Tour Down Under 2015
The protected rider was flanked by two domestiques in front and behind. The first kilometre of the three kilometre Willunga Hill climb is the steepest. The rider was hurting, the pain was etched in his face. Further up the road the crowd could be heard urging riders on. Campers lined the lower slopes and shady spots drew spectators like bees to honey and yet they climbed on.
The climb seemed relentless and the noise grew ever closer. Suddenly they were in the thick of it. The crowd spotted the lead rider and urged him by name to fight on, the top was within his reach. Suddenly he leapt from his seat like he’d been bitten. He launched his attack, taking his protectors completely by surprise. The supporters roared their approved of such a move. He broke away from his protective enclave, attacking riders in front and dropping them in his wake. Such panache rarely seen and the approval is swift and loud. The rider’s grimace of pain twisted into a smile of pure joy. This was going to be fun!
Extract reprinted with permission of William Kirkham, Winner of the Tour de France 2034 from his unauthorised biography Willunga Will, page 47 The Early Years.
This visit to the TDU 2015 was the first occasion that I would have William riding with me. William asked last year if he could take his bike for the 2015 visit. We could hardly say no. We are old hands now at the trip to Adelaide, although an additional bike was adding a level of complexity not previously experienced. Check in, the trip down and arrival at our friends home in Glenelg were all smooth.
The first order of business was to put the bikes back together with a view to visiting the Tour Village in Town. We rolled out to the Anzac Highway and immediately joined the back of Etixx Quickstep who were on an easy training ride. The riders graciously brought William up into the bunch and we enjoyed a wonderful, swift ride for the 10KM up to the city. We snapped a couple of pictures with the boys and they loaded William up with some energy bars. As William’s first on bike experience on the TDU this was both fantastic and a challenge to beat!
We took the opportunity when visiting the Village to collect the DHBC Domestiques team jersey’s for the BUPA ride on Friday. All was in order for the Team to ride once again. As has been the case in the recent past DHBC had a sizable contingent visiting Adelaide. Around about twenty club members had made the journey. For some this was their first visit and for others like us they had been in prior years.
It was around this time that William announced his strong desire to stalk, should I say ride with Trek Factory Racing. Alas without causing an international incident we couldn’t spot TFR in a location that was consistent with what could be considered reasonable human interaction. TFR would have to wait another day to meet William.
We rode home via Outer Harbour and Henley Beach. All up our ride about 40 odd Kilometres and grand total of around 40 metres of climbing. If you aren’t in the Hills Adelaide is pretty flat!
In the lead up to the TDU we had received information about various rides. Unfortunately we arrived too late in the day to ride with the voices of Cycling, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin. Having said that we had scored a ride with Lotto Soudal on Monday morning. Whilst I recognise that Lotto Soudal is NOT Trek Factory Racing I had hoped that it might be considered up there in similarity. Nope! Oh well I suppose I need to come to terms with disappointing my children on a regular basis. We formed up with the team and greeted a plethora of DHBC riders also coming along for the ride. added to this were about another fifty riders whom had spotted the team forming up and though this was their opportunity to be a hero. Sadly, this pushed us quite a long way back. We rolled out and managed to stay on through a few sets of traffic lights until the inevitable occurred and the bunch was split.
James Rogers gallantly moved to the front and soto voce asked if William could hold 33kph on this road with a view to catching the bunch at the next intersection. With the disappointment etched on his face I told James he could hold 35 and lets go! Will’s little legs spun like pistons and away we went. Considering his Junior Gearing Rollout is 5.5 metres or 34/12 he spun up to warp factor 9 sitting on 35+ in no time. We managed to get back on but were again split a little further on down the road. We arrived at a T junction and with no sign of the Lotto Bunch we resigned ourselves to a nice coffee cruise. Will wanted to go and hunt other teams however I felt that this was a winning proposition. That disappointed face had returned and it was one I figured I was going to need to get used to.
At that very moment I am sure I could hear the angels singing the chorus to Halleluiah for around the corner swung Trek Factory Racing in full flight. William screamed “Dad, Trek!” and with that he was gone. He used all his track racing skills and latched on to the back of the TRF train. We have a saying in our household, when you are crossing the road as a group, “when I say go, if you say what, you will be talking to yourself”. I found myself in a somewhat similar situation as the sight of Will’s little red jersey receded into the distance. A couple of things entered my mind. Only one of which can be repeated in mixed company, namely, “I have lost William, what am I going to tell his mother?”
