The Longest Day.....Victor Harbour

When the TDU goes to Victor Harbour, it is always close to a 200k day for us.  Meeting outside the hotel at 8.30 was a large contingent of riders looking to "hook on" to the the now well known ride. Rolling down the Anzac Highway on the way for the coffee at Glenelg, there were a few with sore legs from the spirited riding of the last few days.  Buzz took off first, taking the Melbourne Boys by suprise, clobbering them along the Highway for early points.  As Buzz took off, you could sense a few  people thinking.....it's a long day...!



Busy at Glenelg

Coffee was very crowded with bikes and riders all around the Glenelg quadrangle. Caffeined up, we took off down the Southern Beach of Adelaide, past Seaford towards Noarlunga. The group had grown considerably since we left the CBD. There must have been over 80 riders heading along the Esplanade!  Early into a big day and there was plenty of enthusiasim at the front of the group. Riders were punching along, swapping off turns into  a strong headwind. The Melbourne boys had bought in some young blokes from Albert Park, Aritisan Cycles. They did a lot of breaking the wind for the rest of us as we headed for the first stop of the day, the KOM at Sellecks Hill. 

Leigh and Deggers claim a false win at Sellecks

 

 As the group hit the bottom of Sellecks Hill, Leigh took off at the front. Buzz went to chase, only to be told "dont worry he is only going for a leak", however it really was Leigh on the attack.

The question is....how low do these Hampton Guys have to go to snare a win??



Plenty of Carbs here



Question is..has Damo had too much pasta?

Sellecks was nullified due to the dirty pool rules being played. The peleton came through and we got ready to go over to Victor Harbour for the second stage of our ride, when Gus, David, Tim, and a few others decided to call it a half day and head back.  We sent Kay-belle back with them to make sure they were legit, and the rest of us headed off towards Victor. The fresh legs of the Artisan Cycles boys were putting a few (like me!) into the hurt box. I put the head down, gritted the teeth and like a few others hung on.We reached Victor Harbour for a well earned lunch and to watch what was to become another Greipel sprint. Lunch was at the usual Italian...spag bol's all round.. Fuleled we went to the 200m to go mark and watch the big boys wind up for the sprint.

It was time to head back to Adelaide. another 100k in front on the Buzz designed course. Pace was pretty solid as we headed out behind the (young) Aritisan Cycles boys. A few got shelled, and we made the turn at Mt Compass

Proof!

where we took a wrong turn and turned up on unmade roads.  Correction made we took off towards Adelaide down the huge Willunga Hill descent. We let it go down the  hill with Buzz again taking the honors hitting 101kph, Damo 99.8, me 99k. Damo tried to protest that his wheel wasnt calibrated correctly but the race committee overrulled the protest!

As we were flying into town, doing 65k per hour down the A13, I had a rear wheel blowout at 65kper hour. A bit scary stopping, I managed to get the bike under control and was thankful of the  rest!

I trundled the last 6k into town. A big day of 190k. 

More tomorrow...Norton Summit Awaits

Le Foz