There was one hell of a thunderstorm last night! I pitched my tent next to a building for some shade but of course there was no gutter so all the water from the roof landed on top of my tent!! Did actually realize this before going to bed but couldn’t be bothered moving!! Woke up in the middle of the night to the storm and could feel about an inch of water on the right hand side of my tent – but it wasn’t coming through so I went back to sleep! Woke again later and there was even more water under my tent. So I packed up all my loose stuff into a bag – so there was only my mat, bag and myself in the tent – just in case! I could feel loads of water all round the tent and it is really raining hard out there – but I am dry. Should I get out and peg out my tent better? But then I would get very wet. So I left it and went back to sleep again! When I did get up everything was still totally dry inside – though the outside was covered in mud as well as being soaking wet – but the inside perfectly dry – I am really impressed with this tent!!
Today we have the 30 km time trial. There is a 15 km warm up to the start then lunch and then the rest of the day is not timed. We had start times – mine was 7.50 so I had plenty of time. We ended up returning to the bakery for more apple pie and coffee for breakfast. Really good. Out on the road we are treated to a beautiful sun rise. Amazing scenery – the mountains and plains are breathtaking – and full of long grass – they have had the most rain here for 70 years – so this place doesn’t normally look so green. All in all pretty amazing – most people have never seen it like this so we are really lucky – though it would be good to come back and compare! It is just so unspoiled and there Is nothing here to spoil it – no buildings, no no people – just a few animals!!
Anyway – we rode the 15 km nice and easy – Scott, Bastiaan and myself. Bastiaan made us do some sprints to warm up and get our heart rate up – so we did! At the start I rode around a little more until it was my turn. Tori was ahead of me so she shouted “See you at 10km” I hadn’t really thought about how long it would take to catch up! I decided I was going to go flat out and so I stood up on my pedals and went for it all the way up the hill – my heart rate was at 180 – but I was feeling good – not sure if I can last 30 km like this but we will see. I catch Tori after 4 km which means I have already made up 2 minutes which feels good. I can see the next person ahead – as it climbs we turn a corner into some headwind. I am still riding really well – just going as fast as possible. Having such a good time – riding well, passing people. There are a few river crossings. Then after about 15 km I hit a rock which bounced my chain off and I must have shifted at about the same time – something happened and one of my chain loops got caught in a tooth and caused the chain to bend out at the side - so I had to stop to try to fix it! I could see it was bent and dint know what to do. In the end I decided to carry on riding till it snapped – but ride a lot slower. It was shame as I was doing so well. Anyway I pedaled a lot softer – just trying to spin the pedals without applying too much pressure so it wouldn’t snap. Just hoping it would survive. This time trial counts and I didn’t want to lose 10 minutes plus trying to fix the chain. So I carried on just hoping it would be OK – at least I could recover!! I got my breath back – I had finished!! And Scott didn’t quite catch me – although he came in 30 seconds after which means he was 90 seconds faster! I hope Scott won – it looks like he did – with me, Dennis and Adam all close for 2nd, 3rd, 4th – so at least it wasn’t a complete disaster!! The order doesn’t really matter! I should still be first or second for the section so far! Things are looking good! And if I hadn’t broken my chain I would definitely have been closer to Scott’s time!!
Then we had lunch with only another 35 km to ride! Again the views are just incredible. We seem to be getting further and further away from anything – in the middle of big, open plains surrounded by hills – and its all so green as well! We are trying to look out for animals but not much luck there. We rode fairly slowly all afternoon – there was a good steady climb and we gradually turned to the left putting us more into the headwind. The wind was really really strong and we had to shout at each other to talk!! Eventually we see a right hand turn with 10 km to go – immediately it is quiet and we are being pushed along by the wind!! Awesome!! We were still on a great dirt road – everything is looking good! We happily rode the last 10km into Sossusvlei.
There were no rooms left at the lodge down the road – although there was a very confusing list with some names showing rooms booked. I tried at the lodge nearer camp but they were also full – and the price was twice as much at $300 a night anyway! We walked about 1 km to a garage to use the internet – there really is nothing much else here! Just the camp, the lodge next door and another one 4 km down the road!! We went to the bar and restaurant – everything I tried to order they seemed to be out of!! How were they going to cope with the whole tour today and tomorrow? Feeling a bit fed up now so went for a shower and then washed my tent of all the mud and put it up to dry. Scott is still trying to work us out a room at the lodge down the road but I have pretty much given up and am concentrating on sorting out my tent. Suddenly he comes running over saying he had got us a room – 150 a night including all meals!! I was able to persuade one of the other riders to take my tent down when it was dry and put it away – and off we went to the lodge. A truck drove us into the park and on the left hand side we could see wooden chalets built into the side of the hill – and we realized this is where we would be staying!! We had to walk along an elevated walk way to our room – the most incredible, amazing views. Fantastic!! We go off for some food and then just lay out by the pool!!
There is a trip to the dunes being planned for the morning at 4.30 am but initially I do not want to go – as I wasn’t keen on getting up so early so I declined thinking others would as well. But – no it turned out that nearly everyone wanted to do it – however it was a bit late for me to change my mind even though it did sound as though it would be fun! So I kept quiet – it was my fault!! Never mind! Anyway I went off to bed and looked forward to my lie in instead!
No comments:
Post a Comment