20/09/2013
Rory's thoughts:
I think today has been intensely emotional for all of us - an absolute physical ordeal for the riders over three brutal peaks, in scenery that forces you to be silent because there is nothing that can be said about it.
Our thoughts have been with those people who have lost their lives in the same way that Milton did, and how the courage needed to endure what we have gone through today is not really in the same league. However in their own way the riders here are doing a special and humbling thing, a kind of act of tribute to the larger battles of courage that play out every day and affect people everywhere.
My vision is a bit twitchy, like it's running at 25 frames per second because I've had my head in a camera for such long periods of time. Everything I see in front of me is framed for a shot or discarded, and it's been taking its toll. I'm run down and ill with a chest infection, banging back handfuls of Amoxycillin that John bought over the counter in a Spanish pharmacy without a prescription and popping multivitamins like they're skittles. Nerves see me good, love sees me through.
Mark has been a tremendous source of support for everyone today, so here's a picture of him keeping the overwatch on Martin as he ascends today's final climb.
