By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
IT was a long and lonely trek, but at the end of Aaron Petersen’s 960-kilometre charity bike ride was a mob of well-wishers in Noble Park.
Mr Petersen, who rode solo without an entourage for much of five days from Adelaide to Melbourne this month (via the Queenscliff-Sorrento ferry), raised more than $3000 for the community cafe initiative, Cafe Salvo.
The windfall will cover the Buckley Street cafe’s free community lunches for a year, freeing money to invest in quality kitchen equipment, serving areas and a vegetable garden in its backyard.
‘‘We want to make it a place that is not just a soup kitchen but a place where people feel they’re treated in a special way,’’ he said.
The avid cyclist was also honouring the legacy of his grandfather Dick Guy, a 50-year Salvos volunteer who rode from Adelaide to Melbourne with mates in two weeks in the 1940s.
Sporting a sore backside and legs, Mr Petersen rode up to 240 kilometres a day, much of it on long straight roads with only the occasional town to break the monotony.
At the end of long days in the saddle, he often pedalled on at night to stay on schedule.
‘‘When I started out, I thought it would be more fun than it was. It stopped being fun really quickly.’’
Three things kept his spirits up during the ordeal: that at the end of each leg, he could stop, get food and get a shower.
His spirits were boosted by up to 40 riders forming a cycling pack with him for the final stages on the Mornington Peninsula, crossing the finish at Noble Park on April 11.
Mr Petersen was humbled by the show of support by riders and the ecstatic crowd greeting him in Buckley Street. ‘‘It shows what people were prepared to put behind the cause,’’ he said.
Mr Petersen, who with wife Laura has volunteered at Noble Park Salvos for seven years, said the cafe was a welcoming place.
‘‘For many of us, we’ve got a home and work to go to and there’s a sports team or social club as an extra interest. But if you’re unemployed or have a mental illness it’s difficult to access those things.’’
Having never done such a bike trek before, Mr Petersen is content to now limit himself to the short ride to work at Carwatha College.
‘‘I’m sitting home at night looking at the clock. I think at this time last week I was still riding a 200-kilometre stretch. It makes me feel I’ve achieved something.’’
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