The ledge...

You'd think after 11 days and with just 4 days left, quitting this epic adventure would no longer be on my mind. It's been on my mind every single day of camp. My partner and I have variously talked one another to *step back from the ledge* at some point during each day's sessions. Today was probably the closest I came to asking to get in the van and end the pain...

My day got off to a less than auspicious beginning, after being left behind at the start of a trail run from Scott Molina's place. Thankfully the wonderful views more than compensated my anger and frustration of being forgotten and getting lost on the trails. I ended up doing a 20k out and back run with a decent chunk of it on pavement as I zig-zagged my way through the Sumner streets (suburb of Christchurch).

After the run we got on the bikes and had 150k of riding to our evening lodging in Geraldine. A flat ride but we were heading directly into the eye of a NZ southerly storm. Wind and rain in the face! The weather wasn't a big deal to me, having trained during the San Francisco wet season, but I was having knee pain, presumably from all the big gear riding yesterday and today's 20k run. The pain was most severe if I was trying to manage the surges and slowdowns of the group. Scott Molina stepped in to offer a most steady wheel so I could stay with the group through the most precarious aspects of today's ride, in particular the narrow Rakaia bridge.

Blanco talked me back from the ledge a couple of times today... After the Rakaia bridge, I preferred to ride steady and push my own wind but Blanco stuck by my side as he had been doing the entire ride... and that's despite my miserable outlook! We teamed up with Rob Q for the final 35k of the ride. Rob kindly treated us to mocha/flat white and huge slices of carrot cake in Mayfield's only cafe, as we warmed up by the fire before the final approach to Geraldine.

I got it done... with much help from Blanco.