Day 8: Devonport to Launceston
Hello everyone. It is now getting close to the end of this epic journey. We made it across Bass Strait on the Spirit of Tasmania – a very smooth voyage and a sunny Friday morning greeted us. I’ll elaborate on a few items once Willie has had his say for the day.
“Hi folks, it’s Willie Maykit here and we are now in Tasmania. The trip over last night was a good one and the team on the Spirit of Tasmania looked after us so well.
The ship was very comfortable and we had great meals and a few quiet drinks to celebrate making it so far. As the ship sailed we all received the most amazing surprise. Paul Egan, one of the tour veterans from Queensland, had arranged individual video messages to all tour participants from their families and these were sent to us around 7pm when we were all on board ready to cross the Bass Strait. A very timely and superb surprise.
…..no alarm this morning, simply an announcement over the ship PA at 5am to tell us we had arrived….
We did the Sunrise crosses from on the ship this morning and whilst this was happening, we also presented our jerseys from yesterday:
- Doer: Phil Lynch
- Focus: Murray King
- Awareness: Peter Braine
- Guts: Owen Barnett
- Attitude: Stephanie and Alison Morris
- Inspiration: Paul Egan
We rolled at 8am and as this was the last weekday of the tour we had quite a few school visits planned. All 3 pelotons went in different directions early and had great visits with the primary school kids of NW Tasmania.
The scenery here is stunning. The weather was much better than yesterday and thankfully the Tassie forecast is good for the weekend. The only problem with great scenery is that it typically comes with more climbing.
We climbed 1,500m in the first 60km! Ouch. Some riders are loving it, but many of us are coming to our maximum endurance. This trip is tough, but saying that, no one is complaining. We are deliberately challenging ourselves and hoping our achievements inspire those following us to support this great cause.
The second half of the day was much flatter and we hit Launceston around 4pm. We had a huge reception in a local park by the Tamar River with the Camp Quality team. The kids and riders kicked back and I must admit it was very therapeutic.
Today was shorter and I must admit, so is this report. Like all my team mates, I am very weary!
Until tomorrow,
Willie Maykit”
Appreciate that Willie. The rollout from the Spirit of Tasmania was certainly an experience to remember – riding up the ramp as a big group. My mum and dad were waitng there for us, mum with her trusty camera in hand, waiting for me…no, sorry, waiting for Mark Beretta to come off so she could take a few snaps. We were off to Devonport Primary first up to present to the kids, teachers and parents who turned up. It was nice to have the local reporter there to capture the moment…
After we finished this presentation a teacher came up to me and asked, “are you Daren Armstrong?”…a small world moment as this person was someone I used to tutor back in the 80’s when I lived in Ulverstone!
The scenery was spectacular up to Sheffield with a cloudless sky and Mt Roland as a backdrop. After a brief visit to Sheffield Primary School we descended back down to the flatter country and headed east towards Launceston at a cracking pace, stopping at Hagley Primary for lunch. There were some bragging right stories after the steep descent into Launceston with riders reaching 90+km/hr. I only managed 82, due to having to apply my brakes to avoid getting too close to a slower rider in front of me. This steep hill ends up at a set of traffic lights where we were surprised to see the police waiting for us…to escort us to our finishing location (not for breaking any speed limits). So 2 police officers on bikes lead us through the city stopping traffic and letting us go through red lights. It would be good to have this as a regular service!
As is customary we were greeted with great cheers and enthusiasm. What other way would you want to end the day?
And the final few items as always…
1. The daily stats
141km (running total = 1,337km),
1,540m of elevation climbed (running total = 15,685m) ,
5hrs 33mins of riding (running total 45 hrs 47mins),
and I had 0 punctures today…happy with that! And I can’t recall if I told you what happens when you get a puncture. Essentially what happens is the rest of the peleton keep riding (albiet at a slower speed) and once fixed you have to ride as fast as you can to get back onto the group with a couple of other riders helping you. This generally takes several minutes and your heart rate pretty much stays in the red zone until you hook back up with the group and you burn a lot of energy you’d prefer to conserve for the long day ahead. Moral of the story – don’t get punctures!
2. Photo gallery
The photo gallery grows with more great action snaps…
Day 1: https://www.tourdecure.com.au/pages/news/gallery/index/248
Day 2: https://www.tourdecure.com.au/pages/news/gallery/index/249
Day 3: https://www.tourdecure.com.au/pages/news/gallery/index/251
Day 4: https://www.tourdecure.com.au/pages/news/gallery/index/252
Day 5: https://www.tourdecure.com.au/pages/news/gallery/index/253
Day 6: https://www.tourdecure.com.au/pages/news/gallery/index/254
Day 7: https://www.tourdecure.com.au/pages/news/gallery/index/255
Day 8: https://www.tourdecure.com.au/pages/news/gallery/index/257
3. My Fundraising progress
My personal tally sits at $26,900. I’ve reset my target to $30,000 so if you think you know of someone who may be interested in helping please feel free to forward the blog link to them – it has the donate link included. Overall, $1.46m has been raised by our tour team so far, up from $1.45m yesterday.
Leave a message for me:
If you want you can even spread the word and post it on facebook.
