Tour de Turtle Stage 2: The Mountains

 

Tour de Turtle Stage 2: The Mountain Stage

Today the Tour promenaded along the world-famous Coast to Vines Rail Trail, taking in the section, as yet unexplored by the peleton, between Hallett Cove and Seaford where they would catch the train back to base.  The starting flag had barely fallen when Roger left the blocks with the speed of a startled rabbit, roaring up the hill beside Waterfall Creek gorge and making a play for King of the Mountain right off the bat.

 Choking on his dust, Catherine plugged up the hill on a bicycle which surely had tyres made of glue. She conceded the King of the Mountain to Roger with no struggle at all and demonstrated that some days riding a bicycle is effortless and on other days it... isn't.

The high point of the course came early, with a neutral time zone declared for a short side trip to check out the historic site at Old Reynella, where John Reynell planted his grapevines and started South Australia's wine industry

The long downhill from Old Reynella to the Onkaparinga River ran through old cuttings and tunnels of trees.  A bitter battle was fought for the intermediate sprint, with an indeterminate result as neither of the competitors was really sure where exactly the intermediate sprint line was and therefore each of them was sure that they had crossed it first.

Despite it still being winter, some trees along the way had made an executive decision to move into spring finery.  A neutral zone was called for the purposes of floral photography.

The competition became serious when the Onkaparinga came into view, representing as it did the low point of the course.  It was all uphill from there but with only 2.3km from the river to the finish line at Seaford railway station the stakes had never been higher.

The peleton powered along through river flats dressed in vivid green grass and clover, dotted with fat and healthy kangaroos.

Some of the kangaroos had definitely been lifting weights at the gym.

Roger, on track for the stage win, was drastically distracted by the Seaford Meadows mural which offended his engineering sensibilities in every way possible: interrupted train lines; pointless tunnels full of water; waterfalls going nowhere; drowning people in said waterfalls...   Catherine tried to take the race lead while he was gnashing his engineering teeth but he leapt into action and snatched the win from right under her handlebars.

The competitive crew eschewed the tickertape parade and chose to return home incognito on the Adelaide Metro.  It was nice to be out of the cold wind and Roger, with two stage wins under his belt, was in danger of being lulled into a false sense of security before tomorrow's penultimate stage at the Happy Valley Reservoir.

Lulling.

It was all moot when they returned home of course.  King Cat was not the slightest bit interested in who won what insignificant Tour de Whatever.  He demanded subservience and immediate food, and then came back for treats just to make sure that everyone knew exactly who was in charge.

Food.  Now.  Or I will leave rats under the couch.