We've spent a very relaxing week in the McLaren Vale and Adelaide district sampling great wine, beer and food. This is a lifestyle I've now become very accustomed to and only have four and bit months left to get unused to it or to find a sponsor or employer willing to fund this new lifestyle of mine on a longer term basis. I'm sure there's a benefit to humanity somewhere in all this and its up to some committed entrepreneur to find it.
Apart from sampling wine and beer at various wineries and breweries, I managed to get a few rides in around the very picturesque rolling hills and vineyards around McLaren Vale. The area reminded me very much of parts of Italy we toured through two years ago. I rode up Wilunga Hill twice and part of this year's route for stage 5 of the Tour Down Under down to Aldinga Beach and along the esplanade. Also rode the 45km into Adelaide itself. This week was the last hit out on the road bike before its put away until our return to Canberra in December and I couldn't have been in a better place for training.
My top tips for recovery after training rides in this region:
Coffee, muffins and friands - Market 190 Cafe
Pizza, Vale Ale and various red wines - Oscars
Cheese and red wine - purchased anywhere in McLaren Vale, consumed in the campervan
Beer, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Antipasto, pasta - Vasarelli Cellar Door
And so, after a week it was back to Canberra to pick up our X-Trail from the smash repairers ready to start the next stage of the trip. After a week and a half of living in the campervan, the new camper trailer is going to feel like a mansion. We came home via Griffith NSW which is where my family moved to from Brisbane for 18 months when I was 5 years old. I started school in Griffith and was keen to see whether there was anything in the town that I would recognise after 43 years absence. There was and the overnight stay left me feeling quite nostalgic and realising Griffith's importance in my early development. Starting school here, this is where I received my first real training in how to stand out from the crowd - seeking attention through misbehaviour has stood me in good stead to this very day!