XPD
Amazing desert sunset as teams race into the night
Rosi / 11.08.2004
The trek, as expected, has certainly split the teams up with AROC consolidating their narrow lead to come into TA2 over an hour ahead of Mille who in turn now have nearly an hour and a half over Giddiup. Albury/Wodonga and Mawson have come into TA2 but not yet left as I write.
After such a beautiful fine day today, a cold night is expected for the teams first night out under the stars. It is expected that the leading teams will push hard for the first few days, most likely trying to get to the mid-race camp without stopping for a sleep if possible.
Possibly some teams will take the opportunity to sleep at the end of the 2nd mountain bike leg - many teams packed sleeping gear in with their bike boxes. Each time the bikes are used the teams have to pack them away into boxes for travelling, so they will have access to sleeping gear before and after each MTB leg.
The sleep strategy in a long race such as this can mean the a difference of several places. If teams try to push too hard to early they may pay for it later in the race. But as always, timme spent stopped is dead time, and may allow another team to pass. It's a fine balance for the top end teams.
SleepMonsters
