Desert cycle

By Casey Neill
BELGRAVE Heights woman Glenda Wise is on her bike to raise cash for kids.
Ms Wise will pedal solo across the Nullarbor to do her bit for Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital and the Starlight Foundation.
She’ll ride up to 100 kilometres each day to make the 7000 kilometre return trek in about seven weeks.
The Warby Ghost Rider 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.
Ms Wise spotted a newspaper article about the Warby Ghost Riders gearing up for a 600km ride through China and signed up.
“Then I bought a bike… then I learnt how to ride,” she said.
“It became quite addictive.”
She’s now completed two China rides and a trek through Nepal.
“This year’s adventure is riding across the Nullarbor,” she said.
A 92-year-old family friend in a 1959 Mercedes Benz butcher’s truck will be her only support crew.
“That will serve as accommodation,” she said.
“The ride is the easy part. The hard part is whether I can deal with seven weeks with one person.”
Ms Wise’s fellow riders recently crowned her the Warby Ghost Riders’ Queen of the Trail.
Earning the tiara on her helmet was a proud moment for the group’s first queen. The annual honour has previously only been bestowed on a king.
“I was very overwhelmed and surprised,” she said.
“It was a very unexpected honour.”
Ms Wise hopes her desert adventure will raise more than $10,000 for charity.
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.