Following the success of this years Tour de Cure, we have had an enormous amount of interest to get on board for the 2011 Tour from both riders and support crew. With that in mind and much deliberation, the Tour de Cure for 2011 is set to be another incredible journey between two iconic Australian cities, traversing the countryside, visiting schools, local communities, our corporate partners and giving our ‘Tribe’ the opportunity of spreading the message that cancer is curable in our lifetime.

Here are the details:

Tour de Cure 2011
Sydney to Melbourne
55 Riders Only and 10 Support Crew

Dates:

Friday 1st April - Sunday 10th April 2011

Fundraising Goal:

To raise $1.5 million dollars

Route:

Sydney to Melbourne via Wollongong, Sussex Inlet, Batemans Bay, Canberra, Cooma, Thredbo, Albury, Shepparton, Bendigo with a big finish in Melbourne.
Details of the finish are yet to be confirmed, but it promises to be big!

Guest Ride Stages:

Day 2: Wollongong to Sussex Inlet, 122kms
Day 9: Shepparton to Bendigo, 122kms

Map: See below

What’s different about TDC 2011?

The emphasis next year will be on education and prevention. Our goal is to hit primary and secondary schools at each stop from Sydney to Melbourne with ambitious plans about educating our future leaders and their parents with a message about cancer and what can be done to prevent this disease.

The other change is that due to our determination to spread the word and inspire as many people in our community to share our message, we are inviting all TDC members to consider their role as an ambassador to the Tour for 365 days of the year, not just the 3 months leading up to the 10 day Tour, or in fact just the 10 day Tour itself.

Our vision is simple…. we want to inspire the world to take action against cancer……..by funding brilliant Research projects, Supporting those suffering and sharing the Prevention message around cancer. If inspiring children, their parents and everyone you come in contact with into action against cancer, is something you hold dear to your heart, then we encourage you to join the Tour de Cure.

Applications are open for the 2011 Tour from 28th July - 28th August 2010. The Tour de Cure Board will review all applications and confirm offers to the 2011 team by the 10th of September 2010.

Spaces are limited to 55 Riders and 10 Support crew for our next tour.

Please click on the EOI button to fill in the 2011 Expression of Interest form.

Our Board will be reviewing all applications from past, present and future TDC members and finalising the team based on your commitment to being an INSPIRING TDC TEAM MEMBER.

Ride Safe,

Geoff, Gary & Sam
Tour de Cure

In 2012 the Tour de Cure will again embark on another Tour and we forecast taking 75 riders and 15 support crew that year. The route for the 2012 Tour will be announced 10th April 2011 at our finale event in Melbourne

I work for a company called USM Events (we run the Noosa Triathlon, Jayco Herald Sun Tour and many more events) and we have an office in Noosa. Mooloolaba to our office in Noosa is 54k’s, a perfect distance for a cool down ride. After celebrating our amazing accomplishments with the TDC tribe on Sunday night I climbed into bed with a huge smile on my face knowing that over $1.6M was going towards finding a cure for cancer. Awesome!!!

When I woke up in the morning I got a fright. It was daylight and I must have slept through my alarm (we always woke up at 4.30-5.00am every morning on tour!). Panic set in as I thought I had missed the start of the ride, but then I remembered the tour was over and we were all safely in Mooloolaba. Thank God!

I got out of bed and the body was a little stiff and sore which made me wonder which Pfizer Oncology product I could take to make me feel better. But that thought quickly left my mind when I went to get dressed. What was I going to wear? With so many different sets of Champion System knicks and jerseys I just couldn’t decide! Black/Black, White/White, Black/White, White/Black, Orange/Orange, Black/Orange, Orange/Black, White/Orange or Orange/White? Where is Geoff when you need him?!? At least the socks decision was easy, Peroni white and red socks. Oh no! They are both dirty! Looks like I’ll have to wear some other white socks and just hope I don’t run into Geoff and get ‘Coombed’! Thankfully it wasn’t cold so I didn’t need to wear my Gondwana jacket.

