The Tour De MS team completed the course today with consumate ease, proving quite conclusively that the gruelling training regime dictated by Paul over the past 6 weeks was right on the money. Speaking of money, our efforts vindicated the trust bestowed upon us by all sponsors who had placed their umost faith in us completing the journey. It was great to have many of our throng of supporters turn up to welcome us across the finish line and stay back for celebratory food and drinks amongst the small village of marquees and umbrellas assembled at Princes Park.

Mother Nature graced the riders with an overcast yet dry morning, with barely a light wind sweeping across the city. Perfect conditons for cycling and taking in the sights of the bayside legs of the course, not to mention negotiating the daunting Westgate Bridge. As for the bridge itself, our team along with all the other adventurers made light work of it's long and steady gradient and enjoyed the freewheeling cruise down towards the west side of the city. With the half way point of the ride completed we managed to stretch our legs out in stages where the riders had dispersed and created some open road for the Tour De MS thoroughbreds to gallop.

Just over 3 hours later, having suffered through the smell of cooked breakfasts through Port Melbourne, taken in the panorama from the top of the bridge, dodged and weaved through bike and car traffic, and been delayed by a puncture to Andrew's front tyre, the team had all survived and crossed the finish line to a raucous reception from the support crew. The champagne flowed, gourmet sandwiches and sweets were devoured and the group celebrated the achievements of not only the day but the overall success of our fundraising campaign. Congratulations to all the riders and support cast for their efforts throughout, and thank you to Dianna for leading the team to glory.

This was an incredibly well organised and enjoyable event put on by MS Australia, and their fantastic group of staff and volunteer workers are due full credit. Tour De MS will ride again, our numbers will swell, and we hope to improve next year on our already impressive total of $12500 to date in 2012.

Thanks once again to all our sponsors who will make a real difference to the lives of the many people who suffer from MS.

Thank you to the following business sponsors Ensign Laboratories, Coster Galgut and Enrik Corporation.  We are grateful for your donations.  Click on the image to learn more about our sponsors.

Just think, one day your company could have its name emblazoned across the tarp on our official team Semi-Trailer when we hit the big time and take on the Tour De France, Giro D'Italia.....

Thought I'd say a few words and take a moment of time,

With a thank you by way of this funky rhyme.

Your kind donations and well wishes we truly appreciate,

Of that there can be no debate.

We're all contributing together for a worthy cause,

And MS Australia certainly deserves our applause.

Our team is fully focused and thoroughly prepared,

Of the big bad bridge we are not at all scared.

We'll ride like the wind and as fast as a gazelle,

Tearing up the course and giving it hell.

One final sentence before I depart,

Tour De MS says thank you from the bottom of the heart.

Today will go down in the annals of sporting history as a truly defining moment for the Tour De MS team, the day we 'went the distance' and proved beyond any doubt that we could reach the holy grail on Sunday the 25th - the ice bucket waiting at Princes Park at about 10.30am. It was D-Day for the team..... Don't Dream it, Do it. Don't stop, Drive onwards and upwards, Destiny awaits, Dare to believe, Defeat is not an option. The cliches can be poured out in a motivational stream of team encouragement, like a 3/4 time coaches address at the Grand Final. Yet it was not required for the team members who again boldly took to the bike tracks without fear, focussed on their task and oblivious to the words of encouragement from home base (like 'make sure you're back by about 11.30 to cook the BBQ')

Paul, Matthew, Andrew, Chris, Iain and Sophie took on the challenging Eastlink trail once again, but this time pushing the limits of their endurance in aiming for a round trip past Dandenong. To be brutally honest this was totally Paul's decision, as he was confident we would arrive in time for Sexyland on Cheltenham Road to open their doors so he could pick up his online purchases and pay cash to avoid detection. The squad made light work of the undulating pathway, a mockery of the steeper sections and possibly broke land speed records on some downhill legs (some being faster than others due to the basic physics of mass and gravity). A special commendation must go out to Sophie, who has now permanently quashed any lingering doubts about her recovery from the ankle injury by taking lead of the pack at stages and pushing us on to glory.

