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THE SAM ROBERTS FAMILY FUND |
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Supporting the Palliative Care Service of the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital “Foundation” |
Cycle 4 Sam – Day Three – Friday April 21
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The morning of Friday April 21 commenced in adversity again. Not only was it still raining but our support vehicles trailer had a flat tyre! The first hour of riding towards Port Fairy was in constant rain. Rainbows appeared throughout this first hour and kept our spirits up. On arrival at Port Fairy the sun appeared for the first time in 2 days, and we decided to enjoy a latte in one of Port Fairy’s cafes. It was in Port Fairy that we read the article in the Warnnambool paper about our cycling triumph in yesterdays savage weather.
This article, combined with the sunshine, and the lattes lifted our spirits no end and we journeyed to Nelson with renewed energy and vigour.
We ate our lunch along the side of the road 25km from Portland in beautiful sunshine, most of us choosing to “ditch” the leggings and the jackets and cycle onto Nelson in our knicks and jerseys.
The last 30km into Nelson was simply stunning; we cycled past endless pine plantations and saw numerous emus and kangaroos. 15km from Nelson we were joined by another member of the orange army, Jane Fuller, who had set up camp at Nelson and then rode out to meet us.
We arrived into Nelson earlier than expected, and our spirits were high. Today’s 168km cycle seemed effortless in comparison with yesterday’s slog!
That evening we welcomed three new cyclists into camp. Matthew Ward, Sarah Fitton, and Michael Cox drove 500km from Adelaide to join us in the peleton. We all ate together at the Nelson Hotel before returning to their cabins for a well earned sleep. Tomorrow we were to cross the border into South Australia, ride through Mt Gambier, and finish at Beachport. |
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Cycle 4 Sam – Day Four – Saturday April 22
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We commenced today’s ride in high spirits. The addition of Mats, Sarah, and Michael added renewed energy to the peleton. Richard Fuller donned a rustafarian wig and matching hat for the first hour of the ride, adding a sense of humour to the ride!
Crossing over the South Australian border only a few kilometers out of Nelson we were joined by another cyclist Shane O’Brien and his family. Our peleton number was now 10 cyclists and we cruised into Mt Gambier with the fastest average speed for 4 days.
Our families and support crew joined us for morning tea and lattes in Mt Gambier in a café opposite the majestic cave gardens. There were dozens of other cyclists in Mt Gambier this morning in town to compete in the Mt Gambier 100km Classic. The professional cyclists passed us at top speed as we cycled towards Millicent.
The road towards Millicent was undulating and tranquil, surrounded on both sides by more pine plantations. The peleton was traveling at a high average speed, yet we used considerably less energy because of the momentum and drag caused by cycling in a large peleton. It was a wonderful feeling to travel at this speed using much less energy.
We had lunch at Millicent before heading off to Beachport, arriving there by mid afternoon. At Beachport we were greeted by cyclists Richard Anderson and Matt Cross and their families who had driven from Adelaide to cycle the last 400km with us.
After cyclists ate and had their massage the whole group ventured to the Beachport Hotel for dinner. Being a Saturday night the pub was packed, and some of our children approached pub patrons for donations to the Sam Roberts Family Fund. Michelle and I were in awe at the beautiful manner in which the children spoke about Sam to members of the public, and the patrons of the hotel were very generous in return.
Tomorrow was to be the easiest day of the week, a “brief” 100km ride to the home of the “Big Lobster”, Kingston
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