As my Strava shows I immediately entered threshold and remained there for the length of the subsequent chase. I don’t recall working so hard in a long time. The Trek boys certainly took the corners in a forthright manner and William remained glued to their tail. They brought him into the bunch and certainly looked after him during my chase. I am most grateful as Will would have taken the corners and the traffic on anyway so at least he was being watched. Fortunately we rolled into a coffee shop at Henley Beach where William was able to get some pictures and score himself a genuine TFR bidon (the holy grail of the TDU) and I was able to get my breath back. Will impressed the guys as he knew each of their names certainly wasn’t afraid to use this knowledge. We sat enjoying our coffee other DHBC mates rolled in along with Team Lotto Jumbo. Team Sky rolled by as did others. The roll home was pleasant, flat and at a pace that allowed me to concoct a story that demonstrated that I was a good and careful father as opposed to delinquent and derelict in my parental duties. By the time we got home I was father of the year, at least in my own mind.
Will’s Trek stalking continued with a quick ride into town to the Bicycle Express store where TFR where doing an in store appearance. Will nonchalantly wandered up to the lads and was immediately recognised by them as “the kid from this morning”. They asked him how many k’s he had done today. When he told them he had ridden 67K each illicited an unprintable response when he told them he was 11 years old. Will was pretty pleased with himself at this point.
Tuesday Stage 1
We rolled out from the Hilton a little after 8am with a view to catching the Peloton at Checker Hill for the KOM. On my way to the Hilton I chatted with one of the female riders competing in the Women’s Tour. She commented that she had raced the climb yesterday and although it was nasty, the 100kph downhill on the other side made it all worthwhile. Hmm, time would tell.
Seven of us headed north east bound for Gorge Rd. A quick pit stop at the Athelstone BP and we entered the beautiful gorge. The program allowed for an optional climb of the famous Corkscrew for any whom were game to take on this beast. This climb beat me last year in the 36 degree heat. This year I was fitter and it was certainly cooler. I am pleased to report all seven successfully summited the Col de Corkscrew. If it’s not on Strava it never happened, right? By the time we reached the bottom of the descended one of our number discovered he had delaminated his carbon clinchers from the heat build up. I’ll leave that tale for him tell.
The climb commenced in earnest as we rolled on toward Forreston. We passed other bunches and other bunches passed us. Some even contained Club mates. DHBC was everywhere. There evidence of the recent bush fires was everywhere as was a somewhat confronting smell. With a 50km ride we learned to embrace the stink. We rolled passed a couple of little shops along the way full of cyclists secure in MY knowledge that Forreston would have all the sustenance we could possibly need. Sadly, Forreston’s most notable point was the sign that said “Forreston”. Surely there will be a food truck or a sausage sizzle at the KOM I grandly stated with a strained air of desperation. Suffice to say the KOM had nothing. I offered up my two gels and a banana lest I be stuffed into a barrel and disposed of in an unpleasant fashion.
We rode the KOM and indeed it was nasty. It just seemed to get steeper and steeper. The spectators cheered mightily for each rider as they rode by. It was all in good fun and the atmosphere was electric. The Breakaway rocketed past us with Bobridge trying for the leader’s jersey and the KOM jersey all at once. I just tried to remain balanced on this steep bit of tarmac. A minute or so later the Bunch rolled by, I was pleased to see that the sprinters where having a tough time of it. No one other than Ritchie Porte seemed to enjoy the climb. I swear Ritchie has a third lung.
Our gallant bunch of riders rolled back towards Adelaide in search of food, any food. We raided a little town much in the same vein as the Vikings laid waste to much of northern England. We inhaled things that resembled food before ripping down Gorge Rd at what could be best described as fast before finally finding ourselves back in town.
Wednesday Stage 2
William and I rolled to the start on King William Rd, Unley. I had warned Will that this is a day for the Climber. The “are we there yets” and “how long to go’s” started long before we started to climb up the bike path towards Stirling. To Will’s credit he gritted his teeth and got on with it. Once we arrived at Stirling Will decided that that was far enough for him today and that he would do the descent with me but climb no more!
