Spectator Ride Report Stage 2 Tour Down Under 2011 Part 1

[Dougie]

As my wife commented, there were more shaved, waxed, primped, buffed, plucked and fake tanned legs than the entire membership of the Pink Sticks Marching Band at the Mardi Gras, and that was just the boys. She looked sorrowfully at my pasty, little chicken legs, laughed and went to chat to another MAMIL (Middle Aged Man In Lycra) whom appeared to have better legs than Elle McPherson. Such was the tone of our week in Adelaide for the annual Tour Down Under.
Smooth trip down on Qantas on Tuesday night. A sea of bike boxes, big and small, and bike bags soft and hard. I have a Route 7 hard case that has worked very week so far and can fit in to the rear of a station wagon ($299 delivered to my door). As well as the bike, I packed in my track pump, shoes, bottles, kit, helmet etc with an all up weight of 22KG.

The hotel was located on in the City, on North Terrace. I reckon that at about half the guests were cyclists judging by the number in the foyer and around the pool. Adelaide is VERY bike friendly, plenty of bike lanes on major roads and paths climbing into the Hills and south to the Mclaren Vale. Clearly there is a strong bike culture as many city and inner suburban cafes cater to roadies regularly and not just for the week of the TDU.

Once I put the bike back together Ii was ready for my first ride on Wednesday morning. I had arranged to meet up with Alison G from the C25's and a mate from the Gold Coast. The first ride was to see the Peloton pass through Woodside in the Adelaide Hills. Woodside via Stirling was a 40Km ride and I had allowed up to three hours to give us plenty of time. We headed southwest along Glen Osmond Rd. It is a busy road however there were plenty of cyclists providing drivers with a great deal of awareness. I was very pleasantly surprised by the courtesy shown by both drivers and cyclists. Glen Osmond Rd is a gentle 7KM climb to the base of the Hills. Enough to lift the heart rate and dampen the top lip but otherwise fine. At the base of the Hills we pulled over and discussed the next part of the route up to Crafers, the highest point of the ride. The Gov’t has built a bike path and a new freeway, allowing for 10KM of climbing on a virtually car free road. I saw three cars on the way up and one on the way down! The climb has a varying gradient averaging about 4% for the 10KM with some 12% heart starters thrown in just to make sure you are awake. The view is great from the various look outs along the way.

We then came back on to the road for the balance of the journey. We dropped down into Stirling, this was to be the finish of Stage Three the next day. Dropped further to Aldgate. From there it was rolling hills through Bridgewater, Verdun, Balhannah, Oakbank and finally Woodside. There were plenty of locals and tourists along the way. Sometimes jumping on the back of a bunch and other times being joined. For the last 5 Km or so we ended up with a chap from Melbourne all kitted up in his Club colours. He had managed to hang on for dear life to his bunch on the descent down Greenhill Rd where he had started his ride from. As they came around the corner he was unceremoniously dropped and he joined us blowing and trumpeting like a bull elephant on the rampage. At one point I thought he would drop dead whilst pedalling. Once we got into Woodside he went off to find his mates and possibly a taxi home.

We placed ourselves strategically on the sharp right hander entering the main street of Woodside. I guess tattooed on my forehead is “talk to me please” as a couple of crazy people, you know the one’s, SPD sandals and a hessian bag, and way too much Livestrong gear to be taken seriously came over for a chat. Circus of Police Motorcyclists and other support vehicles whizzed through noisily heralding the arrival of the “tete de la course”. They didn’t miss a beat as they went through the turn. The Crazy Person got very excited! A few minutes later the Peloton zoomed past disappearing on up the road toward the KOM and the final stretch home. The tight racing was something to behold. Clearly these guys are so in tune with their bikes and their fellow riders that they may as well have been on rails rounding the corner. The Crazy Person was resonating with excitement. I think she spotted Lance three times in the Peloton.

The Shimano Neutral Service cars came by crewed by local bike shop owners which was good to see. Finally the Green Light Vehicle rolled through and that was it.
We retired to the Woodside Hotel Verandah to peruse the menu. The schnitzel filled the spot but could have easily also patched any holes in my tyres. Alison’s vegetarian choice looked pretty average however she “hardened up” and downed the lot in preparation for the ride back to Adelaide.

Stay tuned for the next instalment, the ride back!
Cheers
Dougie

[timyone]

are we still waiting for the next installment?

[Trouty]

Yeah...me too. Although I still can't get past Dougie's description of his Pasty "Little chicken legs". Newsflash Dougie - those legs that carry artillery up all terrain, lead a whole peleton up a waterfall hill..........are anything put little chicken legs.

Like - Tim, look forward to Stage 2 as Stuey and I will definitely be going next year.