Day 9 – Leaky Lakes and low flying planes
Launceston to Swansea 160km 1600m
Another great community dinner in Launceston last night where we presented funds to Camp Quality, heard about the great work they do for kids with cancer and met Amelia aged 10, who has been in remission from cancer for 2 months. The auction organised by the locals raised about $1600 with the 3 dozen eggs from Hagly Farm school going for $120.
Another late night but a slightly later start we said goodbye to Phil Anderson and with no school visits today being the weekend the 2nd Peleton which I was in left at 730. After enjoying the descent into Launceston yesterday afternoon we knew it would be a long climb out this morning but with temps around 5C we looked forward to warming up.
The ride was then a leisurely pace through the pretty countryside as the sun gradually warmed & turned into another glorious day. We had an easy 40km warm up to the start of the team time trial which was due to be 16km along Mt Joy Rd – turned out to be appropriately named as we hit a long section of newly repaired but loose surfaced road and the radio call came advising the TT was to be reduced to just 8km – ‘joy’ to many of us. This meant that the start was straight up a short hill which was testing followed by a tough 8km with a few undulations. My team Lifetech left third and we were excited to pass one team before the finish but we only managed 5th place out of the ten teams all of whom varied in size and ability. Lexus won, but were disqualified for no particular reason other than they always win leaving Vittoria our great coffee sponsors the victors,
Morning tea was in a field presumably staked out beforehand by the tour organisers and we were just lining up at the coffee can when we heard a plane which seemed to be heading straight for us narrowly (or perhaps expertly) skimming the top of the Woolies truck and we realised we were set up on the landing strip for a crop sprayer! After some discussion with the pilot he seemed quite happy to do some shots with the riders for Channel 7 and spent several minutes buzzing around us and alongside a group of riders which should be fabulous when the documentary is finished with the bright yellow plane against the clear blue sky and mountain backdrop. And we rolled out again.. Another 60km which took a while with the headwind and several climbs which were not steep but v long and several riders getting pretty weary, the pace was quite slow at times. We finally arrived at the lunch stop around 2.30 pm which was in a stunning location beside The beautiful Lake Leake in warm sunshine. Several riders took the opportunity for a post lunch power nap the first chance in 9 very busy days but soon we were off once more. One of the locals warned us about the next hill suggesting it might kill us but little did he know what we have already achieved! We conquered that one and a few more before the road finally changed into a long descent almost all the way into Swansea which was v fast even with the strong headwind. About half way down the ocean came into sight and the views across 9 mile beach and the Freycinet Penninsula were spectacular. Beer, wine, fresh prawns and more awaited us in a beachside park before we headed to the backpackers where we will bunk down tonight.
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