What do you do to prepare for a 5500 kilometre ride across Australia for charity?
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On a work trip to Canberra you car pool down with a colleague before getting up early next morning and riding back to work at Coniston.
That is what The Disability Trust chief operating Ed Birt did after deciding to do a charity ride he has never attempted before to raise funds for a cyclability program for people with disabilities in Wollongong.
After his morning cycle commute from Canberra staff gathered at The Disability Trust head office in Coniston on Wednesday afternoon to wish Mr Birt well before he headed off to Western Australia where he will start his ride across Australia.
Mr Birt is doing the Indian Pacific Wheel Ride which is an unsupported 5500km solo ride from ocean-to-ocean starting on March 20 at Freemantle Lighthouse.
The route will see Mr Birt travel though deserts, wine districts, rolling hills, winding coastal roads and tough alpine regions.
He is one of only seven registered riders to attempt the Indian Pacific Wheel Ride this year and will start the traditional way by dipping his rear wheel in the Indian Ocean. He will finish at the Sydney Opera House before heading to Bondi to dip his front wheel in the Pacific Ocean.
Mr Birt gets to choose where the money he raises goes and said it will be used purchase equipment to support The Disability Trust's new CycleAbility Program and other existing programs such as Vacation Care and Getaway Saturday.
The program will support independence, fitness and social inclusion through the use of bicycles as active transport. It will provides skills, knowledge and safety using bicycles and accessing cycling infrastructure.
The CycleAbility program is facilitated through The Disability Trust's Sport and Recreation team and will be run on the last Saturday of every month from May 29 from the head office car park.
Sport and Recreation Services manager Michael Norris said the program was designed to be fun, develop skills and teach safety, maintenance, repairs and promote knowledge of the Wollongong cycle network.
Mr Birt is an avid cyclist who rides to work every day.
"It is about a 45km return trip along our beautiful beaches. I have always been a cycling commuter throughout my working life," he said.
"I took my bike to Canberra because I'm trying to keep my training going. I told my colleague I might just get a head start early and you can pick me up along the way. But when he got to Marulan I was already in Moss Vale and decided to keep going. I have never come down Macquarie Pass on a bike before and that was heaps of fun. I left Canberra at 2am and got here at 12."
Other charity rides Mr Birt has ridden in the past include the Sydney to Gong but he said he had never done anything like riding across Australia before.
"I don't know how I am going to go," he said.
"But bikes are amazing machines and that is why the cyclability program is so important. We want to get more people with a disability on bikes using the great developing network of cycleways in Wollongong. I am going to volunteer to help out with that as well."
Follow Mr Birt's Journey here.
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Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
