Sand dunes and extreme heat, take its toll on Pavey - 23 June 2008
Stage number: 12
Stage date: 23/06/2008
Start and arrival city: TURFAN to HAMI
Special: Turfan to Karatjube
Total distance (special): 513km (414km)
Result on stage: 34th
Position overall: 17th
Not the best day today. It was a really long hard stage and it is absolutely stinking. The heat is real tough, it's so hot. There were a lot of riders suffering with the high temperatures; it was over 40 degrees. I was fine with it though, being from Oz I'd have to say that, but the bike suffered.
It's was a proper desert stage with big dunes and depressions. We kicked of this morning at 6.15am following a good rest day. The route today was different as we started straight into the special, with only a 100km liaison at the end but it's all off-road.
With the combination of the slow going in deep sand and very, very hot temperatures, it is very demanding on the bike and it overheated a few times. It was a bit frustrating as I had to stop three times to let the bike cool. I've found the best place to get it cool is at the top of a high sand dune pointing the bike into the wind, but there isn't too much of that really. There's nothing wrong with the bike, it's just a lot to ask of it to deal with the extreme heat and me wringing its neck.
Let's just hope I have a better time of it tomorrow!
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