Day 7 Eildon to Melbourne
Writing a blog on ship crossing the Bass Strait…and rolling all over the place adds another dimension to our challenge. Today we rode 160ks as headed from Eildon to Melbourne. Forecast was for intermittent showers and we weren’t disappointed…it rained a lot. Our first school preso @ liitle town of Healsville, was 70ks down the road on undulating terrain, (we would climb over 1,600m’s today). With Mt Buller backdropped in the distance we kept up a good pace in a mounting headwind. Each peloton has an ‘engine room’ of the 6 strongest riders rolling off the front every 5kms, to pull the bunch along. (You reduce your effort by around 30% when you sit on someone else’s wheel).
Following our school presentation and lunch we then ride another 70ks into Melbourne to provide a photo opportunity at Lexus, one of our major sponsors. We finally rolled into Port Melbourne and the Spirit of Tasmania terminal. To provide the Sunrise breakfast show with footage, we staged a roll on of all riders on to the ship riding up the car ramp. With footage being captured by helicopter and our camera car. TV camera people don’t appreciate the challenges of riding a bicycle across metal ramps and grates, thankfully everyone negotiated their way on to the boat without incident.
Another very memorable day in tour. We have now covered over 1,100ks with 3 stages left, as we arrive into Tasmania, to the beautiful coastal town if Devonport, to then make our way to Launceston. Looking forward to riding in the very scenic state of Tasmania.
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