THE road to enlightenment is not for the faint-hearted.

Posted: 08 Dec 08 | IN bike riding, as in life, I have learnt it’s best to carry your own tools. |

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The world needs a little madness

Posted: 05 Dec 08 | IN a youth hostel in Halls Gap a German cyclist showed me how to dry my socks in the microwave. “You just need two and a half minutes on medium high,” he said. “They come out nice and toasty, yah.” |

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Opportunity goes begging

Posted: 04 Dec 08 | IN this hard-hit community recovering from the bushfires of two years ago and still feeling the effects of high fuel prices, the single biggest economic opportunity of the year was dampened. |

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The old and unstoppable

Posted: 03 Dec 08 | THE real stars of the Great Victorian Bike Ride are the old folks, the people aged 70-plus. The ride is full of them, nuggetty men and women quietly peddling into the wind and occasional rain, ploughing slowly up hills, seemingly unstoppable, giving hope to us all. |

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Hunting down a clown with a horn

Posted: 02 Dec 08 | SO it happened today. I entered the grumpy zone. About an hour out of Mortlake as the wind lifted, I began to feel decidedly bad tempered. And here’s why. |

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Advice from the seat of wisdom

Posted: 01 Dec 08 | BY the time I emerged into the cold of a Cobden morning, I felt like a 178cm tall suppository. |

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Mr Markson said it was downhill all the way ...

Posted: 01 Dec 08 | WE'RE off. A long line of cyclists winds it way out through the outskirts of Ballarat. The mood is upbeat and cheery. “Hey, there’s Moneghetti,” shouts a schoolboy, and the crowd turns as one. |

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Style wars: attack of the lycra

Posted: 28 Nov 08 | I have a confession. I'm allergic to lycra. |

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THE Courier journalist Brendan Gullifer is deserting his desk, donning some lycra and saddling up for the Great Victorian Bike Ride. Follow his adventures over nine days and 597km as he pedals his way through western Victoria