Round and round we go

Day Total: 149

KmTotal Time: 4:47:00

Avg. HR: 121bpm

Avg. Speed: 30.9 km/h

Song of the Day: Band of Horses – The Funeral

A nice night’s sleep means an easy awakening. My sleep was mostly nice, though there was one nearby individual whose incessant snoring was reminiscent of a space shuttle launch. That said I felt good, and the transition from 2 bags on a truck to all belongings in the locker continued smoothly. This meant I was ready with extra time again today so I cleaned and lubed my bike chain. Yes, this is the oh-so-exciting side of life on the road.

After yesterday’s seriosly hard effort, I had no intentions of riding the whole day with the lunatic group again. We all left together, rolled along gently for about 10km, then the pace increased. I know it sounds familiar because I’ve written this same scenario at least four times now. I figured I’d hang on just until we caught the “second group” which are sort of the next strata of racers. Thankfully they appeared at 45km today and I promptly popped off of the lead bunch and right onto the back of this one.

What a difference: there were people talking, smiles, photos being taken, some unfamiliar faces, and a general sense of cooperation and interest in helping each other through the day. I could get used to this, and quickly did today as I rode with them for the next 103km. The pace was steady, reasonable I would say, but not slow. My heart rate agreed: hovering ~30 beats per minute than yesterday and 20 beats lower than the 10 minutes prior to my dpearture from the fast bunch. I’ve discussed this with many others, and we can’t believe that the pace is sustainable or sensible and that a fair bit of pain will lead to a large number of riders blowing up when we reach the hilly, rough roads of Ethiopia.

Lunch was a quick affair, mostly due to the presence of a large number of small flies/gnats. Their presence is likely due to the fact that we lunched on the shores of the Nile, their absence at camp last night (along the Nile) due to the high winds. The second half of the day saw a complete reversal of fortunes with regards to winds from the previous day, and with the steady headwind/cross-headwind, our pace fell well below 30km/h. We powered on, sharing the workload, encouraging each other to carry on when under durress and the day passed without incident. We blew through some sort of checkpoint about 15km from camp, but it’s hard to know who is “official” and who is just trying to make an easy buck. No harm done, no shots fired, just smiles and waves.

With the early arrival to camp, the heat was at its peak – about 90 degrees. The wind made it bearable, and the dip in the Nile even more so. It is amazing how along the road the landscape is so barren and desolate, yet 300 meters off the road is a lush strip of land dotted with palm trees and grazing animals. I washed my hair. Actually I washed it twice because it was so dirty that no matter how much shampoo I used, I could not produce a lather on the first effort. It feels better, but I was assured by fellow rider Kendra that it looks no better. It’s OK, I’m spoken for anyhow…

I wrapped up the evening with yoga, the rider meeting, dinner, and a campfire. We ride to the small town of Dongola tomorrow – a “short” 107km – where we will have Saturday as a rest day.  We will be camping on the grounds of the Dongola zoo, though there are no longer any animals (until we arrive). No showers this time, but taps with clean water for a Philippines style “bucket bath”. I’m looking forward to sampling the local cuisine and getting to know the people a bit better (we’ve seen so few thus far). I’ll keep you posted…