Tour Down Under - RADelaide adventures
Sometimes things just fall
into place.
I have had a pretty amazing
adventure and Summer so far, going from a pretty busy work schedule training up
in the hills for Tour of Bright, finishing 7th on Women’s B General
Classification, getting really sick, preparing for wedding, getting married,
Christmas, training camp up in Falls Creek till new years day, Ballarat for the
Australian National Cycling Championships, work for a week, then over to
Adelaide for the Tour Down Under.
 |
| Von and Stephen Lane back of Falls Creek. Photo: Shane Miller |
Work slotted into place,
accommodation sorted out the week before and suddenly my husband decides to
enter a Veterans race series around Adelaide! OK, it didn't take too much to
convince me to throw my hat in the ring - but I drew the line at bringing my
Time Trial bike!
When we arrived in Adelaide
it was nice and warm Saturday afternoon and we got to go for a walk on the
beach and look at the shops along Glenelg. Somehow our hosts for the week had
gotten the dates mixed up and we were waiting for a meet up on the wrong day!
SUNDAY
Going on the memories of
the awesome rides last year we headed out for a reconnoissance of the Mt Barker
Rd hill climb the SA Veterans had in store for us later in the week. We went up
the climb and then somehow got lost in Stirling going up to Mt Lofty. We found
it in the end and ran into a few Stay True racing guys. Always a nice surprise
to see a familiar face in a random place while cycling around. The descent was
good fun down and alllllllll downhill back to Glenelg.
http://app.strava.com/activities/38199234
 |
| Top of Mt Lofty. Photo: Shane Miller |
The first Santos Women's
Cup race was fast and furious. It took a few laps for the big-screen to kick in
and I cooled off with a slurpie on the side lines. It was great to wave to
ex-team mate Lauretta Hanson on the start line and I saw Jenny Macpherson
waving too. There were a few other local Melbourne racers in there that I've
ridden with before, Nicole Whitburn, Amy Bradley. A few international riders
like Rochelle Gilmore, Jo Hogan, Emma Mackie etc.
We had a healthy dinner from an
awesome burrito joint on Rundell St. We also met Durian Rider the vegan
cyclist & Freely the vegan banana eating machines.
MONDAY
SA Vets 22km Individual
Time Trial from Woodchester to Langhorne Creek and back
A welcoming and well
organised setup of rego, road signage, automated timing, Baker's Delight goodies
afterwards, and prizes for all (yep, those that didn't place got door prizes!).
I came in first for 30-34 women with clip on TT bars. It was my first TT
since TOB and it was just as hard as I thought it was going to be. OUCH!
 |
| Picking up the 1st prize in SA Vets TT. Photo: Shane Miller |
 |
| Jo driving the pace early on. Photo: Veronica Micich |
TUESDAY
Woke up and rolled to the
start in of TDU in Prospect. After waiting 25mins for coffee, I snaked the line
when the announcers started calling up the riders and everyone went to
spectate. We then went to explore the famous corkscrew that the TDU were to
race up the next day. It's so nice to ride the roads in the warm weather
straight out to the hills and you're warmed up. Out Gorge Road and straight up
the corkscrew. Shane had to remind me we had a hill climb TT the next day and
to back it off when I got to the bottom. A little excited we enjoyed the views
of the steep sides around us, the house with a moat, lemon trees with fruit
rolling down the hill and then the +5% start. Tapping it out into a rhythm
and the road kicks up again into tighter gradients and switch backs that
reminded me of some of the climbs in France that I did last year. I had in my
mind it was 6km climb and was wondering what else it had in store for me when
the gradient backed off and a Euro tourist called out to me that we were nearly
there! WHAT?! I asked him if he was sure and he replied in a thick accent that
it was just around the corner and sure enough 500m and we'd popped out on the
main road. One quick word to Shane and we climbed up again from there to the
church look-out above the corkscrew. Amazing! The fast descent back in town was
Soooooo much fun. I like the flowing speed and relatively open corners to then
zoom straight back into town.
 |
| Corkscrew Road... Ouch! Photo: Shane Miller |
That night we had a dinner
party with our hosts and their sailing friends. They were so inspired by our
racing tales that they were going to join us at the hill climb TT the next day.
