17km 68% ride able 980m ascent ALT 3540m- 4450m
We're fighting the cold! Racing isn't too cold but the mornings and afternoons all you can do is sit around in what ever warmth you can find and drink tea. We've arrived at our highest rest point before we head through the pass. Riding today was hard. The altitude takes all your strength and power from you. It results in pushing the bike up hills you would normally ride and that even leaves you breathless. Slow and steady putting on foot in front of the other is all I'm asking of myself. We lost another member today who's sick and had to turn around. For the most part everyone's fine with slight head aches and exhaustion. One of our strongest international riders Jeff from USA is sick and hooked up to a IV right now. Looks like his race is over but will be going over the pass tomorrow but will be riding a Yak to the top. Yes, a Yak will be used to ride in this years Yak Attack. It's tough seeing such strong riders get torn down with such intense illness.
Finial push tomorrow then should be smooth sailing back to warmth. Jer had another long day but took some incredible photo's of everyone. Blue bird skies finally. He's tuckered out but only has one more big push then he can enjoy the comforts of the bus again. As he crawled into his sleeping bag tired from his big days and from fighting the continuous cold he said" The shit you voluntarily sign yourself up for girl.."Our beach time in Thailand will be well earned after this. Now for some sleep as we have a 4am start to make it through the pass before the wind picks up.
No comments:
Post a Comment