Tour de Rocks?

 One annual event in Armidale is a cycling event called the "Tour de Rocks". It's a long up-hill and down-hill bike ride to the coast near Kempsey.  It's a distnace of perhaps 250 km and the overall drop in altitude is c. 1000 m.

This year I was out on an early morning walk at about 7.30 am on the day the tour was due to start downtown at perhaps 10 am. I was stunned to see about 7 pods of bike riders pass me going north on Rockvale Road near where I live. One pod was headed by a truck with lights flashing and two others were led by a police car. 

I managed to work out that the pods were probably community supporters of the event and not participants. That's because many of the riders looked elderly, while others were quite young. Nor do all the riders wear the customary uniforms of competitive riders.

Here's a few pictures of what I saw near home. I guess that some of these groups - if not all - were supporters of the event  and preparing to say good-bye to the competitors.

In 2023, the event couldn't use the usual route to the coast because of extensive road-works on the main Armidale - Kempsey road. So instead the route was re-directed for a similar distiance around the northern tablelands.

Armidale is certainly an interesting place with a constant stream of interesting cultural and recreational events.

AS