‘Life’s precious; you’ve got to make the most of opportunities’

One man. Two pedals. Three wheels. The four most extreme points of Australia. 9,000km of tarmac, sand and gravel. And a hell of a lot of determination.

That one man is Tommy Quick, 29, who has set himself the epic challenge of riding to the furthest reaches of the continent to promote social inclusion and raise awareness of stroke in young people.

And while it is a mammoth journey, it’s not the biggest challenge he has faced in his lifetime.

When Tommy was just 12 years old, his life changed forever in the space of just 15 minutes.

After waking up one morning with a headache, he decided to tell his parents, who gave him some Aspirin. He laid back down in bed, and a few minutes later Tommy was unconscious. He had suffered a stroke.

“I was put into an induced coma. I woke up five weeks and two days later, no idea where I was, or what had happened to me,” Tommy recalls.

“When I woke up, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t move my legs, my arms, couldn’t lift my head up, I had to have a nasal tube to feed me. They said the most affected part of my brain was my speech and I was pretty determined to get that back. I loved to talk. I still do.”

He spent almost five months in hospital where he had to relearn everything.

Aside from his speech, the stroke affected Tommy’s right side, and some of his vision. Walking is still a challenge, but that hasn’t stopped him from dreaming big; in 2014 he finished the Kokoda trail.

A NEW CHALLENGE

Tommy first got on a recumbent trike in 2017.

Due to poor vision in his right eye and some negative experiences on the road while learning to drive, he decided driving wasn’t for him. There was relatively good public transport in Melbourne where he lives, and Uber was relatively priced, so he figured he didn’t need to rely on a car.

“I looked for other modes of transport and my recreational therapist suggested a recumbent trike. I gave it a go and loved it. In late 2018, I managed to get my hands on one through funding. But I had no aspirations: I just used it to get to Uni mostly, except for rainy days.”

The trike gave him a sense of freedom and independence, which he says eventually led to the idea for the 4 Points ride.

“One day I rode over to a mate’s place in Yarraville (from Ascot Vale) to grab a coffee. We were talking about aspirations and motivations. I reflected back on Kokoda. He looked at me, looked at the trike and looked back at me and said ‘Why don’t you ride around Australia?’,” Tommy recalled.

“If I didn’t do that on that particular day who knows where I would be at and what I’d be doing.”

BUMPY ROAD AHEAD

Tommy is now gearing up to tackle the next leg of his 4 Points journey from Melbourne to Cape Byron, and then on to Cape York.

He has already ridden more than 4,000kms, but it has been far from smooth sailing.

Planning started in 2020, so there were initial delays due to Covid lockdowns and border restrictions.

The ride officially started in August 2021, with Tommy first tackling the rugged and sandy Steep Point in Western Australia.

He quickly found an even tempo on the trike and life on the road, supported mostly by his parents in a car that followed behind him.

“We would go from town to town, giving talks at schools,” he said.

“I was getting into a rhythm. To start I was doing about 50km a day, then across the Nullarbor I was probably covering about 80km, and the longest day was 117kms.”

But just a few months later in November, Tommy suffered serious injuries when he was hit by a car while travelling on the Stuart Highway in South Australia .

“It was meant to be a 22km ride on the Stuart Highway. I was feeling pretty confident. The day before I had the first rider join me for 58km. We were chatting, and it was good,” Tommy said.

“We get on the Stuart Highway and 20 minutes later I heard the screech of the tyres, and next thing I knew I got hit. I blacked out for 20 seconds. Next thing I knew I was lying on ground.

“I could hear people and commotion everywhere. I was choppered to Royal Adelaide Hospital.”

His list of injuries was long: hairline fracture in the femur, shattered and displaced pelvis, fractured sacrum, and a number of fractured vertebrae.

GETTING BACK ON THE TRIKE

The accident was a major setback. It rattled Tommy’s confidence riding on the road, and he was unsure if he wanted to continue with the journey.

“I am never riding on a major highway again,” he said.

It wasn’t until he took part in the Great Victorian Bike Ride almost a year later that he began to rebuild his confidence on the bike and road.

“That gave me the belief that I can do it,” he said.

Three days after finishing the Great Victorian Bike Ride, Tommy restarted the 4 Points journey and set off from Melbourne to Wilson’s Promontory.

“I’m still recovering. It’s interesting, I think my gait is actually better now than it was before. However, I just walk so slow. Before I could run for 1km. To be honest I’ll be lucky to run again.”

THOUSANDS OF KILOMETRES OF ‘SOLITUDE’

The ride isn’t just physically demanding; it is a mental challenge too – often it’s just Tommy, his trike and his own thoughts.

“Yes, you’ve got podcasts, you’ve got music, you zone in and out. But a lot of it is solitude. Some people say solitude is where you create ideas. There are always pros and cons. At the same time you are alone, or you hear the two-way radio say, ‘Truck, truck truck’.”

One of his goals on the next part of his journey is to promote social inclusion, and Tommy is encouraging people to join him for part of the ride.

“I have two goals that I want to raise: To raise awareness of young stroke. I think life’s precious and you’ve got to really make the most of opportunities,” he says.

“And the other is promote social inclusion. I want to try to get people to ride with me. However far they want. If you want, you can do 50km or a few days.”

Tommy will hit the road again on March 24 and aims to be in Byron Bay by mid-May, before heading up to Cape York. He will then return to near where he was hit by a car about 60km from Adelaide, to complete that leg of the journey to Melbourne.

To follow Tommy’s journey, donate to the Stroke Foundation, or join him for part of the ride head 4 Points Australia