Round the mountain we go - Jan 24th

Another bike race and strictly on the support crew. Ten days ago I fell of the bike during a short training ride and have nine stitches in my knee. The day started early once again with us being at the racecourse by 7.15 am to get Phil off for the first leg.

Karen and I met Marilyn at Oakura for a coffee and to watch Phil go by. We missed him but nice coffee.  Next stop was at Okato and we were very efficient with changeover with Karen taking off as soon as Phil arrived. We drove along the coast road and stopped a number of times to encourage her. Great riding with not too much head wind. Saw lots of bike tyres being changed this time and the emergency vehicles were going up and down constantly.

Opunake was a busy stop with Phil taking off well. By this time we were a good two hours into the morning. Karen and I frog-hopped along the road trying to get photos but Phil was going faster than our gap. We did manage to get a few though the road was taken a couple of times on phil's phone.
We met up with mum at Pembroke school and karen had found the uphill leg not too bad. Just after Phil left us the ambulance went screaming down the hill and we were off in case it was him. We passed him safely at Midhirst. Last change was Inglewood and Karen was concerned that the Burgess Hill might get her but when we saw her she said she was fine. Phil biked with her from the racecourse while I parked the car and tried to get to meet up with them but a bit slow on the walking.

Here is Karen biking along the surf highway between Okato and opunake. A beautiful day

Relaxing at the beach with Marilyn after the race. we went back in for the Prizegiving (no winners here) and then back for dinner with her. A nice ending to the day. Our time (6 hours and 8 minutes) was comparable to last year and we were higher up in the placings.