Day 5 Sechelt - Squamish

another long day. only 64 km but with 5 days under our legs (and on our asses) we are getting tired. 4:50 minutes. not our best ride thus far. I think the long days, early mornings and late nights are taking their toll.

Today's stage was very technical with lots of climbs. What we anticipated to be a shorter stage than yesterday turned out to be longer and harder. Grant's cold showed its signs today and his inability to eat made it a long and hard stage. Fortunately he is a kiwi and rides hard no matter what the situation. I on the other hand have no excuse. I am simply tired. These young, untested legs showed their limits today. And while it sounds bad, our overall position is unchanged. We held steady at 25th position, gaining on a few and loosing to a few (in overall minutes).

The ride began again with a hard road start that lead to another ugly road crash. One of the top 10 riders caught the wheel of another at 40km/hour on a downhill and sure enough it was load cracks and bodies all over the ground. Ugly. Not a fun way to start a 5hr race. Fortunately Grant and I were far enough away that we were unaffected. The pace quickly increased and the pack entered the first single and double track for the day w/ a long 5km climb to the first downhill section. As usual the 500 rides began to split up and we settled in for another long, hot day on the hills.

The technical riding was superb and final 10 km were all downhill w/ banked corners, log bridges and sweeping switch backs. I truly unique cycling experience.

that is all for now.. back to a large pizza and lots of water. Grant is already sleeping, with two nyquil down the hatch. I hope the poor guy feels better tomorrow. I am so proud of him for sticking it out. Begin sick is no fun and boy he is digging deep to finish this race.

Stage 6 tomorrow. 9am start.

Scott