Challenge South Australia — Day 2 Blog
20 March 2024
Written by: Mel Speare, Liz Butler & Michelle Gray - returning Smiddy riders
McLaren Vale / Victo Harbour Loop
153 kms with 1657m elevation gain.
With early alarms dinging and pinging for a 5:45am breakfast, it was a shock to the system for many after a fabulous dinner and tour around d’Arenberg Winery last night. The artwork and décor at the winery was incredible and actually surreal (if you visit, you must check out the bathrooms!). The evening was wrapped up with Sharky’s heartfelt and inspiring Day 1 blog, which was a wonderful reminder of why we are all here.
After such an evening of festivities, the blue Pelton had the dubious honour of rolling out first at 6:30am, followed by the red team 10 minutes later at 6:40am. Another shock for all, particularly for the QLD’ers, was the 13 degree start, which felt like five degrees on a biting wind coming off the Southern Ocean, so the full array of Smiddy kit was on display, everyone well rugged up.
The third shock of the day was the famous Old Willunga Hill, iconic for it's TdU hill top finishes. Reaching the base of the climb just five kms into the day, the riders legs were not quite as warm as they'd hoped to tackle the 3.5km climb on an average gradient of 7.1%. The lack of warm up being the cheif reason for riders not chasing Richie Porte's record time up the famous climb. Once a top the climb, the riders were treated to some beautiful riding through the quiet back roads, rolling through the undulations, before make our way down to Morning tea, 68kms into the ride, beautifully prepared by our ever attentive volunteer road (we love road crew!) at the spectacular Victor Harbour. As the ocean came into view we were welcomed in by a handsome fellow on his bagpipes, for extra dramatic effect. At this stop, some of us were quite keen to swap our bike for Albert the Clydesdale. Unfortunately, he was only going over to Granite Island via the jetty to visit the Fairy Penguins, so it was back on the bike for our riders.
The ride to lunch at 105kms, ticked over very quickly due to great teamwork through the tree lined roads of Inman Valley Road, undulating upwards most of the way before plumetting back down to sea level again. COncerned lunch was going to be consumed by the Blue Peloton before they could get there, the Red Peloton had some true Smiddy steamtrain momentum going, with Sharky and Coolie driving the train hard down the hills - unsurprisingly, hungry and wanting to ensure they got their share of the gourmet fair on offer at the Normanville Hotel - a member of the Bottlemart/Sip n Save group who are proud sponsors of Mater Smiling for Smiddy.
The amazing lunch at the Normanville Hotel set us up for another big climb up Fork Tree Road, this one 3.3kms at a 6.9% average gradient, testing out the cafe legs of the riders, the winds keeping things challenging, but the views were breathtaking back across the ocean and along the stunning coastlines of the Fleurieu Peninsula.
For the red peloton, there was an unscheduled stop at the top of the hill, with Intel from the blue peloton to the Ride Director of an unexpected road closure on the route. True to form, a Plan B was quickly hatched and detours in place and executed by the Ride Leaders, with the teams making short work of the detour arriving back on course and ready for the final exhilerating descent back down to the seaside and along the beauiful Adelaide beaches. The ride's last section today had more incredible ocean views before we cruised back into McLaren Vale.
The tours longest day was done and dusted with plenty of the afternoon available to enjoy a relaxing afternoon and evening. New and old Smiddy riders sharing a few stories; lots of laughs; and the usual lively banter and were no longer strangers. They unquestionably had each other backs throughout a real Smiddy challenge day.
