We were up early today, and were driven by bus to the start out at Trephina Gorge about 80kms from Alice. It was to be about 95km home via over grown 4x4 tracks and heaps of sand, (off and pushing the bike, sand). Things were ok until the first feed station, which snuck up on us. I grab my bottle and headed off up the track and into the first real sandy stretch, off pushing, running, ride a bit, push about. Fast section, off and push again, on, off, on, you get the picture. Eventually we make it to the midway feed station, by this time it is just 3 off us, Adrian, Ben Randell and I. Another bottle and back to the sand! I was having flashbacks to my adventure racing days. An hr or so, we saw the event photographer, Emily, who drives a 2 wheel drive, so thats a good sign, feed station 3. Still 3 of us and no sign of anyone else. 10kms of rough road and 6km of single track lay ahead. We swap off, doing turns into the wind, with Ben doing the grunt of it- Machine. I slowly drop of the pace as we head into the singletrack, maybe cause I did the turn leading into it, maybe cause I am soft! Maybe because I was knackered, no excuse, I need to be with them. The single track turns out to be only 2 km and I manage to hold a convincing 3rd and Ben takes a hard earnt win.
I guess it's nice to be at the pointy end, racing Australia best and being able to call shots, not just making up the numbers anymore. I look forward to smashing myself in the time trial tomorrow, 23 kms, 1 hr of pain.
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