3 Nov 2007

Day 4

20:29 16 Aug 06 -
Quick update from Jacko, the RAFCC Team Manager before all competitors receive a mid-event brief from the organisers.

The event is going really really well, all involved have gotten to know one another and faces are now being recognised and the event feels like a family. The weather was a bit awry today according to Ged's forecast - it rained all day which was different to that forecasted by various sources. The brief is about to start, it's a bit like the Tour de France, where after each stage the leaders get to wear a special identifiable jersey - cool. Kim Hurst (RAFCC riding for BikeMagic/SheCycles) is in the lead in her category with no competition whatsoever.

We have an injury on the squad. Dan Lewis has hurt his hand, it's badly bruised and he cannot shift gears, however he's still plodding on.

The Army Cycling Union will be pleased to know that their team will be making an appearance in this BLOG but only as they know who Ride Above The Rest !! - 22:56 16 Aug 06 -
Hi everyone, (Jacko here).
Race positions are as follows :
Team 2 (Mick Cutler & Chris Prior) now in 7 th
Team 1 (Dan Lewis & Paul Cooke) now down in 20 th
Army Cycling Union are also down to 18th place.

Today’s weather has been astonishingly wet. A lot of riders decided to cut the course short due to the extreme conditions, their was an awful lot of climbing to be had and a lot of legs couldn’t cope with it all. Needless to say, ours boys did not give up and have been brilliant. Tomorrow’s ride is a linking stage and also has another special stage thrown in.

Our injured rider Dan Lewis has hurt his left hand. He is taking pain killers and is struggling to change any gears, hopefully some stronger pain killers can be sourced to aide him on his way – this should not however affect his riding too much (I hope).

We have had word out here that this BLOG is working well and that feedback from it is good. We’d also really like to thank everyone for their continued support and kind words that have been passed on to us; it’s been great and is a great psychological boost. We are very hopeful in getting top ten results despite the dip in positions, this was caused by Cookie having a puncture not long after the start of the night ride. He also broke his chain as well as having a few other minor issues but still made a good effort in coming home. The night ride was only 30 minutes long and although the riders started out a few minutes apart, they all finished that way too.

The Army Cycling boys managed to raise the effort to put pen to paper this evening

We are battered but not broke but are now struggling a bit as the rides are taking their toll, especially after today which had some long long climbs. We’ve had a few mechanicals and have gotten by on superglue! We are hoping to better our results but our legs are feeling it now.

(Jacko, again). The RAFCC support team have been very busy, not just with our own teams. We have managed to get the guys stuff into a local laundry to be cleaned and dried and also ferried in other riders their too. With us working hard building up some fine public relations, we’ve made some good friends and friends of the RAF Cycling Club. At every stage as well as the catering guys their has been no other services apart from one guy offering a very extortionately priced service for fixing bikes. As a support team, we have supported many others in this event all for free and so many have been so appreciative of this. It has built up a nice atmosphere and with a bit of camaraderie thrown in to make this such a fantastic time.

If you get to have a look at the pictures that Andy Holmes took of the night ride which are now in the Gallery, you’ll see some stunning images. There is one of Dan Lewis in mid air; to be honest he flew down most of the course hardly touching the ground. When that particular photo was taken he saw so much air that he was scarily out of control but somehow carried it off well.

Finally for tonight, we’d all like to extend our sincere gratitude to USE (Ultimate Sports Engineering) for generously lending both of our teams, use of the new Joystick helmet lamps (for FREE) after they heard that Paul Cooke’s lights had failed him. Without this unexpected support I am sure our times would have been not as good. Thank you USE.