WEDNESDAY
Up early and out to Mt
Barker Rd for the SA Vets 6km Hill Climb competition. I warmed up and did
the last 3 kms with Shane at a moderate pace, then dropped down to the start
and tried to think calm zen thoughts, but all I wanted was a coffee! I took off
and started up the very narrow track and had to come around someone JUST as
another rider took that moment to drop back onto the bike path coming right for
me. Close call, you might be able to see the moment on my strava file I hit the
brakes and then crank it up the hill with gusto.
Shane met me off the course
further up the climb as I pegged my power. Head wind all the way it was nice to
have someone shout at me during segments - a bit like how GreenEdge had race
radio all the way at the Nationals TT.
I came in 2nd in my
category and with a power PB which was really a bonus that lifted my spirits
after not being on structured training plan for the last few weeks. When
we got back in town we rode back into the city to the village to watch the pros
climb the corkscrew - like it was FLAT! Riding home it was hot and we were
happy to get a few more kms in - but nearly got wiped off the road 2x from
turning vehicles not looking or even indicating before turning!
 |
| Drinks and watching the finish on the big screen TV in comfort. Photo: Shane Miller |
THURSDAY
This was the fun part of
the trip. I had been waiting to see what this would be like - parade car for
Thule. We didn't have any cool things to throw out the window, or massive kms
to drive on our day - but we did have full aircon and mad tunes on a 37 degree
day in Stirling.
We missed the briefing due to a cyclist vs truck vs bus accident on the Anzac hwy, but made it just in time to take a few happy snaps and jump behind the wheel. Full turbo diesel around the corners and hanging on for dear life! We had to keep formation and not slam into the back of the Loreal car :) We made it to the start line and I grabbed coffees and lunch from the Unley bakery and wandered up to the start line to take pics. I got a phone call from Shane to let me know the engines were running and it looked like we were rolling 30mins before the riders!! EEeek! I sprinted back to the navigators front seat just as we drove off in formation.
We took off honking
the horn at receiving waves from the crowd and zipped out the course to stop a
few times for the other cars to hand out freebies. We make it out to Stirling
and its HOT! I watched a few laps live, and then sit in the aircon in the car
trying to keep cool and eat lunch. Then I think Shane remembered the chaos of
getting home on the bike last year - and we took off early back to the TDU
village to watch the finish. Glenelg Beach was a nice place to cool off that
evening. I made my first even Bread and Butter Pudding out of leftover
fruit bread from the Vets race. It was SO GOOD!
 |
| Looking official in my "Who's your Caddy" - Thule tshirt. Photo: Shane Miller |
We missed the briefing due to a cyclist vs truck vs bus accident on the Anzac hwy, but made it just in time to take a few happy snaps and jump behind the wheel. Full turbo diesel around the corners and hanging on for dear life! We had to keep formation and not slam into the back of the Loreal car :) We made it to the start line and I grabbed coffees and lunch from the Unley bakery and wandered up to the start line to take pics. I got a phone call from Shane to let me know the engines were running and it looked like we were rolling 30mins before the riders!! EEeek! I sprinted back to the navigators front seat just as we drove off in formation.
 |
| Thule Parade Car in formation - ready to Roll! Photo: Veronica Micich |
FRIDAY
A massive tailwind up the
coast road to try find the Vets crit track in the industrial back blocks of
Adelaide. The circuit was quite similar to National Boulevard except dead flat.
It was hard to get to on a work day so we kept on going out to Modbury for the
TDU start. I was feeling a bit cranky with all the trucks and uphill headwind
for 20kms. After a coffee and break to watch the start of the stage we tapped
out the climb up to Millbrook Reservoir. Shane was getting a bit impatient and
started pushing me past the Bupa riders and over my limit. When the road
started flowing into rollers and downhill, he had to chase to catch up or even
overtake. It was a long roll from there downhill, down gorge rd and back into
town. We had lunch at the Village and watched the stage end. It was hard to
watch all the crashes in the final kms.
