Mt Gambier to Mt Gambier – 92kms

So firstly…your all probably wondering how I’m feeling. Am I still laid up in bed; am I in hospital; will I ever ride again…well…

 

With the magic of modern medicine (and the fact that I don’t often take antibiotics) I improved 100 percent over the course of 24 hours. I was ready to roll in the morning. The doctor gave me the go ahead as long as I took it easy (“stay out of the engine room”). Yeeeeeeha!!!!!

 

Secondly, sorry for posting so late…unfortunately internet is sometimes a bit sketchy and (yep…I bit more bad luck) I managed to lose my phone. Sometimes you just can’t catch a break!!!

 

So back to the ride…we started early (as usual) up in the hills of Mt Gambier just above Blue Lake. This lake is actually a crater filled up (with blue water!!). We rode back through the town and off into the Coonawara region. Whilst the temperatures were quite cool it actually looked like we might see the sun!!!

 

Our first stop was for a bit of team fun. When we first started the tour each of the riders were broken off into smaller teams. The team names are based on the major sponsors and donors for Tour de Cure. They include Optus, Woolworths, Big W, Commonwealth Bank, Sunrise, Lexus, Huwaai, Bisley and the super awesome Vittoria (also known as Team Coffee). So each of the teams were to compete in a Team Time Trial. How this worked was that each team were to race down an 8km course and timed. Teams left 30 seconds apart. The fastest team were to be crowned Tour de Cure Time Trial Champions for 2015. Racing was fast and furious. Team Vittoria definitely looked the best out there…we won’t find out who the champions will be until the second last night of the tour.

 

After the racing was done we broke off into out two larger pelotons to visit our first school for the day. Part of the TdC is to visit many schools along the way to spread the word of cancer prevention and the ethos of Be Fit, Be Healthy, and Be Happy. I will dedicate a blog entry giving a run down of exactly we do there another time. But I will share a bit of information about this particular school in Kalangadoo. At this school they have 25 students divided into 2 classes. The teachers drive up from Mt Gambier every day to teach these wonderful children.

 

After our school visit we raced off up the road for another 42 kms back to Mt Gambier were we met another school. This school we from K to Year 7 and had over 800 students.

 

I loved being back on the bike. I honestly felt as if I’d been off it for a week…not just 1 day.

 

Tonight I’ll rest up because tomorrow we have a big (the biggest for this tour) ride of over 215 kms. That’s a long drive…and a very long bike ride.

 

Until then stay happy and I’ll see you tomorrow.

 

Kent

 

Leave a message for me:

If you want you can even spread the word and post it on facebook.