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cheer! I was also astonished; how they could all do 300km a day, some of
them on really old school and heavy looking bikes.

I cycled till the late evening (it was

dark anyway) to a town called Tully

Cross. As I cycled into the town I

was looking for a good bivi spot. I

was tired and just wanted

somewhere to crash. There was a

church with a nice roof over its

entrance, but I didn’t dare to sleep Views as the sun is setting
there, right in the middle of town.

I went off course and found a community centre with a wee roof, which I hoped

would protect me from the rain. I got in my sleeping gear and called Ross,

my Head of Communications, who by then was my only point of contact. He

updated me on the race situation. I was 3rd!? I knew that wouldn’t last long,

so I tried not to get too excited.

Unfortunately the wind picked up that night and despite the roof, the wind
blew the rain right on to me. It was so windy, cold and wet I didn’t really
manage to sleep. Whenever I got really cold that night, I’d do a few sit ups
to get my body temperature up, but that didn’t help me sleep.

Day 5 - 287km

After spending a night doing sit-ups in an attempt to stay warm,
unsurprisingly, I had a tough morning. Besides being tired, I had an upset
stomach, which forced me to stop a lot. It got really annoying and I promised
myself that on my next big trip I’ll take Imodium tablets with me. I was glad
however to be wearing cycling shorts and not bibs!!! I also realised I couldn’t
feel some of my fingers and toes anymore because the pressure of the handle
bars and shoes had damaged the nerves. Numb fingers is a common problem
for long distance cyclists, but numb toes? I never heard of anyone getting
numb toes before. Neither my numb fingers or toes concerned me much. I

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