TransAndes Day 6 - Termas de Menetue to Pucon

Final day was a 52km sprint to Pucon. Lots of road and gravel, little bit of climbing. We chased onto our front row starting competition after the first few climbs. We did cat and mouse on the rollers, and Trish apparently had nothing but jet fuel for breakfast cause the fire in her belly was stoked.

On the 10k of road we did essentially a neutral section with them on our wheel. I soft pedalled as to not burn out for the hills. Once we got to the gravel climbs, Trish started to fire off bullets. We talked about just sitting in, as there's no need to put in time, and 8 minutes is essentially insurmountable on a stage like this.

We hit a downhill with a bend at the bottom and Trish went a bit wide and had a minor wipe out. Picked up the bike and hopped on for the hill. I slowed down to see, cross chained, then broke my f'ing chain. Ended up having to do two quicklinks. Or I'd call them moderately prompt links. Probably wasted 8 minutes while Trish was solo with the team. I had confidence she could hold in. So by the time I got my act together, I was settling in for the mental task of the best time trial I could muster, and I was stoked as the light rain, cool, and terrain with fast gravel corners were perfect. Also plenty of people ahead now to catch for mini breaks, and the rollers I could do.

So head down for 10 mins as hard as I could go, then come to a straight and see a group of people in a gaggle at the side of the road. Then as I near I see John Ramsden's jacket (doctor who intubated the Shimano mechanic who got shocked by touching a tent pole to a power line after day 4) and he's talking to... oh no it's Trish!

So Trish had a high speed spill on the gravel. Said it didn't even hurt, and when she got up she was surprised it was even bleeding. But it was, a lot. Big elbow/forearm cut, and flap open on the knee. She had a bandage on that was soaked. We regrouped, and soft pedalled onward. Stopped at aid 1 but decided to keep rolling. Her arm was sore on the bumps. The Codigo33 emergency crew was at the T intersection a few kilometers later and we bailed for cleaning and prep for stitches. I held sterile water, tucked her into a blanket, and tried to draw attention away every time the guy wanted to show her the flaps of skin. Trish was pretty unfazed by it all. After cooling down for a half hour standing in the shade and cool breeze with intermittent sprinkles, I wasn't hot on riding, plus I had to go find bag three for Trish and get stuff ready for her at the end. We're a pretty fast DNF at least!

Jumped in an F150 Shimano truck and cruised in. Saw both the other mixed teams finish, they just looked at me funny like what was I doing there with a jacket on. Specialized was super nice and marvelled at Trish's strength, and the above picture kind of explained the rest. Giant team wants to do BCBR.

Steve had a fast day. Gerry all smiles at the line.