Baw Baw Challenge

On Sunday, Mikey, Michael, Nadia and I took part in the Baw Baw Challenge - which turned out to be a bigger challenge than expected for Michael. We got to the start line late, and were behind the rest of the field from the start, but with Michael setting a blistering pace and blocking the wind we were soon catching people. It was a lot of flat (and a bit boring) riding initially, but we finally hit a few hills before the first cake stop. Just before this saw some beautiful scenery with views over a large dam with mist breaking in an idilic rural panorama.

Not long after the stop however, things took a turn for the worse. Michael was pushing on downhill pretty fast, and shortly after a turn hit a hard to spot pothole and went flying through the air and landed on his helmet (praise the helmet rule!). Even with helmet, he had a very nasty cut and bad concussion, luckily the ambulance was right behind (literally) at the time, so first aid was quickly on hand. Mikey and I waited for Nadia to let her know what happened, and I ended up helping a scottish guy with a puncture, so by the time I got back cycling, I think I was pretty much last. From here on the ride turned into a bit of a survival fest - there was a lot more climbing than the profile suggests, and, after the accident, each decent seemed to be more menacing than the last. By the time I caught Mikey with 5k to go, I was pretty much spent. As is his custom, he vowed to never do one of these rides again. Nadia's day was long and boring, confined to the SAG wagon with Michaels bike.

We visited Michael in the hospital later,  luckily cat scans revealed nothing too serious, but he has a shoulder injury which is going to put his Ironman training back a lot (at least the swim). Not a great day all in all.