Day 1 (Continued)

Photo 5: View from the Pass of Keimaneigh.

Photo 6: Some teams were easier to spot than others.

Photo 7: Cycling over Coomakesta Pass.

The rain was on and off during the first round of rides. When it did rain it was pretty heavy and by the time you'd dried out in the van it was time to hop on the bike again for another ride. During the second round we lost Paul! Jason set off as the next rider up and Rich and I were waiting on the side of the road for Paul. We waited and waited, and for 10 minutes there was no sign of riders, vans or Paul. At that point we were getting worried so we tried Paul's cellphone thinking he might have had a puncture. No reply. We waited another couple of minutes and we were just about to head back to find him when my phone rang and it was Jason on the line. Jason had been cycling up a long hill and realised the man on the bike just in front of him was Paul! Rich and I set off again in the van and caught them up towards the top of the summit, by that stage Paul had been on the bike for 50 mins, a little more than planned!. It was our first "lost" rider of this years challenge and no doubt not our last. Paul said he had been heads down pedalling and must have missed us and we must have been getting Jason's bike out the van at the time.

The next round of rides was pretty uneventful but the scenery was spectacular despite the rain. As I was going over a ridge half way through my third ride the rain switched to hail with a good headwind which made it hard going. As we went into the fourth round of rides we passed the 100 mile mark. We'd managed to get some video during the ride, but the rain had made it difficult and we had to put freezer food bags over the camera's to keep them dry.

We had time for one more ride each and I then had a fifth ride to take us the last 10 miles to our hotel in Killarney. It had been a good first day and a late finish at around 7:30 so it was starting to get dark as we parked up. The forecast for Friday was looking worse than today still so we were all looking forward to a hot shower, some food and a good sleep.