XPD Expedition
Friday - Report
Geocentric Outdoors - Julia Preston / 21.11.2008
Yesterday ….wet. First teams started finishing Leg 2 about midnight. Muddy, hard pushing uphill but fun downhill were the common stories. Rob Preston of Blackheart.com described the ride as epic. The team took 5 hours and were first in and out again, deciding to push on and sleep sometime during the trek in a mountain hut. Also going straight out were Blackheart/Salomon, then Bull of Africa who had had a bike problem. Tangerine decided to rest, and as the rain set in and the night wore on, most teams found what shelter they could and slept before preparing for the long trek. Some teams had already slept at the end of the first leg.
At 10am, with 8 teams still not finished the ride, a decision was made to shortcourse them. Weather in the alpine areas was cold and misty and with the prospect of worsening conditions these teams were told to go to the CP at Mt Feathertop then head down into the Kiewa Valley, bypassing Bogong High Plains, Falls Creek and Mt Bogong. The slower teams would have had no chance of making the paddle by Friday if continuing the long course.
SleepMonsters
