TDC Day 6 Wangarrata – Eildon
Tough day at the office
Evening all. I posted last night that I thought hump day would be today. Dead right.
210kms and upwards of 3000 vertical metres of climbing. We left Wangarrata at 8.30am…and travelled well…but still only arrived here in Eildon at 7pm. Yikes. Long day…some tough climbing, and rain for the last 50kms or so. Some very tired bodies tonight.
I have had a couple of messages on the blog to put up some photos but due to some technical issues that hasn’t seemed to work. However, if you are on Twitter you can see some photos I have started uploading from today…my handle is @farrdav.
Beautiful start to the day with some very excited kids at St Patrick’s PS in Wangaratta. They all came out to see us and very sweetly made us badges to wear wishing us luck. They wanted photos with us all and were rapt to see the presentation. One of the guys told me later that a little one burst into tears when she asked if there were going to be lolly bags at the end, and was told no. She felt a little bit better apparently when she got the Be fit, Be Healthy, Be Happy pack.
Berrets rode with us today for the first time, so Jess I took the opportunity to say hello for you. We also had the pleasure of the company of Phil “The First Australian To Wear The Yellow Jersey” Anderson, and he rode with us all day. He was terrific.
First stop was Whitfield PS where the kids played in a band for us…”We will rock you” amongst the tunes. They loved the presentation and I really do think the message is getting through. Though when one kid was asked what was one way of being healthy he said “Lite & Easy”. Hilarious. We went straight up a 12km climb from there which was pretty taxing….and boys DF 1, Phil “TFATWTYJ” Anderson Nil!
Under ever increasing grey skies onto Mansfield. Kids were star struck again…and this time were walking around with markers asking each of the riders to sign their arms/t shirts. After lunch we had a crack at the “Jamo” ( Jamieson) climb. Phil got his own back there so 1:1.
Quick pit stop and then we hit the climb that kept on giving…and the rain came. As I said the last 50kms were pretty tough into Eildon. I got my first flat of the Tour…so had the “pleasure” of being smashed by the support guys back onto the group. It actually was quite fun. Phil wins again so 2:1. You can see a picture of me and Phil on Twitter.
Another community dinner tonight which ran late given how late we rolled in. I was asked to say a few words as to why I was on Tour and so explained my connection to the Unicorn Foundation and the great work they do. If you would like to know more about them then please see the url below:
https://unicornfoundation.org.au/
Spreading awareness of all forms of cancer is part and parcel of the work TDC do…so Unicorn is the perfect fit for that. It’s such a wonderful thing TDC do…it really is hearts and minds stuff with the kids,,,and if by spreading that message we can help cure cancer and drive the 1 in 3 preventable cancers to an even higher number then Tough days like today are well worth it.
Please do come back and keep reading and sending messages. I am excited about seeing family and friends in Port Melbourne tomorrow night. It will be great. Better get some rest..another 160kms tomorrow.
Bye for now
df
ps: no CBA employees today unfortunately, so tally still stays at 7…plenty more time though..especailly in Tassie.
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