Friday 20th November 2015 Port Wakefield to Mawson Lakes (A hard day made brutal by the unhappy Wind Gods!)
And the tour continues............................Heat Heat go away, and it did and the wind blew even harder!
Distance - 171 kms (this was the scenic route)
Time in saddle - 7hrs 00 minutes 01 seconds
Average Speed - 24.4 kmh (This was the slowest day on tour with the wind being either strong headwinds or crosswinds whichever direction we were heading) Max Speed under brakes was 51.1 kmh, with turbo Sump Power in full effect!
Elevation gained was not so nice, with 1357 m gained with an 11% section that almost blew Mr Lucas up with his average heart rate at 134 bpm, this little ascent int the middle of an 8k climb had him almost tapped out at 169bpm! Almost time for Paramedic Pete to be called into action?! 4yrs on and I still don't like hills Mr 3 Peaks Jiz!
Calories used : 3342, and we are not discussing the total calories consumed this week!
The majestic Port Wakefield cabin park was quiet for the night, almost, as a stirring on the grassy knoll, turned out to be the Tim Tam man Mohanbala, as he had managed to lock himself out of the ablution block by forgetting the combination to his offsite ensuite. So instead was doing some garden nurturing by spraying some uric acid around in front of his cabin. Was only detected when upon smiling at a passing possum.
We had a home cooked breakfast put on by the lovely Family at the Port Wakefield Hotel, and a quick briefing and we were ready to roll for our second to last day and our last school visit before needing to arrive at the Mawson Lakes hotel for a final night celebration dinner.
We were joined by little miss Coca Cola Lauren Murphy for the last two legs of the tour and were quickly making our way to the Balaclava Primary school just 25kms away. Welcome aboard Lauren, we hope you enjoy your time and rolling into the house on Saturday.
For one of very few times this tour, we had a brisk wind at our backs and happily tapped our way along at 33 kmh. Ahhh the fresh morning air, and the more than occasional waft of road kill, had made for a more than pleasant start for most to warm the legs up for what was to be another torrid battle with the wind gods, who had obviously not forgotten the little indiscretion young Stifler had had at our last town.
The Balaclava primary school had done an amazing effort in fundraising, that had seen 127 students ride stationary bikes over 1300 km's in total over the previous week doing 5 km stints. What a great idea and one that looked liked they had all had plenty of fun achieving.
Thank you for your support and welcoming us shabby looking group into your school and helping to support the RMHC Adelaide.
Some quick media by those of the bunch that didn't look or smell like they had been living on the streets for the past 12 months, and we were back on some roads that had put previous peleton members in the hurt locker before.
From Balaclava we were making our way to Lyndoch for lunch which would be at the 121 km mark and only 19 km's from the beginning of Dead Mans Pass (the 8 km climb out of Gawler).
Once again an outstanding job by the front six as they ploughed their way through the appalling weather, not unlike Homer Simpson on his Snow plough, to ensure that their domestique duties were performed for those protected species in the following pack. Something which I have been unduly awarded the Muppet award for. (When there is people like the Specimen on tour, there is no need for anyone to do any additional work!)
The trumpet bum baton had been passed from Horsey Hodge over to Birkdale as he had described his flatulence issue as merely making some bum Butter!! Was not pleasant for anyone that was within a 15 km radius, as the small eruption continued like Mt Ruang.
An opportunity never to messed by the Bike society crew for a sale, had managed to nudge over Whippets bike only to damage her helmet enough that she would have to buy another. Not surprisingly they had just the correct size of helmet in the van for such an occasion should it somehow arise?
Deal closed, and they would now be honing in on Laurens bike to ensure she would be saddled on a specialized for next years tour.
Lunch was being devoured in the Beautiful Barossa valley, in Lyndoch, as Matty Tozer found an opportunity to squeeze in one more massage for his Glutius maximus.
We rolled on for the fun part of the day as we got smashed by crosswinds and Deads Man Pass awaited, shortly after Nugget had called his first toilet break of his own for the entire tour.
As the pedal dancers among us took off for the KOM, there could be only winner as without the Egg & Spoon race, Lucky lewis would have been odds on, not for his ability and prowess on the bike, but purely because he has won everything on tour thus far, including the $10k Tarmac that was in the raffle for the final night. I have a tote running for the punter repair challenge in the morning with Nugget and Stifler the firm favourites, unfortunately Uncle Lewis will be a late scratching or at 0 odds as if he enters he will win by default, purely from just being there, such is his luck.
As the red of the very nimble peleton riders disappeared around the corner and off into the nirvana of the summit, Mohanbala, Mr Lucas were comforted by the kind and encouraging words of Nugget, and the childhood memories of boy Stifler as he reminisced his old stomping grounds. We painfully ascended the climb, and rejoined the now very relaxed riders at the top for a run down on the descent and roll into Mawson Lakes.
This was negotiated without incident as apparently you can only get high sided by a Tarmac, firstly if it is not yours and secondly if you are riding it indoors, down a ramp? Is this correct Mr Birkdale?
With the gracious support of some passing motorists we made our way through the busy streets, where again some people were obviously still in a hurry not to miss their favourite soapie, all of which were predominantly males aged between 30-40, and were happily giving us encouraging words for the previous 1000 km's completed and the $200k raised for RMHC, along with the Mr Bean wave. Thank you to all the motorists that were indeed courteous and polite, and to those that weren't so, well theres not a lot to say to you. I hope you sleep well in the knowledge that yelling abuse out your car window clearly makes you the better person!
As we arrived into Mawson Lakes we were greeted by some welcoming families and a just in time for a quick clean up and over the road for celebration night that Katherine had been feverishly working on.
Katherine Bates or ride ambassador (MC) and Stuart O'Grady joined us for dinner and the festivities as the Peleton had its last dinner together as a group, and with 140 guests had a great night.
Although Stuart won't be riding my wheel tomorrow as he quickly realised that I would always be behind him!
To ensure that we could see Mohanbala riding into the house, he was awarded the final Maillot Jaune for outstanding contribution now for two successive rides and always ensuring that the peleton was entertained or infact motivated by his threat of the black snake sitting behind you. This image had ensured that Trudi the riddler had at least forgotten about the pain of 30kms for the day as the black snake chirped away behind her. Well down Mohanbala my Pirie roomy, its been a pleasure having you on tour again and looking forward to your return for three in a row next year from wherever we start?
The ended with all prizes and raffles being won by only one person........Lucky Lewis, and as he took his bounty home, the rest of the crew relected on great tour and the fact that we had just ridden from Port Lincoln on push bikes and were now in the presence of family and friends and work colleagues in Mawson Lakes just a few kilometres from our destination, the Ronnie Mac House and returning to our families from what has been a truly awesome adventure.
I will sign off tomorrow night after i have a sleep at the AC/DC concert and attempt to complete the blog for the first time in 4 years.
For now its time for bed, and we look forward to making it safely back to the house tomorrow.
Mr Lucas
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