Wulong Mountain Quest
Toread Adventure Sport Fight Back
Rob Howard / 22.09.2009
The Turkish team were back on the start line for another attempt at the race, but there was a surprise withdrawal when 4th placed Team Sweden/Worldofmultisport.com were forced out due to illness. Both Eva Nystrom and Andreas Svanbeo had been ill in the early morning and were in no condition to start. They were the worst cases, but not the only ones as several other racers reported feeling nauseous and having stomach cramps.
Nike Beaver Creek held the race leader's yellow jerseys and they had pole position under the race banner, ready to run down to the waterside. Here each team had to create a raft using 4 inflated tyre tubes, rope and two planks, then paddle across to the far shore, a distance of about 500m. The team from the Yunnan Moutaineering Assoc. were first into the water, opting to sit back and paddle. Others laid on the fronts, but whichever way it was done progress was slow!
On the far shore there was a short run to the first transition of day, on a newly constructed bridge with a graceful arch. As the leaders raced off Nike Beaver Creek had a mechanical problem to sort out and lost a couple of minutes, but were soon on their way, riding around the lake and then beginning a brutal climb on a sealed road up into the hills. Toread Adventure Sport pushed into the lead, determined to regain time lost on day one, and Richard Ussher's repaired bike seemed to be giving no further problems.
The climb made up the most of the 30km route, and in the town at top large crowds gathered to see the teams arrive and turn off the road for a tricky technical descent ... which was followed by a zig-zag climb back up to the road! There were much larger crowds here, including all the children from the local school.
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