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Dave
Johnny G
Once we saw Darren go through we headed to Spectator point 4 for a final glimpse of the guys before the finish.
Darren
Dave rolls through
Johnny G
Dean taking the time to give us the thumbs up – nice work Dean!
Mark McConnell
Anthony Bakker
Annie Seel
This tickled my fancy!
Back to bikes, sorry!
Day 7 – The final two selectives loomed large and I was naturally worried about Dave stumbling at the last hurdle! I mean really I was pretty sure he would be fine, but how many stories have you heard about a bloke ALMOST getting there but not quite… this was almost one of those stories!!
In a related incident, as Dave went to leave we noticed that the bolts holding the rear fender on had let go, one snapped. I whipped in a replacement and a couple of cable ties and we were back on track. Cable ties, is there anything they can’t fix??
There were no service or refuel points today so I headed out with Richard (service crew for Johnny G) and his lovely family in their car, followed by Paul and Brando in the F350 (Darren’s team). We went to spectator point 3 and snapped a few of the top runners – well nearly all the runners actually! The fast guys were generally impressive. The lower markers were mostly riding to finish – and bloody right too!! The crowd was great, cheering and clapping, although we nearly threw Darren off by shouting his name as he went past!
The last roadbook…
I have some other piccies from this morning but I am saving them for a later special post. Stay tuned.
Now, back to boring old bikes!
It was 140km of transport for the competitors to get to the next refuel. For service crews it was 113km, so I had to hook in to make it in time. I went as fast as I could without damaging anything and made it with about 2 minutes to spare. Several other teams didn’t make it, so I was pleased that I did. I doubt it would have caused any problem for Dave fuel-wise, but it is nice to stop and have a brief chat.
Dave made it to the start of the final selective just before it closed and I headed to Kalgoolie – the end was in sight!
Refuel 2 was pretty tight, and we had to park off the road about 3 cars deep
Its a bush
Annie Seel got staked by a stick in her right leg through the boot. The pain must have been incredible but she kept riding – fast!
Because time was tight we were given a special dispensation to help the rider with their maps on the bike as well as refuelling and feeding them. Didn’t change things for me much, since there was only one of me, but for larger teams it meant more time could be taken looking after the rider. I shoved as much sport drink down Dave’s neck as I could, and forced him to eat some food while I was fuelling the bike and changing the map.
We had a 21km trek to the next refuel point, while the competitors had 250km of tight, sandy overgrown tracks to contend with. We had plenty of time so we stopped at some scenery that we saw.
