Day 55: Bright and a little jealousy didn't kill me

It was another successful trip to Bright. We managed to get there and back without any incidents.

We were close, I must say, as a sleepy truck driver swerved to the right and off the road, just meters in front of us, collecting a few road signs. Then back and across to the left, coming to a stop some twenty meters off the road... This happened in the first thirty minutes of our 3 1/2 h drive. We almost... lets just say, turned around and headed back to the airport.

In Bright, we caught up with Bruce and Mick, good friends from the days we started racing bikes in Cairns and the ones who introduced us to this event. We also met David and Angelo, from 6amers.com, who were in Bright for some training rides. Of the group of six, only two were racing this year, Sandra and Mick.

The Tour of Bright is a fantastic event, this year attracting more than 500 competitors. It is one of those events that, unless you are at the top of your category, you race to improve the times from previous years. There are just too many good riders, who train in those parts of the world and know how to attack those mountains.

Because of the injuries from the accident a few weeks ago, I went down to assist Sandra and not to race. That proved to be very rewarding as she had a great tour, coming home with terrific results and a time 9 minutes faster for the Mt Hotham ascent alone. How good is her coach???

All here!

And talking results here, I looked into the Masters 4/5 ITT results and my 23:03 time in 2006 would put me in 7th place this year, with the winners of both years speeding on the 15 km course at around the same time - 21:50. Something to keep in mind for next year.

Next year!?!? That's right, this event is so remarkable that when you finish it, racing or not racing, you start planning for next year... no matter how bad you went and how much you suffered on the mountains. That's how it is!!

And if you are a cyclist and you were there and didn't get on the bike, you would feel a little jealousy of those hundreds of riders going up and down those climbs. They are just magnificent climbs in a very beautiful part of this continent.

I did.

Sandra's group - Womens C

Concentration before stage one

Mt Hotham climb

Half way up CRB hill

Climb #9: 2.36 km / 5.3%

Bruce

Climb #10: 1.9 km / 9.4%

Riders on their way back

Sandra and Anthony (Ant)

Mick, The Guru

Guru's bicycle

Coffee everywhere

Groover (race report)

AMR