6.20am. Should I get up? Nope! So I drifted back to sleep and resurfaced at a lazy 7.30am. Luxury!

The 8am starts at the Terra are already more civilized than the 7am that we are used to, but seeing that today was a short time trial, we only start at 9am. In fact, due our position in the field, we start at 10.03am which is really late. That’s good by the way. the higher up the order the later. So first goes last if you follow.

Tyres for suspension

I mentioned the single track yesterday and it more than lived up to expectations. Sections of up to 3km interspersed with a bit of forestry road. And lots of variety – along the river, up and down through bluegum forests and pine plantations, each with there own character. Sometimes slippery in the drizzle and sometimes dry. Watch out for those roots – especially in the turns. No mishaps though apart from Jayson trying to rip a blackberry bush out of the ground as the thorns hooked and held on to his upper arm! Quite impressive the amount of blood dripping down at the end, so he had to fight off the medic protesting that it was only scratches and that he didn’t need her ministrations. I think she was disappointed.

Medical moment

In the end we lost a bit if time due to Jayson’s chain jumping and needing to be nursed to avoid breaking. We ended up in 2nd in Masters by about a minute with our 1h11m ish. Still, we moved up to 9th overall in the GC and are pretty happy with that.

Unlike Stuart and Rick. First Stuart broke his chain and got short shift from Rick. Then, shortly after, while in front, Stuart hears a ping. “Ah, I recognize that sound”, he says, “it’s a chain breaking!”. And sure enough, two broken chains in a 20km stage. So there you have it, if you hear a “ping”, get those quicklinks out!

We also heard that we lost our sweep rider yesterday who took a tumble and did his collarbone and two ribs. Second major injury after a girl on day one was out with 2 broken ribs.

The highlight of the day was lunch at a coffee shop with a few fellow riders. Much hilarity and a couple of natural comics in James and Dan. You obviously had to be there to really appreciate it, but the image of them leaping about in the undies trying to swat a “hyperactive raisin” with rolled up newspaper is worth mentioning! As was the re-enactment of trying not to look at a tree while descending (the rule is to look where you want to go, not where you don’t want to!) and ending up hard against it giving it a kiss. And finally while staggering uphill, pushing the bike with head down and eyes on the ground, James bumps to a halt against a rock. To tired to try a new line, he gamely gives it another go – to the same end. And again. And again. “Who put that rock there?!?” Properly funny stuff.

In the race we have Jessica Douglas, the world 24 hour MTB champion. Great to chat to and hear her experiences. How does one rides laps for 24 hours? Jessica reckons that you need to enjoy your own company and be dedicated to your goal. Having been diagnosed with Hodgkins disease and been through chemo therapy at the a of 14, she commented that she learned to suffer at that time and knows how to get through adversity! Jess is riding with Brad Davies, who is wildly strong!

Scott, our photographer, is also an ecologist and gives us an eco factoid each evening. We learnt about the Pygmy Possum – a love rat really! Apparently the male mates with about 100 females over about five days! As you can imagine that that got a lot of cheers from the mostly male audience. Then Scott mentioned that after this feat of endurance, he drops dead. Dead silence!

Tomorrows stage is 107km. The big challenge is the 1000m climb in 10km. With some sections as steep as 20%. Guess we’ll feel a bit like lady Pygmy Possums then.