Bikedock Belles

Andrea chatted (in Warrior context, lets just call it fighting talk!) her way around the testing 100km course, feeling strong and going at a leisurely pace rather than race pace (which would have meant no talking!), and at the end feeling like she could do the whole thing all over again. So, still riding on the crest of the TransAlp wave then?! To her astonishment, when she crossed the finish line in a time of 5hr 22min, she was told she was 2nd female behind Elite Irish Mtber Melanie Spath.

The course and participants enjoyment?! is testament to the huge amount of time and effort that 26 Extreme put into their races. These guys are masters at ensuring perfect implementation. . . .and the events always guarantee great craic and camarderie...oh and mention must be made of the totally yummy fruit cake that they provide at their fab and frequent food stops!

There were many familiar, top level, Adventure Racing guys doing the 100km Warrior and their descriptions post-race show the challenge of the Lakeland Warrior -

"The guys could not have made it any tougher"

"Great race....not much left in the tank coming in at the end...super event"

"Savage race... i'm empty"

At 2am Saturday night / Sunday morning when Andrea was deciding whether to take part in the event, after a medical incident on Friday night and given the need to lastmin.com get stuff together and depart a couple of hours later at 630am, she felt far from a Warrior. However, as philospher Jospeh Campbell states, "the warrior's approach is to say yes to life and yes to it all" ! Much in keeping with Belle Julie's oft expressed sentiment "lets do it all !" As for author Carlos Castaneda's definition of a warrior being one "who acts as if he knows what he is doing, but in effect he knows nothing" .........

Ding Dong !

ps Andrea placed 2nd female and 27th overall out of 67 finishers in the 100km.

pps she got a lovely big trophy and free entry into another 26 Extreme race...as some people commented "is that not a punishment rather than a prize?!"

Andrea