Tour Down Under 2011

On Friday, I got up bright and early at 4.45am so that I could get down to Norwood for the 6.30am start of this year's Challenge Tour for the Tour Down Under. Well ok, it was early but I wasn't feeling particularly bright at that hour!

The course was 135km, winding up through Gumeracha through the Adelaide Hills following the Onkaparinga valley then to Mt Barker, Macclesfield and Meadows before finishing at Strathalbyn.

Once again I rode with my Dad, and this time he was definitely setting the pace!The only thing that could slow him down was a puncture on Gorge Rd, and me trying to keep up. My other problem was in getting ready and driving to Mum & Dad's in the dark to meet our lift I managed to leave one of my bike gloves in the car – which meant had to ride with just one glove (a bit less comfortable but was ok).

](/assets/2011/01/wp_000078[3].jpg)We left Norwood just as the sun was rising, and headed off at a nice pace. Dad had done a trial of Checker's hill a few weeks ago and suggested we'd be better off taking the detour. I'm glad we did and heard that many who attempted it ended up having to get off and walk up the hill.

There were regular drink stops, and the major rest stop at Oakbank was well prepared. Even when they ran out of Powerade, they managed to find some more supplies quickly.

Even in a crowd of 7,500 cyclists, Adelaide being what it is you're bound to bump into someone you know. Here's Paul (also member of Sevenfold) enjoying the stop at Oakbank. I also bumped into Grant, who I worked with years ago way back in my SysAdmin days. He said there was something distinctive about me to make me easy to pick out in a crowd.

The weather was very kind – it was a mostly fine day but stayed quite mild which was a big relief to me! The wind was quite blustery but was quite refreshing, except for the final downhill run into Strathalbyn where it was pushing us around a bit.

We completed the distance in 5 hours 50 minutes and even though my preparation had been very limited leading up to the ride, I didn't feel too bad. Having said that I was glad to finish and my behind was about done with sitting on a bike seat for a while.