The elite training program undertaken thus far was definitely working, as we barely realised how far south we had actually travelled with consumate ease. At the 23km mark we paused for a team consultation and by precise calculation and careful planning we determined that if we turned around we would stand every chance of completing a 46km total ride. The return leg was a blur, and we duly arrived back at Mitcham in even time and with 46.1km on the odometers. There was however some talk of overtraining, considering we had surpassed the official ride distance by 100 metres.

Nilda, Anne and Teresa had once again prepared a brilliant post-session refuelling meal, which the energy-sapped riders devoured with gusto. The youthful trident of Lucas, Alessia and Sienna were again on hand to provide the sideshow entertainment for the team, and no doubt dreaming of one day emulating the mighty cycling feats of their illustrious parents. Their time will come.

Thanks again to everyone involved for taking part in the day. A few special mentions to the team leader Dianna, Stuart and Darren who were unable to make the final training session today but have got the experience and intestinal fortitude to make the cut on the big day.

This morning saw the first official training session for Iain and Sophie with the Tour De MS team, injecting a further shot of cycling experience to an already star studded assembly of talent-laden cyclists. Together with Paul, Matthew, Dianna, Andrew, Darren and Chris they projected a formidable and awe inspiring image for the cameras in the glistening morning sunlight.

Leaving the assembly point at Mitcham after the customary pre-ride tactical discussions, Paul directed the group city-bound onto the Koonung Trail. Like a herd of gazelles the team was making short work of the steep inclines and coasting gracefully down the gentle declines, cutting a swathe through the coridoor of parkland adjoining the Eastern Freeway. Sophie's first true road test on her recently broken ankle recieved an instant A+ grading from her colleagues, who drew inspiration from her drive and determination. Zig zagging though the Sunday traffic which was taking a more leisurely trip along the trail, the well oiled Tour De MS machine whizzed by the greenery and scenery in a blur, solely focused on the task at hand.

About 17 kilometres into the trip and approaching the city outskirts, the squad paused for a tactical reshuffle and redirected to base camp. There were whispers circulating the group that the ride was being cut short due a BBQ rumoured to be waiting upon completion of the session. However in reality the decision was of a far more professional nature, due to Dianna having to comply with a social engagement for lunch. The group quietly assumed it to be a corporate sponsors function, recognised and being part and parcel of the modern athlete's existence.

Along the return leg, Chris forged well ahead of the pack in what was assumed to be a planned component of his detailed training regime. Some time later he rejoined the group and instead voiced his extreme discontent with the complexity of the automated public toilet system, having failed for some time to gain entry into the cubicle via the electronic control panel. In another disturbing episode, the brother and sister team of Matthew and Dianna were riding side by side at a leisurely pace (part of the warm down and recovery phase) when they passed a couple walking a dog. The 'gentleman' paused and fired off some obscenities due to the riders taking up an extra few centimetres of his precious path allotment and forcing his dog to walk on the grass. Matthew stopped and, quite out of character, returned a rapid fire volley of retalliation in his direction which drew no further response. We are however most pleased to report that the dog appeared to survive it's temporary contact with the grass and will hopefully not retain any phobia of this foreign and pet-unfriendly substance.

There were thankfully no further dramas leading into their arrival back at Mitcham. After some liquid refreshments and intake of energy replacement food (chocolate biscuits), the team members freshened up for their official in-house luncheon. The self imposed media blackout for the fortnight leading up to the event was in effect, and a sumptuous BBQ and salad meal was thoroughly enjoyed by the squad in protected surroundings at an undisclosed location. The younger generation of cyclists would like to take this opportunity to thank Paul for his culinary skills on the hotplate, and Nilda for her selection of salads and other side dishes which were carefully selected to enure a balanced nutritional intake. A unanious decision was made to allow the consumption of a celbratory beer or two over lunch, due to the group's advanced performances at training placing it well ahead of schedule.

