What a stage! One of the most scenic I have ever ridden! And, although not the hardest, definitely a good honest effort. After yesterday’s rather gentle introduction, we managed the 97km in 6h03m which meant (insert fanfare here) we clinched the stage victory in our category! I mentioned before that we are in the Masters group (80+ combined age) which is the largest of the various groups. So there!

Most of our SA routes go up over a mountain and down the other side – repeat until the finish line. Here, starting as we did at 1600m, we first went down and then up. Weird. And it makes for a tough finish – the final 30km or so climbed 1000m. Quite a grind through rough forestry track that become more and more muddy as we neared the village of Dinner Plain. It may be on a plain but clearly it’s right on the edge judging by the way we came up.
Starting off this morning at Falls Creek, we followed and aquaduct trail. After a fairly flat 25km, the middle bit started with another rough alpine track down through the forest. Unlike yesterday where the main obstacles were the sticks and stones, this was much steeper (very in some sections), with a loose gritty surface and big washed out longitudinal ruts from which there is no return. To be avoided. A bit like Perth Pink in the Monty Python Australian wines sketch – “not a wine for laying down, a wine to be avoided”
After safely (mostly) getting down we of course went up and over Mount Something-Or-Other during which time it rained a bit making the track a bit slippery. Then we meandered – vertically in this case rather than the traditional laid back horizontal meander, through some scenic grassy farmlands. Sheep and cows are both farmed, which led to the next thing to be avoided. Nothing like a bout of tummy trouble induced by a dose of dung, flung up off your front wheel. Eew.
Then came the climb up to Dinner Plains which, having read the first bit of this, you know about.

We’ll know for sure a bit later, but it looks like we are also lying first overall in Masters. And we were not even racing. Or at least that’s what I say. Jayson on the other hand commented, “At one point I decided that we should give up this damn racing nonsense and go ride with those girls”. And you can be quite sure it was for their pace rather than their company!
And what about “Slippery Pinch”? Well, that’s the name of our room in the Dinner Plains lodge we are staying at tonight!