Sunday’s ride for the 45 Malta Airport ALIVE 2014 Cycling Challenge for Cancer, was sunny and hot, they kept up a good speed after leaving Gyor. The afternoon was more of a challenge with a hard uphill stretch that tested the riders in 26 degrees of heat for a 450m ascent along a winding mountain road. The reward was the downhill stretch at high speed to enter Budapest city.
The team’s sports masseur was kept busy assisting the riders with the inevitable strains and aches. The team backup also had a busy time tuning the bikes and making some running repairs with 4 punctures and 3 broken spokes. A total distance of 144km was covered by the team on day 4.
The team are now over half way with over 600lm covered. Today, Day 5, the route is a long one, from Budapest to Baja in Hungary, a ride of 170km for the team.
Louis Debattista said this morning that they were all ready to go, and the weather looked like it was going to be good. He is in good spirits, though a little saddle sore!
Each rider has their own tracker so if anybody would like to follow Louis, the only participant from Gozo on the challenge, you can do so by going to http://alivecharity.com/tracker/ [1]. Louis is number 9 in the list.
Photo: Some of the team, including Louis, on Day 4