Hell On Wheels Tour October 2007. L-R: Modanville riders Annamaria Hull, Russell Hull and Vern Janetski

The Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter is a non-profit vital community service devoted to saving people’s lives 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for free! However, in order to do this, it must do lots of fundraising. The Hell on Wheels Cycle Tour is one wonderful, exciting and yet demanding mountain bike ride you can do to help raise funds. Go as a cyclist or go as a volunteer, it’s an experience you can become addicted to.
In 2007, The Rescue Helicopter celebrated 25 years of service and the Hell Tour celebrated 10 years. With that in mind, the bike ride was 10 days long, riding along various types of terrain. We had some easier days and some hell, hot, hard, long days. Commencing at Tenterfield on tar and dirt roads as a warm-up, we then rode on Day 2 to Emmaville along hills, mostly on very rough dirt for 102km. On Day 3 we set off for Glen Innes and on Day 4 Dalmorton was our destination. After 106km along the worst rough dirt, slippery sandy roads and huge hills one could possibly go through, we finally arrived to have a much deserved beer whilst sitting in a wonderful, cold flowing river to cool off in. The bad news, that was your bath too!! After a fantastic meal prepared by the best volunteers in the world, it was a great experience by the camp fire seeing other talents the riders had before heading off to sleep in your own tent.
Day 5 was a short day of riding along dirt roads with minor hills to Nymboida. We needed to rest those weary bodies for Day 6. This was the XXX rated, extremely tough day with a massive mountain! Fortunately, it was not as killer hot as our day four was. We had a lovely breeze and a shower of rain towards the end of the long 91km day. But still we drank lots of water, enough to sink a few ships. The climb to Dorrigo seemed like it would never end, but the views took away any pain. A real bath in a spa and a huge bed rested the body perfectly. Day 7 and refreshed, we headed off for Coffs Harbour and the ride down the mountain was the best. The speed, an experience of exultation and no drugs needed! Day 8, mostly along bitumen roads, was 130km of undulating terrain to Maclean. The countryside was beautiful. On Day 9 we rode to Evans Head. Day 10, home to Lismore. We did a total of 900km.
But we didn’t just ride a bike all week only. We visited schools, hotels, fire brigades, activity centres, Clubs and so on. We sold tickets, did various types of fundraisers, auctions, collected cheques along the way from people when they would ask what we were doing and had a great time seeing and meeting new people and places. The Numboida Camp Centre generously let us on the tube rides and other activities for free! Everyone was happy to help along the way. With 42 riders and a host of volunteers, we raised over $62,000. A new record was set for the Hell Ride.
From Modanville, Vern Janetski (who has done various Hell Rides), Annamaria Hull and Russell Hull (the newcomers to the Hell Ride), would like to thank all the locals who sponsored us, gave us donations or purchased tickets to win lots of great prizes (including bikes). We are hard at training again now for this year’s October ride and hope you will be generous again. The Riders and Volunteers pay their way for the tour and we also give a minimum donation of $50 each – so be assured that all proceeds go fully to the Rescue Helicopter Service. If you see cyclists on your local rads, maybe they are in training for the ride, so vehicle drivers, please move over and give them plenty of room as the roads are really bad around here. Good training though for the real McCoy!
My grandmother, who just had her 84th birthday, was doing her daily bike riding when a truck driver drove through a stop sign and killed her just 8 days before I had to do the Hell Ride last year. So motorists, please be careful, we pay registration fees to use the roads too, so share with us when riding our bikes and not in our cars. Unfortunately, no rescue service could save my grandmother, but your donation could help others as there are many possibilities when a helicopter, medical and rescue personnel are needed, such as a heart attack victim who may need urgent surgery in Brisbane or Sydney. So on that hard final note, if you even have only a coin to spare, it all adds up and it would be most appreciated. Times are tough for most of us at the moment, but this is when things always seem to go wrong. Again, please support your local rescue service.
Annamaria Hull