The Tour Down Under came and went, and Trek Travel had quite the week!
Stage 2 started in the town of Hahndorf and headed north for a loop before swinging back down to Stirling for three circuits of 20 km each. We started riding from city centre of Adelaide - a very cycling friendly city. We started at our hotel in the central business district and rode all the way out of town, able to stick almost entirely to streets with dedicated bike lanes! We rode up the Crafers Bikeway. It’s about a 10 km climb from Adelaide to Crafers, almost all of which is an off-street bike path or bike lane separated from traffic by a concrete barrier. It’s great to do a climb of that length without ever worrying about a car coming from a blind curve behind you and buzzing a little too close! Cars weren’t much of a concern that morning, though, most cars took the expressway that parallels the little road we were on, but there were plenty of cyclists out! I even ran into a guy in a Nature Valley/Flat City/Penn Cycle kit! He raced for the team while he lived in Minneapolis for a couple years working at Honeywell. What a small world! We got to the top of the hill in Crafers in time to ride one lap of the 20km circuit through the Adelaide Hills wine region that the pros would do a couple hours later. After lunch, we watched the pros come into town for their feed (they were hungry by then, too!) and set out for three laps! The excitement ramped up; even Lance wanted in on the action as he led the charge of a small breakaway group that tried to get away during the second lap! Matt, our driver, found the perfect parking spot about a half kilometer from the finish to park the bus and trailer as the perfect viewing platform! After the stage finished, some of the group called it a day and rode back to the hotel in the bus while some hopped back on the bikes for an exhilarating descent back into Adelaide! That evening we were treated to a fantastic buffet dinner in the Tour Village! Sponsors of the race and teams had booths set up in the Village and everyone had a chance to grill them on their product or drool over the shiny new bits and pieces on display while enjoying a cocktail hour hosted by the Tour Down Under Club Tour. Following the cocktail hour we had a fantastic buffet dinner surrounded by the Team Mechanics’ kiosks. Dinner entertainment included interviews with up and coming Australian rider for Team UniSA Jack Bobridge (and what a show he put on this week!). Recently retired Shane Kelly OAM was on hand to talk about his career and the voices of cycling – Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin – took their turns at the microphone telling the stories of the Tour de France that you don’t hear on TV!
Thursday morning we set out early from the hotel to get a jump on the pros as they worked their way south from Unley to Victor Harbor. The pros have the advantage of road closures for the race, so while the race course swung west on some busier roads, we stayed east and rode some beautiful and challenging hills before rejoining the tour route about 30km south of Adelaide. As the day went on the wind kicked up, and it was “blowing a gale” as they say around here. We reached the first King of the Mountain of the stage and were happy to find a bit of a tail wind to help us up, by then we had definitely earned the help! While the pros get the help of closed roads, no one shuts down the wind for them, and they battled brutal winds all day. Lance picked a great day to get out in the break, as there was carnage in the peloton. He showed great form as the break stayed away for a long time, and the break proved to be the safest place to be that day! We watched the race from the top of Wickhams Hill and excitedly counted the minutes from the time Lance passed until the peloton came by! After the KOM most of the group hopped in the bus to Meadows for lunch. Three of us battled the wind a little longer to ride our bikes to Meadows, and after lunch one guest decided to ride all the way back to Adelaide!
The Tour de France has the Etape du Tour, the Tour Down Under has the Mutual Community Challenge Tour. Some 7100 riders signed up to wake up way before the sun and ride all or some of Stage 4. Trek Travel wouldn’t miss out on that fun for the world! Some of us rode the entire 155km, with other options being 97km and 32km. I think if you add up all of my road miles for all of the Januarys in my life (excepting 2009) it wouldn’t add up to the 155km I rode that day! It was an awesome course though – a course that lent itself to getting stronger as the day went on, and with a healthy tailwind for the last three kilometers, everyone had a little left for the kick and sprint across the finish line! The toughest part of the day was waking up before coffee was available! Fortunately not too far into the ride I was able to find an open coffee shop to stop at for a Long Black. It certainly was a popular place that morning!
Regardless of the distance they chose, everyone had a great day on the road! After watching another exciting sprint finish in Angaston, we got in the bus and drove back to Adelaide, waving to Robbie McEwen as we passed him in his team car, and got into Adelaide for a great dinner at Ristaurante Auge. If you’re ever in Adelaide and looking for a good meal, I’d highly recommend it!
Keeping with its spectator friendly theme, the Tour Down Under did two sets of circuits on Saturday, passing one stretch of road through Willunga five times! We got out early to ride the 40km flat circuit past the beautiful beach start in Snapper Point and through the McLaren Vale wine region. I’ll make some enemies saying this, but I think this might be the best wine region in the world! Then it was up Willunga Hill to the KOM and around a 20km loop with one of the most beautiful (and fastest) descents I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to ride it – still recovering from my separated shoulder just before I came out, my shoulder was pretty sore from the 155km the day before, so I passed on the climb and stayed in Willunga to watch the pros fly by! From the VIP/Sponsors viewing platform at the finish line, we watched Allan Davis sprint to his third stage victory of the tour, virtually guaranteeing if his first overall Tour Down Under victory in eleven tries! That evening everyone put on their finest threads and Trek Travel rolled red carpet style at the Tour Down Under Legends Dinner! I’ve never seen a place setting with four forks and four knives before! We had an incredible dinner and watched a parade of some of the biggest names in cycling walked to the platform to be interviewed. A lot of time was devoted to Lance Armstrong and his comeback. I’ve always been a big fan of Lance, and I don’t know if it’s just old age, but I think he’s a lot more open and approachable in his comeback. He certainly stole the show, and the highlight of the night was when Johan Bruyneel joined Lance and Phil Liggett on stage to talk about the relationship that he and Lance had, as well as highlights of both of their careers. Eventually Lance dragged George Hincapie to the stage as well – to see those four sharing a stage was a moment I’ll never forget.
After a week of some challenging riding through the hills, we took an easier morning and did a local favorite Sunday morning ride. Our driver, Matt is a cyclist in his non-work life and lives in the area; since we didn’t need him to drive for us that day, he joined us to lead a group ride out to Glenelg Beach, where we stopped for a coffee break and some final souvenir shopping.
Sunday afternoon we gathered back in the Club Tour area to watch 18 circuits through Adelaide. It was the perfect end to a great week of racing, riding, and viewing. Lance challenged the field with a little attack on the second to the last lap, not an attempt to win, but a chance to prove that he still has it. Davis finished safely and pulled on the final Ochre Winner’s Jersey. Sunday evening we went out for a final round of drinks to toast a great week, and a fun dinner in a lively restaurant, joining the city in celebrating the finish of a great Tour Down Under and the eve of Australia Day.
This was the fifth race I’ve guided at with Trek Travel. Having started with the Tour de France in 2005, returning to Europe for the Giro d’Italia and Tour again in 2006, and last year’s Tour of California and Tour de Georgia, I was excited to see what the Tour Down Under had to offer. My final impressions of the race were overwhelmingly positive. It was incredibly well organized, accessibility to the teams and village was exceptional, and it was easily the most spectator friendly race I’ve ever attended. The official final spectator count was 700,000, but some estimates have put it over 1 million. Lance loved the raced and has promised to return next year, and I’ll fight for the chance to be back, too!
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