Prologue (Adel to Pt Adel)

DAY 1 (Adelaide to Victor Harbor)

DAY 2 (Victor Harbor to Meningie)

DAY 3 (Meningie to Robe)

DAY 4 (Robe to Mt. Gambier)

DAY 5 (Mt. Gambier to Port Fairy)

DAY 6 (Port Fairy to Port Campbell)

DAY 7 (Port Campbell to Lorne)

DAY 8 (Lorne to Melbourne)

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~ A day full of surprises ~

This was the best day of the Tour. Challenging hills, mad descents, ugly breeze and heat were found in this small stretch of 150km route. An understatement? Yes.

It started as a sunny warm morning as we left Port Campbell and continued to visit remaining of the lookouts, Sentinel Rock, Loch And Gorge and the 12 Apostles. Once we passed Princetown, the road became undulating. I am sure most of us enjoyed the straight brakeless descend to Gellibrand before the climb to Lavers Hill.

Phil's factor - Did I mention this before? From Phil's map and profile, road to Laver's Hill - a 3% grad climb - would not even excite my muscles. Well, as soon as I hit the slope, I was compelled to recalculated my effort for the climb. For the first 10 minutes, I was dealing with a climb of 10% gradient, then rolling hills, more climbs and more rolling hills. It took a good effort to keep pushing. The strong wind did not help either, especially at the logging sites. I wished I had attended some of the anti-logging campaign. After 58 minutes of climbing, we reached the cafe. I replaced as much carbo as possible. I even had a can of 'V' drink. I did not take any chances for the next so-called 'lump' at the Otway National Park.

Descend from Laver's Hill was a wicked one. Luckily, we were not climbing from this slope. I hit 92 kph going down. A 53Tx12T combination gear, spinning at 130 rev, Fun.

The next climb at Otway national park was pretty much the same. Rolling, rolling, then more rolling hills. When Nathaniel, the cameramen interviewed me, I thought I was very near the top. No. I counted 20km, then 10km, then 5km from Apollo Bay. There were still no sign of the road going down. Until about 4-5 km out, the big dip started. The wind make the ride extremely dangerous as it brew us right towards the oncoming traffic!!

At Apollo Bay bakery, we were all concerned what to do. There were still 50km to go. Phil and Grant went ahead in the truck to check out and gave a green light. The cliff between Apollo Bay and Lorne shielded the wind pretty well and this made the ride fun. It was so fun that some of the riders missed the Grand Pacific Hotel.

The apartments at Grand Pacific Hotel were top class. I was in a townhouse with 2 bedrooms, a laundry, and a lounge room upstairs. Next thing I did was to bust into next door to look at their spa!

The last supper tonight was a routine sum up with a poem from Simon Woods, handing out medals and prices (I won the 'heavyweight' price for busting my frame). I really did not want the tour to finish although my crotch was never that painful before in my life.