The gloves are off.

It’s been a day to remember; for the first time since we arrived there has been no cloud cover in the morning and no wind, consequently it has been a very oppressive day.

During the heat of the day, it was almost impossible to ride quickly without damaging the health of the competitors, trying to keep the ‘lid on’ things though is not simple. I finally persuaded Simon to rest at 1 o’clock this afternoon, the plan being to do nothing for 4 hours, I followed to our tents an hour later and slept like a baby, little did I know that Simon had got up at 3.30 and started riding again! I woke at 4.30 could sense the heat, got no reply from Simon’s tent so closed my eyes, 2 hours later I woke with a start and discovered he was gone.

 

Before we decided to rest, Simon and Kale had reached a Gentleman’s agreement to sleep through the heat of the day; I guess Simon’s ‘Sixth Sense’ is better than mine, because Kale had started riding just before him. It’s now 6 hours later and they both are still at it, Kale has been really pushing the pace and I have finally got Simon to ‘back off’, it’s Kale that has to do all of the chasing as Simon has a 110km lead…… which on this course at these speeds is over 5 hours.

Oh yes forgot to tell you, ‘the gloves are off’ and Simon has reached 1200km’s only 600 to go and the small matter of 420km’s of running !

So we will see how the night unfolds, stay focused Simon, we’re watching over you.