People were leaving in dribs and drabs as I am eating breakfast – for the first time Paul leaves on hi sown – which was interesting. Scott made sure to mark his time so we would know when he left for later. Then just before we were ready to go I needed a second bathroom visit – oh dear – not promising – this could be a bad day if my stomach was upset!! Anyway by now I really am the very last person to leave – Scott had left with the others.
The road is terrible from the very start and my bum is killing from yesterday. There was a slight headwind early on but not too much – however the road was horrendous. There were huge deep wells in each track and golf ball sized holes elsewhere with big bits of volcanic rock sticking out everywhere. Sometimes it was slightly better all the way over to the left or the right but then it could be really difficult changing lanes. So even when I caught up with another rider I would have to wait until there was a good spot to actually pass. But I got going pretty good and caught up with Scott and co and also passed Paul. After about 15 k I passed Bastiaan who then immediately sped up to offer me some help and encouragement – he wanted to draft for me, which was really nice of him – so I did follow him for a while but eventually passed him – which suited me as I had my own plan of how to cope. At about 25 km I finally caught Gary who had also been early leaving camp – the road got a bit better with some smoother sandy bits. However it was all very deceiving especially since the headwind got really strong and just when you found you could change gears you needed to change them back again!! The superstrong wind directly in your face was really hellish. So I kept thinking to myself “ You’re out in front so just keep going!” but I also kept thinking about that time Paul had caught me up before and how annoyed I was. I then thought “He’s going to catch me any minute now” which wasn’t good either. I would then try to reason – “I overtook him and maybe he’s had enough of all this also!” It was 42 km into lunch – not even half way. I was fed up – it was brutal. I didn’t even want to ride any more – the worse riding conditions ever – my backside was killing, everything was hurting as I was being bounce around like crazy! I was riding in my second easiest gear on the flat!! Ridiculous. But I had made it to lunch and so sat down with Matthias and had a leisurely sandwich and just hung out for a while – taking my time – watching for the next riders – but nobody came. I made sure I drank loads of water while I was there. I was trying to make sure I didn’t get dehydrated and that I had plenty of food to give me the energy to complete the day. I started thinking to myself again “ I seem to be the strongest for now – even if anyone catches me I started last so am still the fastest” Just as I headed out the two big trucks arrived full of people – I so badly wanted to get in the truck right then.. It was horrible – it had taken my 2 ½ hours to get to lunch and I knew the afternoon was going to be way worse. For the next 15 km or so I just kept battling with myself. My ipod earphones kept falling out, there was sweat dropping into my eyes and if I missed a lane and had to take my feet out of the pedals I had so much trouble getting them back in again. I was really annoyed – fighting with myself big time and thinking “What are you doing? What are you doing?” I was stopping fairly often – eating power bars walking a little, drinking. As I was in the lead I knew there was no need to try and hurt myself to go faster – but I was hating it. Really hating the ride – it was ridiculous. The trucks came past me but then got stuck and I would pass them – I just tried to keep out of their way. There was no line to take – just grooves to get stuck in. Eventually the trucks got clear and took off into the distance. Lucky them!
I had seen Bastiaan arriving at lunch just as I was leaving - the guys in the truck said he was about 10 minutes behind me and Paul a couple of minutes behind him. So I kept looking over my shoulder – even if they caught up with me all I had to do was stay with them and I could still win as I had left last!!
At about 60 km I just stopped completely and shouted out loud at myself. I then sorted out my ear phones and my music, had a power drink and bar, put the volume up and started riding again. Said to myself “Here you are in the lead! Sort it out!”
Eventually I got my head right and started thinking more positive thoughts. The road was no better and then I started the climb. It was on the side of a crater. The number of times I tried to find the next easiest gear and there just wasn’t one – it was insane. “More gears, more gears” I screamed! It became more of a cyclocross race – when it got too steep I would hop off and use it as an opportunity to eat and drink. There was a rest stop at 70 km – which actually turned up earlier at about 66 km. At first I was annoyed it was early but actually it was really good – they had extra drinks, power bars and mango. It also gave me a chance to stop and look back as I had done on the hills – just to check who was closing on me. But I couldn’t really see anyone which was good of course. After a good 5 minutes rest I still couldn’t see anyone so set off again. The road seemed slightly better – more sand and less bumpy – although this meant you could get stuck in the sand as it sucked you in. Just after this I cam upon a tree full of baboons which jumped out and startled me – made me remember the story Scott had told about a baboon killing a small child in South Africa – think what damage a whole family could do. Then there was a dead cow with a load of vultures circling which was also a bit unnerving in my fragile state – not knowing how near of far the next riders were – not having even seen any riders for many km now!! Eventually I made it to the top of the climb – the road now switching between, sandy, smooth sections and bad corrugation. The last 10 km was definitely a bit better – I even managed to find a few lines and pick up speed a little but nowhere near the speed of the morning. But I still couldn’t see anyone behind me and was slowly winning the battle in my head. I was feeling OK but just couldn’t wait for the race to finish. I should have read the directions a bit better in the morning as I thought the end was at 84km – so I was now really counting down – 82 …83 …84….. At 84 km I arrived at the town and I knew camp was on the other side. I saw Sharita as I cycled through town and she told me 2 more km – that way! This spurred me on and I was able to pick up a little more speed – and finally took a right turn down a small lane into a diocese and …. I was the first one in!
It was the hardest ride ever and felt so good to get off my bike – and oh boy did my bum hurt?!! It felt as if half the skin had been torn off and was completely missing.. But at the end of he day it was a win for me and I wondered how far behind the other guys were.
I had arrived before the truck with the electronic timers so Clare wrote my time down – a bit dodgy? – but the timers aren’t always that good either!! Everyone there was really nice – kept saying “Well done, well done” After about 10 minutes the truck with the badges arrived and another 10 minutes after that Paul arrived – which meant he was about 30 minutes behind me (as he had left 10 minutes earlier) I had put half an hour on him plus the 30 minute bonus of course. That felt good.
After about another 10 minutes Scott arrived and the rest of the riders began to slowly crawl in to camp. Everyone destroyed – looking really miserable. Luckily there were cakes and biscuits – in fact I really ate too much. I had been so worried about getting dehydrated all day I had stopped so many times – I definitely did drink a lot but I was still dehydrated. I definitely ate a lot but I was still hungry. But with more ginger beer, water and Fanta we eventually felt good enough to take a taxi into town and get a hotel room with Dennis. We wanted to stay near the restaurants. In fact we had a good meal at the hotel and went to bed – absolutely shattered.
I had actually taken my pillow with me to sit on for the meal as I was so sore. There was hardly any conversation during the meal – everyone was just destroyed. Nobody had any plans for doing anything tomorrow except resting. So we went off to bed!!
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