For many years Fran and I had taken the opportunity afforded by the Easter break to visit her parents in Cowra. We would visit the farm (past Mt Collins), do some cooking, as Fran's mother was neither keen nor gifted in culinary matters, and spend some time cycling.
During the 90s we had done some country touring on our bikes, first one day visits to towns in the area, then some multi-day tours around Cowra, Mudgee and NE Victoria. In 2000 we did the two week tour from Cowra to Rutherglen and back with three days of 'rest' in the wine region of Rutherglen - what a shame, how did we cope! Our companions were Richard Vagg and Simone Magri.
One day early in the year 2001 Fran and I were planning Easter. Cowra was again on the cards, but the idea of inviting some friends to enjoy the excellent roads and views around the district came to us as an epiphany, despite the time of year. Some years earlier we had joined Bike North so the obvious action was to invite people from BN with whom we could share the experience. Thus the Tour de Cowra was born. In that year 16 of us* had a fabulous time cycling some of the routes which are still in use at TdC. We had aimed all the rides at BN Medium grade or above because we felt everyone needed to have a good level of experience and be self sufficient (food, water, basic mechanical ability). These rides could not be run in the usual BN way.
I remember riding along on Day 4 and talking with a few of the others and noting how often I heard the phrase 'next year'. Therefore the TdC was run again the following year in a more formal way. There were discussions at the Executive committee about how it was run and how to improve it. We had 37 participants in 2002 and more than 80 in most years following. We advertised to other BUGs and some joined us.
In subsequent years the tour has developed more routes, had more than 80 participants on many occasions, included a 200km ride, and investigated almost every place in town which provides accommodation and/or serves food and drink. There were two years where we could not book any sites at the Cowra Van Park so we moved to Young for one and Forbes for the other. The TdC even has its own special landmark called Kin-Yat corner, known well to participants in the early years, esp. those who were riding with Kin-Yat at the time he managed a spectacular dismount, and a foray into the thorn ridden vegetation. Luckily his handling skills were good and he was not hurt beyond the odd scratch, though I do remember huge numbers of thorns being removed from both his tyres.
For an excellent history I can recommend reading the ChainMail articles ** written by TdC participants during the years. My favourite is Bill Tomlin's "The Catch": I remember that ride well. The key to TdC has always been camaraderie.
Others who took over the organising*** or assisted with it at various times all did a fabulous job. Now it is time for someone new to step up and take it on again. While there is a little work to do, the rewards of running a fabulous weekend of cycling for so many willing participants are tremendous. There was one year with no TdC due to Covid-19, so 2026 will be the 25th TdC!
FOOTNOTES
* list of first participants
Suzy Pentecost
Jennifer and Leon Hamilton
Doug Stewart and Stephanie Groves and their black Cannondale tandem (Max)
Paul and Vibeka Ackland
John Cogill
Joan Kerridge
Carolyn New
Kin-Yat Lo
Graeme Edwards
Simon Rock
Vicki Bell
Fran & Keith Griffin
** list of chainmail editions containing TdC articles
200106, 200206, 200306, 200406, 200506, 200703, 200811, 201105, 201205
*** TdC organisers
2001 — 2008 Fran & Keith Griffin
(2006 was Tour de Young and 2007 was Tour de Forbes)
2009 Scott Ratcliff
2010 — 2011 Fran & Keith Griffin
2012 Suzy Jackson sponsored by Darryn Capes-Davis as Suzy was not a ride leader
2013 — 2016 Matt Berry sponsored by John Kyriakopoulos as Matt was not a ride leader
2017 — 2019 Peter Green
2020 - 2025 John Williams / David Vasey
There were many helpers with other jobs such as social activities (aprés ride) and bringing equipment and food (for HQ) to Cowra - some of those were Graeme and Debbie Edwards, Donna Carrey, Anna Lane. There were others to whom I apologise for not naming you here, but you were all appreciated!
words by Keith Griffin
research by Graeme Edwards