No sign of Wildlife - March 24

It was cool to wake up in the Ranger’s building this morning! I was so hungry though – got up really early so had to wait for breakfast till 6am – weetabix, bread and bananas – a good one – and I tried to eat as much as possible. Paul leaves with Mike the Mechanic fairly promptly - I would have liked to have left with them but wasn’t quite ready. Scott, Steve, myself, Jorg and Adam all badged out together. Adam and Steve immediately decide to ride a little slower – but Jorg hits the front and immediately starts flying – I really struggle at the best of times to go so fast without a warm up – the pace was killing me! I struggled to hang on all morning. Every time I hit the front I had to bring the speed down so Scott and Jorg ended up doing most of the turns at the front. The road was a lot less busy today – though the same sort of surface – a little bit of corrugation and a few pot holes but fairly smooth overall – didn’t need to move around much to find a decent way through! Long day today – 124 km – but at this rate will take less than 4 hours. We are steaming along but I still don’t think we will catch Paul and Mike – they are too far ahead! We gave them too much time and there is no reason for them not to be fast. Lunch at 61 km – I avoided the egg salad and made a peanut butter sandwich instead along with some bananas I had in my pocket! After lunch Scott and Jorg are obviously feeling a lot better than I am – they are flying along at over 30kmph on the flats and 36 – 40 kmph on the downs. I am just struggling so much! We did see a few baboons today – but no sign of wildlife amongst the long reedy grass and thick bush we were passing. No people out today except in the few villages we cycled through. Finally at about 85 km I felt so bad I slowed up and told them to go ahead. But as soon as I said that they agreed they were hurting too and also slowed up. My back was really hurting – maybe I have some sort of problem with my kidneys? I rode with Jorg for a while, but he was still too fast for me – I filled up with water and bananas and settled myself into a slower but steady pace. Told Jorg to chase Scott and ride with him. Had about 30 km to go and felt a lot better on my own. Then we hit the sand where they were re-grading the road – it was like riding on the beach with the bike sinking and swirling – really hard work! At one point I was going about 13 kmph – though it might be quicker to walk. Anyway I carried on and tried to ride strong through the sand. After that there was only 10km to camp – I rode fairly well and only lost about 10 minutes to Scott and Adam. It was so good to be finished.