- 21:40 28 May 07 -
Trev Batey has reported in.
"Greetings from Drumlanrig Castle. Started out this morning on a 45km linking stage, a short stage in order to prep for special stage this evening.
The guys got very fortunate, we were lucky with the weather. Scotland has clearly missed off all the rain that has been battering England. Despite the lower temperature and wind, everyone dressed up warm just to be on the safe side as a lot of guys got caught out yesterday. Things improved massively and the guys cruised steadily through 45km in 3 hours coming out at Drumlanrig Castle which gave them a good 5 hours rest period before this evening's special stage.
A little bit of fettling has been done, nothing special, everything is all in order and the guys are looking good, fit and strong.
This evenings special stage went out in team order, the RAFCC team went out in 55th out of 65 teams, this proved to be not a problem and gave a good gap between each team to set off and they had a 10km special stage. This comprised of a 2 x 5km relay with Dan going out first handing over to Cookie. We came home in 5th place - a phenominal result with an overall time of 37:48:142. There is a 6 second gap betweem 3rd, 4th and 5th places so it's all up for grabs. We are so looking forward to tomorrow's 100km link to Dalbeattie. It's a long haul with a 9 hour cut off point and the weather is looking good for it. So overall no major probs for us, we'll be getting our heads down shortly.
The event is being well run and everyone is more than pleased with the service and support from the organisers, there is plenty of food and drink to go around.
Jacko is being well used fixing our bikes and everyone elses. Everyone are warming to us and most pop by to use our services in some way.
The Navy team are in 21st spot, unfortunately though, their solo rider was unable to make this evenings special stage and will probably be out of the solo competition due to his Scott pivot arm shearing around the weld point on the bottom pivot. Don't by a Scott they are cheap and nasty! and we continue to look after the Navy.
It's worth noting that within the team competition the RAF Cycling Club are competing against teams that have travelled over from Holland, Belgium, Italy and as far away as South Africa. So this just shows the perspective of how much this means to the cycling community that we are taking part in this.
A final note from me is on the pop up shelter tents that we have, they are well worth the investment that we have fought for, they have certainly raised our profile whilst making life easier for the team and the support crew. They will pay for themselves very shortly when they will be used in our other big events such as Bristol, Mountain Mayhem, Sleepless in the Saddle and of course, the RAF Champsionships.
These shelters have boosted the Royal Air Force' presence within TransScotland."
