Day 9: THE FINAL LEG – Geelong to Melbourne (2nd May)
This is it!!! The final day, the grand finale, the final blog for the 2015 ‘Tour’. (Yes, yes, yes, fashionably late I know).
I am sure that Willie has worked himself into a frenzy for this moment so best we let his reporting genius flow for us all to enjoy.
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Hello friends of TdC. It is with some sadness that another tour is coming to an end. We’ve had everything thrown at us this year but all the challenges disappear when we reflect on what we’ve been able to achieve, the school kids we’ve connected with, the communities we’ve been able to financially support with donations, and the friendships we’ve established with all the like minded people on Tour inside the “bubble”.
A quick recap on Day 8…It was time to freshen up and head to the home of the Geelong Cats after an amazing afternoon of great riding along the Great Ocean Road for the Community dinner at Kardinia Park.
Hosts for the night were Mark and Paul Beretta and boy was it a night! We had co-hosts Jens Voigt and Joel Selwood (Captain of the Geelong Football Club) join the Beretta brothers in being co-hosts for the evening. The night was alive with energy as it was our last on the tour before the final ride into Melbourne the following day.
Our last $10,000 cheque to local cancer projects was handed to Canteen Victoria to assist them invest in programs to engage the youth of the Geelong District who have been affected by cancer in some way. Over the tour we have donated $95,000 towards various research, support and prevention cancer projects in the communities we visited.
As we know, Mark Beretta loves an auction so on the down low he had a Geelong jersey signed by two of the players. The start of the auction saw bids quickly increase. Finally, the jersey went for an incredible $2,000. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a second one appeared – another $2,000, totaling $4,000, all going to the Tour de Cure.
The final presentation of the jerseys – all going to very worthy recipients…
- Focus: (White) Lynn Mann
- Doer: (Orange) David Duff
- Attitude: (Yellow) Heidi Bramberger
- Awareness: (Green) Aaron Donaldson and the Channel 7 Team
- Guts: (Blue) Danny Moore
- Inspiration (Pink) Andrew Woodward, for personally raising over $75,000!!!
And the overall winning team on tour for TdC 2015…taking into account fundraising, time trial result & jersey wins, was ……team Optus!
AND NOW TO THE FINAL DAY…!!!
For the first time since the Tour started we had a huge sleep in with a 6:50am bag drop and headed down to the Geelong foreshore for breakfast and the fabulous JT’s Sunrise crosses! The sunrise this morning was truly spectacular and bright pink.
The first ride leg for the morning towards the ferry in Queenscliff got underway and there was a cool breeze and a smile on every rider’s face. As the Signature Tour team and crew, including cars, all got on the ferry we knew these were going to be the easiest 13kms of the journey!
A short while later we landed in the beautiful Sorrento, and started to wind our way towards Melbourne. Hugging the coast line we had a city-beach feel all the way into Melbourne as the sun broke through the clouds. In the distance ahead of us was the beautiful Melbourne city skyline.
Riding through the famous suburb of St Kilda, we headed towards Albert Park where there was a sea of family and friends waiting for us. It was hugely overwhelming, and an emotional reunion with loved ones and supporters. We have now officially completed the Signature Tour 2015 ride. It was something so awesome and challenging but we did it all together, as one big Tour de Cure team.
We are now off to the celebration dinner, will my legs get me through the dancing, I think so! See you next year!
Yep, Willie did Maykit.
Signing off for another year…ciao!
PS – appreciate any Pulitzer nominations…just saying.
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Great job Willie. I’m sure you’ll be showered with awards for your efforts this year. My only advice – you get a much better idea of what riders endure if you get out of your comfy car, and ease up on the latte’s.
A few side stories and perspectives to round out our 2015 tour.
Firstly, it was good to have the Berettas, Jensie & Joel up on stage at the home of the Cats on our final night. One of the highlights for me was Jensie’s grasp of Aussie Rules. Rudimentary BUT I have to say for a foreigner he nailed the culture of Collingwood. Beretts is a very one eyed Cats supporter, being from Geelong himself. He polled the audience and asked whether there were any Collingwood supporters in the crowd. A few hands went up, to which he promptly instructed the kitchen staff to count the cutlery before they left the building. Jensie then jumped in with his own AFL humour…saying that he knows he would not be allowed to be a Collingwood supporter because he has too many teeth, and that statistics show when Collingwood has a home game the crime rate drops in Melbourne. The crowd loved it.
(Below) A TdC Collingwood supporter allegedly attacking Jensie the next day for his disparaging jokes…although for me you can’t have cause or reason to be too upset when the jokes are actually true.
(Below) It was very nice to have the Mayor of Geelong come out to see us off from his city. Who is this person you ask…the one and only Darren Lyons – what a unique character!
(Below) Plenty of celebrations and reflections at the finish line with TdC team mates and supporters over a beer as the sun went down.
(Below) That’s it, all done, very very happy to be finished and sharing the moment with my legendary better half. Thank you Sue!
And for the stat hungry readers…
Donation tally update:
As of 2nd May my donation tally = just over $29,300.
Stats from today and grand total:
Distance ridden: 144km (1,353km grand total)
Elevation climbed: 625m (7,130m grand total)
Time ridden: 5 hrs 39 min (50 hrs 19 min grand total)
And in stark contrast to last year I had ZERO punctures or bike mechanical issues!!!
EPILOGUE
This year has been a fantastic experience in so many ways. I continue to be amazed by the warmth and appreciation we receive from the local rural communities we visit. I continue to be amazed at the calibre of like minded people in our TdC family who give so much to help others. I continue to be amazed at the support I receive from family and friends to help me raise so much money for such a fabulous cause. And to Sue, especially Sue, who has been behind me all the way so I can do what I can to make a difference to those who need assistance whilst battling cancer, and helping find a cure so that others don’t have to go through what I’ve had to endure.
Since I rolled into Albert Park in Melbourne more donations have continued to come through and my current tally is an incredible $31,120. So humbling – thank you!
So, it’s time to hang the hat up for a while. Next year will be huge – the 10 year anniversary for the Tour de Cure, so watch this space. Over and out.
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