Cool in the morning, very
warm in the afternoon
Cycle: 24km
Had a bit of a sleep in this
morning but we were still ready to roll 10 mins before the scheduled departure
time of 9am. We headed to Unley, on the bikes, this morning to see the start of Stage 1 of
the TDU; the Crit is not an actual stage, more of a warm-up. We thought the
start time was 11am, so figured we would be there in time to see the 'circus'
roll though with all the free merchandise, etc. However, start time was 10:30am
(incorrect information on the web) and the circus had rolled through before we
made it to the starting place - King William Street in Unley. We had about an
hour to wait until the start so found a nice shady place to stand right up
against the rail to watch them roll out. We were about 30m from the start line
(in front of it) and even though they are not going all that fast, it was still
quite difficult to take a decent photo.
The start was over in all of about 10 seconds and we made our way back to our
bikes only to find Wendy had a flat on her front tyre. That held everyone up
for another 20 mins whilst Greg did his magic and then we were back on the
road. Greg had arranged to meet a long-lost SIB mate in the city for lunch, so
when we got to the Tour Village Greg speared off to try and find a new tyre and
to meet his mate. Wendy, Gunther and Yvonne continued on home. They took a
detour through the Mall, which although very much like Queen Street in Brisbane
and Pitt Street in Sydney, is a bit longer and was not quite as busy when we
were there. It was then back onto the cycle path along the Torrens and back to
the van park. There was one stage on the way home that the temperature monitor
on Wendy's bike computer said it was 47.9 degC!!!!! That was when we were on a
bitumen road with no shade at all. By the time we got back to the vans it was
44 degC, which is still HOT in anyone's language. Although the humidity was
low, the wind was very hot and DRY and just seemed to suck the life right out
of you. Wendy gave in about 4pm and turned on the aircon and was much happier afterwards.
Greg stayed outside after he arrived home.
He had had lunch with Tony Schwerdfeger, and ex-SIB mate. It was great to catch up and continue old
friendships.
Dinner (BBQ chicken breasts with left over roast veg) was had after pre-dinner
drinks. Wendy elected to do the washing up in the van as the aircon was still
on! Bed was not until later when it had cooled down sufficiently to turn the
aircon off.
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