It doesn't get much worse

They say that you have to do most things once in your life and i can honestly say after 2 stages of the tour of southland this is a once in a lifetime experience.... they say cycling is hard at the best of times but when you are thrown into the antartic to battle the external factors that are thrown at you i.e. rain, hail, snow, 70km/hr winds, steep hills into headwinds it tends to be quite difficult or atleast character building. Stage two was an 81km slog from invercargill to the top of bluff hill. the race started pretty fast with a cross tailwind and then turned into a tailwind for a couple of km and then a massive crosswind after about 10km. THEN, there were about 15 different groups splintered over the road. Graham, Nic, Wil and Steve were all in the main group of about thirty riders behind a lead group of 12 which included 5 riders from colour plus and 3 riders from zoo keepers. i was battling my way through to the third group on the road until the guy in front of me lost the wheel because he was cleanly swept into the ditch..... from there that was where you stayed unless you got dropped from your group. geeeeeeeez, the wind was so strong and for most of the headwind sections it was small chainring going flat out at 15km/hr aaaaaaargh Then, it was more crosswinds and learning what a 45 degree angle really is. Will was riding well until he was involved in a crash due to the strong cross winds. Brendan our director was also in amongst it with a bit of road rage due to the strong winds buffetting the convoy, most cars were seeking shelter just as much as the riders... Nic capped off a brilliant ride to finish in 13th place at about 8 minutes down to the guys in the lead. graham and steve were about a minute behind the flying walker and Wil finished about 14min down and myself 20min. All of us are in good spirits and trying to take it one day at a time. It is tough but this is what sets bike riders apart from other athletes. We are all remaining positive and i think once we get past thurs it will be smooth sailing from there. what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger, that's the philosophy for the week ahead.. Tomoro is a 163km stage from invercargill to Gaul. The weather looks reasonable with a minimum of 5 degrees and a maximum of 12. There should be a tailwind for about the first hour hour and a half and then hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmn not sure. headwinds are always good but one day at a time Nathan Jones