Day 12 – Zagan to Eisenhuttenstadt

The cyclists were allowed a lie in this morning having had a huge 265km cycle yesterday. Today’s journey is the shortest throughout the trip with a “cosy” 90km to cover in this 12th and penultimate day of the HSBC Life Cycle Challenge. To add to their comfort, the route was a fairly flat terrain, a great difference to the cruel rides they had to endure these past three days. At the border crossing to Germany, they passed through the normal security checks, in no way comparable to the long wearisome wait in-and-out of Ukraine. In fact, after only a half-hour wait, they were in Germany, then a short 35km ride, all arriving at Eisenhuttenstadt shortly after 17.00hrs. Nonetheless, the Logistics team had to maintain strict timings as the cyclists left Poland and entered Germany, as well as ensuring that everyone had the correct documentation. The excitement of only one remaining day is very apparent and the team morale is clearly high, knowing that the hardest days are well behind them and the HSBC Life Cycle Challenge is almost over. 23 cyclists have held on through all odds, helped on by the back up support members, and by the encouragement of their team mates. Furthermore, the two cyclists who had dropped out of the Challenge were among the first to offer psychological support and to urge their team mates forward when they might have given up.