After applying my Aussie Butt Cream (yes, I use the direct to skin application method!) and filling my Powerade drink bottles I rolled out the front of the hotel wearing my Oakley sunnies and my first instinct was to head straight for the whiteboard. But no Sam and no whiteboard! Oh well, I suppose I’ll just head down and have my huge buffet breakfast as usual. I rode around for a bit but just couldn’t find the Canadian Kitchens catering truck. Where was Chris and chef Sam with my hot breakfast and where were the always smiling Mr & Mrs Walker?!? Luckily I still had a PowerBar Ride Bar in my pocket so this was my breakfast. Suddenly I spotted the familiar sight of Gareth and Nicola (Snow White!) and their Vittoria Coffee van. It was like an oasis in the sun!

After stopping for a quick chat I headed over to say goodbye to the rest of the TDC tribe who had turned out in force once again to support Berett’s with his Channel 7 Sunrise crosses outside the Mooloolaba Surf Lifesaving Club. Most just shook their heads as I rolled up on my bike dressed in full TDC kit (Black/Black by the way!). I think most of the team would be happy not to see their bikes for some time. So once I said my goodbyes I rolled onto the road and pulled to a stop waiting for Jimmy James and Cora to come past in the Lexus lead car to show me the way. I waited and waited and still no Jimmy James and no Robbie and Scottie in a follow Lexus either. Looks like I was going to have to navigate myself and risk the roads on my own. Luckily I had my Garmin 705 bike computer!

As I rode past Harvey Norman I thought about dropping in to see if they had any Boost Mobiles which I could connect to Optus just in case my other phone broke along the way. But I took the risk and rode on. I wondered how many people would be following my ride on the TDC website via the CSC tracker. Oh whoops, I forgot to get the tracker from Brendon before I left. I then passed a pretty impressive buidling which must have been built by our wonderful friends at BuildPlan.

After I pointed and yelled out “Hole right!” at the top of my lungs and got a weird look from a pedestrian I passed by I remembered that I was on my own and there was no need to yell and point at the hole. So I settled into my rhythm and managed to find my way out of Mooloolaba headed for Noosa. About 1hr down the road I started to look for the morning tea break stop. I looked into the distance but I just couldn’t see the Vittoria Coffee van anywhere. How was I going to make it all the way to Noosa without a yummy muffin, Kellogs K-Time Bars and Starburst lollies? My tummy was rumbling and all I could think about was how good those Crust Pizza’s tasted when we stopped on the Gold Coast!

I must say I missed the sound of those familiar voices on the radio. Brendon, Angie, Victor, Kim, Mike, Sonja, Heather, Rex, Dave, Jimmy James, Cora, Robbie & Scottie. What a wonderful team who kept us all so safe out on the roads. Thanks so much! A Lexus 4WD whizzed past and I half expected to see Angie pop up out of the sunroof camera in hand to take some more photos. Speaking of photos, where was Doddy and the team? Berett’s probably wouldn’t let them leave as he hogged the camera as usual. Suddenly a big bus passed by and I looked up to see if it was Ben driving the Westpac bus, but unfortunately it was just a normal bus with a huge Woolworths sign on the side. This just made me hungrier as I thought about tucking into some tasty Chris’ dips!

The ride was going wonderfully when all of a sudden it felt like I had a flat tyre. I threw my hand in the air and yelled “mechanical!”, but thankfully it was a false alarm and the tyre was fine. Which was probably a good thing as I’m not sure how happy the KOM team of Blair, Aido, Glenn, Alex & Caleb would have been if I rang them up to come and change my flat! Man those guys were awesome!!!

I was getting closer to my work and I had my eyes peeled for the Ooh Media truck with Dirk & Lizabeth, but they were nowhere to be seen. Thankfully I didn’t do a “Banksy” and fall off my bike on the way and I rolled into the USM Events office to be welcomed by the team with a cheer and a great morning tea (thank God as I was beginning to starve!). Don’t worry Garrick, I was stretching as I talked to the team!

After morning tea I looked around to see where my Powerade bag was but I couldn’t find it anywhere. What was I going to do without Ian and Dean?!?! Looks like I’ll have to go back to Mooloolaba to pick it up. So my cool down ride was over and I started to think about home. Although the Choice Hotels have been fantastic I must say that I was looking forward to jumping on the Jetstar plane and flying home to sleep in my own Sealy Posturepedic bed. So I slipped on my Skins to help with my recovery and walked upstairs in the office to jump online to have a look at the latest changes Amy had made to the TDC website.

