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It's a Wrap!

Our 12th Gong Ride done & dusted!

*Excuse the Star Wars reference, for you non-perfect people

Well, where do we begin? How about throwing some numbers at you:

  • 72 riders
  • 65,000 dollars raised
  • 1 sook who bailed because it was cold & rainy
  • 0 crashes
  • 2nd out of 1005 teams (so far)
  • 1 million beers consumed
Now this may sound a little crazy, but perhaps the wet and cold conditions made the sense of achievement so much greater at the finish. Maybe it was because we knew Stacey Hartcher who lives and rides with MS inspired us all to step into the rain (hangover and all) and tackle the 82km. Whatever it was, well done to us all for a cracker weekend!
We went through a fair bit this weekend, so let us break it down for you.

Uncle Peter Retires -
Perpetual G.O.A.T. Award

We pay homage to our mates, Uncle Peter & Aunty Michelle who have generously catered for us for 7 years. They've hung up their aprons and tongs and called it a day. We recognised their efforts by awarding them the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) - brought to life by Tricon Drilling Solutions.
Our sincerest thanks Uncle Peter for all your efforts!

Cootwalski Award

Phil Dunne 0 : Wallaby 1
The Cootwalski Award celebrates "Doing Dumb Sh!t on Two Wheels". Whilst this year's winner may not have actually done anything dumb, his story certainly gained enough votes to take out the title. You see, Phil found out that if you're screaming down a dirt track at 60kph, and you hit a wallaby, it aint good news. Bike and wallaby are okay. Phil... not so much.

Tricon Soft Cogs Racing

Extremely exciting news. Backed by Tricon Drilling Solutions, Soft Cogs Racing is about bringing people to mountain biking. Tricon has seen what we've done with introducing people to road bikes, and they reckon we can do that with mountain bikes! 
Interested? Read on...
Soft Cogs Racing

Christmas Vineyard Ride

Save the date - Sunday 10th December, leaving from Singleton. We're organising a ride out to one of the breweries at the vineyards (to be confirmed). So ride your bike, meet your family out there, have a beer and bite to eat.

Watch this space for details or follow us on facebook

A big thanks to...

  • Our sponsors, it would be very difficult to be a kick-@rse team without our corporate friends. Many repeat sponsors and a couple of new ones too. A special mention to the smaller companies - Bailey, Drive Social, Singleton Stemming Services, AC Whalan - whose sponsorship is much more of a commitment
  • University of Wollongong Mining Engineering Students who volunteered their time to cook the bbq
  • Legendary Bus Driver, Gazza - 3rd year in a row and absolute champion! Hope to see you in 2018
  • Volunteers & family for helping out - the little things you don't consider much all add up to a lot. If you didn't do what you do, it'd be a fair task for one or two others.
  • You the riders - who train, fundraise and ride for MS. One rider travelled from Cairns to join us, another flew in Saturday & flew back Sunday. We know the weekend's a bit of a cost, so your efforts are appreciated

Final Word


2017 felt different. Was it the weather? Was it the fact we had one of our own with MS actually ride with us? Was it because it was the most dustiest I've felt on the Sunday morning of the ride? The weather turned it on, and it really made us work hard for our sponsorship dollars. Our awards night was great and we build on it year on year. We've even booked out the Southern Cross hotel accommodation for 2018 already! After 12 years of having a crack at the Gong, we are still there. We are still the Gong Ride's most consistent team.

I'm not sure what the real reason for that is, but as Karen Thackray (MS Events Manager) said after our awards dinner, she was blown away by the culture that we have. A first time rider also said to me she was almost emotional at the vibe of the evening, even though we were all having a laugh and taking the piss, there was a genuine motive behind it all - and that is to help others.

I've got a feeling 2018 will see us lift, whether it's number of riders, amount fundraised or both. 

I hope to see you at our social rides and definitely at the 2018 Gong Ride. Let's continue bringing fun and frivolity to cycling, whilst punching MS square in the nose!
 
 

 
Copyright © 2017 Soft Cogs Incorporated, All rights reserved.


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