Day 1 - Saturday, 30th August 2003 - Warwick to Clifton

After spending Thursday afternoon and Friday with my Aunt and Uncle on the Gold Coast, they were also kind enough to give ma a lift to Warwick, the start.

After getting the bike out of the box, and finding it all still went together after it flew up on Thursday, I checked in and prepared to get my bags weighted and hopefully loaded onto the trucks. I don't know what sort of luck I have but I was one of the first to get my bags onto the second truck, and subsequently managed to avoid getting it weighed (again).

With only 46kms to cover today everyone was looking at getting it over with. After the mass start at 11am we were away. After a bit of a slow start I started to pick up the pace, unfortunately my back tyre kept on insisting on shifting within the frame and wanted to rub against it. I managed to get it sorted out quite quickly and was soon powering at my normal pace. Apparently August is the windy month up here, and it was true to its name. We had a head wind for most of the trip. I made it to lunch ahead of the pack and after scoffing it down I was soon on my way again. After lunch I hoped I was going the right way, the road was called Allora-Clifton Rd (Allora was the lunch break) but there were so few other cyclists on the road I practily had it to myself. Despite riding through South East Queensland, from the landscape you wouldn't know it, this area is so similar to Cootamundra that at times it felt like a continuation on the Big Ride I completed in March. I rode into Clifton at about 1pm, so after about 2 hours the day was over. After setting up my tent, I realised that the same things are going to get to me during this ride as did on the NSW one. Mainly relating to the camping, but I am sure I will survive.

Distance	46.83 km
Average	24.00 km/hr
Time	1:57:02
Maximum	42.50 km/hr

Images

Click Here for more Photos from Day 1.