Day 2 : Walwa to Culcairn

ward round

The day started with Graham suggesting that we round up our 92 km ride to 95 km - not quite sure of the reasoning - hope he doesn't decide to round up even further tomorrow (also could be contravening some ACCC legislation concerning rounding ??). So instead of leaving Walwa directly we had a tour of the Murray River, Jingellic and whatever else Graham felt like.  Cadel soon figured out what was going on and decided to do a ward round of local farms instead.

He claimed to not have time to see all the patients waiting for him.

We have a couple of new celebrities on our ride : the first is a media personality known for his silver tongue and readiness to share his extensive knowledge on a range of subjects (including cycling) - Ray "Phil Liggett" Terrill.


"Phil Liggett" in the limelight, taking yet another media call

The second is  John "Alberto Contador" Fry.  John has earned this title after demonstrating impressive endurance - he has ridden the last 2 days with a broken spoke on the rear wheel - meaning he hasn't been able to brake on the back wheel.  Rumour has it that  this was a strategic move to foil Cadel - as the ancient Romans did with spikes on their chariot wheels.


Alberto and chariot wheel

Two riders who have kept a low profile to date are Alicia and Tony Thomas from Yarrawonga Club - but rest assured they will be exposed in tomorrow's blog.

The ride itself took us through tranquil pastoral vistas, though our reveries were interrupted by a couple of killer hills between morning tea (Lankey's Creek) and lunch (Holbrook).  Aforementioned killer uphills were followed surprisingly by a massive downhill.  Alberto , on front brakes only, recorded a terminal velocity (almost literally) of 68 km/hr .

The team is based at Culcairn for the night. The dinner at the Culcairn Hotel was excellent, and we were regaled by John Gatt describing how he wooed Eileen.  Apparently he inducted her into Rotary, then installed some software six months later.  The hardware installation came later again.  Incidentally, we hear he has changed his knobblies to slicks.

The highlight of the day was the discovery of a box in the hotel  containing some long standing charitable donations.  The proprietors told us these had been donated for disabled children, and they have decided to direct them to Polio Plus.  We thank Paul and Patricia Watson for their thoughtfulness.



 

Paul and Patricia Watson, with Ray Luck





Our wonderful cook and our generous hostess at the Culcairn Hotel