When we arrived at mudgee last night it was easy to see the impact of the tour and REA’s sponsorship. Amy’s mom did a road safety discussion at the local school, and a bunch of the kids were down to meet the pros (and me). The local council had a road safety comp, and Rochelle Gilmore did the draw as we came through.
This morning several kids from mudgee cc were there to ride us out of town (all on pinarellos, so local wine industry must be booming).
Today, was supposed to be another 170 (more on that below). Beaut scenery and almost no traffic. We did have about 50 (yes 50) km of dirt track (“pave”). We went burning into a muddy patch at about 40 kph, and I got closer to crashing than I have ever been without actually hitting the ground. My bike swung out 90 degrees sideways, caught and went out just as far the other way. However, those bmx reflexes from my early teens kicked in and I kept it uprigt. Bike However is extremely muddy at the moment 
High point; sitting out front with phil Anderson pulling pelaron into a massive headwind at 40+
Low point: just as I said to a mate “I’m ok but if someone told me that we had another 20 I would be in serious strife”, he said those fateful words “I think we are lost”. And just like that our 170 turned into 200.
