03
May
2015

Signature Tour Day 9

Geelong to Melbourne (via the Queenscliff to Sorrento ferry)

154km, 685m elevation, 6hrs 6mins ride time

My beautiful supportive family - thank you!!

My beautiful supportive family – thank you!!

It’s hard to believe that I have now finished Tour again for another year.  I miss the ‘bubble’ already!! It seems like forever since we started in Glenelg almost ten days ago, yet it went so quickly.  Every day on Tour is packed so tight with activity.  Our days mostly started at around 5.30am and ends with me sitting in bed at around 10pm, fighting off sleep whilst I wrote my blog each day!  Of course, there is that thing we do each day as well – cycle to our next destination.

I was very sore in the legs today – they felt so heavy.  My right achilles has been a bit sore for a few days, but it flared up after our little time trial to the school yesterday afternoon.  I rubbed in some Tiger Balm and dosed up on some pain killers to try and alleviate the pain.  It took a long time to warm up the legs, but this is also how almost everyone is feeling.  Even the very best riders were getting alot of massage attention from Robbie, our resident masseuse.  I don’t think that many people could ride that distance and not have their body protest in some way.  So many people on this trip had very sore shoulders and achilles, mostly due to the long flat days.

The weather was looking a bit ominous and there was a 40% chance of rain.  However, even though there were a few drops, it did not rain on us.  Not only that, the sun came out and it ended up being a really beautiful day.  The TdC weather fairy was with us today. Suns out, guns out – off came the leg and arm warmers.  I had almost forgotten what they looked like!!  I have never been to Queenscliff, and what a beautiful old town it is.  We must have looked like quite a circus to all the other ferry passengers – 130 cyclists and around 50 support crew, together with all the TdC branded Lexus, Specialized vans and other sundry trucks, plus 130 bikes.  It is quite a unit when you see it all loaded into a relatively small space!!  It had been a bit windy to this point so getting on the ferry in the warmth, with a nice cup of coffee was rather nice.

Some of my favs - Paul, Zac, Nomes

Some of my favs – Paul, Zac, Nomes

I was on radio again today.  I think I have had one 5 out of 9 days.  It is great to know in advance what is going on within the peloton, and helping it to all run smoothly.  We did a few Sunrise shoots today as well, as it was rather iconic being the last day, and leaving the Beretta’s home town plus the ferry crossing. I was very worried about Nomes today as we did a few stints on some rough dirt roads, and she is riding with a suspected broken hand (update – broken in two places).

We rode all the way up along the coast road to Beach Rd and into Albert Park Lake.  I was getting so excited, and a little teary, as this was the first time that Aidan and Mad have seen me finish a big tour (they have seen me finish a country tour).  Waz was there too, of course. We were late getting in, and did a Sunrise piece before forming up into a paired peloton in order of years we had been with TdC.

The huge line of riders behind me, and there were another 20 in front of me!

The huge line of riders behind me, and there were another 20 in front of me!

It was such a long line in a sea of blue jerseys!!  We slowly rolled towards them and I could hear the big roar of the excited family and friends.  I picked the wrong side – doh!!  I dumped my bike and ran back to find them waiting on the other side with a huge family bear hug.  I cannot even begin to describe how good that felt.  Then we wandered back over to the bikes and shared the love and hugs with the team that has been on this epic journey.

Gareth Williams hosted the final dinner with family and friends.  Such a funny guy who has posted up a GTV video every day, which is hilarious!  There were no jersey presentations tonight as all the formalities were done last night in Geelong, where Optus were presented as team of tour, but we must have been the team that was one point behind (as we won the TTT and highest fundraising per head, plus four category jerseys along the way). It was a lovely night, but we got Zac to take us to Maccas as there was not quite enough food for Aidan (or most of us really!).

I will post up a tour wrap up post over the next few days.  Once again thank you all for your support.

The last lunch cooked by Canadian Kitchens - such yummy food every day.

The last lunch cooked by Canadian Kitchens – such yummy food every day.

Some of the gals with Jens.

Some of the gals with Jens.



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