Day 8 Signature Tour
Devonport to Launceston – 137km 1643m climbing over 5hrs 47min riding time.
Today was a very spectacular day in terms of weather. What was not spectacular was how I felt. Today was my hurt locker day. This is a day where you have hit the wall and the power is just not there. This generally happens to different riders on different days, but most hit it at some point. I felt light headed, and when there was a bit of pace on I was dropping back on the group. The motto on Tour is though, that you are only as fast as your weakest rider. I survived on determination and gels for some energy. I was not the only one feeling it today, so we just eased up and got through the day. I was beginning to worry that it may have been the onset of this horrible gastro bug that has hit about 8 riders thus far. It is such a big disappointment for these guys to have to step off the bike for a few days and watch the Tour go on around them.
We had a few school visits today. One we made almost on time. The other one had peloton two do the presentation for us. One of the schools was a Farm School out in the middle of nowhere, with the coolest old buildings, and a tractor with a trailer that carts the kids around.
We had a funny incident today. Our navigators got us lost (well they say they were following the map) and we ended up on quite a bit of dirt road with some very sharp inclines and declines. Our road bikes are not meant for this sort of treatment. We all got through it ok, and must say the scenery was probably more spectacular on our version of the route. The other two pelotons were warned to not make the same mistake!!
Awesome scenery in Tassie
We ended up with a Police escort into Launceston. Funny thing is that they were on bikes as well. They stopped traffic at lights and all. One of them said it was the most fun he had in ages! We had a Camp Quality event at our end point, which are always fun getting out there and playing with the kids. Scotty Barrenger’s parents also came and said hello to us (they are on holidays). Launceston is a very beautiful place. So happy to be in Tassie.
Another nice thing about today was how well you are looked after when you are hurting – and most of this kudos goes to fellow Queenslander Cory Morris who sat in front of me all day. Another nice experience was how many people stopped us on the way to donate to TdC. These Tassie folk sure are a friendly bunch.
A special mention here to my beautiful kids (Aidan and Madelene) who both wrote me an amazing letter as a birthday gift. I opened Mads a few nights ago, and Aidans last night on the Spirit of Tassie. They both lifted my spirits so high, and I thought of them often today. Paul Egan did the most amazing thing and organised family/friends to record a short video for all of the people on Tour. The link was emailed to each of us last night to watch. There were many tears. Such a thoughtful thing to do.
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