Hard to remember what has happened sometimes – but here goes!
Camped away from all the early risers last night so got more sleep which was good! However was in a real fluster this morning – a complete mess! I needed to pump my tyres and couldn’t find my pump anywhere. Trying to do all sorts – I needed to move my number on my bike and put the Garmin on – eventually I was packed up and my bags in the locker! No time for breakfast! Three people had had their bike shoes stolen last night and so I thought they had taken my pump also – the others helped me to search for it and eventually it was found! I had a flat!! I remembered I had a bad inner tube from yesterday so needed to change it out. Had to borrow one from Scott as mine were up on the truck. Grabbed a few bananas and we set off!
We have our dirt tyres on as supposedly we are going to have 5km of offroad gravel later today. I didn’t actually look at the route at all - I don’t know why I was so disorganized!
So I set off with Paul and Scott – everyone else was ahead of us – we rode fairly easily through rolling hills – the first real climb came at about 15km. My thicker tyres and inner tubes weigh about 1kg more than my normal ones and so my bike felt heavy at first – it was hard to get going – slow to push the pedals!! I tried to eat my bananas to give me some energy – the second one was off so I had to throw it away – but I had a few power bars and felt really good going up the hill – passed a few people and led the group. We were going quite fast as Scott wanted to catch up with Luke and Jorg and make up some time on them. We stayed together – the kids were terrible today – all asking for money. We tried to interact with them but it was so different today – there were so many people out. Someone said it was like the Tour de France with all the crowds on either side of the road opening up as you rode through. I am not so sure!! “Where are you go..?” “Kenya” Again and again!! Kind of got fed up with the general harassment today – actually made me speed up on the climb to get away. That’s the trouble when you are going more slowly – they harass you more and can run along the side of you!
Then we had a really great downhill – I’d had no idea when lunch was as I didn’t read the board – Scott told me at 67km. I was dying for the bathroom but decided to wait and started the descent – I looked back and didn’t see anybody
- I was flying and left the others way behind – there were some fantastic views. I wasn’t pedaling – just having a good time. At the bottom I caught up with Dennis who was excited to think I had dropped the others – but I explained I hadn’t – there was no point – he thinks I am strange!
Dennis surged ahead pedaling on the downhill – I was free wheeling – I’d rather do that!
Before lunch we were back together as a group and close to catching Dennis again – but he would surge off when we got close.
We had a good lunch break and Paul said he wanted to go ahead as he still had his road tyres on and would need to go slowly over the gravel when we hit it. So I let him go – seemed fair enough. We had a leisurely break and then set off in a group of 8 – riding fairly easy except for when Dennis pushed the speed up 3 - 4 kmh when he was at the front. Adam and Jorg would follow but Scott and myself tended just to let him go.
We stayed together. There was a good climb at about 90km all the way up to a busy little village – so they decided to have a coke stop. I decided against it as I didn’t want to lose too much time to Paul – with the prospect of 5km off road I still had a chance to catch him – so I carried on! There was a right hand turn and at 93 km there was supposed to be gravel - there wasn’t – just a little bit of road construction. But not much. There was an old road there and I thought they were just making a brand new one so I wasn’t 100% sure I was going the right way. There was 20km left to ride so I knew I had to ride it and then if there was no camp I would have to retrace. Came over the top of the hill and the scenery changed again – more desert like, still some farmland but drier, with only a few trees and the mountains behind.
There was a good paved downhill into a headwind – I was still wondering where the gravel was! At about 105km there was a little and then I saw the flagging tape – at least I was on the right route! I just put my head down and cycled as fast as I could for a while. There were a few small gravel sections which I went flying through confident because I could see the paved section ahead each time.
Finally I thought I saw the orange flag ahead and so pedaled hard again – it turned out to be an umbrella!! Finally I saw the trucks – the flag wasn’t even out yet!! And there was Paul sitting at the side of the road!
Another really good day – I felt good!!
We sat under a tree for a few minutes while the staff decided where we were going to set up camp – the the planned spot was now actually a car park for the construction site workers – so they had to move slightly. I then had a rest under the truck and watched as they set up camp and finally pitched my tent and made myself some noodles! Generally sat around, checked out my bike and had a lazy afternoon – actually recorded this a bit earlier for a change as well! Hopefully Kendra is feeling well enough to do yoga tonight – we haven’t done it for a while so that will be good!
I am really looking forward to tomorrow. One of the group rode past the camp entrance for an extra km – he said he was listening to a good song! – anyway he reported that the road turns to gravel about 1km on.
It was a shame I lost 15 minutes to Paul for no reason – I was hoping to stay with him for this section – now I have to make it up. Anyway tomorrow should be good on gravel and we’ve just heard we then get a day off followed by 7 days in a row with three mando days thrown in – its going to be the hardest week so far!!
There were some wicked kids out there today – jumping out in the road and stuff – it is a lot worse for the riders coming up behind – there were all sorts of stories about the goings on. Scott said that kids had a stick barrier stretched all the way across the road which they narrowly missed – don’t know what it was but the kids just seemed really naughty today!
Houses here look cool – I might go and take some photos!
PS:
After I recorded the earlier blog I went for a sleep in my tent – woke up suddenly feeling really awful – hot and sweaty – soaked to my skin – jumped out of the tent quickly and drank loads of water. Missed yoga after all. Had a good dinner though – fish curry and mango salad. Just fixing a flat – then off to bed! Tomorrow doesn’t seem to be nearly as much dirt as we thought after all – but we’ll see – rest day after that!!
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