Firstly, sorry for the delay in getting this post together but fatigue and lack of internet access during the last days of the event and post event meant I could not get this out but here is a wrap up of the event.

Day 5: So we ended the last stage sitting in 81st place in the GC and we had steadily made progress up the rankings but things were beginning to take it's toll on us. I was now urinating with a great deal of pain and had numb toes whilst the Gazman was suffering with an upset stomach and flu-type feelings. This is a tough race and the culmination of the days effort together with lack of quality sleep in the race campsite was perhaps too much. The legs, however, felt pretty good surprisingly although sore, once on the bike and riding they did not feel too bad.

Today's stage was Team Time Trial over 27km but with 860m of climbing. We had a start time of midday which meant we could have a bit of breather and get ready for what was sure to be a short but hard stage. We decided that we would take the stage steady rather than flat out maximum effort as tomorrow was a huge day and we would prefer to save the legs for that.

We got off to a reasonable start but soon found ourselves being caught by teams who had started over a minute behind us! The Gazman was struggling a bit with his stomach issues but was bombing down the decents very well. I was perhaps a little too hesitant and lost my rear brakes halfway round after they overheated and over the steep and technical decents, I had no choice but to hop off and run down them. So we lost a bit of time with that and although we wanted to hammer it home, we thought it better to save the legs a bit for tomorrow's massive stage.

We, unsurprisingly, dropped places in the GC down to 83rd spot.

Day 6: Rated the hardest stage of the race, today's stage took us from Worcester to Oak Valley, some 123km away with 2240m of climbing. The day started easy enough with a 8km controlled start on the roads but it soon became manic when we went from a large road to a tight single track with much pushing and shoving going on, accidents were never far from our minds.

The flattish start to the stage also meant the packs stayed tight for quite a while which was a bit nerve-racking but it did open up eventually as people found their own individual rythms and pace. Not to mention the sharp gradients (some over 25%) which soon broke up the packs. It turned out to be a long day for The Gazman as he really suffered with his stomach issues and hats off for slogging it out over such a long and hard stage. Just when things started to get really tough near the end, we hit some fantastic swooping single tracks which had an amazing effect of lifting the spirits and magically reguvenated the legs. My wife had also arrived from Australia today, so the added bonus of meeting up for the first time since the start of the race was a real moral booster.

We only dropped one place in the GC today which was testiment to how the Gazman just slogged it out, tomorrow, however, would be another story.

Day 7: After our first night in a proper bed since the start of the race, I awoke a little more refreshed than previously and ready for our penultimate stage of 99km with 2160m of climbing from Oak valley to Oak valley. Yesterday was supposed to have been the hardest day but I reckon today was harder. The high winds and cold weather conditions might have had something to do with it, but today was our toughest day as a team. The Gazman went to hell and back several times today as his stomach revolted against the constant high-carbohydrate food we had eaten for the past week. He was battling to keep anything down and moral was taking a knock as all we could do was ride slowly and watch as teams passed us all day.

The major climb of the day seemed to go on forever with various rocky and sandy sections which were impossible to ride, so a lot of time was spent pushing the bike.

I broke my rear derailleur cable around 15km from the final aid station of the day, thankfully though there were no major obstacles then and the fantastic mechanics sorted the bike out as efficiently as a F1 pit crew.

Bike fixed, we pushed on through to the finish which was mentally a tough one as you came within site of home but seemed to have to negotiate an endless number of switch-backs before actually hitting the finish area.

We dropped a lot of places today which was not surprising and we slumpt to 97th in GC. We would have to try and hold things together as much as possible during the final day to remain within the top 100.

 

Day 8: The final day dawned and a second night in a comfortable B&B did wonders for the energy levels, even The Gazman was feeling a little better. The stage took us from Oak valley to Lourensford Wine Estate just over 65km away but with 1640m of climbing. We could finally smell the end, so spirits were a little higher just for that reason, we were ready to go out with a bang if necessary. The cooler conditions too played right into the hands of my UK partner and Gazman looked ready to battle it out just one last time.

 

It was a very congested start as was the norm over the past few days and we managed to get behind the leading women right from the start. They were going at a good steady pace, so we decided to hang in behind them as long as we possibly could. That we did for about ¾ of the stage before loosing them on the second major climb of the day. We had passed and dropped a lot of teams at this stage, so we felt good and just pressed on, giving it our all to the finish.

The finish itself was a bit of an anti-climax to be honest. I am not sure what we were expecting and perhaps we were just too tired to celebrate but we crossed the line feeling more relived that the race was over rather than happy with what we had achieved.

We eventually gained a few places today and ended the event 70th spot in the men’s classification and 92^nd in GC.

This had been, by far, the hardest physical thing I had ever done, it was a real challenge and not because of the riding but rather the event as a whole; with sleep deprevation in the noisy, dusty campsites together with having to queue for showers, queue for food, queue for toilets, etc, all these things added up to have little time for real rest and recovery. It was however a fantastic experience and a wonderfully organised event over some simple spectacular terrain. Do it again? mmmm, a little early for that question but certainly recommended!