7 Cerros Medellin Adventure Race
Another murderous ascent to finish the day
Jacqueline Windh / 15.10.2006
After the rappel, teams set out for a long uphill ride, gaining 1000 m to a sector called Pajaritos. As we drove the long and winding road up the hill, we passed a number of near-front teams, but we did not make the PC before the leaders. As we got their, INTER SPORT and BOSI were just leaving. A trekking loop planned to depart from here, to a pointed peak several hundred metres above us, had been cancelled due to fog that lowered visibility to the point that the trek would have just taken too long.FINLAND had arrived first, followed by SOLE and NATIVOS – they were all long gone. ("It was a ballistic superfast pace," says SOLE's Paul Romero). From here, they had a long fast descent on a windy paved track, back down to town and then to the finish at Plaza Alpujarra.
HALTI (SWE)are having a tough time. PA has had an upset stomach for a few days, so has not been able to eat very much. Mikael was not looking so enthusiastic this morning, but he is hanging in there. He was stuck with a flat tire waiting for him when they came down off the hill from the orienteering. Frida is looking as fresh and strong as ever, and has been towing Mikael both on foot and on bike. They were in 13th place after the orienteering, and probably finished the day somewhere around that same position; by the time they were heading up this last big hill, PA was looking shaky but still pushing ahead.
With all the steep descents in this race, a lot of teams are having trouble with their brakes. Petri Forsman had worn out his pads and had to brake with his feet on the ground (rumours that he had exchanged his bike on the way down turned out to be false). Gilles from INTER SPORT is riding Natalie's bike after she crashed yesterday and destroyed the front brake. He's been doing his descents with Vincent towing from behind, holding him back. Monica Aguilera (and I'm sure several others) has been looking for a chance to buy new brake pads – but shopping's hard when you're racing all day.
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