Saturday, May 30, 2009

Stage 42 - Sveg

Today was another hot one - not Texas hot, you understand, but certainly Sweden hot - high 70s, and not a cloud in the sky. "Only" 38 miles today, before a much longer stage tomorrow.

Weekends are always much nicer than weekdays, without logging trucks pushing us off the road. The road we're on, the E45, is the Inlandsvägen, the major inland south to north two-lane highway in Sweden. Sometimes we go 20 minutes without seeing a house or even a vehicle. It's almost spookily desolate. Strip logging is the only real industry - apart from that, there's nothing except vacation cottages, lakes and rivers. It might sound idyllic, but it's just so quiet. There are barely any stores or cafes. I can't imagine what teenagers would make of it!

Up front, Rainer Koch of Germany and Hiroko Yokihama of Japan continue to dominate the men's and women's races. These are incredible athletes and fine people. They continue to push hard each day, even though this could lead to injury and even potential withdrawl. Most of the rest of us are just busy trying to stay healthy (there's a nasty brochitis going around; at night the gym sounds like a consumption ward) and preparing mentally for some very long stages ahead.

Six weeks is complete - it's hard to comprehend, even for us - but there's still plenty of time for "the wheels to come off". Only yesterday, one of the top ten guys was forced to withdraw due to major knee problems which suddenly stopped him in his tracks.

2 comments:

Chris Ewert said...

Lookin strong, Russ! There are many of us anonymous fans who look forward to your posts and progress each day. Keep your chin up!

Tim Walker said...

Six weeks done -- way to go, Russ! Keep on gliding down the road.