Just checked at 4am ( up for work) mikes instagram page says he has an 18k lead!!

Hopefully he's not gone all out too early.

Am I right in thinking Mike has put in an extra ~80KM or so on top of Kristof in one day? That's impressive

voodoo_simon wrote:Am I right in thinking Mike has put in an extra ~80KM or so on top of Kristof in one day? That's impressive

Looking at the graphs, it looks like Kristof had a long stop during which Mike caught him up.

It looks like Kristof may have hit a bit of a wall? He seemed to have stopped in quite an exposed place for 8-9 hours half way up a big climb as if he just had to stop?

Will be interesting as to whether that long break will be what he needs to see him through now, or whether he really did hit a wall? He tends to have a higher average speed than Mike, and Mike hasn't had the big rest.

Mad though how it is so close after such a distance, i really hope Mike can hold him off. I always think Mike Hall is a great ambassador for what a great athlete should be, very understated despite his achievements.

Scud wrote:I always think Mike Hall is a great ambassador for what a great athlete should be, very understated despite his achievements

Kristof has a very similar disposition.

I'm assuming its neck a neck at present with the lead appearing to change on the differing SPOT intervals.

If you were going to try an make a break for it you'd probably wait until Cabramurra. From there its ~2 days of riding to the finish and generally flat or downhill.

It must be quite tense for them both. As it's dark I'm sure they'll be able to see each other's lights.

It will be a strange feeling to go 10 days without seeing another racer and then come back together like this.

Exciting position watching Im thinking Kristof has now done his sleeping until the finish.whilst mike might need some more
Another big incline coming up - Lets see whats in the legs for this one. If Kristof struggles on this one it could give Mike the break he needs

As if it wasn't tense enough Kristof's tracker has shown anything in the last 40mins!

Is he in front?, behind? riding next to Mike? Where is he!?!?!?

This next big climb should be telling!!

Mikes back on the move after 5 hours of sleep.
120k to chase down Kristof over the next 590k.

Game on

Watched video of Mike where he says he's struggling to see in the dark. 120k is a big ask....

This looks like a done deal now.

Clearly Mike was not right on the bike early on. He seemed to be struggling mentally too.

Once Kristof had a lead he could gauge his pace/rest cycle off that gap.

Shame really as I think we have seen the best of Kristof and not the best of Mike.

An incredible effort by all involved.

Hopefully we will see some more head to heads in the future.

Looks fairly concluded to me for the top three finishers. Can't still believe the distance they've cycled in a dozen or so days

At least Mike will get to the finish before Kristof in the TCR

Just thinking this morning that this puts Mike's TD time in perspective. The TD is 4400Km, mainly off-road and took Mike just under 14 days. The Indian-Pacific is 5500Km all on paved roads and it looks like Kristof and/or Mike will finish in 13 days +/- a few hours. The leaders went through the 4400Km mark at around 11 days.

Mike seems to have been stopped for a while. Hopefully just getting food / rest (he's in a town).

Mbnut wrote:This looks like a done deal now.

Clearly Mike was not right on the bike early on. He seemed to be struggling mentally too.

Once Kristof had a lead he could gauge his pace/rest cycle off that gap.

Shame really as I think we have seen the best of Kristof and not the best of Mike.

An incredible effort by all involved.

Hopefully we will see some more head to heads in the future.

Apparently Mike was suffering jet lag. Or certainly he only had one hour sleep the night before the race. Wouldn't have helped him at all.

Mike's off again. Maybe even to push to the finish. Who knows.

If Mike was suffering jet lag at the start, how on earth has he caught back the sleep he would have needed? Or if you deprive yourself of even more sleep does it somehow cancel out jetlag?

I think these guys need checking for secret robotic tendencies, they are clearly not normal....

You can't so much catch up on sleep as generally recover over time... and I guess if there's one thing these guys and gals do better than most, it's recovering with rapidity.

Kristoff is riding off with it.
Mike hasn't moved for an hour and Ian Fitz noticed this on Twitter around the area where Mike is

"Bad accident on Monaro Highway near Williamsdale, north of ACT/NSW border. Road closed @abcnewsCanberra"

Hope Mike's just sat in traffic and nothing worse

JohnClimber wrote:Kristoff is riding off with it.
Mike hasn't moved for an hour and Ian Fitz noticed this on Twitter around the area where Mike is

"Bad accident on Monaro Highway near Williamsdale, north of ACT/NSW border. Road closed @abcnewsCanberra"

Hope Mike's just sat in traffic and nothing worse

Or dozing in his bivy wondering why it's so loud and busy...

Currently not looking good. At all.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-new ... vaggs.html

Oh god. =/

No way sad times !!

Their description of where the crash is lines up pretty much perfectly with where his spot is stopped.

Edit - As does the street view of a picture from the report. Sh*t.

I really hope I'm wrong on that.

This report states it was a competitor.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-31/c ... ra/8403812

His poor family. :(