48 Hours In

Our riders have been out there for over 2 whole days now, and the stresses and strains of the race are beginning to tell. We saw Gail's rig struggle to maintain structural integrity under an assault of the most brutal gravel the south west has to offer, and it looks like the south west's finest racing team is suffering similar punishment, with Ross struggling to keep the air inside his tyres.

Molly seems to be MIA, her tracker showing that she's been stopped just off route on the outskirts of Cheddar. Either her tracker has gone down, or she's investing some time cultivating cheese from raw natural ingredients to see her through the next section of the race. Let's hope it's the former and she'll pop up like a ninja to continue her enthralling battle with Gail.

Photography from Felix Smith

Breaking News: Angus has slept! After 42 hours and a staggering 650km, Angus finally treated himself to a 2hr 45min nap, then presumably smashed a battenburg and cracked on. Josh, who has now opened up an almost 40km gap to Jason, enjoyed a luxurious 4 hours sleep. The two obviously set their alarm clocks for the same time, meaning when their wheels hit the trail Angus did so 60km further down the road.

Jason and Svein have wisely waited until morning to traverse the Llyn Brianne Dam & Reservoir, a stunning landmark on the route that looks like a Bond villain's secret lair, and would be a shame to miss out on.

Consistency is key

As any endurance veteran will tell you, consistency is key, and Adam seems to be taking this advice to the extreme - look at the consistency of progress update selfies...military precision indeed!

They are so consistent in fact that the GBDURO Fraudulent Activity Bureau has been called in to investigate...could 'Adam' actually be constructing an elaborate hoax by staging his backgrounds to give the illusion of progress? We'll let you decide.

Grupetto Update

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDa_jQUpqM0/

The carnage continues further down the field, with members of the grupetto also succumbing to mechanicals and other perils. Sharon - the better half of our only pairs team - reports a leaky valve, requiring frequent pumping to keep pressure in the tyre. It's not clear whether it's her tyre and she's enrolled her team member to do the hard work while she posed atop Dunkery Beacon (Nice weather for it though).

Colin Addison, who is now steaming deep into Wales reminds us that wildlife can be a threat once the race goes 'abroad'. Colin sustained the race's first wasp sting, serving as a grave warning to all other riders. When advised "You need to pee on it", Colin replied "I would have done, but it flew away".

Roving reporter Emily Chappell has been hunting down more racers, this time intercepting Anisa on the Clifton suspension bridge...

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDa6g_BFb_v/

Another of our dotwatchers / spies, Tim Poole (https://www.instagram.com/tim.poole.6971/) has been out papping the whole field, here we see 'team neon' in action: Miles 'and miles' Resso, and James Illman here on the same sartorial wavelength.