Well, we have arrived. A few problems picking up the hire cars, a puncture and a car with a tiny boot, which isn’t the best for carrying bikes! We now have an upgrade to a Skoda Roomster – which lives up to its name….
The accommodation is basic but great and the food very plentiful and yummy, if a little odd at times. It is very hot and humid, but not as bad as I feared. We have been out for a shakedown ride after building the bikes and many have had punctures already. The riding is very technical with lots of rocky trails to trip us up, as well as the thorns. I will go out again late this afternoon with the map to do a few controls at race speed to finish tuning in, then its lots of rest and fluid to get ready for the first race the long qualifier tomorrow morning.
I was pleased to get a value of 3 million euros in the Fantasy MTBO team competition (many of the Japanese and Spanish got 1 million euro values) and now have to think about my team for the competition. I’m going to go for youth and ignore the 10 million euro big guns as we only have 30 million to spend !!!
If you keep the speed up you will not touch the ground – so thorns will not be a problem