Day 2: Hastings Point to Grafton
Hi all
Day 2 was a long long day on the road – over 215km. I’ll hand over to Willie to fill you in on some of the details first.
Recap Day 1
Dinner last night was a great example of true blue Aussie hospitality. The Big4 caravan park hosted us for an authentic Asian feast which included rice, noodles and various curries. The food was delicious, although filling up on curries before staying in 6 bed dorm rooms made for an interesting night.
As always, the category jersey winner were well deserving. The respective winners for Day 1 were:
Green ‘Awareness’ – Steve ‘Strava’ Newman
Orange ‘Doer’ – Dave Curran
White ‘Focus’ – Chris Brown
Blue ‘Guts/Grit’ – Kent Lipman
Pink ‘Inspiring Others’ – Owen Barnett
Yellow ‘Attitude’ – Phil Gallant
After the category Jerseys were handed out, it was time to donate some funds to a worthy cause.
As well as funding our major ongoing projects, each night on tour TDC donates $10,000 to a local cancer charity to fund research, support and prevention programs.
Last night the donation went to Oncology North Coast to supply clinical assessment equipment for a new cancer trials unit.
DAY 2
Waking up on Day 2 of the Tour de Cure is always a sobering experience. The starting line buzzed with excitement, but the prospect of over 200km, on a tiny rock-hard leather saddle, had me feeling slightly apprehensive.
A bucket of coffee and a few bacon n egg rolls later, we were away. Although today was a predominately flat journey, Hastings Point to Grafton was the longest leg of the tour – 216km!
By 7am we’d already covered 50km, rolling into one of my favourite locations in the entire world – Byron Bay. And even better, the sun came out just as we arrived!
The afternoon went much quicker than I’d expected. Hugging some of Australia’s most spectacular coast line, time flew by. The beaches of Byron Bay, Lennox Heads and Ballina, all sparkled with their usual charm.
One of the most special aspects of tour is the people you meet along the way. This afternoon I had the pleasure of riding next to a pretty special guy. The story he shared is one that I’ll remember for a very long time. It really helped put things in perspective and reminded me that while my legs may hurt a little today, tomorrow I will again wake up as one of the lucky ones.
Rolling in to Grafton was a pretty big moment. This was the first time I’d ever ridden over 200km in a single day, a feat I’ll repeat again before this tour is over.
With my brain a little fried, it’s time for a quick stretch and a big feed. Until tomorrow, I’m Willie Maykit.
Thanks Willie – back to me for a quick update before signing out and going to sleep.
We woke this morning to no rain so happy with that. However there had been quite heavy rain overnight and there was a thick layer of water and puddles on the road for many km’s which made things a little tricky to navigate around at speed, and slippery – not so happy with that.
Snaps of the riders are taken at every vantage point by our camera crew in the cars (or by the tour drone – not sure what the local on the water thought of this…)
More to come on the Day 2 dinner, jersey winners and cheque presentation tomorrow.
Stats update…
Donation tally update:
Thanks to you all I have been able to raise approx $15,500. A jump up from yesterday so thanks to everyone!
Some stats from today:
Distance ridden: 216km (355km in total)
Elevation climbed: 710m (1,500m in total)
Time ridden: 7 hrs 21 min (12 hrs 49 min in total)
(No punctures for me again… ? 🙂 )
Good night…next update tomorrow.
– See more at: https://www.mytourdecure.com.au/darena/2016/04/30/day-0-day-1-brisbane-to-hastings-point/#sthash.8w7YRKbx.dpuf
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