Well this period continued on from the last one with Ray and Damian breaking the back of some rather hilly sections 
heading towards Balladonia from Norseman. The skies were cloudy which meant that the sun was beating down on the riders but it was still hot and somewhat humid. The boys kept up a good pace however and powered on. We decided to take a break at the Fraser Ranges Rest Area and this is where Ray came in and Rob took to the road. Just before this happened Damian got the team together and explained that at this spot last year, the team’s fun loving and “always happy” driver – Gerry, decided to put on some bike stuff and have a ride, because this next section was meant to be “rather flat”, this was soon proven to be a stretch and Gerry informed Damian that he would stick to driving. 
With this reminisce the team spent a minutes silence and remembered Gerry who passed away tragically last New Year’s eve – Damian lead us in a prayer for his family. This was a very special moment on the Race.
Rob then took to the road and hammered out some serious kilometres with the wind even dying out for moments when the boys were free wheeling and hit speeds of up to 42 km per hour. Rob did an awesome job today and really had some fun with Damian. They even did their own version of a rap dance on bikes or sometimes known as a slinky – it was sooo funny and the car that drove past could not work out what was going on. Damian also took the video camera off Johann and proceeded to deliver the 2008 version of RAAcam – cant wait to see it!!
Mitch took over from Rob and rode some hard kilometres into strong winds, he worked hard with Damian and took us through to dinner and then went out for a bit more – this was a tremendous effort from Mitch.
The conditions were really bad after dinner strong gusting winds into Damian’s face and cold temperatures. It seemed like the weather was changing but the wind certainly wasn’t! Dave went out into the fray with Damian and worked overtime – there were quite a few breaks to change clothes, to try and protect from the cold and biting wind. Then we even took a slightly longer stop for a coffee and cake and biscuits inside the Transporter. In spite of the conditions there was still a good spirit and the boys were trying to keep the laughs up and the humour up – we kept focussing on the cause and reason for this ride so that Damian would stay in a good place.
As the conditions were not improving Greg went out to join the boys and Dave stayed out as well – the hope was that Greg and Dave could keep Damian positive and smiling – we really needed a break from the wind. Johann and Mark were in constant prayer while driving in support behind the boys. We decided to pull in a little earlier than normal for our night’s sleep – we pulled in at 11.59pm and everyone was asleep within 15 minutes and the alarms were set for 5am wake-up!!!
The team statistics for day 3 were low but they reflected some hard work:
Ray rode for 3 hours 45 minutes and covered 82 kilometres
Mitch rode for 3 hours 5 minutes and covered 67 kilometres
Greg rode for 1 hour 29 minutes and covered 26 kilometres
Rob rode for 3 hour 47 minutes and covered 92 kilometres
Dave rode for 4 hours 15 minutes and covered 65 kilometres
After waking up at 5am the team was on the road again at 5.40am – a much better effort by all. Praise God – there was just a little head wind!
Damian and Rob set out and together they set about a pace of around 27 km/hr “in the big dog” right from the word go – it was raining but not too heavily. The first 2 hours saw the boys crank out 55 km wha ta change from yesterday.
There has been no phone coverage at all and we may not get any for the next day or so. However, that doesn’t change the job at hand… our 9.00am kilometre reading and the 24 hour total was 347 kms – this meant that the 72 hour total was 1118 kms this is still below our target, but the next 24 hours looks promising by the way Damian has lost very little weight over the 3 days so far – so we are managing his fluid and food well.
heading towards Balladonia from Norseman. The skies were cloudy which meant that the sun was beating down on the riders but it was still hot and somewhat humid. The boys kept up a good pace however and powered on. We decided to take a break at the Fraser Ranges Rest Area and this is where Ray came in and Rob took to the road. Just before this happened Damian got the team together and explained that at this spot last year, the team’s fun loving and “always happy” driver – Gerry, decided to put on some bike stuff and have a ride, because this next section was meant to be “rather flat”, this was soon proven to be a stretch and Gerry informed Damian that he would stick to driving. 
With this reminisce the team spent a minutes silence and remembered Gerry who passed away tragically last New Year’s eve – Damian lead us in a prayer for his family. This was a very special moment on the Race.Rob then took to the road and hammered out some serious kilometres with the wind even dying out for moments when the boys were free wheeling and hit speeds of up to 42 km per hour. Rob did an awesome job today and really had some fun with Damian. They even did their own version of a rap dance on bikes or sometimes known as a slinky – it was sooo funny and the car that drove past could not work out what was going on. Damian also took the video camera off Johann and proceeded to deliver the 2008 version of RAAcam – cant wait to see it!!
Mitch took over from Rob and rode some hard kilometres into strong winds, he worked hard with Damian and took us through to dinner and then went out for a bit more – this was a tremendous effort from Mitch.
The conditions were really bad after dinner strong gusting winds into Damian’s face and cold temperatures. It seemed like the weather was changing but the wind certainly wasn’t! Dave went out into the fray with Damian and worked overtime – there were quite a few breaks to change clothes, to try and protect from the cold and biting wind. Then we even took a slightly longer stop for a coffee and cake and biscuits inside the Transporter. In spite of the conditions there was still a good spirit and the boys were trying to keep the laughs up and the humour up – we kept focussing on the cause and reason for this ride so that Damian would stay in a good place.
As the conditions were not improving Greg went out to join the boys and Dave stayed out as well – the hope was that Greg and Dave could keep Damian positive and smiling – we really needed a break from the wind. Johann and Mark were in constant prayer while driving in support behind the boys. We decided to pull in a little earlier than normal for our night’s sleep – we pulled in at 11.59pm and everyone was asleep within 15 minutes and the alarms were set for 5am wake-up!!!
The team statistics for day 3 were low but they reflected some hard work:
Ray rode for 3 hours 45 minutes and covered 82 kilometres
Mitch rode for 3 hours 5 minutes and covered 67 kilometres
Greg rode for 1 hour 29 minutes and covered 26 kilometres
Rob rode for 3 hour 47 minutes and covered 92 kilometres
Dave rode for 4 hours 15 minutes and covered 65 kilometres
After waking up at 5am the team was on the road again at 5.40am – a much better effort by all. Praise God – there was just a little head wind!
Damian and Rob set out and together they set about a pace of around 27 km/hr “in the big dog” right from the word go – it was raining but not too heavily. The first 2 hours saw the boys crank out 55 km wha ta change from yesterday.
There has been no phone coverage at all and we may not get any for the next day or so. However, that doesn’t change the job at hand… our 9.00am kilometre reading and the 24 hour total was 347 kms – this meant that the 72 hour total was 1118 kms this is still below our target, but the next 24 hours looks promising by the way Damian has lost very little weight over the 3 days so far – so we are managing his fluid and food well.
