RECREATING a historic ride his mother Janice completed from Mount Gambier to Horsham in 1967, avid cylcist James Collins recently set out on the journey to relive the adventure half a century later.
James started the ride at the Mount Gambier Girl Guides building on October 20, which was the same spot Janice began her journey as part of her Duke of Edinburgh Award 50 years ago.
“There were four 16 year old girls and two of us were girl guides, so we planned the journey and went through what the Duke of Edinburgh Award required us to do,” Janice said.
“We decided to catch the train from Adelaide to Mount Gambier and then ride through the Grampians to Horsham.”
When James heard about his mother’s adventure, he was keen to help her rediscover the memories by completing a similar journey.
“I am a keen cyclist and as soon as I heard the story of mum doing this, I thought ‘wow, that’s such an inspiring adventure’,” James said.
“I have never done much bike touring, I do short racing and mountain biking, but it came to the 50th anniversary of her ride and I thought ‘this is something I could do’.”
With her trusty logbook that detailed her first journey, Janice and her husband followed James to experience the adventure.
“We met so many people along the way,” Janice said.
“First in Dartmoor we visited the historical building to talk about what has changed since I did the ride.
“They were so intrigued and we even had another avid cyclist from the town join James for the ride through to Digby.”
Next stop was a farm in Rifle Downs, the same property where Janice camped out 50 years ago.
“It was amazing, we met the owner of the farm, who was a four year old girl at the property when Mum rode through,” James said.
“They invited us in for coffee and she told us how she could remember Mum and her friends camping out on their property all those years ago.”
The first day ended in Hamilton, before James was back on the bike and riding through the Grampians the following afternoon.
Janice said it gave her a buzz to see her son enjoying the beautiful landscape of Western Victoria.
“The look on his face riding through the mountains was just great to see, I could tell he was in awe,” Janice said.
After spending some time in Halls Gap, James rode into Horsham with his mother by his side on the fourth day, finishing the journey at the train station like she did 50 years ago.
“We rode into Horsham at around 9.30am and I threw my hands in the air as we crossed the imaginary finish line,” James said.
“The best part about the whole journey was seeing Mum so excited about it.”
While mainly supporting James in a following vehicle, Janice was able re-create some of the ride herself.
“I rode to the border, out of the Grampians and then the last 10km into Horsham,” she said.
“I wanted to get back on the bike and experience doing some of the major parts of the trip.”
James said it gave him great satisfaction that he was able to complete the journey and allow his mother to relive some fond memories.
“It was a great ride, definitely challenging at times,” James said.
“Knowing Mum had ridden through those roads as a 16 year old girl with not nearly as advanced equipment as I had is quite remarkable.”
While the 50 year anniversary ride is now complete, there is a chance the historical journey may now become a tradition.
“I have two young boys who are pretty enthusiastic about riding, so if they wanted to do the ride in 50 years time, I would definitely encourage them,” James said.
