The theme song of the week was pushed by the wind across Lake Eucumbene at 5am this morning… ‘Wednesday is Roaster Beef’ … The black cows on the trails hid within the black, black night until lit up by the powerful beams of riders in the Ay Up Dawn Raid stage; hungry for, what was that, steak?
Light showers did little to dampen enthusiasm as riders headed into 2 laps of a muddy 12km circuit along the lakeshore. Long before the bacon was cooking, Dylan Cooper led Andy Fellows through transition at the end of Lap 1, with Jason English a couple of minutes back in 3rd. As the first hint of dawn appeared, those positions were held, with Dylan Cooper victorious in 1:09:51, 13 seconds ahead of Andy Fellows (1:10:04). Jason English was nearly 2 minutes back in 3rd place. Ria Johansen was crowned the everything woman with her 4th stage victory – downhill plunges, short circuits, marathon stages and night racing – Ria (1:39:26) rides them all and finishes them all in first place. Lyndall Smythe (1:52:43) took her first podium ahead of Merryl King in 3rd.
Wild weather on Australia's east coast has given rise to sights like this along the course
Things have tightened at the top with Dylan (5:30:55) leading the GC by 9 seconds over Jason English, and Andy Fellows (5:34:32) clawing back a couple of minutes today.
Ria Johansen is building a pretty invincible lead with 31 minutes over Helen Dorsett and 42 minutes over Merryl King.
Riders cruised into Cooma in the rain to prepare for the Shotz Big Day Out tomorrow. But weather conditions have forced organisers to run a shortened stage with riders unable to cross the (once again) rising Tuross and Wadbilliga Rivers for the plunge to the coast.
Instead, they will race a 57km stage before cruising for a further 37km to Nimmitabel; where buses for bodies and trucks for bikes will take competitors via long landslip detours to Wallaga Lake. So, it’s still going to be a big day out in many ways.
After spending much of the day wading through rivers, Course Director, Wayne Byard commented: “We’ve been lucky to run the event pretty much as planned thus far. Thursday was always going to be our problem day with numerous river crossings in remote country. But, we’re still racing, even though a bus trip was not how we had planned to reach the beach.”
Railing it at the Mountains to Beach
Scenes from the 2012 Mountains to Beach