Day 2 Victor Harbour to Meningie 140km

Day 2 started with a 5:15 alarm call, justified by a stunning sunrise over Victor Harbour. After a perfect day 1 this was the day that the real bike riding was going to start. It’s fair to say we had been warned. “Most of the riding will be flat but if the wind blows…….”. Well day 2 the wind blew. The first 2 and a half hours were simply brutal. 50kms left us battered, bruised and shaking our heads at how the next 1400 were going to go. Crosswinds had us straining to keep our bikes in a straight line with one of our guest riders, Philippe, at one point just blown off the road and into the gravel.

After a break for tea we set off for more of the same, only to find after 5km that we’d headed off in the wrong direction. Then the lucky break. When we got ourselves back on the right road the wind was at our backs, off we flew. The next 90km didn’t fully alleviate the beating of the first 60 but it did have us arriving in Meningie well and truly in daylight with a huge welcoming turnout from the local population. I was thrilled to spend the last 50km on the front of the peleton with Gary Bertwistle. This was the only time I spent of the front all tour so glad for the experience.

Meningie is a small regional town with a population under 1000 but boy does it have a big heart. Our evening dinner was held in the local school gym which the local community had decked out with multi coloured spray painted old bikes, balloon, candles and home-made decorations. Clearly an enormous effort had been made and it was incredibly moving.

Our guest speaker for the evening was Professor Michelle Haber who specialises in children’s cancer. A simple statistic from her to absorb. The survival rate for children with cancer 10 years ago was 30%, today the comparable survival rate is 75! Her job is simple. Help to inch the survival rate up towards 100% and continue to make breakthroughs to ensure that the treatments given to children are as un-invasive as possible and to minimise the longer term emotional and physical trauma. She receives significant funding from tour de cure and in the last 2 years has achieved breakthroughs in the molecular detection of residual disease in leukaemia patients who would previously been given a false “all clear”. Amazing lady.

After Michelle had spoken it was on to the auction……country Meningie style. So how much do 14 cream puffs go for? Try $750 or $54 a puff or $18 a bite. When the dust settled and the room had been bullied and cajoled into submission $5,000 had been added to the TDC total. The puts us Sydneysiders to shame. It’s hard to do justice to the warmth of our reception in Meningie. Suffice to say, we saw the best of what the word “community” really means.

I was delighted to receive the Focus jersey to be worn the next day.