Ok, where were we. Sorry about the delay. Being a lazy two finger typist means these things take some time to throw together, and I just ran out of time in Adelaide. But, I have just had dinner here in Hay and will try and bang out a few days worth of posts. Let’s cook this chook.
Stage 4 started at Norwood.
They were heading up Norton Summit, which was part of the stage (after the neutral zone) but wasn’t a categorized climb. I have no idea why. I do know that they smashed the KOM on Strava. 🙂
I got some shots at the start line as per usual.
Then it was off to a place on the route I had found the night before…
The climb up Norton had really sorted them out and there were some big gaps. This is a problem for me, as I was expecting to jump in behind the Road Open van for a few kms and then taking a short long cut to try and get in front of the peloton one more time before they headed to Victor Harbour.
I got to Handorf and got stuck behind a logging truck, and could see the minutes passing. Off in the distance I could see the helicopters following the break away, and slowly but surely they passed in front of me, which meant I was stuffed. I got to my next spot just as the last two riders went past. Oh arse!
So I drove home to watch the end of the race. The weather was starting to look a bit ordinary, but the reports were saying it was headed towards Victor Harbour. I got back to my room just as it started to get very dark in Adelaide. Then there was a massive flash and boom of thunder and the heavens opened up over Adelaide. The winds were blowing and it was a pretty severe storm.
So severe in fact that at one point I opened my door and there was a soaked pigeon huddled in the corner trying to get out of the downpour. It let me pick it up, so I took it inside and get it a bit of a dry off in the spare towel. Once the storm had past, I put him back where I found him, and ten minutes later, this is where he was.
With the storm, the temperature dropped, so I had a brainwave. Go for a ride! I grabbed all my gear and headed out for a run through the hills. Well, Adelaide was having none of these cooler temps, and before I knew it I was sweating like nothing else. The humidity was ridiculous. And I was lost in the hills once again. You can see on the GPS track where I went wrong.
These were my shoes by the time I got back.
Overall, not a bad day I’d say. 🙂
As usual, the full gallery is here… http://imgur.com/a/aSYCl