Day 8 – first roll in Tassie – what a beautiful ride
We awoke this morning to the sound of the PA on board the Spirit to say we had docked and that it was time for breakfast.
We left Melbourne the previous night on the ship and found it a great way to travel to the Apple Isle. Whilst I am a Tasmanian originally, I had never ridden on the Spirit before. 2 Kweels as I boarded, have dinner in the lounge, a few beers in the bar then start blogging on the laptop. The boat then begins to rock and roll as we emerge from the heads so I turn in for the night, not wanting to risk getting seasick !
Today I was in P2 and on the front as we disembarked on the bikes from the ship, lots of cameras around, but I cant find a single photo of me today – sorry??
First stop was Sheffield for morning tea and was a quaint little town full of character. P3 were doing the presentation here so back on the bikes for us and bound for Hagley Farm School for our presentation. WOW! what countryside out here – fabulous rolling hills of greenery, dairy farms, fertile soil all against the backdrop of Cradle Mtn – sensational. The weather was kind today too, cool at 14degs but fine.
We did have a good solid climb in this hop which was a 5km climb averaging at about 8% but pitching up to 14%, all of us put in a bit of an effort, and there were 4 of us up the front, but one of the pack was Phil Anderson – guest rider and first Australian to win the yellow jersey in the Tour de France and also Commonwealth Gold medallist in cycling. He went past me easily, then sat on Danny’s wheel about 200m in front of me, but I think Phil was just playing a bit of ‘cat n mouse’ as he simply pulled out and took the lead before the top. I was really happy to have some power in the legs after 7 days straight riding. My backside is even not as sore anymore yay!
Hagley Farm School was great – a nice setting with old buildings and lots of farm infrastructure for the kids including vege gardens and livestock, they even donated 3 dozen of their free range eggs to TdC. 🙂 Such innocent little souls and great to talk to, nearly everyone I spoke to seemed to be ‘bus captain’ of their bus. Friendly school
Next was the roll to Launceston, which was flat and fast, nice riding all-round, topped off with a top speed run by the peleton at the end into Launceston, a great way to finish the ride – on a high and getting a bit of adrenaline buzz.
We had a corporate visit to the Optus shop in the city centre and then down to the park where the Camp Qulaity were hosting a kids party with acrobats, pony rides, fairy floss and popcorn. It was a much appreciated fanfare to arrive into on our bikes.
Dinner at the Grand Chancellor, with some interesting guest speakers incl a cancer survivor and Phil Anderson (cycling champ as above) was quite comical on all things cycling. Jerseys awarded to those have stood out on this particular day. Still working on earning one.
And the greatest news is I am now only $116 away from raising $20k for Cancer!!! Very pleased with this result, it has been hard work and something I never thought possible from my networks. But all that time (about the same time spent on fundraising as training) has paid off, and I owe a lot to my family for the support they have provided.
Daily Stats – 134km, 1600m ascent and 229TSS – Max Speed 89.23kmh 🙂
Pics of Optus team and Phil Anderson below (in black), but from two days ago as I cant find any from today. Still trying to find more on the bike action shots as I know they have been taken, but not uploaded anywhere I can find.
Second shot is of the Camp Quality party
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