EC 2007 day 3 (Dave C's blog)

Two religious experiences in one day. That's more than I've had in the last decade. Bear with me while I describe them (this blog is as much a record for me as it is sharing my experience). First, just after the decent of Lewis Pass, I found myself in the unfamiliar position at the head of my group, TTing through a canopy of native forest, nice tailwind behind me. It was raining, but completely silent. No traffic, no other person as far as the eye could see. Very serene.

The second experience, at the other end of the day, was similar. I'd just done my run and walked down to the lake (Brunner) to cool down the legs. I was standing waist deep, looking out across the lake to the hills in the background shrouded by low cloud. Again, complete silence. After you live in a city for long enough, you realise how peaceful silence can be.

Right, got that off my chest. Now, in between these zen moments was 230kms of biking and a 50min. run. (Oh, by the way, correction to y/day's post. On a count-back, it was Brandon in yellow, not Mike).

As it turned out, all but 4 of us opted to leave early with Gordo. It was pissing down, and continued to do so for the first 5 hours of the bike. 8 degrees (celsius) at the start of the ride. The group stayed together pretty well and Gordo, Clive and Albert drove the train for much of the time. We were lucky, no wind. So, while we got soaked, we made pretty good time. Just had short stops along the way so we didn't get cold. Worthy of mention was the curried mince pie in Reefton and the hot chips in Springs Junction. I'm now starting to understand how people actually put weight on during this camp. Something I thought would have been impossible a week ago.

For the data geeks (I'm one of them), 7:42, 185w AP, 211w NP, h/r 113 (seemed a lot harder than that).

As for the rockstars, it was all over pretty quickly. Mike M attacked at 10km and then proceeded to do a 220km TT. Brandon still in yellow though, by half a point.

Big day at the office. Let's see how the body shapes up tomorrow.