Adelaide to Melbourne Bicycle Tour Day 2 <Victor Harbor to Meningie>

The cool change swept through the town last night. It was forecasted to have a few showers with a deadly west wind. The wind blew hard enough to leave us a clear sky, but a cold and windy day was waiting for us.

I woke up very early in the morning today courtesy of the Melbourne time. I had an extra piece of bacon anticipating an long hard day ahead.

We left the hotel and the lovely beach to follow the famous and beautiful bicycle path along the coastline.

I could not resist the temptation to stop and take a few pictures. Riding barely over 25 kph to Goolwa, we fully enjoyed the scenery. A group of 30 picked up their pace out of Goolwa to the morning tea stop in Strathalbyn. I tucked at the back thinking we did not need to rush. The group, however, timed perfectly and we arrived Strathalbyn at 0930 when Susan and the locals were just bringing out the homemade muffins and sandwiches. Watching the Aussie flag vigourously pointing to the west, it was hard to stay any longer despite the warm Strathalbyn welcome.

As soon as we turned right at the edge of town, the 30-knot tail wind motivated me to perform the quickest individual time trail of my life. I set of in a pace well above 45 kph and the heart rate still sat very nicely just above 150 bpm. It was a nice feeling. I was quite confident to think that no one would pass me until Graham tucked behind an All Trail Ute driven by Grant (or Andy?!). He even teased me to hang on. I did not listen, as I knew I would rather to get to Wellington alive. I finally did the 50km section in 1 hour 8 minutes with an average speed over 44kmh.

The price to play when you rode too fast this trip was waiting lunch to start. Today we had lunch at the Wellington hotel, which was located at the bank of the Murray River, and near its mouth into the Lake Alexandrina. We had a buffet lunch and beer outdoors and it was possibly too nice, considering there were still 40 km to go. From the hotel, you could also see the Wellington ferry running – it is the main mode of transport across the Murray River and surprisingly free.

Forty of us boarded the ferry to the other side. Two kilometers down we had to turn south. Then the problem began. The friendly tail wind became an ugly crosswind. Luckily about 7 of us, leading by a cycling couch named Andrew Rubin, worked as a rolling pace line from right to left. We worked hard on the front left and relaxed at the back. The time passed very quickly but I had clamps on the right quadriceps 4 km out of town. Never mind, I arrived to the quiet town safely 15 minutes later. A rubbed down was a must tonight and Ralph from the local football club came and treated me as his premiership footy player.

We were treated with warm fire and BBQ dinner at the caravan park with bonfire, Aboriginal extravaganza, didgeridoos and tribal dancing.

We were praying for a weaker wind tomorrow. The forecast said a NW wind. Anyway, it would be a long hard 186 km day influenced by the Phil's factor (today we did an extra 8 kilometer).