---

Close Competition on Day One

Rob Howard / 21.09.2009

It was only a short bus ride to the start for the first full day of competition and the team buses drove past tennis and basketball courts, a golf driving range, and then between horse riding and go-kart tracks; all signs of the increasing pace of tourist development in the Fairy Meadow area. The bike racks were set up beside the horse riding track but the buses drove 600m further up the road to stop by some shops, where the start line was set up.

As the teams arrived the faint outline of the sun shone through the clouds and by the time they set off to run downhill to the bikes the cloud and mist that has cloaked the area for the past few days had finally lifted. Perfect timing!

The teams quickly picked up their bikes and turned off the road into the meadows, but it wasn't to be a fast start as the initial part of the trail was exceptionally muddy. So much so it was necessary to carry the bikes and those who tried to ride regretted it as the mud jammed their wheels and brakes solid. Fortunately the muddy section of forest road was short and the route soon headed across open meadows where herds of grazing horses were startled by the sudden influx of riders.

The initial 34km route took the racers across more meadows, through villages and farmsteads and along rough vehicle tracks and some sections of sealed roads. At one point they even passed an artillery gun sitting on the road side! With the cloud and fog gone the weather conditions were ideal for racing, but the mud and rough tracks were taking a serious toll on some of the bikes. Reports of multiple punctures and broken chains were numerous and it was the two US teams who seemed to fare best, with Nike Beaver Creek and Salomon Crested Butte leading at the half way point. Richard Ussher of Toread Adventure Sport suffered a damaged derailleur early on the ride and subsequently damaged his chain ring and crank, resulting in his team being 17 minutes down at the end of the first stage - a bad start for one of the race favourites. (Back at the hotel later the team dismantled another bike to get spares needed for repairs.)

The bike ride finished in rich meadows below the new Chongling Hotel, where teams got the chance to try another of locally available sports, grass skiing. They quickly dropped their bikes and two of the team put on the grass skis and were then pushed or pulled up the hill - and exercise which some accomplished more easily than others. Once at the top of the short slope the skiers set off downwards with varying degrees of competence, some confidently upright, others crouched low. Some of the racers from later teams didn't manage to make it down with a tumble, including the young female racer from Team Kolumb, who fell twice, twisting her ankle on the second occasion.

See All Stories On This Race