Adventure Racing World Championship 2006
To Sleep or Not to Sleep
Rob Howard / 17.08.2006
The long ride from the Red Bull Challenge had taken them along a mix of gravel and tarmac roads, without much climb as they followed the lakesides. There was one short section of off-road, hike-a-bike towards the end, cutting across a peninsula to avoid a long loop round on the road, “I’d say it was about 25% rideable,� said Warren Bates of Aberdeen Asset Management, “but we did well on it. We followed the tracks to the beach, but Tom (Gibbs) said we should find out own way and we picked up a track, passing Golite Timberland. Then we overtook Bjurfors just before coming into transition.�
The Swedes arrived just behind them with Nike Powerblast and Golite within the following 10 minutes, and all the arrivals were surprised to find the 3 teams ahead of them were still asleep in TA3. Lundhags were in a tepee which had the checkpoint flag beside it, and FJS and Team Finland had the luxury of beds in part of the farmhouse complex.
With 8 teams in transition it quickly became very busy as darkness descended on the second night. Aberdeen claimed the open floor of the barn, out of the wind, while the other teams picked a spot among the piles of empty bike boxes and kit boxes. Golite chose to break down their bikes first, Nike put some food on (self heating meals which steamed gently on their kit box) and Aberdeen began eating and sorting out their kit.
“How did your bikes go?� Issac Wilson asked Ian Adamson, adding; “Ours turned to crap in the rain, with all the cables and shifts jamming.�
SleepMonsters