We had a nice dinner out
with the sales guys and sponsored athletes from Thule. Somehow we got talking
about mountain biking and agreed to do the Mont 24hr race in Canberra this year.
SATURDAY
We rode out to Willunga
Hill on the bike path that followed the hwy. At one point we stopped and saw
the team cars and vans head out. I got a wave from the GreenEdge car full of
riders - that made me giggle. There is a lot of road works where they are
duplicating the hwy and i was glad to have a steady stream of locals to show me
the way through the detours!
Coffee in McLaren Vale,
watched the start and hunt and gathered for lunch. Today was Australia Day and
I was excited to see 1 last lamington left in the bakery. It was a mini fancy
one with jam and cream, not often found and I presented it to Shane (one of his
favourite bakery treats) when I came out with the rest of the lunch to go.
We rode to the top of the
hill and napped under the trees while we waited for the race to come by and
tried to get to the finish line but missed out on a view of the big screen.
When we saw Gerro sprint across the line for the last time we were shocked and
stoked that an Aussie wont he iconic stage on Australia DAY!
 |
| Nearly at the top of Willunga Hill. Photo: Shane Miller |
A few years ago we came
over to do the Masters Games in RADelaide and knew the back road down to
McLaren Vale, it was awesome to zoom down with no traffic and jump back onto
the main road as the pro bunches rolled back toward town. Last year I tried to
sit on one bunch as they took the main hwy back to town and didn't make it over
the first hill with the bunch (and resigned myself to the bike path home), this
year I was easily keeping pace and overtaking a few guys. We filtered to the
front of the bunch as more and more people couldn't keep pace with the Garmin
Cervello and Astana riders on the front. I think we had the BEST Coke Float on
the way home :)
SUNDAY
Got up what seemed like
super early and drove out to the Vets crit course. Without much time for a warm
up I jumped on the bike, pinned on a number for the D grade race. I was feeling
a bit excited on the bike, final race, long car trip home, let's expend a lot
of energy and see how many times I can attack or chase them down. I got a few
half lap leads but in the end my last attack on 2 laps to go, wore me out and I
couldn't shake them. I rolled in with the bunch for 8th place, happy with all
the efforts until the one other woman in the race who I hadn’t seen in the
second half of the race rolled me on the line... after I’d stopped sprinting
when the first 3 places were finished. http://app.strava.com/activities/40534318
We stuffed ourselves with
Bakers Delight goodies and hot coffee for the presentations and it was great
that our hosts for the week came down to watch us race. As part of our thanks,
we game them all the local cafe vouchers to enjoy.
Packing up our base camp
and finding a good park to get out of town, we then made our way into the
professional Tour Down Under for a real lunch in the Corporate stands. Thule
had very generously given us 2 passes to a free buffet lunch and bar. I was not
sure exactly what we were going to be able to see/do in there, but when we
settled in there after a good feed we met up with the guys and then checked out
the media section. We saw all the even luckier ones jump into team cars
and zoom off down the main straight. I then realised there were a few seat
spare near the finish line in the stands and we settled down to watch the race
unfold. The dessert buffet came out and we were set for the day!
It was great
to meet the owner of Adelaide Euride stores and hear his perspective of the new
tech coming out and his plans for an NRS team in 2013. Griepel won the day and
we travelled the long road home without event back to normality.
 |
| Taking the corner at speed. Photo: Shane Miller |
 |
| 2 Lammingtons for the Llama. Photo: Shane Miller |
 |
| A little overexcited with the seats right on the finish line!! Shane keeping his cool in the heat. Photo: Veronica Micich (selfie-lol) |
I'd love to say that all my
holidays are this good, but sometimes things just fall into place.
