Tour Down Under

What an absolutely brilliant trip ! I was in the very fortunate position that my sister in law had bought plane tickets for my wife and I to be at the TDU from Thursday to Sunday. I was even more fortunate in that one of my wife's good friends lives in Adelaide and had my bookings at some awesome restaurants and even mapped out an itinerary so that the ladies didn't haven't to watch cycling all day every day and managed to visit lots of wineries and purchase too much wine (which was an issue trying to get under the weight limit flying back).

We arrived on the Thursday morning (unfortunately 2 of our group were 'bumped' from the flight and had to fly via Canberra and then to Adelaide arriving late evening). A good lesson to check in on line and get to the airport early. From the airport we quickly dropped off our gear and headed straight to Port Elliott where we were able to see some of the race just before it headed up the last KOM for the day. Due to the wind the field had splintered in to a few different groups.

Friday was the opportunity to ride the same stage as the pro's but leaving at 6am. This meant getting up at 4am to be there in time to collect the ride jersey and register. The ride itself was quite interesting and totally different to anything we experience in Queensland. It wasn't an overly tough day, however, that's easy for me to say as a recreational cyclist, it would be a totally different proposition actually racing the stage as a pro after 3 days of racing before that. The ride was 155 k and very well organised. And it was amazing to be able to ride across the same finish line etc as the pros did a few hours later.

The finish at line Angaston

After enjoying something to eat at the finish we rode back toward the Maggie Bear farm (any foodies will know who she is) to meet my wife. On the way back we were able to watch the pros come through Nurioopta (a small town) a few k from the finish. There was a small group away but Rabobank were on the front smashing it out to presumably set things up for Graeme Brown. It didn't end up that way with Davis getting the win. Would have been a tough finish as well with the last k or so slightly uphill the whole way.

A couple of random shots of the field coming through Nurioopta

Okay its taken me this long to get this post up so I will leave it there for the time being. I have some more photos to add to the blog including some more descriptions of the last day crit. Needless to say the trip was so good we are already planning next years.

Gold Coast Ride

Another fun day on the bike with mates. Aaron and Steve were the two ride companions for today. Started at Southbank and headed south via the backroads to the Gold Coast. Saw some interesting sights including some people who insisted on riding up the wrong side of the road at us.

When we arrived at the Gold Coast we stopped at my mums place and ate way too much. Including some trifle she had made. I think she may have overdone the rum in the trifle as I think Aaron may have been slightly over the limit on the return journey.

On the return journey we found a new coffee shop on the Old Pacific Highway at Pimpama called Whistlestop. Can recommend it. Good service, excellent price and reasonable coffee.

The final few kilometres back to Aarons place were very hot as the temperature according to my watch was 40 degrees, meaning perfect preparation for next weeks ride at the Tour Down Under.

All up I ended up with 125 kilometres in the legs and some good company who kept me laughing the whole ride. Especially Aaron who whilst he was exhausted (had already ridden for over an hour before meeting us and ridden for 5 hours the day before) and at the back could still summon the energy to sprint for suburb signs.

The train trip back was an education for Steve and I on how todays youth think. Quite scary actually but that's another whole story itself.

The lads mid-ride on the way back

Found this photo of Aaron when we stopped back at his place from his first season of racing in 1986 - sorry for the quality but I only had my phone to take pics with - That's him in the green KOM jersey on the top step

NSW Border Ride

This was a ride that had been planned by some of my friends which made life easy. We started from Advancetown in the Gold Coast Hinterland rode up to the NSW Border down in to Chillingham. At this stage during the descent I was thinking to myself how long the descent had taken and therefore how long it would take to ride back up.

This is my attempt at a 'Panorama' shot on the Queensland/Nsw Border

From there the ride took in some nice rolling mainly backroads without too much traffic to Tyalgum where we stopped for refreshments. If you are ever in Tyalgum I can highly recommend this place http://www.flutterbies.com.au/

Even though we were by then 11 very smelly cyclists the staff could not do enough for us even putting together extra tables so we could all sit together. I can also highly recommend the real home made scones and jam, quality.

Some of the dark storm clouds which fortunately held off for us.

Excuse my fingers on the lens here but I was using my camera as we were rolling out up the valley.

Thought I would include this photo of my mate Steve's new stead. A Specialized Tarmac very light :o)

The return journey involved the climb back up to the NSW border - I have included my Polar print out to give an idea of the climb. The steepest bit which is supposed to be 20% is in the last kilometre of the climb which makes it even worse.

Proof of the steepness riding back up from NSW.

All in all it was a good day out with the rain holding off until we were coming back down from the border which made the quick descent back to Advancetown very interesting.

I have one more long ride planned before I depart Thursday week for the Tour Down Under where us gumbies are allowed to ride a stage in the morning before the pro's do. The stage is 155km and appears to be around 1000 metres of climbing.