By Noel Murphy
MOUNTAIN bike cyclist extraordinaire Ben Henzgen has returned to Geelong after a record-setting round-Australia ride.
Henzgen’s 61-day ride, from April 7 to June 7 saw him travel a total 14,134km averaging 230km a day on just five and a half hours sleep a night on rough ground, rest stops, concrete slabs and public toilets.
The Newtown fitness guru loves being out of the comfort zone and his sojourn provided ample opportunity as temperatures fluctuated wildly, plummeted towards zero in the south and rising to the high 40s in the dusty outback.
He faced water shortages and had his shoes melt on his hot bike pedals as well but managed to sing songs to the skies and compose poetry while treadling the wide brown land.
He sustained 12 flat tires, five of them in the last four days, and two broken spokes and food-wise scoffed what seems pretty stodgy fare: 43 meat pies, 135 litres of milk, a handful of energy drinks and 72 iced coffees.
Back in Geelong, he headed for The Bended Elbow to catch up with mates and knock back his first beer since mid-January, declaring it “arguably the best-tasting beer in the history of mankind”.
Henzgen is no stranger to long-distance riding.
In the US, where he’s lived in recent years, he rode 57,756 km in several treks across the country and its wide open spaces and deserts. He crossed the Rockies “a few times”, the Mojave Desert in 44 degree temperatures, Minnesota in mid-40s with a heat factor in the mid-50s while en route to California – via Texas.
A jazz musician, a bass player, with an applied science degree in firefighting, Geelong-born and bred Henzgen’s background is interesting to say the least.
He took off to the US four years ago, planning to stay a month. That become four years and nine months.
During that time he earned his degree, financed by a music scholarship, wrote off his cousin’s car, became a collegiate athlete, embellished his hide with 23 tattoos, played in US AFL championships twice, worked with the US Navy, as a fisherman in Alaska and on a bison farm, woke in a hospital bed with his jaw wired shut after a big night out and took up mountain bike riding.
Henzgen plans to try the same trip around Australia next year – this time on a road bicycle. The trip should be appreciably swifter.
