Day 4 of the 2011 Half Smiddy
Day 4 Warwick to Crows Nest
Day 4 dawned with Warwick at the predicted 5 degrees above zero. The rest of the weather forecast had been a very non-commital 'possible rain developing in areas'. After searching all day we did in fact find one of the 'areas' of rain later in the afternoon. We were sent off with a hearty cooked breakfast and a truckload of proper coffees which were generously and very thoughtfully provided by Todd's wife, Nicole (Todd says he would have thought of it anyway, and he does have a feminine side).
We cycled out of warwick with a local police escort, Sergeant Mark, and the combination of his technicolour light display at the front and Marianne's ambulance display at the back, we could have been mistaken for a royal wedding doing a tour of the Australian Outback.
Today was a much flatter day, with many rolling hills, sweeping turns and swooping dips. It was also a day of peleton depletion with our numbers briefly dipping to 14, and then back up to 17 for the day's finale. Every one of the brief sojourns in the cars was short and well timed, it was great to see our team having the humility and courage to take a break to ensure they finished the greater goal to complete the whole trip.
At morning tea we had the usual culinary display of excellence from out trusty road crew as well as an impressive display of cycling oriented yoga (or was Mike just trying to inspect his damaged derriere).
As we lined up from morning tea, two by two, Sean continued his attempts to get into the internet planking scene by falling off his stationary steed for the third time. Not long after, Mike, our intrepid parachutist, managed to rub his front wheel up against Sharky's rear (wheel), in a near miss grounding. Rather alarmingly, his reaction was not to reach for his brakes, but to reach for his reserve chute, which was decidedly not there on this occasion.
Lunch was hosted at one of the Smiddy regular stops, the Pittsworth Tavern, where we were treated to some delicious sandwiches, served indoors and away from the increasingly uncomfortable elements. Our speeches and presentations were postponed from the night before due to over tiredness and a general desperation for sleep, so Row and Sharky delivered their words over our meal. It was good to see that not all our usual evening laughter was entirely alcohol generated and that there is some genuine humour in our daily dispatches.
During the after lunch session, we started to wonder what our top rider and mechanic,Toby, had been imbibing for lunch as his spirits soared and the rest of the peleton struggled to get a word in edgeways. Passing a little place called Usher's Kitchen, he launched into his favourite songs by the rapper of the same name, and proceeded to delight the back third of the group with every one of his hits. Toby's energy seems boundless as he shoots back and back and forth on the road, rescuing our flattened brethren and pacing them back into the pack. Matt suffered a double flat, but he and Toby battled their way back to the group at speeds over 50kph.
We had some interesting dialog with passing truckies in the afternoon, including one exchange from a semi driver who declared his wish to see Donna's plumpies. Kevvi pounced to her rescue with an exclamation to the effect that the subject was not worth discussing. Then, realising the potential ambiguity in his word, he inadvertently dug himself deeper by saying that on the one hand they were worth discussing but on the other hand they weren't. Having dug a big hole for himself, he easily evaded further discussion by switching to channel 21.
As the day went on, it never seemed to warm up and the rain started to fall to compound our exhausted misery. In a much repeated accusation on all Smiddy rides, Sharky was blamed for every wafting odour that passed our nostrils. One of the advantages Of the Half Smiddy is the rotations being so much shorter that we dont have to hold it in for so long before we get close enough to Sharky to let one go, safe in the knowledge that blame will be deflected.
At afternoon tea, it was noted that Rowie's tyre, brand new the previous day, still had rubber around the seam, not surprising when it spent most of the day on the roof of a car.
The final climb of the day was a 200 metre ascent, which most of us expected to be something as gruelling as Mt Cootha, but turned out to be quite a gentle rise over 10 km or more. It was with great relief that we looked over the top and into the valley that would bring us into Crow's Nest and out last overnight stop before heading home.
Ollie "Oozzo"
