Day two - The learning curve

It's been a long day, and the race has only just started!

After a late night last night at Louzan, waiting to get to the team kit (the bus transfer arrived, the kit transfer took quite a bit longer...) the team got some shuteye and were up bright and early for the restart today. A lot of the planning had been done already, with the basic idea to miss out a lot of the non-mandatory checkpoints in order just to make the cutoff times for the sections, and especially to make it in time to do the 'thrill' activities, today's canyoning stage being one. Everyone is pretty happy and upbeat, and the plan seems to be going well.

Most of the day has been on big trekking legs, a lot of undulating terrain and some fairly high ridges, along side the wind turbines that produce a lot of the electricity for the 'Schist Villages' of this area. The weather's been bright but cloudy, windy and cold on the tops but more pleasant in the lower altitudes. As the night pulls in, everyone's facing their first proper overnight of the race, so I'll let you know tomorrow how they got on. It's looking like it will be a long cold one, most of the night is going to be spent on a 100km MTB stage. There were a few discussions before the race about sleep strategy, and the idea was to push through and try and sleep at the assistance points, where they've got access to ALL of their kit, but also to look at carrying a shelter for if they need sleep on a couple of selected stages, particularly the 160km MTB that is coming up later in the week.

When I last caught up with the guys, they were waiting to drop off the edge of the earth into the canyon, a hundred feet or so of abseil. Last minute tips, team orders and readjusted kit were passed around, then one-by-one they made their way off the edge and down to the river below. There's no sign of any problems, they're still smiling and joking, and everything is going according to their plans so far. Long may it last!