It was 30c and the sweat was pouring off Marysia's back as we powered (read crawled) up Crafters Hill around 10% corners that seemed to go on forever ! This was day 2 of our cycle, 9a.m. and our days ride was less than 10 kms old !
We'd started the day well enough, discretely ignoring Marysia's 6.a.m wake up call not wanting to leave our air conditioned paradise to front another Adelaide scorcher. With all the haste of a pair of Sloths Kev & I finally presented for an 8a.m.start just in time to battle Adelaides peak hour traffic under the guidance of one Google Maps Murray (promoted after yesterdays fine effort !)
As busy as the roads were the conditions for riding were generally safe and it was wasn't long before we were facing our first challenge of the day the Crafters Hill cycle trail - a road over 10 kms that climbs out of Adelaide on a gradient ranging from 5-10% to the township of Crafters. According to one of our cycling mates Crafters served as an old hill climb challenge during his time in Adelaide (cars not chariots !)
Tough at times the ride gave great views back to Adelaide although our focus was mainly on avoiding the cyclists who were descending at a blur! Finally at Crafters we took morning tea in the air conditioned comfort of a local cafe while we worked out our onging route in the hot conditions (a forecast top of 38c!).
With the directional help of the owner of our cafe we walked a nearby pedestrian bridge crossing the busy Sth Eastern Freeway before taking a downhill forest trail into picturesque Stirling.
From Stirling we took a lovely undulating ride in the inreasingly tough heat conditionn through a selection of country towns ( a es forgotten in the heat blur) before pulling into one 10kms shy of Strathalbyn for a much needed break and Kevs much neded beetroot infused salad sandwich !
The final 10kms to Strathalbyn provided at last a good downhill section We rocked into town, cycled to our caravan
park (sadly without swimming pool) and raced to our cabin to immediately set the air con to frigid !
Having cooled down and with domestics done we headed into town to take advantage of the local pubs $11 Wednesday night meals which included unlimited returns to the salad bar (or at least did until H took advantage!) - great value and no seniors card needed !
It may have only been 60 kms today but the heat is really starting to tell - so much so that Marysia is seriously considering a 6.30a.m. on road start tomorrow while you i'm seriously considering jamming my door with a chair so i can sleep in !
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