Saturday 14th

Saturday 14th

I guess there was a reason why there wasn’t a toaster in the accommodation block that we are staying in. We found out the hard way at 6am this morning when someone decided to burn some toast and got the fire department out of bed. Needless to say everyone was on time this morning for swimming.

On Epic Australia last year we had a triathlon to the top of Mt Kosiscos (highest point in Auz). This included some massive climbing on the bike with Bjorn off the front. Behind was Clas, myself, Gordo and Scott. I wasn’t surprised that Clas & Gordo (both pro’s) were chasing but Molina showed he still what it takes when he wanted to turn it on. Today was a repeat performance. The bike was a 170km ride including a double crossing of the takaka hill (750m elevation gain each way). All the athletes regrouped at the bottom of the climb and started together. I decided that I’d like to get in a bike so I started at the back of the bunch. The group shattered within seconds of hitting the climb so I thought I better make my way to the front quickly where Scott had applied some pressure and was already starting to pull off the front. For the first 2-3km Scott was staying out of his seat and tapped out a solid pace while everyone fell by the wayside. When the gradient eased I thought I better get on the front and help out the cagey veteran. As we neared the plateau we were both slowing considerably but I felt like Scott’s domestique and I wanted to pull him all the way – I was hurting big time though. As we rolled over the top Scott got the double bonus KOM points with Clas, Mike & Stephen about 1min back. I knew Scott would drop down the other side like a stone, turn and then try to hold on for the return climb. He held on until 1km from the top when Clas finally caught him and spat him out the bike. Still a great performance from Scott.

The fatigue is really setting in for the guys. Tomorrow we have a “guess your time half marathon” which should be interesting. Then Monday we have a monster 230km day