Coke Stop Day - March 25

Woke super early this morning – was all ready and my tent down and packed away before everyone else for once!! Then Paul comes over and says” Coke Stop Day?” I agree and go and tell Scott – he thinks we should say “No” as it must mean Paul is hurting – but we’d already agreed – and I was hurting and felt dreadful so suited me. Typical though – the day I didn’t need to be so well organized!! We checked out together and rode along fairly easily! After about 15 km Scott had a proposal “ I am sick to death riding with you all every day. I want to ride with someone else today. How about we make a deal and just wait for each other at camp to clock out together at the end of he ride. Then we can ride with whoever we want.” “Brilliant idea” I said and we all agreed! As soon as we agreed Scott slammed on the brakes and stopped – he was serious – he didn’t want to ride with us at all!!! So we all slowed up even more and eventually the next group caught up with us – and we rode with Tori, Adam, Steve and Carrie – it was really nice. The terrain and scenery were still unbelievable – and we were travelling along a sandy road but in good condition. There was jungle on either side and we did come to some very muddy spots it was easy to get stuck in. But we rode along in a big group, chatting and laughing together. Also met up with Liam and Kari and I enjoyed riding along with them – really nice! There was no hurry at lunch – which was so good today I ate three sandwiches. Steve warned me I would pay for that later – sure enough – 20 km out and my stomach was churning – I felt worse than ever! I struggled on and eventually we got to a coke stop at about 85km. We were still riding as a fairly big group. On the next downhill Luke took a nasty fall and grazed his back. Quite funny though – as we had Steve the Mechanic with us who grabbed his bike and fixed it – and then Carrie with her huge back pack full of supplies (which we had been teasing her about) was able to tend to his injuries!! All was well.

I ended up riding with Liam and Kari and we soon stopped for another coke stop. It is hard to get cold drinks though – I had my second Fanta – bit too many for me!! A few more people joined us which was fun. As we continued I realized the sun was burning on my shoulders – first time I have been out riding past 12 o’clock for weeks now!! But I am feeling good – eventually Liam and Kari drop back when we go up a climb and all of a sudden Scott appears. We chat and compare notes from our day – like me he had enjoyed riding with a variety of people – we had both enjoyed not racing! So – time for a last coke stop for the day – Liam and Kari also turn up and join us. There was a strange lady sitting at the table with us – chatting away - Liam speaks a little Swahili and suddenly realizes this might be a brothel!! So we drink up quickly and rush away!! 10 more km to camp and we completed our longest day – 7 ½ hours.. we arrived at camp where Jorg and Paul were duly waiting for us and we all clocked in together with the same time! Great! It was a really nice day.

We camped in a football field again and it seemed the whole village came out to meet us. Just far too many people though and so noisy. Kendra had set up my tent for me underneath a tree in the shade – perfect – but unfortunately it was near the boundary where all the villagers were congregated – and I was a bit wary of leaving stuff unattended. We wandered down to the village and bought some biscuits and snacks. We haven’t had crowds like this for some time now – it was really strange. Not feeling good! Mando day tomorrow so I try to eat to keep my strength up.