Day 1: Adelaide to Victor Harbour (24th April)
Let me start by saying, today was the hardest day of riding I think I’ve ever done. You look at the map and the distance (112km, 1130m of elevation) and you think that’s not too bad at all. And then mother nature gives you a smack in the face. Let’s hear what Willie has to say (you need to note that Willie was in a nice warm support vehicle the whole day).
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4:45AM …THIS IS HOW WE ROLL
Bags dropped and off we go. We are managing some of the largest pelotons we have ever had with up to 40 people in some of them.
As we leave the hotel and head to Adelaide Oval ( a short 12km warm up from Glenelg) for our Vittoria coffee hit and breakfast, and live crosses on Sunrise with Mark Beretta. You could feel the energy building.
One of our major sponsors Optus, dropped in with a huge $150,000 donation. What a way to start the day.
Group shots and team photos taken, and the riders are on the bikes are ready to go. With a sea of red and blue police lights, and the official send-off by the Premier of South Australia, we have embarked on this 1,300 plus km to Melbourne.
Here we go….
As the rain came down it was not ideal conditions to ride out of Adelaide. We pulled over for a coffee stop 60km down the road to refuel and warm up the riders. Now we climb the mountain on to Victor Harbor for lunch…
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OK, this is where I need to interrupt Willie. Not ideal conditions is clearly a comment made by someone in a nice warm Lexus support car with heated seats and most likely a double shot skim latte in their hand. The weather was absolute rubbish and I would use a different adjective if not for the risk of offending someone reading this. 2kms after rolling out of Adelaide Oval I was drenched and my shoes were filled with water. Only another 90km to go!!! Then it got worse. Mother Nature must have thought that it was national kite flying day and whipped up 40-50km/hr winds to add to the rain. These were mostly cross and head winds and for those who are perhaps not so familiar with cycling, strong head winds make it really tough to make progress and strong cross winds make riding downright dangerous. It was so bad that all the wheelie bins outside the houses along the route we took were blown over and even a parked motorcycle lay on its side after being toppled by the wind. The cross winds almost made it impossible to stay upright but somehow everyone managed to keep the rubber on the road. At our quick coffee & snack stop after about 60km it was clear that staying put for long would only result in hypothermia so we decided to keep the blood circulating and keep going.
But we know that these types of conditions are likely to happen and in the scheme of things it’s nothing compared to those who suffer terribly from the ravages of cancer. We forged on and made it to Victor Harbour in one piece.
A few more photos from today…
(Below) Beretts and JT preparing for the Channel 7 Sunrise live cross from Adelaide Oval.
(Below) A pose for the Channel 7 Sunrise show. I chose this one because I’m in it, of course.
(Below) Me and some bloke who can ride a bike pretty well. For those who are not familiar with cycling this is Jens “Jensie” Voigt, our special guest for the Tour this year. Internationally renowned pro cyclist from Germany and recently retired, his tough and aggressive cycling style made him a formidable opponent in every race. Among other highlights he has won Tour de France stages, worn the TdF Yellow Jersey and in September 2014 broke the world 1 hour track cycling record (ie how far you can ride in 1 hour). He also loves Australia and has ridden the Tour Down Under in Adelaide many times.
(Below) This is me making my way up Wilunga Hill on route to Victor Harbour. Quite a famous hill as it features prominently in the annual Tour Down Under bike race. Almost needed a boat to go up given the amount of water flowing over the road.
(Below) CBA is a big supporter and sponsor of the Tour de Cure so on arrival in Victor Harbour we did a branch visit and presentation to the management and staff there.
More information in the next post on Day 1’s category jersey winners.
Donation tally update:
Thanks to you all I have been able to raise nearly $25,000, which is just incredible. My goal now is to beat my fundraising total from last year which was a massive $30,100. I think I can do it.
Some stats from today:
Distance ridden: 112km
Elevation climbed: 1130m
Time ridden: 4 hrs 33 min
Good night.
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