Written by: Ange Clark and Leanne Miller
The presentation and dinner last night at Belyando was hilarious. The lovely Mandy from Belyando Crossing Pub and Roadhouse, and the beloved wife of Hog who passed away four years ago and about whom we heard great stories about, presented the Hog Trophy.
Mandy has plenty of boyfriends in the Smiddy peloton with whom she partied with last night. You know who you are!
Wongy was awarded the ‘Spirit’ Jersey for being the highest fundraiser, recruiting other riders and generally just being all round good fun—she is the life of the peloton and the epitome of what it means to be Smiddy.
This morning at Belyando we rose to an unbelievable breakfast prepared by our amazing road crew–poached eggs, bacon, toast, cereal and other good stuff made in the dirt without kitchen facilities. Incredible! How do they do it?
Mandy sent us off on our way ringing Kevvy’s cowbell and blowing kisses to her favourite boys until next year. The temperature was 6 degrees for moments then quickly cleared to a brilliant, hot day. All we had ahead was 176 kilometres.
There were a few long climbs that required the Hand of God for some of us and many thanks to these amazing selfless people for helping everyone who needed it.
There were a few mishaps today—Leanne tried to get out of writing this blog by taking a face plant into the gravel; Serge hit a pothole ending up with a taped thumb; Stinky lost his water bottle (using a number of expletives in the process) and then, the last one of the day, was when Eric hit the pavement trying to impress the school children.
There was some porkies being told in the peloton today however—maybe I look gullible but Stinky told me it was 40 km to lunch and it was 4 (I know Stinky from home and when I first asked him what his name was he said ‘just call me Sir’). He also told Leanne it was 15 km to get to Clermont and it was only five. Leanne was more on to it than I. No more exaggerations Stinky.
Then there was Sully from Ipswich who told me it was 42 degrees when in fact it was 31 degrees!
Finally, there was one other major transgression when someone male used the ladies port-a-loo to do something other than a wee which is outside of the Smiddy Code of Conduct and breaches do apply.
This same said rider moments later broke his bike and some may say that’s karma, but really the moral of the story is that you should not cross the Smiddy females or there will be hell to pay … Eric.
And then the most notorious breach of the Code of Conduct was when a naked man rode past the peloton just after lunch – completely unaffiliated with Smiddy, of course.
Lunch before the naked exhibition was amazing. We have no excuses for not pushing on when we get so looked after in all respects. Thank you to our road crew.
Also today, one truck driver so impressed by what we were doing he stopped and gave us a donation because he had been personally affected by cancer. A roadside worker also waved money at us, which eventually one of us collected.
As we rolled into Clermont, the peloton split in two for visits to St Joseph’s Primary School and Clermont State School. The children were excited to see us roll past clapping of hands and high fives all round.
The sun safe message was delivered with the children answering all the questions correctly. Six students also got to select six Smiddy riders and decorate their faces with multi-coloured zinc. The winners were decided by the loudest cheer and honours went to James and Nikki (James may not have been red-faced in the nudie ride but he was definitely left red-faced at the end of the school visit).
After the school visit, we were treated to drinks and snacks at the wonderful Bottlemart Hotel.
The Huddle today was very special as all of our amazing billets were there to share our special end of the day ritual before welcoming us into their homes for a night of sheer luxury with a bed, shower, and washing that did not have to be shared with 50 others.
Thank you, you are amazing.
Thank you, you are amazing.
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