The cracks are starting to form but the riders keep rolling (Day 3)
Day three of any long tour is always a bit of a breaking point. The fight or flight that drives us all begins to kick into overdrive and the questions of why you began this folly play with the mind. When the road continues relentlessly beyond the horizon those feelings intensify.
Jackie Bernardi casts a long shadow on the 90 mile straight!
A tribal elder of the Adnyamathanha tribe from the Northern Flinders once told me if you eat the heart of a Kangaroo you can run for 4 days without food and water in the Australian outback. I dare say the riders won't be finding any campfire cooked kangaroo hearts at the nullarbor roadhouses but will definitely looking for that magic super food to power them onwards. Whatever it is will hope to give them the next mental boost to push on.
Nick Skarajew was pretty stoked with this offering from earlier in the day! And from what i've heard of his eating habits this may well have disappeared in seconds!
We've see a settling of the top 15-20 riders who have all seemed to have found a good rhythm and will all make it past the Balladonia roadhouse closing time of 930pm. beyond there the field might start to break up a bit as supplies become very limited and roadhouses shut for the night.
It looks like there is a bit of a party happening in Norseman tonight with about 15 riders there for dinner, how many will push on is the big question, its a long way from Norseman to Caiguna, but we might see a few roll out at midnight with the idea of reaching Balladonia for breakfast! Rupert, Ryan, Sam, Mark and Nick are enjoying a monster feed and Ryan is sipping on some wine in the hope dulling the pain in his knee!
The ladies really stepped it up a notch today:
Juliana Buhring spent part of the second night riding alongside Gareth Pellas but has since put 100km on him and is about 120km behind Sarah Hammond.
Vasiliki Voutzali has made some serious headway after her run in with the Police on the first night.
Jackie Bernardi, the early women's leader is tapping along at a steady pace and heading for Caiguna less than 30 kms separated the three of them, so the Roadhouse stop there is going to bring them all together tonight. The fight among the women is far from over and we will no doubt begin to see the front four move up positions as the battle intensifies.
Claire got through to Norseman and plans to head out later tonight.
Trail fairy extraordinaire Christie Hamilton is on track to reach Coolgardie and an average of 200km per day she set herself!
The Indypac PC survey continues for another day but it appears offerings were scant west of Norseman! Be warned there's some colourful descriptions on this one! Lets hope the search continues.
We've tracked down a bit of Strava activity from some of the riders. Jan-Willem Bobbink is due to reach Caiguna roadhouse tonight so might upload an epic strava segment for the 90 mile straight!
Most of the people taking on the event are much luckier than others in this world to be able to do this and so some have taken the time to raise money for organizations through this ride so click on the links below and show them your support!
The Rhyno has been holed up in a hotel room in Norseman sporting a pretty sore knee, lets hope a bit of rest helps him push on later tonight! Go Rhyno!
