By Luke Voogt
Barwon Heads gran Roslyn Claringbold conquered 400km of scenic road on her bike last week, raising $11,223 for grandson Gilbert, who has muscular dystrophy.
“And I’ve still got some more to come,” she said.
The 67-year-old described the four-day ride as one of her greatest challenges to date.
“I was absolutely exhausted – it was like nothing I’ve done in my life,” she said. “I wasn’t the oldest but I was definitely the most inexperienced cyclist.”
But the ride was nothing compared to the challenge grandson Gilbert would face in his everyday life, she said.
“By pushing through to achieve this challenge I have found a toughness that will stand me in good stead as my family and I face our future.”
Ros battled steep climbs and stiff headwinds on the ride which wound through some of the most scenic parts of western Victoria.
“Beautiful scenery often comes with lots of hills,” she said.
“Buoyed along by a few riders more experienced than me, I managed to stay on the road and push up the hills.”
Often, the encouragement of other riders helped her get to the end of each leg.
“There were many hills where I thought I couldn’t make it, but I just had to stay positive and plod away until I reached the top,” she said.
“Often after reaching the top all we could see in front of us was another hill!”
The cyclists rode through state forests and picturesque towns before gliding into Melbourne on a good tail wind.
“All of the riders certainly gained an enormous sense of achievement in completing this challenge,” Ros said.
Ros joined 15 riders who raised $60,000 for Muscular Dystrophy Australia, for research into the debilitating disease.
“That’s a marvellous result,” she said. “There was a broad group of participants taking on this adventure, all on behalf of a person with MD.”
