Day 8 - Saturday, 6th September 2003 - Kenilworth to Kin Kin

We woke up this morning to a misty start, the tent was soaking wet but it was quite warm so it wasn't too much of a problem. I heard that they were going to delay the start by 30 minutes because of the thick fog. I got to the gate at about 7am and saw two riders leaving, I asked the Marshall about it and she said that they couldn't really stop us. I set off and it was like riding in soup, the fog was really thick and you could only see about 10-15m. Luckily because it was Saturday morning there was very little traffic on the road. I was soon out of the fog and climbing the first major hill. At this point I was glad of the early start, the view was amazing. You could see the valley where Kenilworth was still covered in fog and beginning to burn off. I wasn't sure if some of the later starters would get to see it. I found that I was really working hard getting up the hill, when I got to the top I checked the bike, the back wheel was rubbing against the frame. After fixing that I was back on the road. I made morning tea but no one was there, I spoke to the Marshall for a few minutes before moving on. I had a leisurely enjoyable ride into lunch. After lunch we were expecting a few major climbs, they didn't disappoint. Although they weren't as steep as some of the previous ones but they really kept going. Once up it was relatively flat for the rest of the day.

Passing through Cooroy there were a couple of cyclists coming up behind me and I heard them yell Magpie. I crouched down and he swooped me about 5-6 times and made contact with my helmet about 3 times before he left me alone. I heard he had a go at a lot of cyclists during the day.

I left Cooroy and then headed to Pomona, again stopping briefly to chat to a Marshall along the way. I made Pomona and afternoon tea early and again there was no one there. Some of the other cyclists were doing their own in the coffee shop. I spoke to the Marshall and she asked me about the Sydney to Gong ride (I was wearing my Sydney to Gong Jersey). I found out that she had been a Marshall on that, RTA Cycle Sydney and the NSW Big Ride, it was a good opportunity for me to speak about Unicycling, she had a lot of questions for me as whenever she showed her photos of me to anyone they were asking her questions.

Leaving Pomona I headed down the last 24kms of the last full day, there was some very scenic riding on quiet country roads that were very enjoyable. I made camp at about 11am in time to help unload the luggage truck (again) and with the good news that the pub backed onto the camp ground.

Distance	79.67 km
Average	25.57 km/hr
Time	3:06:53
Maximum	64.10 km/hr

Images

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