Beat Cancer Tour - Day 8: Stage 5 - McLaren Vale to Willunga

KM's Ridden Today: 149.5km
Total KM's Ridden: 876km
Pre Ride Weight: Can't Remember
Post Ride Weight: Too tired to bother

BCT Stage 5: McLaren Vale to Willunga

I had to set my alarm 20 mins early today as yesterday I forgot to take by bike computer off to charge it and I knew there would not be enough battery left for the whole of today's stage so I had to get over to the bike storage box before breakfast with the charger!  It was 4.40am when the alarm woke me up, and my legs were the sorest they had been in my life.  Just getting out of bed and hobbling to the bathroom was an effort so I wasn't looking forward to todays 150km stage finishing with 2 climbs of Willunga Hill!!

Bike computer on charge, breakfast eaten, then we loaded up the bikes and drove out to today's stage start at McLaren Vale.  We got ourselves organised had a quick briefing, then we were on our way.  The skies were overcast, the temperature a little cool, and the wind not too strong just yet - ideal riding conditions.

We had to do 3 loops from McLaren Vale to Willunga to Aldinga Beach, Snapper Point, Port Willunga and then back into McLaren Vale.  As soon as I started pedalling my legs were just aching and luckily the first few km's were flat and I was hoping the legs would warm up soon and the pain would go away.  We turned right from Willunga towards Aldinga and this road was downhill and we had a tailwind so very little pedalling was required. 

However 6km later we turned left and straight away we could feel we had a head wind, and with the legs not doing anythign for the last 6km to suddenly having to work quite hard was painful to say the least.  Heading along the beachfront going the other way was a little undulating, but this time we had the tailwind which saw our speeds get up to 45km/h on the flat parts.




The Team Riding Along The Esplanade

Then we turned again and this is where the slightly bigger hills started and we had about 5 of then one after another.  I was able toget up them, but the legs just weren't working at all today!  As each lap passed too, the wind started to get that little bit stronger, making the headwind parts that little more difficult but the tailwind sections faster and more fun.

The first lap I sat mid pack, but felt like I was struggling so for the second lap positioned myself at the back, but being here there is a lot of surging which also was hurting my legs. 
At the end of the second lap it was time for lunch and I ate two feed bags worth of food, two bananas, a Mars bar, a gel, some lollies, and drank a coke.

The Team Decscending Towards Our Next Climb

For the last lap I put myself near the front, and the headwinds certainly making you work more, but I was feeling so much better and thought my legs were going back to normal (well what normal is after 5 day's of 159km back to back rides), and was feeling a little more confident I could actually make it up Willunga Hill.

For our first of two climbs we had the 'climb at your own pace' green light so  as expected, the climbers took off at the base of the climb, me included.  There were heaps of the general public on the climb, but for me they were either too fast with their fresh legs, or too slow.  Cahn came up to me and we helped each other out for about a km when he put in a little surge and dropped me.  I was going as hard as I could, and with about 600m to go put it in the big chainring and went as hard as I could.  I finished 3rd out of the riders doing the full 7 days, in a PR time of 10m45sec, beating my last best time by 49secs, and I was only 5 secs behind Cahn.

We re-grouped at the top, then in single file we made the decent down Penneys Hill Rd, and again we were given a green light so a group of us decended really fast getting and on the ever so slight downhill/flat section were going flat out attacking each other at a consistent speed of around 60km/h - it was such great fun.  We had to stop at the bottom as the pro race was going hrough, but gave us chance to all re-group again.

We made the left turn and headed back into Willunga and I was second from the front and it felt like we were setting a really high pace, I was down on the drops and breathing heavily trying to keep the speed.  We then entered the left turn for the last climb of the day where it was decided that we would all ride up as a group at a pace where no one would get dropped.  There were thousands of spectators cheering us on and it was a great feeling soaking up the atmosphere!

We crossed the finish line, a great achievement accomplished by all!  After loading up the bikes and getting changed, we headed to our marquee position which was again just near the finish line and in perfect sight of the big screen - couldn't get better!!  A great lunch was put on for us and we watched the race with Richie Porte putting on one of his usual awesome efforts up the hill to take the stage win!




Me At The Finish Of Today's Stage

  We drove back to the Tour Village, unloaded the bikes, had a shower and freshened up before regathering for our Team Briefing, all of us all dressed up as we then left for the Legend's Dinner at the Convention Centre.

The guest speakers were Simon Gerrans, Rohan Dennis, Jens Voigt, and Paolo Bettini.  Overall it was a great night with fantastic food, but a late night with me not getting to bed until midnight, absolutely shattered!!