Stage 4 Cann River - Maffra
By far the hardest day to get up in the morning and we left pretty late. Our departure was around 7:15am, we probably shouldn't have sat around watching the today show.
Sun was coming up and i was still sleepy and Tomas was spreading nutella on bread.
My legs were super tight in the morning, and the first few kms were so hard, but once the legs warmed up it got easier. It was a lovely day, the sun was out and at our backs and there was a nice cool morning breeze. Straight out the door and what i noticed was every time we stopped the ride always started with a hill we had to climb over. The ride from Cann River to Orbost was again uneventful, just a lot of pedaling and more pedaling.
Tomas and Gi at the 400kms to go mark.
Tomas and Gi at the Orbost sign
Myself and Tomas at the Orbost sign
![Image](http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs219.snc3/22655_262839532424_527942424_4287038_8134232_n.jpg)
Orbost would be our first stop and it was a very hilly ride to get there. After stages 3 and 4 it hopefully will make me stronger on hills. In Orbost it was a stop at the local foodworks store. The traditional tour meal would come out again. Chicken, pasta, bread, yoghurt, milk and this time we had fruit! Some very tasty nectarines.
This is where everything seemed to get a little pear shaped for me. I was sitting on a bench outside the shop while Tomas and Gi went in to get lunch and i slowly dozed off. I was just sitting there and my head tilted forward and i just jerked back up, this couldn't be a good sign with over 150kms of riding left. Shortly after my butt started hurting. It was starting to chaffe! Luckily Tomas brought along some cream for rashes which i applied generously onto the pad of my knicks. I wasn't the only one hurting as Tomas was out of the saddle quite a bit with his backside in some pain.
After spending some time in the local caravan park toilets in Orbost it was back on the road towards Maffra. We accidentally took the wrong road and did an extra 5kms, and i was glad it was only an extra five. After doing a U-turn and a few minutes on the side of the road looking at the GPS we were back on track. I was struggling, find it extremely hard to concentrate and it was time for me to stop at the next shop which was in Nowa Nowa about 40kms from Orbost and pick up a banana and coke. I don't know what it is, maybe it's because i don't drink caffeine and rarely drink soft drinks, but the can of coke just gave me a ridiculous lift.
Me and Tomas in the Nowa Nowa general store with his can of coke and my EPO.
After Nowa Nowa is was nice, some nice hills to climb which meant some nice descents and Gi said i was nearly hit by a car but it was because i was riding in the middle of the road and messing about riding with one leg clipped in and my other foot on the top tube. I was full of energy and feeling good, sprinting up hills just before Bairnsdale and also trying to stay on Tomas' wheel. I also learned how much less effort it is being behind someone when you're riding at high speeds. I was on Tomas' wheel while he gave me a leadout and i actually managed a max speed of 62km/h as opposed to 50km/h when i try to sprint on my own.
Me and Tomas riding along somewhere between Nowa Nowa and Bairnsdale i think.
We made it into Bairnsdale pretty late as it was around 6:00pm. Once again we were at a supermarket and eating pasta, fruit, yoghurt and milk. This meant a bathroom break and i also discovered my butt was bleeding slightly. The rest of the ride was pretty painful for me but it was getting late and we needed to get to Maffra and we departed Bairnsdale at around 6:45. The rest of it was flat which was a nice change and we ended up taking turns on the front and holding 31-32km/h to Maffra and when we got to Maffra it was like a ghost town, but then again it was around 9:00 when we got there.
This is a photo of Gi at the hostel. Don't know why he's so angry, we just finished staged 4, i know i was stoked to be off the bike for the day.
Think we averaged somewhere around the 25km/h mark for this day which was probably the 3rd fasted day of the tour.