TransRockies
Stage 6 - The War Zone
Cory Wallace / 14.08.2009
Heading past feed zone one with 80 km and the continental divide ahead of us we began thinking the day may be called off as it was most likely snowing up high on the divide. One of the Czechmasters began running beside his bike to warm up and Stefan Widmer from Team Rocky looked like a snowman as his body has zero insulation on it and he was nearing hypothermia. The Portuguese riders were on the edge of calling in an escape helicopter to take them to Mexico and I was beginning to wonder why I was still on my bike since my race ended 3 days ago.
As we headed up towards the divide the tension was growing as we knew the descent down the other side would leave us all iced up and motionless on the side of the trail until things warmed up. Mother nature showed some mercy though and as we neared the divide the rain stopped and a beam of sun shot through the clouds. The sun was soon gone and the rain returned but the temperatures were warm enough to let us keep riding in wickedly muddy conditions to the finish line.
Coming in after over 5.5 hrs, soaked to the core and shivering we all took off to the showers where we were able to warm up and send our wishes out to the 200 riders still on course.
Throughout the day riders would come in completely unrecognizable, delirius and pretty zoned out. The medics would have to take care of the ones on the edge of hypothermia or suffering from dehydration while the rest of the riders were welcomed with down jackets and hot drinks from their supporters. No hugs were given to the filth covered riders!
With day 6 mostly complete I figured it would make for a perfect time to talk with the Medical staff who have been keeping us riders safe throughout the week. The 2 nurses, and 3 medics have been kept relatively busy as they cruise the courses daily on their 2 dirt bikes, 2 quads and 2 pickup trucks. At the start and finish lines they park their mobile hospital which can take care of 95% of the riders needs.
As the riding has been very wet this week the Medics have had to deal with a lot less high speed injuries as riders are being cautious in the sketchy conditions and generally keeping their speeds down. The rain presents other issues though such as hypothermia and dehyrdation. Dehyration is a weird one in such cold wet condtions but a lot of riders tend to forget to drink their cold water in such conditions which leaves their hard working machines low on liquids. This can leave many riders feeling weak and tired for seemingly unknown reason.
The other injuries which the medics have dealt with this week include 7 fractures, a half dozen concussions and various wounds needing stitching and taping up. The biggest problem for most riders though are the ones on their bottoms. Spending so much time on a wet saddle for days on end starts to cause problems down there for some riders and large welts occur - which can be pretty uncomfy to ride on. To deal with this riders need to keep themselves as clean as possible but when all else fails they head to the medics for their "special potion". No one knows what's inside this mix but it seems to be keeping riders happily pedalling along in their saddles.
With just one more day left in this years Transrockies the medics are still on high alert and ready for anything but they can see the end in sight and will let out a big sigh of relief when it arrives.
SleepMonsters
