One of them spent the night in hospital, another hit the bitumen at 50 kilometres an hour, and all were left a little shaken by the hair-raising ride down the narrow Golden Highway with semi-trailers thundering past.
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But all of the challenges they'd faced along the way were forgotten when the group of cyclists who left Orange last Tuesday on the Spinning for Spinal Support charity ride to Newcastle reached their destination.
"We were expecting around 20 people to greet us when we arrived," said rider and Orange physiotherapist Harry Fardell, "instead there was about 400 clapping us in."
"There were lots of tears to go with the pressure sores we'd all developed."
Riding to support their friend Katherine Swain, who sustained a serious spinal injury last year, the cyclists were accompanied on the final 15km by quadriplegic Newcastle man, Gus McConnel, on his modified bike.
That evening the group attended a black tie event hosted by comedian Hamish Blake, a fundraiser for the spinal injury support group Stronger Together set up by Mrs Swain that was held in conjunction with the ride.
Mr Fardell said the five-day ride that included a group of eight cyclists from Orange, plus a group from Newcastle, was harder than anyone expected. One of the Newcastle riders spent a night in hospital with rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown), another ripped the skin off his backside when he came off on a corner at high speed and another ended up with gastro.
They also made a "pretty silly" decision to take the Hunter Expressway instead of riding through Cessnock and Kurri Kurri on the final day, Mr Fardell said.
"There was a lot of debris on the side of the expressway. We popped seven tyres over one 30km stretch - in the rain."
Despite the difficulties, Mr Fardell said it was an experience that would bond them forever.
"I could not be more proud of our Orange crew. The sacrifices that they all took to do this both physically and emotionally have been huge."
However it also came with a touch of guilt, he said.
"We gained so much out of this journey, but it took a spinal cord injury to our beautiful friend for it to happen."
The ride raised $106,000 for Stronger Together. The money will be used to help pay for a vehicle to transport people with spinal injuries to appointments at no charge.
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