On a final note, on behalf of Tour De MS I would like to pass on our very best wishes to Teresa, who has unfortunately had to make a return to hospital this weekend for treatment. This further places the bike riding event into perspective, and we encourage even more people to contribute to the fundraiser. MS Australia provide a truly incredible service to Teresa and so many other people with MS. The quality and extent of their support cannot be fully appreciated by those who aren't directly impacted by this disease, and cannot be done justice by way of explanation.

Just back in from a 45 minute ride covering 16kms around the local streets. Inflated the tyres to 65psi using my new fancy pants pump with inbuilt pressure gauge....... very professional. Makes a fair difference and gives a smoother ride with less resistance, once I get some momentum up it's a bit like an express freight train. Luckily I can place my utmost belief and total trust in a few tiny rubber pads connected to some thin wire cables to stop me!

The crack Tour De MS cycling squad saw Chris Smith and Darren Bortolus front up for their first official group training session, departing Rowville at 8.30am for the picturesque Ferny Creek trail. The weather had cleared enough to give sufficient hope that the only soaking recieved for the day would be the spray of champagne upon our victorious return.

The group set course for Upper Ferntree Gully station and quickly settled into a brisk tempo of chatter and storytelling, whilst occasionally remembering to push the pedals. Eventually we cleared the bushland and found ourselves at Burwood Highway, where the lack of clear signage put a temporary halt to proceedings. Fortunately an 80 year old lady awaiting the bus took notice of our disorientation and kindly provided directions on how to reach the trail to Boronia over the road. As can only be expected of 5 males who are well accustomed to listening yet failing to apply any instructions from females, these minor details were forgotten within 10 seconds of crossing the road. Tour De MS took the high road rather than the low road and soon found themselves with a pictureque view of the foothills from a new housing estate along the old quarry site, including a clear sightline of the bike path down below next to the train line. However the innate male sense of direction allowed us to navigate back onto course just over the hill, without the use of voice guided GPS or an upside down Melways.

After negotiating the track around Boronia Station and pausing for a near-career ending knee spasm to the author, we eventually linked up to the Dandenong Creek Trail and started clicking through the upper gear range in our quest to reach Eastlink. Along the way we observed numerous young folk cleaning rubbish and debris from the banks of the creek and were a little hasty in forming the opinion that these were the local JD's (juvenile delinquents) on community service. It was subsequently confirmed that they were actually the more upstanding members of the local shire participating in 'Clean Up Australia Day', and Andrew was so deeply inspired that he dismounted to discretely apply a biodegradable poison spray to a blackberry bush.

The Eastlink Trail was then set upon for the home leg of the journey, and unfortunately two of our riders were restrained by what can only be presumed to be small punctures from the gruelling adventure, and only within a few kilometres of the finish line. The bike pump breathed new life into their tyres and these elite sportsmen managed to gently coax their machines into completing the journey without further drama. The 35km round trip was complete, and the waiting papparazzi captured some inspirational images of the team in one of their finest moments.

Please note that the attached image is copyright and remains the property of Tour De MS. Any unlawful editing of this picture, such as transposing the heads of lesser athletes such as yourself onto our bodies, is strictly prohibited and quite honestly disrespectful. Certified autographed copies of this photo are available for purchase through Teresa for a negotiable fee. Or alternately by making a donation and requesting a free copy.

Just back in from a quick 35 minute whip around the winding streets of Rowville. Took Julia through the higher gear range for a fair while too and gave her a decent workout. Odometer reckons I did just under 13kms, averaging 22km/h, which seemed OK considering there was some fairly windy conditions (weather-wise) and not too much in terms of aerodynamics on offer from the rider. Arrived home to find both kids, wife and even the dog sleeping soundly which was even better.

