My First 200kms

What a day; we set off early this morning (7.00am) from Pops place at Blakeview with the intention of doing a long ride. We went down to the Stuart O’Grady then did a loop towards Gawler just to add extra kms, turned out it added 26kms. Knowing there was a men’s breakfast at the Church we eventually made it there after I got a puncture on the bike track. 65kms later we tucked into some weetbix which gave us enough energy to tackle the next leg. Because we had that early puncture pop thought it would be wise to drop into our friends at 99 Bikes Prospect and pick up a spare tube and air canister. Round the outskirts of town then down to Glenelg for a toilet stop. We watched the beach volleyball for a few minutes, boy were they good. Then we continued straight down the coast and ended up at the Seacliff Yacht Club which was our turn around point. Straight down Brighton Road, right turn into Oaklands road where Pop found Beck’s Bakehouse bakery. I had the usual, ham & cheese croissant and power aid was also welcome to replace some energy. Our next stop was to go through town and do some laps around Victoria park. Right in the middle of town we just happened to have one of the Tour Down Under riding teams cruise past us on there way to the tour village. I was glad to see one rider had a Bianchi bike like ours. Pops turn for a puncture just as we started to do laps around the park, lucky Pop picked up that spare tube. Actually he new one could rescue us today as the family was all at the church for Kiki’s baby shower, which is where we when next. 133kms at this stage and we still felt like going further so we enjoyed some snacks and took off for Gawler. The tail wind was strong and we took full advantage, I got up to 51 kph on the flat on the Stuart O’Grady. The usual stop at Mrs McDonald’s for a drink before the last push into a howling headwind for home. We had calculated we would crack 200 so that motivated us to push hard through the wind. Back at Pop’s, Nan was waiting to take a photo of us finishing our first 200. I’m a bit tied and my butt is a little tender, really glad to achieve our goal today.

Today’s stats 201.3kms 8hrs 19 mins averaged 24.2kph