Day 6

Today was billed as the hardest day of the race!! Following on from the 125 km yesterday we were face with a mere 85km today but the sting in the tail came in the 3400 metres of climbing. For those of you who are unsure of how high this actually is - it is almost 7 times the height of Slieve Martin in Rostrevor or 10 times the height of Cavehill in Belfast. Enough said.

We started out with a switchback 1500 metre climb which took us to 2000 metres above our starting point of Naturns before a dusty descent which lasted for almost 15kms. This was steep and technical in places and the already tired brakes and arms took a further battering. From here we started the final savage climb of the day. It started with a nice (??) road climb in the sweltering heat which, after 15km turned to gravel trail and then back to road before the final bit on which we had to push our bikes for almost 6km up 700 metres which took almost one hour and then the fun began.

First was a very dusty technical trail which had most people walking but we were able to ride the thing despite Simon's brakes cooking and my front fork loosing a fair bit of oil. Then was a road descent where we jostled for places with two other teams at speeds of almost 70km per hour. The final spin into Male was mostly forest trail and then over the cobbles and past the finish line to complete another day.

Day 7 tomorrow and the talk of beer is increasing.

Thanks to all those who have posted and to the lurkers who haven't - please post - we don't bite!!!