Thanks to everyone for their support and contributions so far. Julia will be pimped up this weekend for a funky photo shoot so stay tuned for some before and after makeover pics.

The Tour De MS troupe assembled at Mitcham on Sunday 26th February for an 8.30am departure into the dense wilderness of the Mullum Mullum Creek. Last weeks numbers had increased by an impressive 25% with the addition of Stuart boosting the riding group from 4 to 5. We set off at a cracking speed along the meandering course and eventually broke free of the bushland, heading southbound via the Eastlink Trail. A last minute request from Andrew for a change of direction was unanimously upheld and we found ourselves turn eastwards and commence cycling alongside the creek through Heathmont and Bayswater.

The lead changed hands repeatedly as the group jostled for pole position, amongst a throng of other elite athletes sharing the track on both bike and foot. This effectively dragged the team onwards at a scorching pace, and in fact some of the group were heard to be talking about the searing and blistering nature of the ride along with mention of the word Vaseline.

Upon reaching the end of the trail we realised that we were within the vicinity of Andrew's house and duly requested a drive by for liquid refreshments (cold beer), only to be met with the premeditated and lame excuse of 'sorry my keys are at Mitcham'. At this point the other 4 members of the party cottoned on that we had been drawn into a well laid trap which was designed to test our mental strength and will power under the oppressive heat of the morning sun. The disoriented, disappointed, dejected and dazed foursome eventually gave up all hope of liquid sustinence and followed Andrew back towards Mitcham.

Finally arriving back at base the team was greeted with a raucous round of applause from Melissa and Ryan, whereas Sienna rightfully decided to sleep through the non-event of our return. Mum and Anne went about their duties in preparing lunch and managed to conceal their joy and amazement at our safe return.

Highlight of the trip was Dad's fabulous work of engineering art in gaffer taping his camera mounting bracket to the handle bars. We are sure there are other discrete photos of the sights taken in along the ride, aside from those aired on the teams home page for public viewing. This will be confirmed if the camera remains in it's position for the next training ride taken by the older generation in the group (Dad and Keith), two people with a well trained and keen eye for the abundant birdlife that inhabits these trails.

Due to everyone's incredible generosity and support, I'm once again increasing my fundraising goal, this time up from $3000 to $5000. More than happy to go even higher again if need be!!! Thankfully the course distance is not increased proportionally to this amount or I'd be in some serious trouble!

Thanks again to everyone who has donated and/or offered their encouragement to the team.

An 8.30am rendezvous at Jells Park saw 4 members out of the 5 from the Dalle Nogare family saddle up for an assault on the picturesque Eastlink bike trail. Dad, Andrew, Dianna and myself were keen to kick off some serious training. The missing person (mum) may well consider herself most fortunate to be part of the off-road support staff and not on the bike team, because she may well have been somewhat concerned with what she would have seen today on the ride.... we'll get to that later.

The day before I'd had my vintage ride serviced and upgraded to some slick low profile tyres, which replaced the grippy mountain bike tyres in the hope of gaining as much improvement in efficiency and performance as possible (every bit will count).  

After some initial confusion as to exactly how we reached the Eastlink trail from the carpark, we eventually found ourselves making some steady progress southbound along some meandering paths with a few reasonable inclines and declines along the way to make things interesting. The younger generation found themselves trying to educate their father on the finer art of road awareness and directional sense on a number of occasions to no avail. However, we did manage to steer the group in the right direction and had some laughs along the way. Aside from the usual bike riders, walkers and joggers, the highlight proved to be the scruffy dog sitting on a board mounted to the front of his masters bikeframe, casually taking in the sights with the wind blowing his tousled hair back. Our ethnically trained peripheral vision detected a number of fruit trees overhanging fences along the edges of the trail, as well as examples where homeowners had evidently run out of fertile land on their own property so started growing produce over the back fence. Mental note... take the backpack next time for a fresh supply of figs, citrus, pears and even olives.

