Day 10 – the Finale’ hop – Swansea to home town of Hobart
This morning we actually got a little sleep-in, up at 5:30am but an extra hr due to the daylight savings conclusion. The extra rest was appreciated by everyone and we saddled up one last time and rode down to the beach where Canadian Kitchen caterer’s once again put on a comprehensive spread of cereals, porridge, fruits, and B&E rolls.
Todays timeline was a bit shorter than most – a scheduled 140km ride with only 1300m ascent, via a scenic route through the coastline then over to Richmond before south to Hobart
The coastal route was lovely this time of morning and we very being tracked by an overhead helicopter chartered by a media group and providing some great aerial footage of the peloton heading to Triabunna. It was a fine morning, a little overcast and a cool 10degs. Pretty soon we shed the red jackets for the rest of the first segment.
Triabunna was waiting for us on our arrival as we coincided with a French festival in the quaint little fishing village – its a picturesque town right on the water, with the harbour full of vessels. Fresh grilled fish rolls were on offer and they were fabulous. The locals cheered us in and mingled around to ask questions and offer congratulations. Channel 7 were on hand to film the arrival once again..
The second-last leg was to head into Richmond from here which was a 70km section of rolling hills and vast landscapes, we had some nice climbs to negotiate, but none were lung busters and today everything was taken at a more relaxed pace and we rode everything together as a unified bunch – a very nice way to ride the last day – zero stress. Tasmania would have to be king of the ‘road kill’ regions though – every few kms was a dead animal, accompanied by the stench of rotting flesh – fantastic! No wonder this place has such fertile soil!
Richmond is a very pretty town and one with great heritage and od buildings and infrastructure. We even followed the horse-drawn cart off the main street down to the park. A quick lunch was had, then a film session to capture footage f us traversing the famous Richmond bridge and then it was time to take up the last 25kms into Hobart.
The idea was to split into 2 pelotons, but only separated by 5mins then join into one peloton jet before our arrival into Salamanca Place in Hobart. We would be under police escort and be given a full green light run through the city which was great – something Sydney did not even offer, in a town where the traffic is much harder to negotiate. As the only Hobart origin full tour rider, I was keen to be on the front coming into town, as there were local businesses following me & many contributors and to my fundraising there, along with many family, friends and the media which had covered my progress down here. However there is a long standing tradition that those whom have completed the most tours ride the front and progressively those with less tours ride towards the back, therefore with this as my first full tour ride, I’d be in the last few coming in to town.
I was able to pick out my sister first as I rode past Davey St and gave her a shout as she then spotted me. Turning down into Salamanca found my Dad, Aunt and Uncle on the right side, but almost missed my kids desperately searching for me on the left had side as they had hedged their bets a bit not knowing which side or where I’d be in the bunch. As I pulled up in front of Parliament house I was then very appreciative to be mobbed by friends and family. My wife Yvonne emerged from the crowd and a much sought after hug and kiss was received 🙂 Local TV station Southern Cross News, managed to find me and we did a short interview for tonight’s broadcast, as they were interested in covering the Hobart rider in the Tour. I was holding Bailey in my arms at the time, but he was a little shy.
We then retired to the grassed area in the park to re-acquaint with loved ones and tell some tales 🙂 Thankyou very much to everyone who made the time to come down and wish me congrats – there were so many of you I am sorry if I did not spend much time with you all, truly appreciative of so many people.
A quick shower and rendezvous at Elizabeth St Pier for dinner with a group of 14 family and friends. Awards were presented, and unfortunately Optus did not take out team of tour honours, but in our eyes we had met so many targets across members being recipients of category jersey wins, the most money raised by far, and a mid-field time trial result. Optus should be very proud of their achievements and company focus on this charity – many businesses should look to Optus’ model for how they promote volunteer work and charity support. Its been great to be part of it. Lisa Healy and Murray King are fabulous ambassadors in this regard.
So now the 2014 Tour de Cure Signature Tour is at an end. I am very proud to have been part of it, to have ridden the entire route without , mechanically(bike performed faultlessly) or medically requiring treatment, but have certainly felt the strain some days and had tough times. When this has happened there is always support on the teams from other team members (particularly those who ware also newer to the TdC) Cory, Zac and Steph Morris, Peter Braine, Troy Smith, Jodi Harris and Kevin Russell are key standouts for me I am very grateful for their help and listening ear during the Tour. Funnily I found the ride got easier in the last 3 days in particular. I feel I could continue on now if required and power is coming back up. A rest is now on the cards and I’ll probably hand the road bike up for a few weeks after I give it a much needed bath and lube. Will be interesting to see how my MTB performance is affected next time I race.
So in closing I am blown away by my fundraising results – now over double the target at $25833 – and in 8th place overall, included in this is a great injection of support from Optus as well as all those contributors both here in Hobart and Brisbane, events and fundraising by family and friends – you are all legends. I will hold this effort in highregard for years to come.
Final stats –
1645.1kms ;
21,216m ascent ;
max spd 89.23kmh ;
Total TSS 2760
Total riding time = 63hrs 46mins
Total number of pedal strokes = 221,241
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