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From Pedal Power To Rail Power

08.11.2006

Day Four was full of surprises. Starting this morning in pouring rain, competitors experienced the classic four seasons in one day, but the skies finally cleared to provide blistering sunshine for this afternoon’s ‘surprise’ railway stage - revealed to competitors at Regatta Point.

Introducing the ‘treadlywidget’, race organisers unveiled an engineering masterpiece – a contraption that allowed competitors to use bike power to travel along the spectacular West Coast Wilderness Railway.

Driven by the back wheels of two mountain bikes, secured atop an open platform, the treadlywidgets use pedal power, provided by the competitors, to push themselves along the railway tracks.

Used to the high-octane engineering of Formula One, Webber said of the ‘treadlywidget’; “it’s an amazing innovation. I never would have thought we could use bikes to travel on the railway�.

The railway stage provided teams another much needed opportunity to rest a couple of team members, as each ‘treadlywidget’ required only two riders.

Never one to step back from a Challenge, Craig Mottram joined team mate Sid Taberlay aboard the All Stars ‘treadly’; “I’m up for it, that’s why I came down here. To have a challenge and work hard,� Mottram said.

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