Three weeks to go and Disaster Strikes

Normally when you get to this late stage of proceedings, there are only a few last minute loose ends to attend to. This trip has however, been anything but ordinary. Not only has it been postponed for three years because of Covid, but our team members seem to be intent on doing everything in their power to injure themselves before we even start.

About a month ago Gael had such an incident while standing under the shower at home. When she noticed the bathroom starting to look like a Turkish sauna, she realised that she had forgotten to turn the exhaust fan on. At that point things took a nasty turn.

She could have just ignored the steam and enjoyed the rest of her shower, however something persuaded her to reach out and try to reach the switch. It was the wrong thing to do. In a split second, she slipped on the wet floor and fell heavily on her hip. Unfortunately humans do not bounce like rubber balls, and she quickly knew that something bad had happened.

Although initial Xrays did not show major damage, when she did not recover over the next few weeks, a further scan showed a hairline crack in the femur. The end result was that she found herself in the operating room, allowing the orthopedic surgeon to rebuild the top half of her leg. A couple of hours (and a bucket load of screws, rods, brackets and hinges) later, the job was done. And unfortunately, so was her participation in the upcoming ride.

Gael and Gerry had been part of our plans since the beginning and it was heartbreaking for them and the entire team to see them have to withdraw at this late stage. This now reduces our total team to 28 riders. I have now given strict orders to the rest of the team not to do anything stupid, between now and the departure date. I don't think any of them took any notice whatsoever.

And as for myself, I am not going to relax until I am sitting in the plane at Tullamarine, waiting to finally take off.Read more