After sleeping for about 4 hours Damian set-off again this morning around 7.30am - there was no respite from the wind there were strong southerlies blowing right in the faces of Damian and his support riders. To add to this in the first two hours of the morning Damian experienced two tyre blowouts. Damian was feeling quite low mentally and emotionally - however somehow his spirit and body remained strong and he battled on into the wind. The team looked forward to the turn after Crystalbrook hoping for a break from the headwind, but sadly that didn't eventuate.
The support riders struggled riding into the wind but Damian kept riding. At times there was even a need to keep peddling downhill as the wind was preventing him coasting down the hill. This was most unexpected to only have one day of tailwinds, we pray that this will change for these last remaining couple of days.
The team reached Burra and decided to break and sleep for a couple of hours - around 8pm - it has been a slow grind today! Upon waking they would ride another 30kms or so at which point the route will head due east - the hope is that this will indeed bring a change to the conditions that will enable a lift in morale and the riding.
After the rest for around 2 hours at Burra - Damian and his marvellous support team set-off again but still strong head winds prevailed. Damian did amazing speed into the head wind and also up the hills – however this battle was tough. They made it to Morgan and decided to stop for the night – this meant that the team would sleep for around 6 hours the longest night of sleep so far. All through this going through Damian’s mind was the fact that he and the team had come this far with only 1 day of tail winds and the current world record had been achieved with around 4 days of tail winds – unbelievable.
Damian does feel strong but the wind is sapping him very quickly - pray that these changed conditions will eventuate and that Damian will feel re-energised.
By the way the team has gained two more today - Ray and Paul drove up and joined up with the team around midday. This provided a lift and some new energy was felt in the team.
There will be a couple of more cars joining the convoy with Rob & Lynette and Johann & Kathy and Damian and Debbie's two daughters meeting up with them on Saturday.
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