Further along we crossed Cheltenham Road and realised one of the group had again fallen off the pace. The siblings were ready to lambast their father for another episode of directional dysfunction. However he'd spotted the seedy lights of the local 'Sexyland' shop and had ventured off course to check out their latest window models. Eventually we convinced him that the suits on display, whilst sheer and figure hugging, were not appropriate for bike riding. We wanted drag resistance, not drag enhancements. By the way, this was definitely not a 'plug' for this establishment, and has nothing at all to do with the $100 voucher dad pocketed. Thank goodness mum didn't bear direct witness to this, but still may suffer the pain of the photo evidence.

Eventually we reached the end of the paved trail at Browns Road and decided to head back to base. As per usual the return trip seemed quick, and after just over 2 hours and approximately 36kms later we arrived back at the car park. Someone suffered the added stress and energy sapping discomfort of a partially flat rear tyre during the return leg, which may be due to the prolonged punishment of bearing a significant load or possibly even a slow leak. To be determined.

Thanks to you all for a great ride, definitely need to repeat this trip a few times before the big event and definitely continue the tradition thereafter. Hopefully we'll have a few more of the other team members available to join in next time round.

The bike has officially been named Julia (Gillard), based upon expert opinion - thanks Cherie, excellent choice. She will hopefully share the same trait of being thoroughly capable of taking people for a long ride. The name also rolls off the tongue short and sharp, just like my breath will be as I curse on the day. Some mod cons including a gel seat pad, lights and an odometer have been retrofitted for Julia's maiden voyage this century and she's looking keen to go. In fact once the kids decide to finally give up and go to sleep tonight we'll be sneaking out under the safety of darkness for a fang around the local streets.... or then again maybe just street.

A BIG thank you to everyone between family, workmates and friends and who have offered support through donating or their encouragement be it polite or openly sarcastic. Teresa and I are pretty much overwhelmed.

If the CFA reports another small spot fire in the Rowville area tonight please relax, it's just a false alarm. Severe chafing and synthetic garments are a dangerous combination.

Just under 6 weeks to go and it has been amazing to see the support already shown for Teresa and all others out there with MS via this event. Thank you to everyone who has become involved directly or indirectly. So, the trusty old bike has been recovered from the 'obsolete equipment' section in the shed, and was transferred to the garage. The bike still hasn't seen the road, or even daylight, just yet but I don't want to spook it after so many years of deep sleep hibernation. It's probably still blinded by the dust anyway.

My preparation now needs to shift from mental (yeah I reckon I can ride 46km no problem) to physical (umm, that's like riding from home in Rowville to the city and then half way back so I'd better start training). The bike is going to receive a rude awakening this week when I familiarise myself with the local bike tracks and see if the frame welds, wheels, gears and braking capacity can withstand the severe punishment.

Being a forgotten child of the 90's, the bike is looking a little out of touch with current road trends and screams out for some accessorising. I've got a few plans for some modifications and will shortly post some photos entitled ‘Pimp My Bike'. Some of these mods may however fail to make the final cut for race day due to legaility issues. The bike also needs a name so that I can hurl some personal abuse at it whilst negotiating the climb up the Westgate bridge, so I'm open to any suggestions.

I also need to consider my strategic plan for the race. No doubt my dad, brother and sister will choose to utilise my superior bulk and ride close in behind me to maximise the slipstream effect and gain efficiencies that way. Our friends in the riding group will no doubt cotton on too. Therefore, if I am seen to be struggling at the back of the pack it is just a ploy to conserve energy and avoid being used to drag the entire team to glory.

Anyway, on a serious note I'm really looking forward to doing this as a small measure of my support for Teresa and all others with MS. Once again thanks to everyone else who is offering their support. Also, I have purchased the official race T-shirt and therefore can assure everyone I will refrain from wearing lycra or other form of sheer body hugging material.