Had a good nights sleep! We were off the road and there was no prayer call but people are still getting up very early. I tried to stay in bed till they put the music on which means you can go into the trucks. I never made it had to get up and go for a walk with the shovel. If you need to use the shovel its better to go in the dark you dont have to walk as far and if there is a light off in the distance people stay away from you. It does take a bit of planning - you need to look around when it is light so you know which direction to go and avoid the tracks. We did have a bit of a bon fire the night before and when I went to bed they were all singing songs. Peter the Plumber has some good ones - bit like the ones grandad used to sing.
Was excited at breakfast - there was weeta bix but no hot milk still! There was also a strange powder stuff will have to find the name of that.
I guage my packing in the morning but how far along the other racers are - I always look for Castle Dennis - he has a big tent and struggles to get organized in the morning. He also has too much stuff and can't get it all in his locker. At the moment I have taken a bag of inner tubes and put them in my locker for him. I did tell him I was going to sell them back to him when he wants them - he thinks I am joking.
The day before I was all ready but had to wait 5 mins to get into the truck to put my bag in my locker. There are a lot of people having a lot of difficulty fitting all their stuff - mine fits fine! I did think i would have had a bit more room but thats fine I am going to change my bags over to make my day bag the the one with more pockets in.
The first km today was off road over the dirt which I really enjoyed - after that we were back on the paved roads!
We start to ride and get in to a good steady speed of around 30-35km and catch up with Mike with all the bikes and Jorg at about 10km.
Mike with all the Bikes is called that because he lost his bike in Boston airport on the way out and was told that they had no idea where it was so he ordered a new one but it would have to be built and sent and it would take a while! So he went and bought a new one in Cairo. Then after 2 weeks they found his bike still at Boston air port so now he has 3 bikes! But they wont send his other one to Sudan so he will have to wait for Ethiopia. Jorg, German, is a really nice guy - he has been in the lead group most of the time but been dropped the last few days like me. So we get together and start going very well finally at 50km the racers catch us and pass us. We decided not to cycle with them today and instead stayed back and rode together to lunch just the 4 of us.
We had a really quick lunch with the racers leaving just seconds before us!
There was no sign of Bastiaan - and we hope he is going for the win! He looked very serious when he set out with his music on!
We learn that he is the reason the front racers are going so fast - trying to catch him!
After lunch we catch up with Tori and Adam and ride well together. The wind shifts a little and we get some head wind and then it moves from side to side. We are still in the desert but it is getting more busy and we are seeing more buses and people! Its also getting a lot hotter! At least it is a short day - 107km. Lunch was at 60km. I like it when it is more than half way.
With about 10km to go Mike was hurting so we slowed a little which was good. I was following Adam and had to be careful as we had already touched tires the other day. I felt good and so did Scott so we were doing long pulls on the front - about 5km at a time. It was weird as it was almost nicer being at the front and just riding than being in the group and having to watch your space on the person in front.
The directions changed a little so we were not fully sure we were going the right way but we had an escort and we were close - only around 5km to go. There was a police car out front and one out back and a pick up with the new crew in the back with 2 camera men - felt like I was in the Tour de France. Then for the interesting part of the directions - down the bank over some gravel and back onto the road. We lost the police for a minute then a tuk tuk wanted to race. So I did and left him for dead - that was fun!! Then the police were back with us and we went flying through the town - right then left, then right until we could see the finish line ahead and the zoo - our camp for the night in Dongola
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