5 more beauties from the photographer who sounds like a dolphin…Flipper. When I say sounds like I don’t mean he talks like a dolphin, or even looks like a dolphin, I don’t think he even likes fish that much, but the name is familiar.

Talking of dolphins, did you know they are going to make a film about a dolphin who couldn’t care less? It’s gonna be called Flippant.

First the bad news … Matti Lehikoinen broke a wrist, possibly two, or a wrist & a collarbone or possibly all 3 today. There is a section of 3 kinda double-doubles which are spaced just too far apart to double-double etc … so some riders are manualling, doubling, manualling, or manualling, manualling, doubling or smashing, bouncing and pinging. Its a tough section to negotiate and timing is critical there as the Mount Stromlo Park folk have concreted a couple of them because when that part of the course is a bike park riders have been dragging their brakes through them to soften them up a little. Will send more info on Matti when i get hold of him …

Speaking of Aussies, Amiel Cavalier is from Wollongong – just up the road in Australian terms – no more than 5 or 6 hours drive from Canberra. The town is affectionally known as the Gong .. we’ll wait and see if Amiel can keep one at home for the Aussies after riding through the fire damaged hill that is Mount Stromlo.

Tracy Moseley is going well here, even being so bold as to try a semi-slick towards the end of practice .. this got the attention of UCI Technical Delegate Chris Ball who wanted to see for himself how this would work out in the rock garden.

Another 4X practice session in glorious light – which we will not see for finals or were even able to use for qualifiers tonight. I, and others, feel strongly that 4X is being done a disservice by being run in the dark all the time using some form of generated light (which kind of negates the fact that we are a fairly green sport) – or candles in a tin or something. And then you add the fact that it will probably be below zero on Saturday night with the windchill by the time finals roll round … I’m sure the crowd will be awesome.

Digger is Aussie vernacular for a gold miner, meanwhile, Digga here is front-end loader that the local government has used to plow lots of Aussie Gold back into this event to make it a success. Kind of apt really – what you take out you put back and all that. They have done a bonzer job with the place and have made so many changes here since Nationals in January that most of the crowd i spoke to today didn’t recognise a big part of the course. They love the sport here and aren’t afraid to invest which is good news indeed. Here endeth the lesson.

time to neck another schooner …

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Canberra WC Day 3:Flipper’s 5-a-day