Bottlemart Smiddy Challenge Day 5 - Blackwater to Cleremont

SMILING FOR SMIDDY BOTTLEMART CHALLENGE

Brisbane to Townsville 1600 kilometres

Day 5 Blackwater to Clermont Authors – 'The Powerpuff Girls' aka Janet Curran, Kirsteen Masson and Ranetta Eastment 

 

Stats for the day – By David Colahan

Course: Blackwater to Clermont

Distance: 192kms

Average speed: 25.7 kph

Temperature min: 11 degrees

Temperature max: 45 degrees

Wind direction: NW

 

Schindler’s List (road kill count) – Owls 3, Hawks 4, Wallabies 12, Cookatoos 2, Fox 1, Bad smells 7, Unidentied 10, Emu 1, Kangaroos 8

 

Memorable moments from the day – After a wonderful breakfast at BMA and the bell being rung by Lynlea, the peloton wove it's way out of Blackwater and on our way to Emerald. Being that the scenery was somewhat similar to yesterdays, we had other entertainment within the peleton. JL proved that he can speak under any circumstances even with a golf ball in his mouth and several PDA's were observed throughout the morning. John Martin from Clermont, Wayne from Blackwater and Ben Myall from Clermont all joined the Smiddy peloton for the day. Once we reached Emerald, we had 2 school visits, one at Emerald State school where Derek spoke to all the children on behalf of Smiddy. We then went onto our second school, Dennison State School where once again we were served a wonderful homemade morning tea thanks to the wife of our rider, Errol Rossenblatt. We also had another wonderfully entertaining sun safety message from Sharky complete with a zinc face painting session with Mark aka Kermit winning the challenge. During the challenge, D'MAC nearly lost an eye due to an overly enthusiastic budding artist.

 

The roll out from Emerald was full of high hopes with Stinky Dave making rash comments of tail winds. Unfortunately the Wind Gods were against us. This section saw the peleton tested in more ways than one with the temperature soaring with recordings of 45 degrees on those wonderful Garmins. This meant that we all had to be vigilant with our hydration so much so we drank all the fluids on our trusty lead and rear vehicles. To say it was hot would be an understatement. The girls found their way around this by using their initiative and using the shower in the girls amenities block at lunch time.

 

As mentioned below, the stallions led the peleton ‘home’ to Clermont after what the seasoned Smiddy riders stated has gone down as the hardest Smiddy Challenge ride day in the history of the ride.

 

As for our wonderful road crew, all the meals were amazing as per usual, the service was spot on, the massages were superb, the bike maintenance top notch (see you Jimmy!)  and our support vehicles did an amazing job. We love you guys for keeping us safe, feed, hydrated and supported by your warmness and wonderful sense of humour.

 

We were welcomed in by the wonderful Clermont community and all the riders, crew and supporters enjoyed some delicious nibblies and cold beverages at the Commercial Hotel. The wonderful people of Clermont have once again provided accommodation for 54 smelly hot riders and 13 not so smelly but hot road crew.

 

After a huge day, the riders and road crew had a well deserved shower we were served with a delicious smorghasboard dinner at the Clermont Community Hall . One of our lovely female riders, Claire Schneider delivered an extremely moving speech about her fathers ongoing battle with melanoma, thank you Claire for sharing your family’s story.

 

Quote of the day – Nature always wears the colours of the spirit J

 

Honourable mentions – To the wonderful stallions who pulled the rest of the herd through the last 54kms, huge thanks to Jarrod, Ken, D'MAC, Mark, Michael and Nathan.

 

Incredible acts of kindness – Bruce Goodwin aka Dr Phil, we're very honoured to have you in the smiddy peleton. Not only for your great sense of humour and your never ending support of all the riders but also for your script writing skills and imparting of your medical knowledge. Of course, Bruce lives in Townsville!

 

Allison Hill won the Spirit Jersey for being a quiet achiever, what an incredibly well deserved award for Allison, she's proven to be an extremely strong lady in the Smiddy peloton. Luke Eastment won the Team Jersey for his efforts supporting the riders, well done Luke for your efforts, the riders and crew are incredibly grateful.

So after another amazing (if not just a little challenging) day, we are off to our respective beds that have once again been provided by the sensational community here in Clermont.  The rest will be welcome!

Bring on day 6.
The Powerpuff Girls