Woke up in the hotel and just felt so tired – exhausted! Only went to the bathroom once in the night so am guessing I am probably a little dehydrated. I just feel wiped out before we even start the day!
Get myself ready , have breakfast and everything in the locker – there was lots of talk about an easy day – which sounds brilliant! Get on our bikes with lots more talk “lets take it easy today!” Just what we need – yesterday was painful! My wrists are hurting, my legs are hurting, my neck hurts and my glands are swollen. I feel rough!
We leave camp and immediately the road is awful – it is bad! Paved but bumpy - …… I don’t really know how to describe it. Tarmac covered with patches and where there aren’t any patches it’s just rough – where they pray a covering of tar and sprinkle gravel on top – that kind of road!!!
Dennis gets out front and increases the speed but I tell him to slow down – which he does!! On the downhill he surges ahead again and makes a gap on us but I don’t care! Scott and Steve also go with him… I let it go. Adam and Jorg also follow but Scott and Steve seemed to be winding it up. I thought that will be good if they get away and Scott can make some time on the other guys. Dennis is far enough behind just now that I am not worried at the moment. Whenever it was my turn at the front I just pulled aside – finally Paul takes the front and he just winds it up going up a slight hill – faster and faster and faster – seems like we are going about 40kmph. He is right next to me and I am pedaling as hard as I possibly can and I hear him click on a gear – so I immediately react and click another gear myself thinking “ OMG Can I even pedal this gear?” There was a crosswind and I was just sitting inside of him – well behind Jorg initially but he then pulled out and I took his place. We ended up closing the gap pretty quickly but it really hurt to do so. I was in so much pain when we got to them! Thankfully we then all slowed a bit. Jorg and Adam also made up the gap and so we were back as a group. I decided I was not going to let Dennis do that again so I kept watching him and on the next downhill when he set off again I sat on his wheel. But he just pushes and pushes – down thehill like mad!! I had heard Jorg saying on the way up “Pee break” but hadn’t heard anyone agree so assumed it wasn’t happening! When we got down the other side of the hill Scott, Steve and Jorg were not with us. It wasn’t far from lunch at this point so we eased up a little and stopped for lunch at 70km.
It was a hard morning and I am bloody tired!! However I was excited to see tuna sandwiches but less so when I discovered it was mixed with pickles – ended up having a mayo, peanut butter and pepper sandwich – sometimes the food just kills me!! We had caught up with Tori just before lunch so she and Adam left lunch pretty quickly with Dennis not far behind!!
I am just sitting there staring at Paul – I am not moving until he moves!! And likewise he is sitting staring at me!!
Scott, Steve and Jorg turn up – Scott had a blow out at the top of the hill – which meant they really had to chase like mad after that. I waited for Scott to get ready. Jorg announced he wants to ride slowly in the afternoon and Steve wants another sandwich so Paul, Scott and myself leave together. I am still feeling really drained. Every time I get to the front I try to bring the speed down. I keep thinking “Right I am going to give up” but then I do another few km. The hill was supposed to start at 88 km but actually came a little earlier – I managed to climb fairly well – stood upon my pedals most of the way. Got my heart rate down and felt fairly comfortable as we climbed the monster hill from 85 to 96/97 km. We had contended with a headwind all day at about 45 degree angle – with very little room for shelter. Scott is fed up with Paul always following so keeps closing out except when he realizes it is me behind him and he lets me in. But I still spend a lot of time behind him with Paul trying to get protection behind me. Its hard!
Finally we get to the top of the hill where it is really windy and we can just about see Tori in the distance. We had talked about a coke stop earlier and there is one coming up at about 100km. We had caught Dennis on the hill and passed him – so we stopped for a drink and I waited by the side of the road to make sure Dennis didn’t miss us while Scott bought the drinks. It was good to sit there and have a Fanta – these guys seem to quite like their cokes and Fantas – a bit too fizz for me – I had hoped for a macchiato but they didn’t have any – so I just had one soda while the others had a couple!
We headed off again – a group of 4 of us hoping that Dennis wouldn’t surge off and we can ride us a group for the remaining 30 km. There was a bit of a downhill and the road is still unbelievably bad – my bum is killing – really painful!! Rolling hills so it it possible to just hover above the saddle on the downs to take some of the pressure off and then stand as much as possible on the climbs!! Jut struggling through – thinking that 30 km should really take about an hour and a bit but looking down at our speed on this surface and it will more likely be nearer another 2 hours!! I was really struggling to get any speed up – then finally Paul from nowhere just picks up the pace at the front. He has been sitting at the back all day and then suddenly just pushes it – Scott gets really mad. I too was annoyed but just put my head down and followed. We stayed as a group and arrived at camp together. It was a very hard day and I am so tired! Just wanted to give up most of the time but ended up getting the same time as Paul. Scott ended up doing most of the work for the day – I would have helped more but just couldn’t today. He doesn’t mind that – I think – I hope! And I will pay him back and pull him more another day.
Hopefully tomorrow we are going to broker a ‘Go Slow’ day - we’ll see if that actually happens!!
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