DAY FOUR -NORTON SUMMIT TO STIRLING.

Today was time trial day, Norton’s Summit, a 7km, 4.9% gradient ride. As is the norm by now, we rolled out and headed for the hills of Adelaide, a nice “easy on Wednesday morning” pace.
At the base of Norton’s Summit a staggered start was organized and the time trial began. No surprises that Sue, Wazza, and Janey made it to the summit first followed by Gen, Kaz, myself and Annie. A little birdie told me that Janey set out to make Wazza work and Annie had a chat to a jogger on the way up that was running alongside her. Although it was a tough ride it was beautiful with magnificent views of Adelaide and the surrounding countryside, this could be appreciated on my part, as for the majority of the climb my Speedo did not go above 11km/hr.

After a quick stop at the summit and a photo opportunity we set out towards our next destination “Stirling” to watch the finish of day 2 of the TDU. don’t know what made me think that from here on in it would be all downhill. Silly of me really, delusiona! as two ranges later (The Basket and The Forest Range), rolling hills and steep climbs, speeds ranging from 7km/hr to 47km/hr, some of us were calling for Princey and the bus. Don’t get me wrong, the ride was glorious, with orchards of pears, plums and blueberries close enough to reach out and pick, beautiful homes and diverse architecture even a medieval castle called Camelot. It was a however a challenge for Annie ,Gen and myself so Wazza and Sue, being the kind coaches that they are, gave us a reprieve and we were allowed to board the bus and avoid the last climb into Stirling. “We were so happy!!!” The other 4 riders – Sue,Wazza,Janey and Kaz rode strongly into Stirling.
In Stirling we all regrouped and indulged in the fine food of the Organic Café, then onto watch the TDU cyclists as they rode into Stirling. It is hard to describe how it felt to see the Uni of Adelaide cyclist William Clarke lead the peloton by 10mins, we were part of history in the making.
From Stirling down into Hahndorf to shop in the little German village and then finally home on the bus. There was much laughter and the hills were alive with the sound of our singing (the Vontrapps paled into insignificance in comparison to the Southern Stars). Another great day on tour!
Michelle