Elephant Highway - April 18

This morning I managed to get my tent away in decent time and had decided I wanted to ride with the racers today. We head off back the way we came before taking a right turn. It was a fairly good pace to start but almost immediately we turned the pace began to pick up. On the turn I saw a warthog which was pretty cool – we are hoping to see plenty of animals now we have started the Elephant Highway! But to be honest I wasn’t looking at much but the wheel in front of me as the speed started to build. This was the first time I had ridden with the racers for quite a while since being ill!! It was a pretty good group – and we were travelling at about 35 – 40 kmph. I just kept thinking to myself” Hang on a little longer ….hang on a little longer …..hang on a little longer…” Well I managed to hang on for about 50 km. Today is pretty long – about 160 km in all. I then dropped off though and really slowed down. There was a bit of a headwind and the road was harsh gravel – big chunky tarmac – no hills though! Eventually Horst and Daniel caught me and I asked if I could sit on behind for a while – they said “Fine” and so that was really good for the next 15km into lunch!! Still struggling with lunch – sandwiches are all a bit much so I grabbed some pears and bananas and waited there for a bigger group to turn up to ride the afternoon section with. Eventually we had a group of 8 and rode well together – now on the look out for elephants. There was a strong cross wind – but we rode well chatting as we went along. At 110 km there was a coke stop. Then Sharita turned up in the truck and told us that she has had to move today’s camp – apparently she had not only seen lion footprints but had also spotted a large python at the planned site – so thought it best to move – it means we have an extra 12 km to cycle today. So I suggested she might want to buy us a coke – to which she agreed which was very nice of her!! Back on our bikes and the road was full of patched potholes – quite bumpy – the guys just wanted to get to camp now so really picked up the pace again. But no – this was really hurting me now – I didn’t want to do it anymore – so I dropped off and rode the last 15 km on my own! I was really aching – my bum and my lower back! It was so good to finally get to camp – which was set up in a construction area – reminded us of being back in Sudan. I pitched my tent as close to the truck as possible and I was so tired that as soon as dinner was over I went to bed. Not bad really for only my second day back on the bike!