Ride Reports
The 2010 edition of the Tour Down Under was a 'Blast'.
Several high profile riders like Lance Armstrong Cadel Evans George Hincappie Robbie Mcewen Stuart O'Grady Michael Rogers Oscar Pererio and last years winner Allan Davis were at this year Tour Down Under with their teams and the racing was not for the faint hearted. Two professional teams made their debut in Adelaide 'Team Radio Shack' and 'Team Sky' with 'Team BMC' showing their new signings Cadel Evans and George Hincappie. BMC were indicating that they are ready to take on the big teams in the Classics and, they hope, the Grand Tours. It was an awesome sight to see Cadel in the world champions Rainbow Jersey and his bike also adorned with the 'Rainbow' colours. Cadel in particular I thought looked well and very relaxed. During the course of the race he demonstrated he was definitely on the way to being in fine form.
Four riders from South West Rocks Peter & Trudy Needs Troy Green and myself were in Adelaide and very happy that we made the effort to be there to be part of a great UCI Pro Tour event and what really seemed to me to be as close as you get to the 'Tour de France' in Australia. Right from he get go we dropped our gear in at the hotel and headed up to the 'Tour Village' where we could not only to sample and purchase some great merchandise but watch as the many team mechanics cleaned stripped and rebuilt all of the riders bikes after a days racing in preparation for tomorrows stage. These guys really know what they are doing and the riders have to place a lot of faith in them, they would be trusting their machines on the road to carry them over the finish line after a grueling race the next day.
The next morning after unpacking and setting up our bikes we had a quick shake down ride around the streets of Adelaide during which we scouted the start of the days stage in Unley and found were we needed to be for the Mutual Challenge Ride in which we were all participating the next day. After a shower we drove down to Unley where we found a lovely coffee shop for Coffee with Raisin Toast. This also placed us well in position to watch the days stage start unfold with the arrival of the team vehicles one after the other and get our first glimpse of some of the riders. All the riders had to go through and sign on and many then came back to their support vehicle where they chatted and signed autographs. As luck had it the Radio Shack team vehicles pulled up in front of us and after a bit of a wait Lance Armstrong came through but then got in to the van and unfortunately didn't get back out for some time. Moving around was the way to go as this gave you the opportunity to see most of the teams watch and listen to the riders being interviewed a they signed on as well get some great pictures.
Once the riders got away we started to think about tomorrow and headed down to Goolwa which would be the site of the stage finish for both us as riders in the challenge as well as the professional riders who would ride the stage almost twice as fast as we would..:) Finding a suitable side road we parked our car leaving this for our return transport after our tomorrows ride and headed back to Adelaide on the bus. Another trip to the 'Tour Village' then dinner at 'Scoozi's' a lovely Italian restaurant cafe not far from the hotel made for a great finish to our first full day at the TDU.
Friday 20 January 2010 5:00am saw the four of gather outside the hotel and be greeted with unusually warm temperatures, had to be plus or minus 25 degrees. We cycled in the dark down to the days stage and challenge start where around 8000 other riders were beginning to gather. After signing on and receiving our riders Jersey a quick photo op with Crescent Head local and Coastline Credit Union manger Peter Townsend we found our way into the start chute placed our bike and went in search of some additional water as hydration was going to be the order of the day. This achieved around 6:00am we found our bikes and within five minutes we go ahead for the start was hearalded with little fanfare ( nobe actually). Rolling out the first eleven kilometres of the stage was neutral (or would be for the Pro Riders). Settling in Troy and I found ourselves without too many riders in front of us but plenty behind bearing in mind there would be others joining at the 110km and 35km to go marks we had started with 160km to go.
