After staying in the chalet went to breakfast with Bastiaan and Liam this morning – surprised the server as always by the amount we ordered! We probably had at least 8 slices of toast each – I had a full breakfast followed by fried eggs and toast along with a couple of coffees! On our bikes and straight into a headwind – not much to see although we did have some kudus running alongside the road with us for a while! Liam’s back was hurting so we eased off a bit – and just rode easily into lunch. Here Liam decided he needed to take the truck – initially we were going to miss out on lunch and go straight to the village with a recommended bakery – but that was when we thought it was only another 20 km on – when we found out it was another 40 km we decided to stop for some lunch after all – left over chicken – pretty good!
Still riding in a headwind we rode side by side chatting away – Bastiaan is amazing like that – you chat away to him without even realizing what you are doing! Then suddenly we saw lots of people standing in a barn on the right hand side of the road – of course Bastiaan wanted to stop – which was fine by me!
It was a charcoal packing factory – there were tents full of charcoal and briquettes drying out – and then they were sealed and packed ready to be sold. Really cool! A very nice lady showed us round. What was really interesting was that they were talking in that clicking language (khoisan) – very interesting to hear them. Also it seemed like they were getting paid in products – there was a book with all their names. When a name was called out that person would say what they would like = bag of flour, sugar, some meat etc – and they were immediately handing out the goods!! All very interesting!
About 5 km on we could see a large dark rain cloud ahead on the road. We did think about trying to wait I tout to avoid it – but in the end I put on my jacket and we just rode straight into it – we got soaked! So we rode about 10 km through the rain into a village where the streets were now flooded – quite amazing to see in itself! We eventually made it to the bakery we had been told about – and were freezing cold from our soaking! Of course it was now sold out of all the baked products – with us being the last of the riders to come through! But we had a chicken burger, a cheese burger and a couple of good cappuccinos. Then we went for a walk in the village, found somewhere to use the internet so I was able to send mum her birthday message! Then we went shopping and I bought some batteries for my SPOT. As it was about to rain again we returned to the café for another cappuccino and we sat chatting to Nick – the TdA Tour Director and the sweep for the day. We were the last ones out on the road today. We knew we needed to leave by 3.20 to give ourselves 2 hours to ride to camp. Of course we managed to forget about the time as we sat there chatting and suddenly realized it was 10 to 4 – “Oh No” So we grabbed our stuff and got ready to leave – but we didn’t really know what to do with Nick – we felt it was our fault holding him up!! But then he disappeared off to the bathroom and spent ages buying water and getting himself ready – we really needed to leave!!
So to get to camp in time (before sun set according to TdA rules) we needed to go more than 34kmph – we had 50 km left to go and only an hour and a half! So we started to ride quickly – but there was a hill and Nick was struggling to keep up with us – we slowed down for him! He was trying to take his turns at the front but we told him he didn’t need to – to just sit on the back! After a while though he started dropping off, really struggling – so we apologised that we had to leave to get to camp on time! Which was fine with him! We knew we were now likely to be late so we started flying – needing to average 36/38kmph. There was still a cross wind but at least not a full on headwind. We both had our tri bars on so we got down into our tucks and started pedaling like mad! About 34/35 kmph at the beginning – when the wind picked up it was really hard and I was hurting. Not really what I expected today after yesterday’s ride – it was supposed to be an easy day!! Bastiaan was sweating like crazy – so much that I first thought it was rain hitting me from his slipstream!! My heart rate was about 170bpm!! We rode really well together though – 2km each out front at first – then we dropped it to 1 km turns. About 10 km out and the sun is beginning to set – the most amazing view! So we slowed up to take some photos – our silhouettes in the setting sun – should be some good ones! Then we had to really fly over the last 10 km – averaging 38 – 44 + - there were a few small hills. My legs were killing but at least I had worked off the stitch I had earlier – we were really really pushing hard. ½ km each at the front now, switching quickly!! Bastiaan does not have a speedo so I was calling it “ OK – 1/ 2 k …., , OK – 1 /2 k ….” It was kind of fun and exciting! We finally see the Finish Flag and arrived just 3 minutes after sun down – which was fine!! Nobody was going to bother us for a few minutes!!
Actually we then decided we wanted a beer with dinner so I popped back on my bike to buy some ½ km down the road!! The meal was super spicy tonight so I didn’t each much – but I was so exhausted I was glad to get my tent up and crawl into bed!! 162 km today to Witvlei, Namibia!
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