72km task, in windy conditions, but with turnpoints in the valley of death behind the Stol ridge. I was completely exhausted from the day before, hadn’t slept well, should have had more water the night before and said no to the last glass of wine. I tried to sleep on the bus and in the grass while waiting for the minibus, but as usual with me, when I want to sleep, I can’t. On launch I was trying to blag some ProPlus from others, but no one had any. The sky looked good and it seemed ok. I decided that I probably wasn’t fit to do another 4 hour flight, so decided to race a bit more and try to keep up with a gaggle that would help me on the way and get me round the tight spots, so I would just have to cope with the head wind and not other issues. So I raced off the end of the ridge, just to find the little ridge above Kobarid not working. Lots of us bombed in the same field at 13km, with some really big names not much further.

Some people went back up to free fly, but I needed a rest day, so decided to go for a lovely slap-up birthday lunch and a much needed siesta. In the evening the house lads had organised a surprise get together at the camping for me, which Matt Church accidentally let slip two days before. It was a really lovely meal in good company and we stopped off at the Kobarid fiesta on the way home. There was a stage on the main square with live music, stalls, food, etc. It was great to see the locals at play. They’re really into ballroom and everyone was dancing in the street. Fun to watch, but a bit surreal to see people doing the cha-cha-cha to Pink Floyd’s ‘Brick in the Wall’.

No comments yet - please add one »