Updated 15 Aug at 12:30
Today has been a long, difficult day for the Betfair Lifecycle Challenge. The route is at least 240km, and the first 40km took the cyclists over very rough terrain, with at least 15km of true off-road cycling – very hard on the joints, especially considering they have been riding long distances for the last 6 days already. There are also some tough inclines, up to 20% at times. After an early start, the first cyclists were expected to make it into Kozan at around 21:00 Turkish time (20:00 Malta time).Update
The route had to be altered from the route taken by the pre-visit team due to roadworks. This meant that the team had to cycle east before continuing south, lengthening the route considerably. But that wasn’t all… a group of enterprising locals decided to play a prank on the challenge by changing the position of a number of the direction signs placed on the route ahead of time by the backup team. Unfortunately this prank proved quite effective and quite a few of the cyclists, along with one of the backup vehicles, had to be rescued from the top of a mountain by other support personnel, late in the evening. In the end, the lost cyclists and their bikes were transported to the night’s accommodation, as it was deemed impossible to continue after both the long detour and the prank. The 5 cyclists who made it to the end of the day without getting lost are now doing well on their time targets, and the others’ times have been adjusted in the interests of fairness.Summary: Day 7 – Fri 14 Aug 2009 – Avanos to Kozan – 240km