Phew - that was a hard day.
The instructions said to gather at the start line (which was the finish line for the Gong Ride) at 6:30 AM. What they didn't say was that we wouldn't hit the road until 8:50 AM.
That's a lot of standing around worrying how much damage was being done to brand new cleats, and trying on the kit for size: I now own a very nice bib knick and jersey.
A lot of the time was spent chatting with the other guest riders - there are about 65 doing the full tour and 50 guests on various days - and doing some media stuff. We were on Sunrise, for what that's worth, and I was pimped out as a big bloke so the logos of the supporters - Optus in this case - were prominent.
The start line had food and drink galore, plus a local radio station pumping out non stop blocks of classic schlock. It was bloody boring so everyone drank too much, but by the time we eventually rolled out at least we knew the names of the other guest riders.
The route was comfortable, cruising through the Gong and down to Shellharbour on main roads which made the headwinds easier to handle. Then the highway into Kiama, where it rained for a bit before the nasty climb onto the esses on the way to Gerringong. That descent was bloody tricky - heavy crosswinds and a rough shoulder. It was one of those moments when I felt I had a very slim chance of controlling the bike at anything more than about 20 km/h, so I slowed down and hung on.
At Gerringong we had a good morning tea, but at 45 minutes it was too long. And with the grass damp it a cleats vs. cold decision was a tricky one to make.
Morning tea was also at sea level - d'oh! - so up we went through Gerringong and down the coast road to Nowra. Once we got through Geroa it was single file all the way to
Nowra, into the wind and with a narrow shoulder. It was real eyes down, trust the calls and watch the wheel in front stuff.
At Nowra we had some more sugar shots and then came the nasty bits - the open, windy stretch of highway and then the rollers on the way into Huskisson.
I was a mess by then on anything with a gradient of more than about 2% - the average speed had been about 27 km/h and the wind meant there was effort to get to that. But the organisation was excellent: there were four guys with radios in each of the three bunches and they nursed along the old and infirm - such as myself - very well.
At Huskisson the pub put on a barbequeue that would have filled Fred Flintstone, and we heard some moving stories from cancer survivors.
You can follow the riders each day here:
http://tdc2011.cscomnilocation.com/omni/controller# and there's some more info here
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/factshee ... r-de-cure/
Overall, a top event. If you ever get offered a gig, grab it. And if you work for a supercolossal corporation, hassle them to sign up as a sponsor so you can have a go!
