Day 2 - Mt. Lofty 45km ride

Mt. Lofty Summit!! We made it!

Today after a buffet breakfast at the hotel (priced at close to 60 Australian dollars, yikes!!!) we were fitted with our bikes. Tom and I took advantage of a few minutes of downtime and tried them out by riding around the block….I had to do this just to figure out how the gears worked! As a group we headed out for our 45km ride through the Adelaide Hills. Our guides called it a gradual climb with a 2,362 foot summit. We informed our guides that we are not the avid bicyclists that the rest of the group is (although I’m sure they knew that just by looking at us). Our group is made up of 10 Japanese bicycle shop owners, one couple who owns a bicycle shop in Hawaii, Susanne who works in Singapore, and Chris, a bank VP that was laid off from Chicago. Everyone has lots of bicycling gear and most came with their own helmets, petals, and seats.
Our goal for the day was to get out and have a good time. After riding for awhile we decided if we wanted to be able to ride at all tomorrow we should stop at 15km(hey that‘s one third the ride). By the time we made it to our mark though the ride had reached a more manageable grade so we continued, enjoying the beautiful scenery, the watch for koala bear signs, various birds, and trees. Before we knew it we were half way and the summit was just around the corner. We decided we could do it so up we went. Good thing we knew we only had 4 km left to summit because it was steep!! We took several breaks that last little leg but we made it and it felt great! We enjoyed the view of Adelaide and took a few pictures. At this point our muscles were so fatigued, I thought well I made it to the top, now I can just get in the van. Tom was not having that though. He said we did all this work now is the fun part…riding down hill. So with hesitation I said okay. Coming down was fun, a little sketchy at times but a lot less work and so much faster. We made our way back to the hotel, as we entered the elevators with our bikes Chris exited having already showered and was off to find lunch, that’s how far behind everyone we were. We were still proud of ourselves though for concurring the first ride.
Tonight we headed over to the Hilton where Team Astana is staying. We were introduced to the Team PR guy, the team mechanic, and the director of the team, the guy who tells the riders what to do during the race. His name escapes me now but Tom was really excited about it. We also met two of the riders and Johan Bruyneel. They took pictures with all of us and signed autographs. Our fellow group members were all so excited about all of this which made it tons of fun. They even brought in Lance Armstrong’s bike and we all of course took pictures and even got to touch it. Dinner was done about 9:30 pm so we headed back to the hotel for much needed rest. Day 2..lots of fun!!