Thanks to Don (Poet Laureate) for this detailed report:
A huge turnout at Amess Street on Sunday morning and with all
present and accounted for we were away by 5.35am. I think the ranks swelled to
nearly 20 by the time we picked up the others in Richmond. We arrived a few
minutes late to Richmond, but that gave the boys a chance to chat up the late
night revelers leaving the pubs. I fact Andrew K waxed lyrical about an Irish
lass he met at 5.45am for most of the ride. Amazingly we all stayed together
until Frankston where Ross, John, Julia and Colin wisely turned back. Hans who
had planned to turn at this point had a rush of blood to the head and decided to
try to make Sorrento (after first checking the Frankston train timetable). A
great effort from Julia who proved that you don’t always need to go all the way
with your husband on Sunday morning to keep him happy. Lou roped in a visiting
American medico, Dan, who works at a little clinic in Minnesota. Dan informed me
that he specializes in the impact of pain on sex. While I am familiar with the
first area of expertise I am afraid my memory is a bit hazy and I could not see
the connection with the second point.
As if further proof was needed that Alan Contini has more
friends than a teenager on Face Book, his Frankston Fan Club was out in force
with a welcome sign “Contini - King of Olivers Hill”. At the summit the said fan
club then took a plethora of photos of the great rider and his support crew.
After the hills of Mornington team TDL did fragment a little but the main
contingent thoughtfully waited for us back makers at the Safety Beach petrol
station. This was not on the list official stops emailed to everyone, so Ian,
Andrew and myself breezed past them, determined to be the first into Sorrento.
Howard joined us at Blairgowrie knowing breakfast was just around the corner.
Dan was 10 minutes late getting into Sorrento but told us this was due to making
a wrong turn at Albuquerque. An executive decision was made to share toasted egg
and bacon sandwiches. Howard then demonstrated the Draper theory of kilojoule
consumption. That is, the number of toasted sandwiches consumed is inversely
proportional to the number of kilometres ridden. TS x n = km/n. According to
Howard this formula also works using pi and changing 22/7 to
4/20.
A close knit peloton held together all the way to the
foothills of Mornington and we then regrouped at Frankston ahead of the final
assault. By then we had lost Hans and Dan but figured they were both happy to
ride at their own pace. By Mordialloc Anthony was clearly flagging and it was
up to Ian and myself to take the lead and “carry” the team to Brighton. By then
we domestiques took a well earned rest and eased off the pace confident that we
had launched our teammates into a winning position. Rumour has it that on the
final leg Jim planned to take the lengthy Todd Road route to the finish. However
it was pointed out that this was not on the emailed agenda so Jim let himself
off the hook and took a short cut home(oh the shame).
A fantastic dinner at Steve and Mary’s followed with a great
warm up speech by Ross. His speech preceded the main event of the evening – the
TDL awards which Steve and his hard working committee and been busily toting up
all year. This is the moment the wives had been waiting for and the reason why
they looked even more glamorous than usual. I think the peoples favourite gong
had to be the ironically named “modesty award”. Let’s hope that Sundays super
human effort by this rider is not tainted by drug allegations.
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