09/06/2026
Day 2 ๐๏ธ PART 1 of 2: ๐ Finke โก๏ธ Alice
Edit ๐ธ credit thank you so much to Megan Kelly
This is a really hard one to write, thank you everyone for the lovely messages and Iโll get back to you soon. Waiting around at Finke before the race I was checking in on the girls and keeping things positive after the tragic news of the passing of a fellow competitor RIP Matthew ๐๏ธand then we lined up to riders brief to receive more shocking news. Talk among competitors was very much we just wanted to get home and a lot were planning to just trail ride it. There were tears as we vowed to see each other late that afternoon safe at the end. I knew this was not one to race back and set off, but by the first corner I had to back off due to the dust. In the first whoops by lower back was again in pain and I hope it would settle in and warm up but it didnโt the whole way back. I was very happy to get some clean air about 20km in and hoped that was the worst of the dust. Well I had a good run for 10km and back in dust againโฆ for the next 140km ๐ซฃ my wrist held up pretty well thanks to Benโs strapping at the start but that stopped about 50km into the race and boy was I glad to get to the 155km fuel stop. The Morton bros fuel stop was great because I was so sore I couldnโt hit the kill switch on my bike and fell off dropping it. Thankfully the minute off the bike helped and I got into a bit of a rhythm for 20km or so, dusty but familiar whoops made it ok and then the pain all set back in I couldnโt stand for long and had to slow down and sit as much as possible, and I was just trying to hang on, really had to back off speed and was getting passed so much in the dust multiple times i couldnโt see where the track went and got passed again. - Part 2 in the next reel