I went on to the town of Mylor to see the Peloton catching up with regular and not so regular DHBCers along the way. I arrived back in Stirling to find William clipped in and ready to go. The Trek boys had said to him in jest that Will should lead them back down the hill as their legs will be tired from the race. Well, William took them at their word and shot off up the road in an effort to get to the top of the bike path before the Trek boys would get there. Yet again I played the role of Father of the Year as my unaccompanied Spawn disappeared into the crowd of lycra clad cyclists all doing the same thing. I caught up with him as Trek rider said “hey” to him as he went by. As far as William was concerned that was the ducks nuts.
We enjoyed the descent together with Will showing maturity and control beyond his years. We did come across a crash near the bottom that involved a local Sydney junior and a member of the BMC team. It would appear the junior suffered only road rash whereas the BMC rider broke his collar bone.
Thursday Stage 3
William decided not to ride today so I headed for the Hills once more with some DHBCers for company. Again we took on the beautiful Gorge Rd and a visit to the Corkscrew. The ride was short to the hilltop finish in Paracombe. It was a hot day, the hottest so far of the week. The highlight was witnessing Rohan Dennis’ attack and win, taking the leader’s jersey. Our roll home down Gorge Rd was spectacular and fast. The Team cars and riders rode alongside us including the likes of Ritchie Porte.
Friday Stage 4 – The Bupa Challenge
William and I had been training for this in the lead up to the Big Day. Will had completed a Waterfall and an M7 in the weeks before the visit to Adelaide. We had registered for the 77.5KM section of the Bupa Challenge. We managed to convince the Bride to get up at 4.45am to take us both to the start line at Mt Compass, south of McLaren Vale. We found the most difficult part was getting a hot chocolate and a coffee before the start of the event. I have only ever done the full length of this event in the past so I was intrigued as to what we would find. I expected a fair few juniors however I was surprised to find a lot of very expensive bicycles being ridden by portly gentlemen whom loudly trumpeted that they do a 50 kilometre ride each week.
We set off and Will rode strongly. In fact we didn’t get passed too often. He descended very well and climbed with determination. It rained for about an hour in the middle of the ride. It was enough to make the roads slippery but not drench us in the process. This gave way to clear and dry weather. We finished the ride in four hours of elapsed time. In hindsight we could have taken on the 115km distance without trouble. Will has already declared that he will do the full distance next year. I fear a monster has been created. By 7.30pm William was broken he inhaled his dinner and was having difficulty keeping his face from falling into his ice cream.
Saturday Stage 5
Willunga Hill is a great stage of the race. I really wanted for William to be able to ride up the Hill and listen to the roar of the crowd. I rode down to the McLaren Vale start and met up with the Bride and Spawn on arrival. William and his sister stalked riders whilst I ate too many sausage sizzles and the Bride looked on.
Five of us rolled out of McLaren Vale toward the township of Willunga where we met up with other families. Once the Peloton passed through Willunga we commenced our assault on Old Willunga Hill. With a sea of riders and walkers all heading toward the summit negotiating as safe passage up the road was just as challenging as the steep gradient.
William was given protected rider status and was flanked fore and aft by James, Taku, Jeremy and I. He did very well climbing and grinned from ear to ear as spectators urged him on. Big kudos goes to Taku whom encouraged Will and acted as an excellent role model. The top of Willunga is a zoo. There were guys with deck chairs and eskies full of cans, an excited fellow in a Tellie Tubbie Onesie, wannabe racers, ambush marketers and everyone in between. Having said that it was all in good fun and I didn’t see any poor behaviour or any push and shove. Oh and the cycling, fabulous!
Sunday Stage 6
The Crit is boring. There I said it. It’s dull and it’s past it’s used by date. I would like to think that next year they could come up with something else. After the excitement of Willunga Hill they day before its and anti climax.
Its probably a good day to go and visit a winery!
Statistics
William – 243.3 km and 2,854 metres climbed
Dougie – 517 km and 6,534 metres climbed
Who’s coming next year?