By the time we were underway the clouds had cleared, the sun was just poking up over the horizon and it was looking to be a nice day - not as hot as yesterday (thankfully) - and with very light winds.
Last night's dinner was a hoot and the fines flowed with their usual fervour. I got fined for getting slightly sunburnt (as did some others) and Anna got fined (again) for wearing long socks (again).
The climb out of Walpole is about 5km long and we took it nice and easy as no-one was warmed up. After that the rest of the ride was what cyclists euphemistically call "undulating". It was reasonably hilly but as we had been promised at the start of trainig, the trainig for this ride was worse than the ride itself. Today was supposed to be the hilliest day and everyone took it in their stride.
About halfway to Pemberton, just before we got into Northcliffe the rain started to come down. It was a light, misty rain and the wind that came with it was similarly light and overall it made for relatively pleasant riding conditions as long as you ignore the fact that you have no brakes.
There will be some fines this evening for someone losing a water bottle (apparently that is worth a pineapple - the meaning of which was explained to me last night with some derision as I had no idea) and a few people who fell of their bikes as we were stopping - fatigue is probably the reason but there will be fines nevertheless. Luckily no injuries from that.
The are photos on the web. Day one, Monday evening and Day two are up with more to come. Plus, here's a news video from GWN!
Update: And there are ride diaries on the website. Albany, day one are already available with day two coming soon.