Another windy day in Southland.  Coincidentally , today’s first stage was from Invercargill to Tuatapere, the same stage as the one that was shortened because of hail, snow and sleet last year.

At least this year we didn't have the snow or the sleet but we still had the wind, a bit of rain and some hail. 

The wind played absolute havoc in the peloton with echelons forming within the first 10 kms of Stage 4.  Gordon McCauley had said he was going to make life hard for everyone and to give him his due, he delivered on his promise. The Subway team dictated the speed the front and caused all of the damage in the first 10 kms.  JD was the first to go and had to battle his way to the finish in a small group. 

Grover, Floyd and Nico were further up and, although the bunches split and reformed they managed to re-integrate with the main peloton about half way through the stage. But even that wasn’t without incident, as Floyd rubbed wheels with someone who moved to far to the right in the cross wind, putting Floyd on his backside for a few minutes.

In the meantime Jamie had positioned himself well, battling to get a good position near the front early on and managed to sit fairly comfortably in the main bunch all morning.  The group with Floyd Nico and Grover made it back to the main bunch, which finished just a few seconds behind a small group that contained the eventual winner, Patrick Bevin.

As we had done last year, we took a room at the Tuatapere pub,  where the riders could shower and refuel for a couple of hours. While we were there, Lester Rutledge of the Southland Stags brought the Ranfurly Shield was showing off the shield, se we got some photos of Floyd and the team with the shield.

And then it was onto the start line for Stage 5 and off into the howling gale and sideways rain.  Just as they had done in the morning stage, Subway got onto the front and made life hard for everyone else.  Again echelons formed quickly and it wasn't long before a laughing bunch of about 20 riders settled in and rode sensibly and safely to the finish.  JD was part of that group.  Thankfully, JD was starting to feel a bit better and looked in pretty good spirits at the finish line.

Jamie and Nico were in the 3rd group on the road, while Floyd and Grover were in the main bunch.  Not long after Colac Bay Grover got gapped on the turn into strong cross-winds and twice had to work his way back through the convoy to get back on.  The third time Floyd eased off the back and waited for Grover and the two of them rode at an easy pace until we caught up to them in the van.  We fed and watered them and they seemed pretty happy - happier than they would have been sitting in a disorganised bunch that was being blown all over the road with riders banging into each other and pushing people around.  And they were also happy to lose 6 or 7 minutes and stay alive rather than thrash themselves to stay closer to the front bunch and lose either 2 minutes or some pieces of skin.

At one point a commissaire came up to – we though he was going to accuse us of illegally motor pacing some riders, so it came as a real shock to be told to go and do the absolute opposite.  We were instructed to pace Floyd, Grover and another rider up to the next rider on the road so that there weren't too many riders dotted across the landscape. Sometimes you just never know how to follow rules around here!

So it was a happy little bunch cruising alongside the van out of the wind drinking Coke and Red Bull and taking it easy.  The fun ended when the bunch that Nico and Jamie were in caught up.  That mean the convoy had to pull over to allow the groups to merge.  So we cruised into the finish in Winton, knowing that the boys weren't too tired or battered and were saving themselves for the next day’s stage to Queenstown and the Crown Range.

After a quick refuel at the finish line at Winton we drove to Jamie's parent place in Taramoa  for a magnificent feed of homemade pumpkin soup and roast lamb, a novel meal for Floyd and Scott, who don’t eat much sheep back home.

In the meantime I was organising replacement forks for Grover's bike. They arrived at the motel at 5.30, giving Marcel just half an hour to pick them up, take them to Cycle Surgery and cut them down to size for Grover's Cannondale.  That done, it was a case of waiting for us to return to Invercargill so that he could take the components off the borrowed Pinarello and put them back on the Cannondale. 

Another long day but, despite the lack of high placings on either stage, the team are happy.  JD's smiling - appreciative of the supportive text messages and ready to go out again tomorrow and do better than just survive.

Floyd appears relaxed and happy and it was great to see him and Grover chatting happily on the road to Winton.  He had nothing to prove and was being a true team mate  - All For One and One For All.

And so next up is the 132 km stage from Lumsden to the Crown Range.  Let’s see how the lads make it through stage 6