Now on to the serious stuff, the riding. Day 2 from Swansea to Launceston was a 160km hit-out. The legs were a bit tired from day 1 but the HP Gucci Boys weren’t going to show it. The cold Tassie winds had crept in over night and as we started to make our very gradual climb away from town, the temperature started to drop. Not sure what it was but a lot of the guys had arm and leg warmers on for the whole day. Wind was again our enemy. After doing our 1200m of vertical climbing it was time for a few descents (yes!!). The only problem here was another nasty crosswind like yesterday. 40 riders at 70km/hr downhill, 1m apart with a major crosswind can wreak some havoc. Luckily, everyone including Ben stayed vertical today.

Towards the end of this descent, and closing in on lunch, the paceline started. What a beautiful sight!! The teamwork was outstanding and even with a few headwinds the peloton was hammering into Cressy at a cracking 45km/hr. I think the boys could smell lunch which was at Longford, 12km the other side of Cressy. After another al a carte spread the pack headed for Launceston. The run was steady and incident free. Mind you, a public holiday in Launceston is obviously the best way to clear the roads here and we controlled the streets as we made our way through town to our hotel.

This afternoon a few of us tour “virgins” made a trip to the Children’s Ward at the Launceston Hospital. This is the whole reason we are all here. We met a couple of Captain Starlight’s and said hi to a few of the kids who are in hospital. They are amazing kids, and amazing Starlight staff. Keep up the awesome work.

Wardy