The good news is that you’re over halfway from Murray Bridge to Mount Gambier. The bad news is that you’re not there yet. The route’s still twenty five miles from the sea, in any direction, and that’s not what’s in front of you: that’s probably nearer seventy five, or three stage’s worth of riding. However this stage is more than tolerable in terms of ascent and has a nice long downhill finish so it should suit the power riders.
The rollout is downhill for three miles to Glenfife followed immediately by a sharp kick back upwards at Rangeview past the Naracoorte Road to Bordertown on the Dukes Highway. How you must wish you’d taken that road at Keith: you’d be halfway to Melbourne by now!
The next eight miles are a combination of lumpy and flat in all manner of combinations, passing by Exmoor at four miles, Oakwood at six miles, Burnside at ten miles and Rannoch at eleven miles. By the time the flat section finishes at Glenness at twelve miles, it’s time to get back into your climbing legs for a short sharp tester to The Ponderosa and the highest elevation of the stage at three hundred and seventy five feet.
The Ponderosa, at fourteen miles, is where the long descent begins. There’s a tiny kick back upwards just after Clovelly at sixteen miles, but it’s nothing to worry the scorers. The descent soon gathers pace again and by the time the A66 hits Naracoorte at twenty miles, you’ll be flying. The road flattens briefly as it winds its way left then right through the town but once it’s out the other side the descent gathers pace again through Gungurru at twenty two miles before finally flattening out a mile from the finish at Yeruga.
Distance: 24 miles / 38 kilometres
Ascent: 289 feet / 88 metres
RGT Magic Road: Br9Gu5Kk49y9
Max elevation: 372 ft
Min elevation: 110 ft
Total climbing: 290 ft
Total descent: -470 ft
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