Did I cover all the sponsors above Geoff? Haha!

All jokes aside, as I sit here now and reflect on this wonderful journey my mind is filled with so many wonderful experiences that I was so lucky to be a part of. Thank you to the TDC Board of Bruno, Geoff, Gary, Dominique and Sam for allowing me to be part of this amazing tribe of wonderful people. In closing I wanted to share with you all something that I shared with the TDC family at the Hunter Valley lunch. At the Tour de Cure welcome dinner in Sydney we had a guest speaker come along to speak to us about how the money we are raising is being used. His name was Prof. John Rascoe and he specialises in blood diseases. He started to tell a story about a particular form of leukaemia, Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia, the exact same type that my Mum died from when I was only 18 years old.

I must admit that once Mum died I hadn’t taken any notice of any medical advances connected with this particular disease but as soon as I heard him say those words my ears pricked up. He explained that through years of medical research they were able to develop a simple tablet that either stopped the disease in its tracks or cured it completely. So if my Mum had still been alive today and diagnosed with this disease all she would have needed to do was take a few pills and she would have been fine.

So the more money that we can provide these wonderful researchers the more chance we will find cures for other types of cancer so lives can be saved.

Once again thank you to all those that have been part of this amazing journey and thank you to all those wonderful people that have donated money so that we can find a cure for all cancers.

Bring on Tour de Cure 2011!!!

Once more the police were unbelievable giving us a full escort from Australia Zoo, 30 kilometres to the beach in Mooloolaba. As we hit the Esplanade and the Mooloolaba Surf Club, a massive crowd of family, friends media and supporters cheered as the 70 strong pack of riders and well over 30 support crew rolled through a cavalcade of hands and cheers and popping corks to dismount and embrace each other to celebrate and congratulate each other on an incredible fourth year tour for the Tour de Cure. With over $1.6 million banked, the 2010 Tour smashed all expectations both in the awareness of the Tour and Cancer, as well as the support that the Tour brings to support groups with all forms of Cancer and also the achievements that can be brought to life through an enormous amount of money that was generated through this team of 100 TDC members. Not to mention of course the massive impact that Mark Beretta and the Channel 7 team from Sunrise were able to provide through the media exposure of their top rating breakfast program.

All in all it was an amazing tour capped off with our finale dinner in Mooloolaba. A full house of family and friends, supporters and team members celebrated over dinner where the Category Jerseys and Board Awards were presented. The Category Jerseys on this particular night are not only awarded for the one single day but for the 10 day tour.

Category Jersey Winners (presented at our tour dinner)

* White Jersey – Supporting Skin Cancer for the Cancer Council. Proudly partnered by Sleepzone / Homemaker
Awarded for ‘Focus’ - Garrick Transell.
* Pink Jersey – Supporting Breast cancer for the NBCF. Proudly partnered by Gondwanna, New Idea and Gresham.
Awarded for ‘Support’ - Victor DeSousa.
* Yellow Jersey – Supporting Kids Cancer for Camp Quality. Proudly partnered by Absolute Executive Recruitment and V8 Juice
Awarded for ‘Attitude’ - Wayne Banks .
* Grey Jersey – Supporting Collorectal Cancer for Cure Cancer. Proudly partnered by Coffs Coast
Awarded for ‘Ambassador’ - Mark Beretta.
* Blue Jersey – Supporting Prostate Cancer for Cell and Gene Trust. Proudly partnered by Motoroma Group and Action Coach
Awarded for ‘Guts’ - James Buttelman .
* Purple Jersey – Supporting Brain cancer for Cure for Life Foundation. Proudly partnered by Pfizer Oncology and Lexus
Awarded for ‘The Thinker’ - Paul Ainsworth.
* Orange Jersey - Support Blood Cancer for Leukaemia Foundation. Proudly partnered by Sealy Posturepedic and Paynter Dixon. Awarded for ‘The Doer‘ - Ian Salmon .

Following the Category Jersey presentations, there were some very important Board awards named. These go out to team members who have gone above and beyond in the 12 months between Tours. This is where the Tour de Cure board recognises our standing contributions from team members with this year’s Board acknowledging the efforts of Malcolm Heath, Joshua McBride and David Lo.

