Thunderbolts Adventure Ride: A 10-Year-Old’s Odyssey (Video)

We recently received this short video from Ben in Australia, a proud dad who completed an “extraordinary and little-known loop through the Barrington Tops region of New South Wales, Australia,” with his 10-year-old son, Oliver, in October. Their mostly gravel ride traversed some of the tallest mountains on the mainland, spanning 220 kilometers with more than 5,000 meters of climbing. It was a physically demanding trip for everyone involved, especially young Oliver, who completed it almost entirely under his own power, except on the longest climbs, where his dad helped pull him along with a bungee cord.

Looking back on the trip, Ben added, “As a parent, I’m always aware of that fine balance between encouraging kids to embrace discomfort and pushing them so far that they’ll just say NO to the next adventure. Additionally, friendship was a big part of this trip, especially after I suffered a severe case of food poisoning on the second night. As a group, we had to work out how we were going to finish the trip with a 10-year-old and his physically exhausted father. It was a logistical challenge that nobody was expecting, but we got there.” You can watch the full video below:

The group roughly followed the Thunderbolts Adventure Ride, which you can learn more about here.

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