RIDING FOR A CAUSE

After dinner and a 2am finish I woke early to ride through to Glenvale. A little tired, sore and suffering ‘pursuiter’s cough’ I managed to dodge the two crashes in the final lap before packing up my bike to head to the airport. After a flight cancellation, security scare and 8hours of waiting I finally made it to Adelaide for my AIS induction =) I have secured a visiting scholarship that sees me riding for the National Team domestically in Feb-March and internationally June-Sept. There was no time for celebrations with less than 24hours in the state before flying home to partake in the Great Victorian Bike Ride with the Diabetes Foundation! I skipped on the camping, socialised as I do best, and took advantage of the fulsome meals. With an abundance of media commitments and 500kms in 4 days, I was feeling the heat, or was it sunburn??
Friday afternoon saw me say goodbye to the Diabetes team before the trek to northern Victoria for my first race of the season. The Tour of Bright was to be as punishing as always, and after the bike rack (bikes included) had been spotted on our rear windscreen I was afraid that my Bianchi would never make it there in one piece! We would soon discover that the racks were never secured... oops... Saturday morning had me tackling Tawonga with no real obvious form, lucky to have my other leg intact after the descent! I was pleased with the afternoon session considering the lack of disc wheel and time trial bike, but that power certainly didn’t transfer to Hotham. Sunday could only be described as hard. I was dropped at ‘The Meg’ 5kms in before chasing back to the group, and this was to happen all the way to the summit. A VERY busy week has left me exhausted and keen for a break... NOT a training camp!

Results: Tour of Bright, Stage 1, Ovens - Bright, 79.2 kms
Results: Tour of Bright, Stage 2, Individual Time Trial, 15.7 kms
Results: Tour of Bright, Stage 3, Bright - Mount Hotham, 58.0 kms
Results: Tour of Bright, General Classification