Wow, what an absolutely astonishing week rAdelaide once again put on for the largest sporting event in Australia, the Santos Tour Down Under. This is the week from my perspective…
Tuesday morning was a hot, blustery drive across. Left about 5.30am and found my place at the Glenelg Backpackers just after lunch. Didn’t get a chance for a roll on Tuesday afternoon as it was a tad warm (had been 42 that day) so it was a fairly gentle start to the week.
Caught up with the Shaws, Mrs Shaws and junior Shaws in the caravan park and I think we visited the Tour Village that afternoon (well it was Tuesday or Wednesday, can’t remember now!!)
Wednesday was a cracker! We started with a roll out of town to Norton Summit where we soon found it was too windy to go chasing Wade Wallace’s 100 euros for any rider to crack 12 mins! Mick said he could’ve done it but his gear lever wasn’t working properly to select the big chainy. Absolutely stunning rolling section across Basket Range where Cam Hunter turned back to meet his family. Continued the roll up to Lobethal for a great brekkie with 62,382 other riders before watching the start.
Met up with Ange and Drew here then rolled down to Stirling to grab a spot to watch the pro’s come past a total of 4(!) times! The Shaw’s had family commitments for lunch but met up with us soon after. Following the completion of the race we did the first of our rides back with the pro’s! This is such a highlight and we linked on to the World’s Fastest Bike Path for a 300+ rider descent down Eagle on the Hill. We reached the bottom only to find it VERY difficult to cross the freeway. That is until one of the Katusha boys decided to walk out on to the road and just stop traffic! Across we all went then rolled into town. Well, sort of… We got into town to find a group of guys who’d come over were cruising round on scooters! They were offering to motorpace anyone who wanted a lift, so we rolled up to about 57kph (no-one except 6amers could hang on) before I launched the obligatory sprint off the back hehehehe.
Thursday, well, another cracker! We did a loop out with the Shaws, Jonesy and Cam through some new hills we’d not ridden before around Vista, Houghton, Inglewood and Milbrook. We then had the absolutely cracking ride thru Chain of Ponds and down the Gorge Rd where it was attack after attack on the rolling descent. Cruised back into Adelaide for the start of Stage 3 at Unley. Shawry had a good chat to the editor of Ride Magazine and again we got up close and personal with the pro’s, including Jens!
Thursday afternoon was spent on the beach, glorious 31 degree day and having repeated attempts at the Shaws beach obstacle course. Mick really struggled but his daughter Dee used her hurdling skills to smash him. We did ‘sand dune’ repeats and 100m sprints (or was this the previous day? Can’t remember!!) and again Mick just couldn’t get his legs working, probably still hurting after the attacks on Gorge Rd! Jonesy’s bike copped a good wash, even removing the chainrings! Mick and I contemplated not fitting the small chainy back on but Jonesy caught us in time.
Friday and the other boys all had a family day. I joined the Rapha crew (and about 150 others) for a ride out to Stage 4. We climbed thru the Gorge where the first real selection happened! Wow there were riders of all abilities here!!! The Bupa Challenge was on this day also and we were relieved to find they had massively over catered, so grabbed a load of bananas, cake, powerade etc. Also saw a familiar face in Steve Martin who made the last minute decision to come. We saw the intermediate sprint then rode – FAST – to get to the top of Menglers Hill for the KOM. Solid 95k to get here meant there was 95 to go! Had a couple of stops on the way back including the Bupa tent again for more bananas and cake, then at the Cuddle Creek pub where a few of the boys had an ale or two, before the smashfest down the Gorge! Rolled into town with 190k on the clock.
Saturday was the Queen Stage of the race – Willunga Hill! And what a day! The 6amer contingent joined in with the Rapha crew for the roll down to Willunga, via every 13% climb Norwood CC could throw at us. We climbed the 9k bike path up the Eagle on the Hill where the field was absolutely decimated! Shawry, Cam and I rode up near the front and this time Mick said he’d been caught at a traffic light. Think he was stuck in the 55/10 as well. With one leg. There were some rip roaring sections on the way to Willunga including passing the fattest cyclists ever seen, all riding on uber good bikes complete with 808’s! Fantastic! One even had a flat tyre and didn’t know it… Sheesh! Watched the start from McLaren Vale then rolled down to Willunga with about 683,246 spectators lining the roads.
We then had the Rapha moto scooter lead us up Willunga Hill as a group. Pulled into our vantage point about 100m before the finish and just relished the atmosphere…and the obliteration of the field by Gerro, Valverde and co! Ride back was once again epic, saw my fastest ever speed of 103kph on the highway descent, then after a quick drink stop we bridged across to Saxobank and Astana for the ride home! Later that night was hanging out with Steve Martin, Andrew Pike, Wade Wallace, Veeral Patal and some new mates from Townsville (who told us all about their ‘Thursday Morning Worlds’…had us in stitches hearing the epic tales of boys on 808’s racing across the ‘Arenberg Forest section’, putting each other in the gutter etc before work!!! Finished off by being invited into a club that had a girl:guy ratio of about 90:10 by the owner coz they love cyclists!
What a week!!
