Around the corner at Bickley the weatherman reckoned the Easterly to be gusting up to 57km/h around the time the event was finishing in Pickering Brook; average was 37km/h. It was a tad cooler there than where we were - a degree or so; they must be in the shade like Deano and Nicky were. Still it wasn't too cold on the bike; just hard work. Matt figured the best way to avoid working into the wind was not to stay out there too long. He continues to rewrite the record book! He is certainly showing the rest of us what's possible.
 Around the 'back' of the course, where all the climbing bits are, it is fairly well protected so, mostly you could get on with the job of going uphill but that doesn't make up for the time that's lost heading towards the finish. So, not a lot of PBs today; quite a few PWs but we won't dwell on that. Just be assured if it applies to you, you weren't alone! Unfortunately even birthday-boy Paul Measey couldn't find that something special to celebrate with…
 Defender of the course record, Chris Thompson and Mark Roberts swapped relative positions today but perhaps Genevieve's ride might have been compromised by Cam's pre-start mishap - she was first on the scene there.

A huge heap of thanks to Susie who looked after getting Cam to hospital and to the other friends who sorted out the return of his bike and vehicle. Cam particularly wanted to say thanks to everybody who assisted; he has no idea of what happened except that it was all very rapid; a catastrophic failure of the front forks seems involved.

The rest of us owe our gratitude to Deano and Nicky who battled hypothermia to look after the start and timing, assisted by Brain Carr calling numbers; the marshals out there were Phil Gyford, Fred Cottier and Mark Burke. Thanks also to others like Peter Richards and Cathi who jumped in when Susie had to leave.

Finally Jeff Kealley was out and about the course today with his camera - the results are viewable here. If anyone wants a higher res (~2Mb size) image contact Jeff