Day 3 - Dunsborough to Augusta (blog)
A beautiful day in every way today – blue skies and a tail wind, stunning scenery from Dunsborough to Augusta including the sensational Boranup forrest with it’s Karri trees that seem to reach the sky and hand painted cows everywhere as a part of the Margaret river region cow parade.
Everyone appeared to have a great nights sleep, no doubt enhanced by the sensational organic food, amazing coffee and generously donated Halva’s from the unbeatable coffee shop Samudra, and the perfec tly prepared meals and a few quiet drinks ( well roudy, actually as the slide show was on ) at Caves House.
The riders had a fantastic day and were all really strong in the saddle. Lots of undulating hills, a couple of kicks occasionally and the fastest ride most have ever done along the notoriously dead caves road.
Morning tea, the first “official” morning tea stop in the three years of the red sky ride (as in an actual location not a park) was at the Margaret River Chocolate factory. Inticing enough – with it’s beautiful gardens, VERY cute hand painted cow ( see photos) which riders were fighting over and of course, chocolate to die for. The surprise came when as the riders queued for coffee, they were told all the coffee, cakes and slices were free as a donation from the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. An incredibly generous gesture, one suspects that the owner Martin Black, may have had NO IDEA how much coffee and cake hungry riders can consume. The affable and welcoming manager, Karen, found herself engulfed by smelly lycra clad bodies, explaining painted cows and cheerfully posing for photos . The riders will tell you it was the extensive training, strong muscles and super focus that got them up the hills so well today, the real answer can be found in the consumed fuel from the Chocolate Factory !
An added bonus was the arrival of a very large D’Orsogna truck. Given that D’Orsogna were the first ever team sponsor of the red sky ride , and have maintained their team sponsor status ever since, there was a rush by the D’Orsogna team members to be photographed next to “ their” truck, with an initially bemused but subsequently happily smiling truck driver.
Boranup Forrest is a truly unique part of the world. The stunning beauty was a challenge for the riders in terms of maintaining their concentration on the wheel a few inches in front of them and trying to appreciate the amazing sights around them. Throw in some high speed descents and it was a credit to the focus and reflexes of the bunch that they had such a good ride.
Lunch ( fantastic sandwiches compliments of the Dunsborough CWA) , and the end of the ride occurred at the river mouth in Augusta with a yoga stretching class lead by Miche, wading in the cool waters by most of the riders and a postcard shot of the entire team at the end of the jetty.
Please blog the riders, they LOVE receiving messages from home, cheeky as many of them are!
The highly prized jerseys yesterday were awarded as follows :
Scottish Masonic Foundation Mountain High jersey – the Big fella ( Shane White)
AHG Knight Sky Jersey – Hollywood ( Mark Drabble)
Southern Coast Transit Superman Jersey – Maverick ( Kim Gilbert)
Webb & Brown- Neaves Yellow Jersey - Miche Butler
Sodexho High Five Jersey – Dorothy ( Marco De Campi)
The Princess award – Flex ( Steve Marchesi )
March 9th, 2010 at
Hi Mish!
Dunsborough, coffee, chocolate AND yoga, gee, sounds like a tough day!
Hope all is going well - enjoying tracking your progress. We are holding down the fort at work - as usual, with you away we are getting lots of work done!!! Will get the technophobes blogging on here tomorrow!
Cheers,
Andrew
March 10th, 2010 at
Looks like another fine day of riding in sunny/warm weather. It’s ~3C here and Vancouver finally received snow on the local mountains to cover the ski runs for the Olympic events — oops!
Painted cows are cool, but we’re waiting anxiously for pictures of the Wagin Ram!
… Friday’s going to be a BIG day!
Keep up the great work!
March 10th, 2010 at
Hi Red Sky Riders and Support Team,
It is great to be able to track your progress. What a fantastic effort already. The Boranup section sounds really special.
All at SolarisCare are following you and wishing you extra strong tail winds and continued laughs as well. Enjoy the rest day too!!!!
Take care and a VERY BIG THANK YOU.
David
March 10th, 2010 at
Hi guys, Looks like a great ride this year, photos are awsome. Sorry I am not with you, missing you all. Keep up the great riding.
Hi Steve noticed you got a Princess Award. Hope you are behaving yourself.
Look after him team, you know he can be a bit forgetful!!!
Look forward to seeing you all again on Sunday,
Cheers, Mrs. M.
March 10th, 2010 at
Clare and Mikey - that’s the BEST excuse I’ve ever heard to eat unlimited amounts of chocolate. You could use this as a drawcard for future Red Sky riders? Keep up the good work, we’re cheering you on.
March 10th, 2010 at
Hey Mikey and Clare Those photos of the Boranup Forest are truly amazing - don’t know how you kept your eyes on the road! Glad to see the Vancouver group are sending you lots of encouragement Mike, and the the Mt Lawley girls are doing the same for you Clare. Awaiting more great pics from the balcony of the bungalow at Fay’s Bay Rotto tonight! (boys only, Trish has to work!!!!!)
March 10th, 2010 at
Hey Mike,
Happy dance time again
Richard was very dissapointed he missed out on the last one, hopefully he’s down in time for this one.
Keep up the great work guys!
The A.D.D boys!
March 10th, 2010 at
Hey Clare Bear
The scenary looked fantastic - did you get a chance to appreciate it? You are all looking extremely perky - personally I don’t think you’re pushing yourselves hard enough LOL [evil grin]. Can we please see a few photos of you crawling away from your bikes - as I’m sure there are times you all feel like it.
I’m actually extremely jealous - both of the experience and of the camaraderie which is so evident.
Go ‘the Bear’
Love Irene
March 10th, 2010 at
Hi Mish
Its great to see that you are putting your yoga into good use while you are away! The photos look amazing and you are still wearing that big smile.
Keep on peddling.
Bye Debbie
March 10th, 2010 at
Hi Matty
Looks like it is all going well and that you are having a great time….. and yes of course we are missing you at work! I love how you are so easy to spot in the photo’s….not the bluey in you but more like those white sunnies! Good luck for the remainder of the ride…. we will be watching.
GOOOOOOO MMMMAAAAARRRRRRCCCCCHHHHHHHEEEEEEWWWWW!!!!!
March 12th, 2010 at
Mikey and Clare, Hope you’re both raring to go after your rest day. With luck the alcohol will burn off in the first 10-20 klicks Mike! 39 degrees in Perth today, so I hope you are having a rather cooler one for your ride. Go guys, only a couple of days left to enjoy all the results of your hard work.