What can we say but that it was an enormous tour, which broke all Australian records for charity cycling tours and the night could only be capped off by the biggest news of the short history of the Tour de Cure is that a three year agreement has been signed between the Tour de Cure and Lance Armstrong, the Lance Armstrong foundation and Livestrong. The evening was closed with a personal video message from Lance Armstrong to the Tour de Cure team recognising their efforts in training and the passion they are putting in to the 2010 Tour de Cure and beyond.

Its time to take a breath so stay tuned for the coming months for more news from the Tour de Cure tribe.

Distance: 168km

Elevation:  348m

Average Speed: 32.32967 km/h approx

Max Speed: 58 km/h

Total ride time: 5.25 hours

Temperature: very pleasant

Day 7 was welcomed with another picture perfect sunrise with the Tour de Cure team supporting Mark Beretta and the Channel 7 Sunrise crew at the Grafton Shopping Centre. The locals turned out in force to support TDC with a sausage sizzle fundraiser, Woolworths presented a $15,000 cheque to add to our phenomenal $1.4 million plus total and one of our support crew Victor was talked into shaving his head for another $10K donation, live on national tv at the end of the 8.30am sports report.

The peloton rolled out just before 9am and after a short 10km warm up on the roads out of Grafton, we split into teams of 10, starting every five minutes to compete against each other in a team time trial event. Weary legs were tested over the challenging 20km course and everyone pushed themselves to the limit and beyond to give themselves the best chance to win. After a super close contest, team Westpac / Sealy took out the win with an average speed of 44.6 km/h over the distance.

The remaining 138km journey for the day was spent winding our way on the roads at a brisk pace along the banks of the Clarence River (including packing all 71 riders onto the car ferry at Lawrence to Maclean) and north on the Pacific Highway towards the beautiful Byron Bay.

A few highlights along the way included Wayne Banks falling off his bike whilst stationary for the third time on tour, the rolling hills and amazing Ballina / Byron coastline and an impromptu visit to the Woodburn Public School after all the kids lined the highway with banners and cheers of support.

As the team rolled into Byron just after 4.30pm and stopped for a cleansing ale at the Beach Hotel, we learned of two hugely generous donations for the afternoon. One of $25,000 and another of $10,000 from locals who wanted to make a difference, which we gratefully accepted with sincere thanks.

The day was rounded off with a fantastic meal at the Byron Bay Brewery sponsored by Harvey Norman and the news that we can sleep in past six o’clock tomorrow for the first time on tour…

Category Jersey Winners (presented at our tour dinner)

STATS

Distance: 119km
Elevation:  1455m
Average Speed:  28.9km
Max Speed: 69km
Total ride time: 4 hours 8 mins
Temperature: 3-22 degrees

Hump Day!.. Day 5. After a cold and frosty beginning the sun came out at the University of New England for breakfast, a live cross to the Sunrise Program and a world record breaking attempt at ‘Balloon Popping’ with hundreds of yellow ballons!

Young Lachie arrived by helicopter  from Camp Quality to send off 75 tour  riders plus our awesome support team, as we departed en mass for Glen Innes.

Quiet panic spread through the peleton as we approached the looming land mass ahead affectionately known by  locals as the “devils pinch”.

A quick morning stop for coffee, cookies  (highly reccomended) and bananas got our creaking legs over the last of the hills just in time to welcome the darkening skies, a cold cross wind and … you guessed it…. the rain!

We were all supermotivated to get in before lunch so the last 20km were done at a solid 40k speed.

When we arrived we were priviliged to hear from Peter from Armidale. Peter  was part of a group of 6 guest riders who rode with us for 2 days, he spoke to us about what the experience meant to him and how his family has been touched by cancer. We were all touched by his words. He wished us well in our cause and we were grateful to have Peter ride with us.

The day finished with our daily tour dinner sponsored by Odd Fellows & Westpac, including a Team Trivia night. Cancer Council Glenn Innes was given a cheque for $5000.

