SMILING FOR SMIDDY - ALICE SPRINGS CHALLENGE
DAY 2 Ti Tree to Wauchope
Stats for the day by Ray Ray
& Ron Ron
Distance: 200 kms
Ride Time: 6 hours and 54 minutes
Ave Speed: 28.8 km/h
Min Temp: zero degrees
Max Temp: 26 degrees
Written by Mark 'Sharky' Smoothy
Smiddy First And our First Test
Once again it was a brisk 3C
degrees on roll out at 6.20 am. A few kilometres down the road, one of the
riders informed me that it dropped to zero. Sunrise here is a little after 7
am. And so far we are being treated to some sensational sky painting by Mother
Nature.
Once the sun was up we could
see the light cloud cover that kept the temperatures down until about the 80
kilometre mark.
Today we had a Smiddy first
with our morning tea at 90 kilometres being the longest section ever ridden in
any Smiddy event to get to our first break.
The course was mapped out to
get us to Barrow Creek Telegraph Station, and as it turned out, the favourable
conditions enabled us to get in as many kilometres as possible before the wind
made its presence felt in the form of a sidewind, and eventually the gradual
turning into a North Easterly direction, saw us battle into a full on headwind.
The rider peloton quite simply
performed as a well oiled machine. The ride leaders, and many other stronger
riders, pitched in and helped, and got everyone into morning tea safe and
sound.
The Nightmare Conditions That
Didn't Happen
After the riders devoured
everything in sight, the Captain Kevvy five-minute whistle blew, and the
peloton pushed into what we thought was going to be a nightmare remaining 110
kilometre stretch into Wauchope.
Much to everyone's surprise,
the conditions not only stabilised, but the
on-the-right-side-of-the-nose-crosswinds, were favourable enough that the rider
peloton was still averaging a good 30km/h.
Business Class
While the 40 kilometre stint
into lunch was short compared to morning tea, it was welcomed by all as the
wind was definitely keeping us all honest.
The clockwise rotation of the
peloton meant that it was an armchair ride if you were on the lefthand side,
and a bit of a controlled slogfest on the right. Each full rotation of the
entire peloton was taking about 40 minutes, and the riders quickly learned that
when in the Business Class lane, that, then was the best opportunity to eat,
drink and have a quick stretch.
Happy Road Crew
Lunch was at the 130 kilometre
point at Taylor Creek Rest Area, basically a car park with a toilet and a few
tables, just perfect for a travelling Smiddy Peloton. The road crew excelled as
per usual and today treated us to wraps with fresh meat and salads. I think the
road crew were a little glad that we had not so perfect conditions today. Wendy
told me they were continually rushing yesterday to get to the next set up point
and have everything prepared, prior to the peloton arriving.
UFO And Aliens Gets Some Of Us
Excited
Afternoon tea I was super
excited about due to the location at Wycliffe Well, home to a fair-dinkum-true-blue-Aussie sighting of a UFO. I love aliens! I was once abducted
and taken to another world, where they gave me a bigger nose and really long
white legs and made me so smart that I knew how to pronounce Toowoomba instead
of T-Bar. Ever since then I have been a great fan. An even bigger fan is a lady
that will be reading this blog and lives in Tasmania. She, along with all
Tasmanians, were abducted at some stage or another. They are a friendly lot and
it is why I forgive them for not being as clever as us Queenslanders have
always been on the forefront of forward thinking thanks to not accepting
daylight savings as the curtains will fade.
Smiddy Road Crew Abduction
Anyway getting a bit off track
here, but it can't be helped as it is the alien influence in my much advanced
brain. Anyway someone even more excited than me, was a Smiddy road crew member
in Brooke Falvey, who had clearly been abducted that afternoon. With 500 metres
to finish into afternoon tea, she was spotted and was clearly not the Brooke we
all knew. Her brain was clearly not adapting to the alien brain wave transfer.
To Brooke's credit, her attempts to communicate with us was appreciated, but
lost in the jumbled dance steps that resembled a chook that just had its head
cut off. Her skin had turned green and she had antennas coming from her head.
We rode past and tried not to stare at this poor creature. I am hoping that for
the remainder of this Smiddy adventure they can still find some use for her;
maybe as a fundraiser, the bike trailer can be turned into a cage and we can
charge a sighting fee. She was a good lady and will be missed, poor Brooke!
Smiddy First - Photo In Front
Of A Loo
So in another Smiddy first,
after a great afternoon tea, the strangest photo I have ever been part of, took
place where all the riders and Brooke the 'Queen Green Alien' posed in front of
the caravan park toilet block, which was surely due to the alien influence
directed at our photographers in Mia and Andrea. After this engaging photo
shoot the rider peloton were on the road again to finish off the remaining 17
kilometres into our finish at Wauchope Devils Marbles Hotel. Our Garmin's read
199 kilometres and quite a few did a few laps of the car park to bring up the
magical double century.
Smiddy Huddle
Thank you to Karen Short, super
triathlon coach, and Lesa Beasley, who is really quiet and shy, for taking on
the honour of doing the day two Huddle. Thanks for sharing your reasons for
joining the Smiddy Peloton.
Priscilla Award
Last year, I think... in the
Challenge event up to Townsville, the Smiddy staff brought in an award called
Priscilla. As voted by the stupidest act by anyone that day on the ride or by
the road crew. I was gifted with it last night for killing Pageys, parents, but
magically bringing them back to life by adding this one word, TRAVELLING, in
yesterday's blog when I mentioned them. While I clearly did not enter into the
spirit of the award today by dressing dismally in the supplied items, I am
thinking tomorrow's winner may be a good role model. I think it should go to
the male rider who did not want to get back on his bike to bring up his 200,
electing instead to running around the campground in his cleats while holding
his Garmin high in the air.
Our accommodation tonight is a
mix of swags and van park rooms. The wind is still blowing but the stars are
shining bright and the temperature seems a little warmer than at Alice Springs
and Ti Tree.
Blog Volunteers - Yipppeeeeee!
I asked for volunteers last
night to write a blog , and I am happy to say that tomorrow Smiddy rider Mathew
English will take on day three, while day four will be taken up by the Scottish/Irish
double in Jimmy Donnelly and Michael Donnelly. Thanks lads, very much
appreciated. I promise writing a blog after a 200 kilometre day is soooo easy!
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