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This report just arrived from Peter on Chris`s progress on days 3 and 4. Belated but still good to read the kiwi`s perspective:
ISDE Report - Days 3/4
Day 3
This was a repeat of Day 2. Hotter than ever, a mix of dusty trails, very
steep and long rocky sections and yet more sand dunes. 260km, 6hours, 5
special tests.
Chris really had to dig deep after suffering in the heat on Tuesday, but
came through on time and climbed up a few places in his class. He really
enjoyed the rocky sections which suit his riding style - a 45 min trials
section he reckoned and some awesome downhill mountain bike sections in 2 m
deep dry drainage gullies .Sadly a British club rider died, suspected heart
attack brought on by the heat.
He is changing front and rear tyres every day in the 15 minute work period,
using mooses. Last night we found that the rear moose was breaking up badly
in the heat and hammering in the rocks, so had to fork out another bucket
of \"Reals\" (the local currency ) to buy another rear.
The Finns are well in the lead in the Trophy Competition, but the pressure
is really on for the overall individual.
(Kiwi) Stephan Merriman has pulled out a 20 sec lead over multi - World MX
Champ Stefan Everts, in spite of a nasty crash in the first sandy terrain
test.
Stephan is trying to build up as much of a time buffer as possible before
the final MX, as that is expected to be taken out by Everts. However unless the track is very well watered, the MX may not happen as the
dust in Terrain tests is bad enough, so a MX would totally suicidal.
Day 4
Different route for today and tomorrow.A lot of \"Paris Dakar \"type sand dune
going,and dusty tracks. 51/2 hours, 253 km.
Only major obstacle was a big long bog hole that everyone was talking about. Chris told the Aussies\" that was a puddle - you should come and ride in
Riverhead in the winter and I will show you what a bog is like\".
No time lost, a crash on one special test which resulted in a damaged
radiator shroud, but otherwise no dramas.
Stephan Merriman \"spent too much time lying in the sand\" as he put it and
has dropped to 2nd. overall,4secs. behind Everts.
Chris KTM was jetted to KTM Austria specs.and is running great. It is on the
rich side, but better that way due to the heat and the motor needing to work
really hard in the sand.
The air filter is changed twice per day,one at a check and one during the
evening or morning work period. We managed to score some \"chef\" type
hairnets from our hotel and are using these as filter skins to keep the
worst of the sand away from the main filter. Did a gearbox oil and brake
pad change this morning and a gearbox sprocket this evening. Also replaced
the damaged shroud in the work period, so Chris ran out of time to do the
front tyre. This will be done in the morning 10 min work period (usually
takes about 4 1/2 mins to do the job.)
So on to Day 5 ......
Cheers for now from Brazil,
Team Kiwi.