Once getting to the Adelaide Hills the temperatures noticeably dropped and the ride became pleasant albeit we had started to climb! Some magnificent scenery and good roads saw us make reasonable time finding ourselves at with 5km to the KOM before we knew it. It was a good climb with the last 1km being the hardest as it kicked up testing a lot of legs and prep training. From the sounds of the wheezing and puffing some surely had not really put enough preparation in. Once at the summit it was a pretty good ride down and after a quick stop for a Coke at Strathalbyn we continued on going reasonably well until we hit the cross and head wind around the 50km to go mark. This was a testing for the next 35km's and many were suffering severely along the way. Coupled with the heat of the day the ride had deteriorated into a bit of a psychological and physiological battle. Our water bottle had heated to the point we could have made a lovely cup of tea but not much good to hydrate and cool you down. Another stop a small village for another Coke we pushed on until the 20km to go mark where we found a water tanker with some reasonably cool water to see us through to the end. Refreshed (if you could call it that) we headed back out into the wind and Troy had mentioned there should be a left turn coming up at some point which we hope would give us some relief from the very persistent wind. At around 15km to go we did in deed turn and it wasn't long before Troy found some energy and reveled in the tail wind pumping out a very decent speed hitting around 50km per hour all of a sudden between us we were able to push hard and fast and no one was passing us any longer in fact we were pulling riders in left right and centre with many jumping on our train. This part of the ride made the whole ride and once we entered the finnish chute I looked at some guys that were keeping pace with and punched it at the 600 meter to go mark (couldn't help myself really) and even though I started to fade I hit the finish line at around 54km per hour. I was happy with that! What a ride, would I do it again...try and stop me!
We headed to the deregistration zone picked up our bags some drinks and headed to the car put the bikes away got changed and found a nice fish and chip shop where we could sit and watch everyone else come in. Not long before the Pro riders were due Peter & Trudy turned up across the way and appeared to have had a good ride as well albeit tough with the winds etc. Great to see we all finished and enjoyed the effort even if it wasn't immediately...:-) The peleton came through with Team Columbia leading out the sprint all in all an awesome sight and very fast. A great day.
Driving back to Adelaide I suffered some cramps but otherwise no ill effects. We organised a nice restaurant 'The Fig' not far from the 'Tour Village' and had a wonderful triple cooked steak which, I must say, absolutely melted in your mouth. Satisfied we headed back to the hotel for a well earned rest. tomorrow was another day.
Stage 5 started at Snapper Point and the four of us arrived there early enough to get a good park and scout the area before the team cars arrived. This time we all moved around more and as I was taking a picture of Cadel Evans's and George Hincappie's bikes sitting ion top of the support car we noticed that cadel was in fact siting in the back and George was in the front. After a short time Cadel came out and looking very well and relaxed he was happy to chat and sign autographs. Trudy managed get all of her jersey's signed and seeing as it was also her birthday she was very happy in the end with the autographs she got including that of Lance Armstrong which she missed out on the previous day. The start was fast and furious as there was no neutral distance today and made it's way out of Snapper Point with several laps to comple including the much anticipated two laps of Old Wilunga Hill. Troy returned to Adelaide and Peter Trudy and I made our way to Old Wilunga Hill were we found a good spot to sit and wait for the ride to come through. On the way there we had to make a stop and were able to watch the peleton come through and let me tell you 'feel the rush' is a true statement because there is nothing like seeing these guys go through a peleton doing speeds in excess of 50km per hour chasing a break away. Awesome!
On the Hill it was hot but the feeling was that of being at the Tour de France with the people lining the hill all the way to the summit and the colour and spectacle was enjoyable to experience. The first time the riders came through there was a breakaway group leading the pack but an hour later when they returned for the second climb it was Cadel Evans on the front with Valverde and Sanchez, all big name riders, following hot on his heels, this was exciting to see, watching later on tv to see how it all unfolded and to have been there was unbelievable. Sanchez won the stage in the end with Evans taking fourth.
Having had our cycling hit Peter Trudy and I headed to Handorf and spent a wonderful afternoon wandering around this beautiful German inspired village and finishing with Wheat beer and 'apple strudel' at the pub rounding out a happy experience for the birthday girl as well as Peter and I. Heading back to Adelaide it was time to consider preparing for our departure the following day.
Sunday morning we had to take the opportunity of riding a few laps of the criterium circuit in North Adelaide which was the scene of the 6th and final stage for the Pro Riders. Again this was a great experience and watching the stage on tv once home it was a great feeling to know you had just ridden that very track that very morning. Our flight was at midday so we needed to get our bikes packed check out and head for the airport.
'2011 TDU' look out I think we will be back!
