Diabetic Donna goes Bua(oi)ng or It Doesn't get much better than this
Friday night:
Oh boy, oh boy I can’t wait, tomorrow we do Donna Buang…. Gotta do set change, gees look at the time 11pm! Oh well get it done and get to bed, gotta be up at 6am.
Saturday morning.
5am – I’m awake…. I feel a bit groggy, really shouldn’t have had those two glasses of red last night. Better do my BGL. WHAT! 21.2 No no no, not today! Not today when I’m going to ride up Mt. Donna Buang. Not today on the last day of my 5th decade on earth when I’m going to do that ride as a testament to my inner demons and proving myself. Shit! OK what can I do about it. Quick give myself a needle shot & go back to bed for another hours sleep.
6am alarm (I have this really ridiculous techno music alarm on my mobile). 18.9, good, good, coming down, I can still do it, I must have just crimped the line. 7am – 14.6, BGL’s getting better, I’m feeling better. Put the muesli in a Chinese food container & fill it up with milk, get the bike on the car, check gear, check the map. Ok. The car is fuelled & oiled, just like the bike I have to check this every week, otherwise it doesn’t go.
Ah it’s a lovely drive up Wellington Rd, along Belgrave – Gembrook Rd., and into Woori Yallock Rd. I really should do this more often. I’d forgotten how pretty it is out the back of Woori Yallock. I get to Launching place half an hour early. This is another good sign. I’m on top of this BGL thing. I test again, 12.8. OK, plenty of time to bolus and eat the muesli. Hmm, the museli would have been better with a bit of fresh fruit and yoghurt. I unload Black Bess, and check the tyres and gears.
Greg & friend arrive, Acey arrives, Daniel pulls in, full of cheer. Matt & Luke turn up with bikes piled on top of the car. Daniel’s got a hybrid tourer with mountain bike gears and straight bars. Greg, Acey, Matt and Luke have various forms of mountain bikes. Gavin & Julia and kids roll in, then down the highway comes Monique, looking slick on the road bike. She’s caught the train to Lilydale and warmed up on the slopes up the Maroondah Hwy., from the station.
Gavin hands out ride direction sheets and does the pre-ride talk and Julia makes sure we’ve all organised our gear in the back of the van.
I do another test 15. L Not good, maybe the muesli has hit earlier than usual, because I soaked it before eating (some people will believe anything!)
We’re off, I keep up with Gavin & Greg & Daniel for about 500 meters. Within 20 minutes I’m struggling and I eventually say to Daniel, who has very sweetly been riding with me and keeping me company, “This second gear is sticking and I don’t want to drop it onto the low one until we get on the dirt. You go ahead with the others and wait for me at the turn off.” He takes flight like an eagle – zoom! I struggle on feeling worse and worse! Shit I should be doing better than this, the sweat is pouring off me and I’m just hitting the wall. I stop after an hour and do another test. 21.1 again! I’m in the depths of despair. I think I’ll turn back to the car and give up on the ride. I’ve got a spare infusion set back at the car. Donna will just have to wait for another day. Lucky I brought a spare needle. I can do another shot here and at least bring my levels down again.
Luke has caught up with me and I ask him to let the others know I’m turning back. Acey comes along on the borrowed mountain bike. I’d forgotten about Acey & Matthew. I thought they must have taken some dirt bike tracks. I tell Acey what’s going on, “I’m going to quit and go back to the car.” “Have you got a needle on you?” he asks. “Just keep checking your levels and do a shot every hour, you can do it that way”, he says. I’m a bit nervous about this, but then I think, yeah, it should work, and I really, really want to do this mountain. So, like the three amigo’s we keep on the trail. By the time we catch up with the others, my BGL’s are 10.8.
It’s the most spectacular day. The sky is so blue when looked at through the trees it’s almost indigo. The native mint bushes and egg and bacon plants and native sassafras are in bloom, purple and gold and white, all through the understory. We go through tall stands of mountain ash and tree ferns and notice that where the mountain becomes rockier, the trees change to bloodwoods and ironbarks, and become shorter and chunkier. We stop for a minute just before 11am, my BGL is down to 5.4. We stand in silence and ponder the fate of all those young men who left such beauty to go to war.
Acey’s bike has started protesting and we have more stops trying to find the source of the noise. I think it’s the cranks and Acey thinks it’s the suspension. It’s got that funny spring thing in the middle of it. Acey’s stops seem to be getting a bit too frequent and I say to him do you need to eat? He nods – do I have any spare lollies? Of course I do, with the way my sugars have been, they’re the last thing I want! Matt has been slowing down and we stop and start, staying within a short catch up distance of each other. Finally I look at Matt who has started walking. “Matt, do you need to test & eat?” Matt tests, 1.8. Out come the jelly snakes. How many jelly snakes can two guys go through on one ride? I think it should be a test question on `Who Wants to be a Millionaire.’ Now I’m feeling right on top of it again, my 12 o’clock test is 4.9 and I eat 2 jelly snakes. I still haven’t needed to give myself another shot. Luke and Matt and Acey are dealing with their hypo’s, and resting before tackling the next slope. I check they’ve still got food and make a decision to ride on. In a short while I crest the shoulder of the mountain and have kilometres of delightful good gravel road riding with some awesome views. All too soon it ends and I hit the bitumen and start climbing towards the finish. What a great sight to see Greg and Dan & Gavin and Monique all waiting for me and waving as I come in. I’m struggling with the last climb, and it’s only when I drop my bike that I realise, I’d been so bent on making a good impression in front of the others that I’d forgotten I had one more gear left! D’uoh! Gavin takes my bike and leads me to a repast from paradise, with Julia and the kids sitting in the shade. Acey comes in and tells us that Matt and Luke have turned back. Gavin takes the car down to check that they’re OK.
After an hour of this very pleasant luncheon, I decide to head off with Greg, choosing to go down the bitumen rather than the dirt. Great decision, the road swoops and swerves all the way down the mountain, we’re doing 58 – 60k and there’s no one else on the road. Well, there was one car, but after Greg overtook it, it just pulled off the road and let me go past! It’s a great bit of road, very smooth with few bumps or holes and the most delicious curves. I pull up next to Greg and we’re just grinning and he says “It doesn’t get much better than this.” Arriving into Warburton, we take the rail trail and finish off the day with a gentle meander back to Launching Place.
At the end of it all, I’m giving out some Awards
Gavin – Best Ride Organiser – both for the spectacular ride and the equally spectacular lunch J
Daniel – Skids Award – for taking on the Gravel with Gusto.
Monique – Bridesmaid Award – coz she wasn’t allowed on the gravel
Greg – Best Bum in Lycra Award
Acey – Earplugs Award – for the noisiest bike and Encouragement Award for getting me to keep on riding!
Matt – Next Time Around Award
Luke – Mateship Award – for putting up with us.
And Me – I get awards for Oldest Bike and Road bike on Gravel (Ok so it’s got touring gears – it still had the skinniest tyres), and beating three blokes in their twenties to the top on the day before my 50th birthday Whoo Hoo! J
Many Many thanks to Gavin for a beaut day out.
Cath Stephensen
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