Ultracycling

Monday 2017-1-16, 2 p.m. Narranderra – Yass / Hume HWY
Although we woke Christoph very kindly this morning, and did all massage techniques and used all ointments available, he hardly shakes a leg. Symptoms of sleep deprivation overshadow everything else. Anxiety, confusion, self-doubt and hallucinations make pedaling a torture. A Situation which is also challenging for experienced crewmembers. Even intense cheering leads to a few kilometers on his trip recorder. Busy morning traffic on Sturt Hwy with poor surface and narrow hard shoulder made him choke. Every lane change has to be announced. Even the sports-mad guys from Wagga-Wagga who set up a little fan fest seemed to make him insecure knowing their admiration. Later on, when he realized it, he was really happy about their present, some special Aussie Butt cream.
At the bottom of the blue mountains, the last mountain area bevor the coast, we prescribed to change to the Roubaix. Combined with the nicely finished Hume Hwy, where we could safely use the emergency lane, Christoph regained his usual strength which was really impressive to us.
Suddenly its still up in the air: Speed increases and unusual for the time-trial specialist he climbed the hills as if they were nothing. Nevertheless we still had to control all of his moves, which was giving us a hard time. Amazingly sleep deprivation has intense effects on mental strength but apparently little reduction in crank force. Latest calculations allow an ETA of far below seven days. The suspense is killing us. Christoph focuses on pedaling as hardly ever before. Sydney opera is only 285 km away.AS