Day 2 : Wangaratta to Mansfield

A beautiful sunny but crisp morning saw us breakfasting alfresco by the pool at Ryleys Motor Inn.  We were all set for a 9a.m. departure, but there were a couple of delays.  John "King of the Mountains" Gatt managed to puncture a tube when switching from knobblies to slicks in preparation fot the day's 114km challenge.  With the aid of the swimming pool, John was able to locate the puncture, but he sensibly replaced the tube with a new one,  to minimise the down time.

John "Alberto Contador" Fry and Peter "Andy Schleck" Carr joined the ride today. We set off through the back streets of Wang. and our first stop was at Greta for morning tea where there was a conveniently located "toilet block" at the back of the Uniting Church.  The church was situated next to the Greta cemetery where, we were reliably informed, a number of Kelly family members are buried.

We stopped for a delicious lunch at Tatong, presented by Margaret and Wendy, who look after us so well. Tatong was at the half-way point of the day's ride. So far so good ! Peter and Bruce, who were trailing the field,  reached and stopped at a T intersection where they thought the Cue sheet indicated a right turn to Swanpool.  However, Bruce spotted a cyclist ahead of them who had proceeded past the T- intersection.  Bruce assumed it was Trevor "Lance Armstrong" Smith and phoned him to check which way to go.  Trevor took the phone call while cycling and assured Bruce that he was going on the correct route, because there were riders visible ahead of him.  To cut a long story short, Trevor had made the right, correct turn, and luckily so did Bruce and Peter, who later discovered that it was our intrepid leader, Graham "Shackleton" Brown, who found himself halfway up Mount Samaria before he realised he had missed the turn!

From Swanpool we went to Lake Nillahcootie for afternoon tea, via the Midland Highway, which was a bit hair-raising at times due to non-existent shoulder and double lines for significant stretches.  However, we all survived and then cycled the remaining 28km to Mansfield in bright sunshine, as it had been all day.

In summary, a tiring day, good company, beautiful country-side.

We then walked to the Delatite Hotel for a Bistro meal and met up with friends of Trevor and Wendy, plus some Mansfield Rotarians