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2024 is here and I wanted to kick off my new adventure with MAAP with another adventure of my own. I’ve really enjoyed getting into adventure riding in the past few years since I retired from professional racing, so I thought what better way to head over to Australia’s biggest race, the Tour Down Under?

The route was a tough one, my goal this year was to make a bee-line from Melbourne to Adelaide. It’s a 900k trip (at best) so I drew a straight line across, and accepted that we’d take whatever terrain the journey threw at us! It was a mixed bag, with the only real goal being to avoid main roads and to make sure the stops had some decent pubs. 

One of the things that I really enjoy about spending so much time in the saddle is really getting to know the people that you are riding with. When you are side by side for twelve hours a day, suffering in the dust, or a stinking headwind, your conversations can drift off and you get to know your riding partners on a new level. 

For this reason, I chose to invite an old friend and cycling buddy, Pat Drapac along for the ride. Pat is well known to anyone who has raced in Melbourne in the past twenty years. He’s been a rider, a team sponsor, and a team owner, and is a real part of the Melbourne scene. 

It had been quite a few years since I’d been able to spend time with Pat, so I wanted to use this journey to reconnect with him and learn about his cycling experiences, whilst we both got to do what we love – riding our bikes. 

The three-day trip was challenging and rewarding. Packed with all the things that make adventure riding so great. Pat made for great company, and we talked for hours about a huge range of topics, from his roots in cycling, his love of cooking and his sense of adventure with anything from pickling vegetables to moving to Copenhagen. 

I’ve put all the best parts of this trip into this pod for you guys to enjoy. Finding out new things about an old mate is a great feeling, and these trips are ideal for that. I hope you all get a sense of the adventure that we shared and enjoy the pod!

Cheers!

Mitch