first portion of the ride until the usual initial ‘pit-stop’. Unfortunately, the distance to the pit stop was not as advertised and the wind was sufficiently up that an impromptu step-in of the ‘V8s’ was required to save their legs. I say unfortunately because I wasn’t feeling great yet I was in exactly the right position to step in to assist. So I did. Turns out that there is always someone that is feeling worse, as both times the person I was paired with called an end to our turn before I was ready to give in.

Today was supposed to involve a police escort for this leg of the ride, but due to budget cuts we were on our own. We arrived at the Fremantle PCYC to a very kindly provided spread of tea, coffee, biscuits and a sausage sizzle. However our available time there was short so Brett gave a few hurried words and we were quickly on our way to the finish proper, in King’s Square Fremantle. On our way out of the PCYC lo and behold we were joined by two unmarked police cars! Yay

Rolling into the finish felt great. There were heaps of people there to cheer us home. We presented the cheque for $469,000 to Youth Focus and enjoyed a moment or two of satisfaction in that. Afterwards there was a celebratory lunch together with family, with more presentations and then final goodbyes.

This whole experience has been eye-opening. From my involvement in the RFY committee which has revealed the enormous amount of planning that goes into this kind of event, to the training, learning to fundraise, riding the ride and providing the message to the schools, it has been a special experience. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to those that donated money to my effort on the ride - I appreciate your faith in me to complete this undertaking, and also your support for what is a truly worthwhile cause within our community. I look forward to continuing my role in the RFY by acting as an ambassador for Youth Focus in my everyday life.

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