Heading "Down Under"

On Tuesday, January 10, I leave for a visit to Australia and the Santos Tour Down Under. Once again, I'll be going with Custom Getaways, the company that set up the fabulous trips to the Tour de France in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Traveling with me will be my friends Bill & Robbie from Dallas; Cindy & Steve from Houston; and Tony & Chandelle, who live in Bathurst (about 200k west of Sydney) and will be meeting us when we arrive there Thursday morning. Bill & Robbie were on all three of the TdF trips with me, while Tony & Chandelle were there in 2008 and 2010, and Steve & Cindy were there in 2009 and 2010. We'll spend three days in Sydney before flying due west to Adelaide, in the state of South Australia, on Sunday, January 15. The Tour begins the following day and runs through the 22nd. There will be 19 pro teams participating, with seven riders on each team, and many familiar names. Our able tour guide, George, who's helped me up and down the greatest biking climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees, will be with us to keep us all pointing in the right direction. We all had some unforgettable experiences on and off the bikes in France, and are looking forward to another great trip. Here we all are at the finish line in Paris, July 25, 2010.

I'll try to post regularly, although until we get to Adelaide it'll be mostly about all the touristy stuff we're doing in Sydney. Our only preplanned activity there is to climb to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, which we'll do on Friday morning. As for the rest of our stay in Sydney, we'll just have to see what develops!