Day 7: Launceston to St Helens (the Queen Stage)
The hardest and most demanding stage in cycle races is called the Queen Stage. This was without doubt our equivalent. And boy did it hurt from the very start. You’ll understand why shortly.
Dazza’s Diary – Day 7
The Tour de Cure management team thought it would be memorable if we rode up the steepest hill in Launceston on our departure (just to get the legs warmed up!). This hill peaks at nearly 30% gradient and averages over 20%. I had a local Launceston stage rider next to me and she was asking me where we were going shortly after we rolled out from the mall. She was clearly a little confused about the direction we were taking to get out of town. I said I didn’t know and I could tell she was becoming increasingly concerned where we were headed. She started saying “surely not, it can’t be, nobody rides up there!”. She was referring to Balfour Street, and yes we did!
One of our riders recorded the pain-fest. To be honest, it’s steeper than it looks on this clip. Heart nearly popped right out of my chest. Many couldn’t make it and had to walk, but I’m happy to say I wasn’t one.
A couple of key milestones to recognise today;
- We cracked the 1,000 km ridden on Tour today.
- The Tour de Cure reached the $30 million raised milestone for cancer research, prevention and support projects since its inception last night. We had commemorative jerseys to wear for this achievement (see below).
It was a very cold morning and I could not wait for the sun to get up. We headed out towards Scottsdale for our school presentation at Scottsdale Primary, but we had to get over the Sideling first which is a pretty tough climb up through rain forest country. Stunning scenery though.
Little did we know that we had the local Harley Davidson club on our tails and they caught up with us at the Sideling Lookout, with a little surprise in store!
Riders need riders! Thank you once again to Richardson's Harley-Davidson in Tasmania for stopping our riders Mark Beretta and James Tobin and handing them a generous donation of $5,000. #ridetdc #curecancer #shutupcancer
Posted by Tour de Cure Australia on Thursday, 30 March 2017
And in case you ever wonder how we cart all the gear from place to place for 150+ people, here’s a large part of the solution. This puppy can store a LOT of stuff!
After the school visit we made tracks as quickly as possible to St Helens. We wanted to get there before dark. After nearly 7 hours riding time (not elapsed) we got into this picturesque beach town as the sun was going down, but not before being rained on for good measure. Some of the kind folks who arrived earlier made sure we had a healthy serving of hot chips, dim sims and chocky milk to chow down on. So good!
For me this was a seriously hard day. Certainly felt like I’d reached rock bottom as far as energy levels, mentally and physically. It must have showed as I was sent to have a chat to our doctors to make sure I was ok. I was pretty sure they were going to offer me a cup of cement powder but they were much nicer than that. A strict order to get hydrated and rested was handed out. No arguments from me. Here’s hoping for a better day tomorrow.
And like a snowball rolling down a mountain the stats keep getting bigger…
Donation tally update as at 30th March:
Another $250 of donations to bring the tally to – $33,085 and 90 cents.
Riding stats update:
Distance ridden: 164km (total = 1,006km)
Elevation climbed: 2,422m (total = 8,542m)
Time ridden: 6 hrs 42 min (total = 36 hrs 59 min)
Top speed today: 70 km/hr
Calories burned: 3,680 (total = 18,860 = 73 Big Macs)
Punctures: 0
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