Well folks it is all over. Stage 9 is done and I am sitting in a cheap hotel room back in Cairns, doing laundry, recharging batteries and catching up on the world before heading out for a curry (please no more pasta) for dinner.

Stage 9 finished in Cooktown yesterday, and was an eventful stage for the wrong reasons, crashes… What was planned to be a 50km cruise into Cairns, turned into more like a spring classic until we managed to splinter the group into a more manageable size, and then it settled down. The spring classic element was the sudden surge of pace whenever we hit anything technical, as everyone wanted to be at the front, and on a dirt track at 45-50km/hr there is only so much space, and the inevitable happened, and people stacked it hard.

The day started off with a nice 10km on asphalt, but even there someone went down, then it turned to dirt and it got much worse. Fortunately I could see what was happening and promptly moved towards the front of the pelaton to get away from the mess behind me, and there were several crashes. The tally for the day was:

- A lot of lost skin

- One broken arm, although he managed to finish

- Someone opening up the stitches he had from earlier in the race

- 4-5 separate crashes

As I said I got away free and did not hit the dirt again today, so was happy for that. Once we got off the dirt the final 15km into Cooktown was into the usual headwind, so things slowed down a little, and settled down. My legs were not feeling great after yesterdays push and I ended up on the front as whoever was behind me in the taking turns at the front, was not playing the game. Anyway, I had the pleasure of leading the lead race into Cooktown, and up to the final roundabout with 1 km to go. I was leading, but it was a slow lead out, and I knew that I did not have the legs to play on final steep climb up to the grassy knoll and finish. Hopefully I made the TV shorts, as I was in my Mexican jersey for my Mexican friends.

The final push up grassy knoll played out as expected. It was steep, and it hurt, and felt good once it was done. It is only 1km long, but climbs 130m, and has some 20% pitches in it. I ended the day 3rd in my age group, so another podium spot and a good way to finish.

Overall, I came 2nd in M2, and 12th overall. My best result was 3rd overall on stage 8 in the sprint finish and something that I will remember for a sometime. Once I am back in Amsterdam, I will post more pictures, and some stats as well, as it was hot, and the days were long.

Last night was the final prize giving, and after party. Having ridden our bikes through the outback for 9 days, it was a pretty quiet party , and I was in bed by about 10:30. I just did not have the energy to keep shouting over the band, and the red wine was not good.

Today we all jumped on a bus back to Cairns, and tomorrow another lazy day as I am heading out to the Great Barrier Reef for the day. I fly back to Amsterdam on Wednesday, and after another marathon of about 25hrs, arrive back Thursday afternoon.

That was the Crocodile Trophy.

What is next – I am not sure, but I will post a couple more updates to the blog. I have a few things lined up for next year, and the about 500 Croc dollars I won here can only be applied to either the Alpine Tour in Austria, or this race next year. So you never know.

Thanks for all the support through out the race. It was great, and as I said, I will send more pictures etc onto the blog once I am back home. I will put a couple in below of the taste of what is to come..

Hamish

Dusty day...

My ouch....

The evening feast, more like feeding time in the zoo.

The tent village at Laura

The three kiwi finishers

Sent from my iPad