When Anthony Loone was designing the routes for the Pedal Cure 4 FightMND, he wanted to make sure the riders - mostly from the mainland - got to see the best of Tasmania.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And after a gruelling 120-kilometre fifth day of riding where the tour went from Bridport to St Helens, the response was exactly what he wanted.
"I had one of the riders from one of the groups say to me, 'I hate you Looney, but that's the best thing I've ever done," Loone said.
Cycling 634km from the North-West Coast, through Launceston, Exeter and Bridport, before finishing with a ride from St Helens to Swansea, 125 riders and 15 support crew finished the epic journey on Monday afternoon.
"They're all pretty wowed by Tasmania and suddenly people were talking about coming back and doing some riding again," Loone said.
"We've been lucky with the weather to be able to really showcase what we've got to offer here."
But perhaps the biggest highlight for the group and certainly for Loone was the route through Deloraine on the way to Launceston, in which they stopped at Deloraine Football Club's ground and were given lunch.
Loone is Terry Roles' nephew, a hall of fame racehorse trainer who lost his battle with motor neurone disease in 2021, and the man who has inspired 'Terry's shed', which is based out at the Roos' ground, and 'Terry's match', which is an annual Freeze MND event held before a Deloraine game.
"My intention with the route design was to pay homage to that a little bit. We went through Deloraine because they really do relate to the unfortunate experience of people living and eventually passing away with MND," he said.
Explaining that every club which have helped them along the way - including Devonport, Bridport and East Coast - had been exceptional in their generosity, he said the community spirit shown had helped the tour nearly double their expected fundraising target of $350,000.
"Post COVID we thought Tasmania might be a little bit harder to generate the same sort of funds, but now the realistic goal is in excess of $700,000, I think the last I heard it was at about [$650,000] and there's lots more still to come in," he said.
"That's an amazing amount of fundraising and it goes a long way to making a real difference."
A difference which seems to be having an impact, with Loone explaining that the Menzies Institute in Hobart are about to enter clinical trials for a nasal spray to treat the disease.
Hearing positive news like this has had an indelible impact on the cyclists, with almost all of them impacted by the disease in some way.
"We've all got that little connection in some way or another and we all share that dream that they'll one day soon find a treatment and a cure for it," Loone said.
If you would like to support the cause, head to the PC4MND website where you can donate to specific cyclists or to the tour itself.