Day 2 - 9th hour

Tony with his Sport Recovery clothing

The age group race started just before midday. The start of the race entailed running for approximately 300 meters before the rider collected their bikes and began riding. I took my camera into the handling area where we were to hold the riders bikes ready at the end of the sprint. I managed to get photos of the line-up. The challenge was that the rider had to find his bike amongst all the others lined up both sides of the road. Tony had to run in runners as his ankle wouldn’t support his riding shoes and there was a big risk of an injured ankle before he even started riding. I held up his shoes so he could find his bike easier and he did a quick shoe change over which didn’t seem to cost too much time, but never less it did cost some time at the start.

Tony is in his 9th hour of the race. This is still very early in the race and placing changes a lot throughout the race. many riders start strong and burn out, some pull out injured, some loose time through mechanicals, some drop back in time dramatically and others keep fairly consistent times. So far Tony has kept a fairly consistent time each lap. Unfortunately he has had 2 falls due to overzealous riders overtaking less than safely.

In addition Tony lost a half hour due to a faulty light battery in the first night lap. We sent him out with 2 batteries to cover this issue. We had checked the batteries before we left, timing them. Unfortunately the one I sent out with him stopped working almost immediately. Tony had to return back to the pit and lost the lap and the time. The lap before he had started gaining places. He gained 6 places which is likely because he is racing to his heart rate and completing the laps as best as he can without overtaxing his body too much. There will be other riders overtaxing themselves. We have seen plenty of injured riders. The course is scary in places and now it is dark, it is even more dangerous. One rider broke his collarbone yesterday before the race even started. Tony is in good spirits and has a long night ahead of him. We have been very blessed with the weather so far. Today the weather alternated from overcast but mild to sunny. Tonight it has cooled off but not as cold as we had expected so far. Tony is due in around 10.30pm for his next pit stop. I will try to update further into the race.