Day 8: Our Final Cycle is HOT HOT HOT (and so are we)

Today we had only one objective: pound through the 50 kilometres and finish the challenge before literally melting into the road. We had a brilliant early morning boat ride to visit the floating markets where an 8-year-old kid taught us all a thing or two about sales, nearly managing to up-sell Lizzie from 20 bananas to 40 using the cunning tactic of grinning big while withholding change. He almost had us!

After a 30-minute transfer on the bus we saddled up to conquer our final ride of the trip: 50 kilometres, taking us to 420 kilometres total!!! It was hot and getting hotter so we powered through the first 25 kilometres in one go, stopping for a quick drink and cool down before hitting the road again to bang out another 15.

It comes easy to us at this point, zipping down country roads as motorbikes zoom past us. The rice paddies extend as far as the eye can see in every direction, criss-crossed by irrigation channels bringing water and, in turn, life to the vibrant Mekong Delta. Every few kilometres we would head up a little bridge where the waterways converge, pumping hard on the steep incline then enjoying the burst of speed on the way down the other end. Today was certainly "undulating!"

We stopped again 1 kilometre from the finish to regroup and finish how we started: together. It's amazing to think you can take three competing media agencies and one brilliant television station, unite them behind a common cause and raise over $50,000 for Australia for UNHCR then cycle across Cambodia and Vietnam as a team getting along every step of the way. Talk about an Inspired Adventure!

After snapping nine million photos in the 37-degree heat we hopped on the vans then hopped on a boat and cruised to an island in the Mekong Delta for a seafood FEAST of a lunch. Now it's onward to Saigon to party "media style!" Watch out big city. We're a comin'!

For the final time, GO TEAM!