Just before going to bed last night we heard that Adam was planning to leave early this morning, so after some discussion we decided we would all do the same and go with him. When I went to the bathroom at 5 am Dennis already had his tent down – he’s usually the slowest so I was shocked. Everyone seemed ready and just waiting to go when Kendra said “You do realize Adam left at least 5 minutes ago? ….” He had snuck off quietly!!! So Jorg, Dennis, paul and myself quickly grabbed our bikes and also set off. I was feeling good – and looking forward to today’s ride – basically about 100 miles mainly off road. It was unusual for us to leave so early – and meant we only had a few people to pass. We began to climb with Paul sitting behind and leaving all the work to us! We want to stay together if possible because at the end there is about 50 km of flat and you don’t want to be doing that on your own at the end of the day. But we are also chasing Adam. We knew he would ride hard and he is very good at going alone. What we didn’t know was exactly how far ahead of us he had left. Even so I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to start with and I slowed to chat with Bastiaan for a while and then had to chase down the others. Jorg was pushing hard at the front and I too was feeling good all through the hills – however I didn’t want to lose Dennis so didn’t go as fast as I could have. The views were amazing again – with mountains on either side with the road snaking through the countryside.I was afraid we might be too early for lunch at this rate but we saw the truck pass us at about 30 km so that was good!! We still hadn’t seen Adam – even in the distance – which was amzing. Kendra said he was about 3 minutes ahead of us – so I stocked up with water and drank loads there – determined not to get dehydrated today – had a quick sandwich and we headed off. Jorg had already said he was leaving us at lunch so now it was just me and Dennis with Paul following. We were confident that we would be able to catch Adam. There was a bit of a headwind now and it was hilly and we were chasing hard – and so it was beginning to get painful. Getting closer to 100 km which always makes you feel better – even though we still had another 60 km after that. With about 45 km to go we turned right through a little village – a lot of riders had stopped here. As it was such a long day quite a few had taken the truck to lunch and then cycled in the afternoon. There seemed to be bikes parked up everywhere – I was so jealous – really wanted to stop!! But no – not today!! We hit some tarmac and Dennis immediately sped off so I went with him. We were still working together – not really racing against each other – just trying to catch Adam – that was our goal!! I had thought that most of the riders from lunch would have stopped at the village so there would not be many in front of us apart from Adam. The road was a lot better and we were going quicker – and my legs hurt!! We were really pushing. Then we saw someone in the distance and were excited to think it must be Adam – but over the next rise we realized we were gaining too quickly so it couldn’t be him. A little bit later the same thing happened again – but finally we passed the last rider from the earlier group and knew if we saw anyone else ahead it would be Adam. Dennis was tired and taking shorter turns at the front – which meant longer ones for me. It was a case of gritting your teeth and getting through it. The miles were ticking away quite quickly at about 35/40 kmph – but it was a lot of effort. We knew we weren’t going to catch him now but would our times be faster? I was going through things in my head as I rode “If Adam wins this mando that means I will have to make up an extra half hour for this section. That means I definitely have to win the last mando ………..” We really pressed on and finally finished the day in 5 ½ hours. Nick told us that Adam had arrived about 10 minutes before us – so it didn’t look as if we had gained any ground on him!
We went off to get some drinks and quickly grab a room. Sat at the bar and had about 5 sodas – whatever they had – orange, apple, fanta …… Just drank and drank!! Following a quick shower both Dennis and I practically passed out and had a good nap!! I really can’t believe that Adam managed to ride on his own like that for 5 ½ hours – no way could I do that – to hold that speed on your own through headwinds and corrugation! We could see from his tracks that he was zig zagging – which means he was standing up and really going for it! Unfortunately for him my time was actually about 5 minutes faster than his in the end and so I did win the mando day!!
Finally we woke and had more drinks! Just relaxing now ready for dinner – then off to bed as I am still exhausted! We have three more days this week and then we have pretty much agreed that that’s the end of the race. We do not intend to race each other in the last week of the tour! We will just check in and out at the same time each day. So – 3 more days and the last one is a mando. Be great if I could win that one as well! I just need to make sure I still get this section if we do end the race early – that was my goal!!
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