Posted Aug 19th 2007, 9:18pm

TRANS ROCKIES BLOG - Stage 6

Follow Isporty founder Chris Ward and team-mate Bill Gilbert's daily blog as they participate in this years 7-day Trans Rockies mountain-bike race.

Bill's Blog ..

This was meant to be the toughest stage, three climbs (two of them over 2000m passes), and some very steep rocky descents.

After five stages the thing that still persists is that its a race and you push yourself, both physically and mentally to go as fast as you can, which for me still leaves plenty of improvement.

It's incredible watching experienced mountain bike riders - they are so good, and unless you have tried it you really don't appreciate the skill.

We did the stage in 8 hours dead, while the winners finished in 5 hours 4 minutes!

It was a hot day, and the temperature reached 34 degrees C. The trails were very dusty - by the end of the race we looked like coal miners, and we had to clean and re-lube our chain twice.

Chris announced on the start line that he wasn't feeling well, but since the first 5km was on paved road we had the roadie obligation to give it our all at max heart rate, so by the time we turned off to the single track we were quite high up the field.

(Which caused a problem as we are both pretty bad on single track, and so a huge tailback of riders trailed behind us put pressure on us to go faster and take risks - ah the sheer pleasure, all at max HR and all before 8.30 am.)

By the time we hit the second climb Chris's dodgy tummy kicked in and he was making pit stops into the forest. He really wasn't doing well, and he was starting to moan about the slightest things, like pot holes??!! Its a dirt track and we've been going through them all week! But he was suffering and so we slowed it down a bit and I made sure I cycled in front - upwind so to speak - let's hope it clears by the time we get to the tent tonight.

We slogged on throughout the day, pushing as much as possible - 8 hours is a long time - and by the end we were both pretty darn wiped, dragging our damaged bodies to the tent city.

Final stage tomorrow, there's meant to be some killer single track in the last 10k - I hope they don't mean that literally .. what a way to go.

Chris's Blog ..

The longest and hardest day but I'm going to have to leave the storytelling to Bill as I have had a dodgy tummy and stomach ache all day and still have - means today has been tough for me and now I just want to go to sleep and hope it is better in the morning, so I can finish the final day with a smile on my face (under the face pack of mud and dust that we coat ourselves in every day from the super hot and dry surfaces).

Our final night in our tent city (pictured) and a late start in the morning (10 instead of 8)...

Hopefully sweet dreams for me...