I awoke the next day at around 11.30 in Keyes, Oklahoma, to another scorcher of a day (probably the hottest so far, though to be honest it was difficult to distinguish them). I felt refreshed after a good sleep and, though I still didn’t have my appetite back yet, I tucked into my usual pre-race bowl of Raisin Bran. My stomach cramps seemed to have settled, though even the sight of a sports drink was enough to make my stomach turn. This was the stage I’d been looking forward to the most since I’d seen the route profile. With the Rockies over, this was essentially a flat, even slightly downhill, stage through the American mid-west from Oklahoma to Kansas. I’d even brought my aero helmet on the trip especially for this phase of the route. The SUV arrived at around 12.30 pm and Tom and I got the bikes ready for the changeover. At around 1.00 pm Corinne came into sight and I was soon on my way, down into my tuck position (or at least the best that I could do on the Giant) and flying along one of the straightest roads you’ve ever seen. There was a pretty strong cross wind from the south, the buffeting from which made it difficult to maintain my aero position all the time. Still, things were going well and I waved to the support crew (Kim and Alice) as the sped past me about 30 minutes into my first leg. Unfortunately, about two minutes later I felt that horrible spongy feeling in my rear tire, indicative of a puncture. With no means of communication or repair (we’d pretty much given up on the phones and the walkie talkies by then) I resigned to pull over and wait for help. Fortunately, at that moment, Kent, our pre-race inspector passed by and I asked him if he could inform the crew, who I knew would only be a few minutes up the road, of my plight. Unfortunately, as I waited by the roadside, I was passed by one of our rival teams from Germany. It was gutting to be overtaken in such circumstances, but thankfully, the crew arrived a few minutes later (thanks Kent) and we were able to get Tom on the road while I made my repairs. In the end we’d only lost about ten minutes, but it was still annoying at the time. The wind continued to be more across than with for most of the rest of the stage, but we were maintaining good form and pace despite the lack of stimulus from the flat featureless landscape (better than the dark of night though). After the end of my second leg I told the crew that I had a craving for a MacDonald’s vanilla milkshake. No sooner had the words left my lips when we spotted a MacDonald’s up the road. Unfortunately, their milk shake machine was out of order so my craving had to go unsatisfied. My third leg of the stage involved crossing the, almost dry, Cimarron River (a reflection of how hot and dry the weather had been in this region) and there were a few direction changes which meant that whilst at times I was aided by a tailwind, the final few miles of the leg were into the teeth of a strong headwind. Needless to say, I was glad to hand over to Tom.

As we drove past Tom in his third leg, we passed the German crew who had passed me during my earlier puncture and who were still only a few minutes ahead of us. Indeed, as we paused for a loo break at the next time station (TS23) in Plains (Kansas), and signed the race book that the shop staff were keeping, we chatted to their crew who (as all RAAM teams seem to be) were really friendly (damn!). The fact that they were only a few minutes ahead somehow passed me by until I took over from Tom for my next leg. In fact, I was more preoccupied by the jackrabbit that was leaping through the field at the side of the road and the heard of cows who were startled by my sudden appearance. However, as the time had just ticked passed 8.00 pm, I suddenly became aware of the flashing hazzard lights in the distance. Spurred on by this sight and still feeling slightly miffed by the earlier passing incident, I put my head down, got onto my aerobars and pressed on. It took a few minutes to catch the German team, and when I did they were extremely gracious offering me a can of coke and much encouragement. Even their rider cheered me on as I passed by. It felt great to pass another team again, though I was fully aware that if I didn’t press home our advantage they could well overtake us on our next changeover. Spurred on by this thought and a general feeling of euphoria from my overtaking manoeuvre, I managed to maintain a respectable pace for the rest of the leg. It’s incidents like this that help to remind you that you are in a race and it helps to lift the spirits of the whole team. In Tom’s next and final leg of the day we could hear him shouting something to us. We pulled alongside to see what the problem was, but it turned out that he just wanted us to cheer him on (big Jessie). The girls promptly responded and then to our surprise we were joined by a media crew who pulled alongside and proceeded to carry out a mobile interview with Tom. Needless to say, the sight of a camera was more than enough to satisfy Tom’s motivation requirements and the leg was completed without any further incident. Since, my earlier puncture had ended my first leg prematurely, we decided to make the time up by having me ride the final 10 miles or so of the stage. I was still feeling good from the success of my previous stage so I was happy to get back on my bike and try to continue to press home our advantage over the Germans. With the daylight well and truly gone, I enjoyed a largely downhill finish to our end point in Bucklin (KS). It was around 10.30 pm when we arrived, but we had time to pass on the good news about our lead over the Germans before we handed over to Jon and Coz and then retired to bed. For me, at least, this was the most enjoyable stage so far.