Category Jersey Winners (presented at our tour dinner)

• White Jersey – Supporting Skin Cancer for the Cancer Council. Proudly partnered by Sleepzone / Homemaker
  Awarded for ‘Focus’ -  Heather Barnett & Rex Anthony.
• Pink Jersey – Supporting Breast cancer for the NBCF. Proudly partnered by Gondwanna, New Idea and Gresham.
  Awarded for ‘Support’ - Phil Mouret.
• Yellow Jersey – Supporting Kids Cancer for Camp Quality. Proudly partnered by Absolute Executive Recruitment and V8 Juice
  Awarded for ‘Attitude’ - Victor De Sousa.
• Grey Jersey – Supporting Collorectal Cancer for Cure Cancer. Proudly partnered by Coffs Coast
  Awarded for ‘Ambassador’ - Milos Sulicich.
• Blue Jersey – Supporting Prostate Cancer for Cell and Gene Trust. Proudly partnered by Motoroma Group and Action Coach
  Awarded for ‘Guts’ -  Mark Davis.
• Purple Jersey – Supporting Brain cancer for Cure for Life Foundation. Proudly partnered by Pfizer Oncology and Lexus
  Awarded for ‘The Thinker’ - Daniel Chalhoud.
• Orange Jersey - Support Blood Cancer for Leukaemia Foundation. Proudly partnered by Sealy Posturepedic and Paynter Dixon. Awarded for ‘The Doer‘ -  Dirk & Leisbeth Basman.

Distance: 118 km
Elevation: 1273 m
Average Speed: 25-26 km
Max Speed:  69 km
Total ride time: 4.4 hours
Temperature:  8-23 degrees

Day 4 started early with a school visit to Tamworth Public School, where we played dodgeball and received a generous $1000 cheque from the school community. We also picked up five day riders, who together had raised $16,000 for Tour de Cure. Massive effort guys - thank you.

Before leaving Tamworth we visited our Corporate sponsors, The Reject Shop and Harvey Norman. We can highly recommend the beds at Harvey Norman!

From there the three peletons, destined for Armidale 120km away got rolling. All was fairly uneventful on the road except for one small accident in peleton A. However Ian toughed it out to finish the last 20km.

...on the biggest ascent of day 4.

Oh - did we mention the big hill?! 12km of climbing with a maximum gradient of 10 degrees - it challenged all of us, including anyone with something left from yesterday. However, everyone made good time into Armidale, where we received a civic reception from the Council and were welcomed by the Anaiwian people.

Peleton B got a screaming reception from the students and staff of New England Girls Grammar school. We were all made to feel like rock stars!

We continue to receive great donations out on the road and plenty of toots! Thanks for all the community support everyone - we love it!

Finally we finished with a great dinner sponsored by the Armidale T20 group at the Wicklow. Looking forward to getting through another set of hills tomorrow.

Category Jersey Winners (presented at our tour dinner)

• White Jersey – Supporting Skin Cancer for the Cancer Council. Proudly partnered by Sleepzone / Homemaker
  Awarded for ‘Focus’ - Robyn Canner .
• Pink Jersey – Supporting Breast cancer for the NBCF. Proudly partnered by Gondwanna, New Idea and Gresham.
  Awarded for ‘Support’ - ‘Tug-boat’ Justin Worthington.
• Yellow Jersey – Supporting Kids Cancer for Camp Quality. Proudly partnered by Absolute Executive Recruitment and V8 Juice
  Awarded for ‘Attitude’ - Denver Benver.
• Grey Jersey – Supporting Collorectal Cancer for Cure Cancer. Proudly partnered by Coffs Coast
  Awarded for ‘Ambassador’ - Kate Ferguson.
• Blue Jersey – Supporting Prostate Cancer for Cell and Gene Trust. Proudly partnered by Motoroma Group and Action Coach
  Awarded for ‘Guts’ - Paul Fitzgerald .
• Purple Jersey – Supporting Brain cancer for Cure for Life Foundation. Proudly partnered by Pfizer Oncology and Lexus
  Awarded for ‘The Thinker’ - Gary Bertwistle.
• Orange Jersey - Support Blood Cancer for Leukaemia Foundation. Proudly partnered by Sealy Posturepedic and Paynter Dixon. Awarded for ‘The Doer‘ - ‘Team Max’ - Gwenda & Myles Walker.