Day 5: Armidale to Coffs Harbour
Willie – you’ve gotten off to a solid start this year with your commentary so let’s hear what insights you have for Day 5, starting with a recap on Day 4’s evening activities.
Well – last night was a special night in Armidale with packed house of more than 400 people in the local services club. The entertainment for the night came in the form of a Q&A with our star studded panel of sporting superheroes. Multiple Tour de France stage winner and all round tour funny-man Jens Voigt, multiple Olympic gold medalist (and all round canned fruit fanatic) Drew Ginn and current para-cycling world record holder Matt Formston. What a wonderful insight into the life ‘n’ times of a professional athlete!
Congrats to our jersey winners from last night !
Day 4 Category Jersey Winners
Green ‘Awareness’ – Chester Wong
Orange ‘Doer’ – Belinda Balkema
White ‘Focus’ – Nick Annesley and Steve Skinner
Blue ‘Guts/Grit’ – Tony Payne
Pink ‘Inspiring Others’ – Peter Hing
Yellow ‘Attitude’ – Zac Morris
This morning we were greeted by what seemed like the entire University of New England campus. I didn’t think students got up that early!!! Today was set to be our biggest test on the back of some previous tough days. Ahead of us lay 204km of spectacular (hilly) countryside, as we began our charge towards Coffs Harbour.
Today was also a very special and sad day for the tour. Sally and Michael McAuliffe’s son, Conor would have turned 13 today, if it hadn’t been for an aggressive form of cancer. The McAuliffe family have been an integral part of Tour de Cure for many many years.
Ask any tour veteran and you will hear the same thing –
When times get tough I tell myself ‘GO LITTLE LEGS!'”
This was what Conor would often be heard saying as he pedalled his bicycle.
Chris, Greg and Jimmy James are absolute wizards in our mobile kitchen, producing a quality (and quantity) of food that would blow your mind. Almost everything is made fresh and from scratch, and there’s even dessert (Rocky road, sticky date pudding and crumble are 3 hihglights, + ice cream, and lots of it).
The Ebor falls provided one of the most stunning backdrops I’ve ever seen. We ate in beaming sunshine, with the gentle meditative sounds of the waterfall just below.
After an up and down section of riding we reached the Dorrigo Range. Luckily, we had to descend it. It was a pretty tricky descent for about 10km, but I was happy to take it slow and enjoy the scenery. The tall gums framed broad ferns and wattle brush. Wow!
After the descent all that was left was a quick 20km bolt down the freeway into Coffs.
Well, it’s time to get to dinner.
Until tomorrow, I’m Willie Maykit.
OK, not too much more to add, other than a few quick stories. The first one is about our night in Armidale. Due to the size of our group a number of us had to be billeted out and I stayed with a most hospitable local out at her property 20km out of town. Lot’s of fresh air and wildlife around, including this posse of loiterers that got in our way as we tried to get back into Armidale for the community dinner.
During the evening we had an auction to raise more funds and this fruit cake went for an astounding $2,000, eclipsing the cream puffs from last year that topped $750. JT whipped up a bidding war before a winner finally prevailed.
A quick hydration stop along the road to Coffs gave us the opportunity to have a quick team shot (team Adobe). The entire tour group is split into teams, named after our major sponsors. Not sure why I was the only one with a bike in the shot.
My final story, and may favourite story of the tour so far, I want to title ‘THE BIRD’…enjoy.
Inevitably with such a large group of riders, and given the country roads we ride through, there will be times when some traffic backs up a little behind us. When this occurs our support vehicles up ahead on the road scout for an appropriate spot for us to pull over to let the traffic pass, then we continue on. This happened to us after we descended the Dorrigo Range and we pulled to the side of the road and saluted the drivers for their patience as they went past. Big burly semi-trailer drivers, farmers in utes, tradies in trucks – all paying their respects by a few quick blasts of the air horn, or a big thumbs up as they cruised by, one even slowing enough to hand us money out the window. All except one. Amongst all this traffic was a white 1980’s Camry, and driving it was a little old lady – must have been at least 80 years old – who rolled by silently, giving us ‘the bird’.
Donation tally update:
Up another couple of hundred to approx $16,750. Edging closer to $20k.
Stats update:
Distance ridden: 202km (822km in total)
Elevation climbed: 2,365m (7,465m in total)
Time ridden: 7 hrs 24 min (31 hrs 31 min in total)
(No punctures for me today… ? ? ? ? 🙂 )
Leave a message for me:
If you want you can even spread the word and post it on facebook.
