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Teams head out on the first bike leg

Michael McMahon / 21.08.2010

All teams are now out on the first bike leg. There was some relief at being out of the water as teams completed the kayak leg at Kundabung and carted their boats some 500m up a rise to the transition area near the town hall, which is also serving as a voting place today.

They should have a chance now to warm up and dry off a bit on the bike as there are some sunny sections coming out of town. It looks like a beautiful section of river to have paddled, though being cold and wet isn't a very good combination. Some teams in the half have had puncture problems and have had to stop and bail out water and re-pump their boats along the way.

The lead teams in the full course have made up time on the half course teams in front of them on this leg. Weapons of Self Destruction were leading the Half Course in at 12pm followed closely by Pacific Survey at 12:04, while the Mexicans were 1 minute ahead of Instant Humans at the front of the Full course pack.

The next leg should take teams a few hours as there are some hefty climbs to do on or off the bike. After this teams will be heading into a canyoning leg which will be extra cold at night, so this will provide some incentive for teams to press hard on the bikes and try to get the paddling section over with sooner rather than later.

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