Desert star rises

By Casey Neill
A TRAGIC death inspired Glenda Wise to pedal 3000 kilometres across the Nullarbor to raise cash for kids.
The Warby Ghost Rider survived a close encounter with three road trains, tackled head winds and hills and rode about 120km each day to do her bit for Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital and the Starlight Foundation.
Ms Wise’s brother Steven and his workmate fell 26 storeys to their death on the Gold Coast two years ago when the scaffold they were working on gave way.
“I thought ‘Steven was killed at age 52, why don’t I do this?’,” Ms Wise said.
“You’ve got to live life to the max.”
The Belgrave Heights woman finished the ride in Shepparton on 21 June – the second anniversary of Steven’s death. It was an emotional end to her six-week journey.
“I got off the bike and I looked into the sky and there was just this one massive star,” she said.
“The whole thing was a wonderful experience of freedom.”
Ms Wise’s support crew was 91-year-old family friend Frank Hands in a 1959 Mercedes Benz butcher’s truck.
Mr Hands drove her from Melbourne to Port Augusta.
She then rode in stages to Kalgoorlie before returning to Port Augusta and riding to Shepparton, spending up to 10 hours on the bike each day “depending on hills, headwinds and available light”.
Road train and tanker drivers mostly gave her a very wide berth, but she had one close encounter.
Ms Wise kept an ear out for vehicles during her ride, but on one occasion found herself in a dip with a road train coming towards her as two approached from behind.
She slammed on her brakes and nearly toppled from her bike as the drivers took evasive action.
“Because I was on a racing bike which has slick tyres I couldn’t leave the bitumen,” she said.
“I don’t know how he didn’t mince me. I had jelly legs for a few days.”
Ms Wise’s longest ride day was 132kms from Cunderdin to Burracoppin.
Her approach to the gruelling trek was unconventional but effective. “I did no stretches at any time and my end of day recovery was a protein milk shake and a couple of glasses of red wine before dinner,” she said. “I felt so fit of a morning. I never felt one scrap of fatigue.”
Ms Wise said the days were warm and sunny but night temperatures often dropped below zero.
“The coldest was minus 4.6 degrees in Kimba when I had to crack the ice off my bike cover the next morning.”
Ms Wise is now a biking regular but just four years ago she didn’t even know how.
“I was never taught as a child,” she said.
She signed up for a Warby Ghost Riders 600km ride through China on a whim.
“Then I bought a bike… then I learnt how to ride,” she said.
“It became quite addictive.”
From this trip she’s so far raised just over $700.
Readers can visit www.everydayhero .com.au/glenda_wise to donate to Ms Wise’s Royal Children’s Hospital fundraiser, or www.everydayhero.com.au/glenda_wise_2 to aid the Starlight Foundation.