On the road again

Back on the road going south for 116 flat km along busy roads. Big pack formed right from the start and was motoring nicely at over 35km/hr. Everything is going well and I feel pretty relaxed looking forward to a good day and suddenly at around 35km I feel the front tire almost flat. I have to pull out knowing I can't catch these guys back up. I fix it in minutes and get back on the road, I get caught by a solo rider who helps me out for about 10 km but he can't keep the pace up as his back is acting up. I am thinking of working hard and hopefully catch up at the pit stop. I go around a corner and spot the truck but no one is there. It turns out a couple of riders skipped it so everyone chased so I filled up a bottle, grabbed a couple of bananas and hit the road knowing it was going to be a tough 45 km by myself but not wanting to lose too much time. About 15 km from the end, I caught one of the top two ladies who didn't manage to stay with the pack when they cranked up the pace. It was good we rode on together because there were lots of kids on the road that were causing havoc. Mostly it was just the usual hello, money and wave but a couple actually grabbed her bike and I had to yell at them to scare them away. Some apparently threw rocks and one even spat on one of the girls. Funny enough, it doesn't seem to be malicious but entertainment to them. We get to the town which is somewhat large and get a little lost since kids also seem to like taking the flagging tape marking the route but we quickly find our camping spot for the night which is the local sports field and it even has showers. It's a secure area though the maintenance and cleanliness is still Egypt. Let's just say some chose not to shower! I'm curious to see what might grow on my feet the next few days. So not a good result today possibly outside the top ten with a loss of time of around 15 minutes. C'est la vie... Them's are the breaks! Stuart, the Aussie I rode with one day lost over an hour the other day because of bike problems and today he made some up. We walked around town a bit and Frans, one if the stronger rider ahead of me fell down a manhole but fortunately escaped with just a large gash and a busted shoe. Eric the other Quebecois has already lost 10 pounds and he went to the toilet 7 times this afternoon. Marcel is nursing his Achilles tendon and Adrian is also battling intestinal problems. This rounds up the guys currently leading. A good reminder that the road ahead is a very long one...

A echanger...velo pour chameau!

Luxor

Quick and relatively unventful day or so I thought! For once, I was early and ready to go so I thought it might be a good idea to check the tire pressure. As I unscrew the valve, it goes flying in the air exploding. Fortunately, I find it right away and it's just a matter of screwiung it back on. Now I am pumping the tire furiously trying to make the start on time. I just make it and I decide to jump on the fast train to see how the legs are doing. A very quick response from the quads telling me not so good and I am freezing as it seems a bit cooler, I should have worn long sleeves. Even better, I should have but arm warmers but that's a bit late to think about that. Anyway, 10km down the road, I back off before blowing up and I quickly get caught by a very large pack moving surprisingly well. People must be smelling rest! I settle myself at the back at a pretty relaxing pace until the pit stop. I just check in without a break and take advantage of this to rejoin the front guys. They are cranking it close to 40km/hr so I hang on for about 20km, it's not bad at the back but my turns at bthe front are painful so I back off figuring I built a good enough lead from the large pack behind. I take it down to about 33km/hr and finish the last 25km on my own well ahead of the large pack which was good for 4th or 5th place.

I grab my stuff from the truck and head into town for some good food and a couple of mugs of fresh OJ and sugar cane juice not to mention a stop at the bakery for some sweets. Let the rest begin!

The hills

Today was a hectic start, I didn't really sleep better in the hotel because of mosquitoes. Still worth it to get cleaned up, do laundry and recharge the electronics. Anyway, I get to my bike and the tire is flat. I'm a bit late, there's the usual line up at the truck and I can't afford to wait. I decide to change the tube first so everyone has cleared from the truck. I get another spare tube in case of Murphy's law and I make it back just as riders are leaving. I didn't even get a chance to fill up on energy drink which concerns me a bit but I have some left from the day before. I catch up with the 2nd group and it's a very gradual climb of 800m over about 60km so I never struggle to keep up. We lost a few riders along the way and I got caught by a call of nature at lunch and four riders left without me. Got on my bike thinking I would catch up quickly since I thought we would go down but the wind was pretty fierce again and I thought it was a hopeless cause since I was only going about 25km/hr. After about 20km, I thought I saw a glimpse of them ahead so I started working harder and caught then shortly after. I thought I'd stay with them until about 120km but the winds were quite strong again and I decided to stay with them. One rider bonked at around 125km so only 4 of us cruised in with no sprint. Guess I was either 5th or 6th today which is ok. Not too much damage, roughly 25km/hr average over 140km. Shorter day tomorrow into Luxor and then a well deserved rest day.

To the Red Sea

Today was a fairly short day with less than 90km to do and the wind wasn't too bad. We started in quite a big pack which held for about 10km. I decided to shake things up and attacked in order to break the pack up a bit. It worked well for a bit but we hit a stretch of water and mud that I didn't navigate well. I ended up having to work too hard to catch the front group of about 6-7 riders and I got ditched on a long slow rise. I saw another rider lose ground so once again I cranked it up to catch him. That cost me energy I didn't have in reserve and I struggled to keep up with him on anything that was rising but we made it to the pit stop together. A quick bite and some water and we set off as the other group came in and managed to hook up with a couple of riders from the first group that took a longer break. Three if us worked well together although I was still having trouble on hills but the fourth one was just hanging at the back. We put on a burst of speed a few km from the end and got rid of him and just cruised in together. Safaga is a nice little town on the Red Sea and there's a hotel right on the beach so I took a room to shower, do laundry and have a good rest before the hills tomorrow. Also had a nice meal at the local restaurant and a very pleasant bathroom experience without having to squat on sore legs. Four of us went to lunch in town and after this delicious meal was done. The guys were still hungry so they ordered a second round. I had two appetizers, 1.5L of water, a juice and bread so I decided to call it a day and wait for dinner.

Thunder, lightning, wind and rain made for a fitful night of sleep. Finally managed to clean the pipes this morning, it's not very comfortable to squat with tired sore legs. Kind of a funny start today, I never heard a thing and just saw people on the road so I got going too. Favorable wind so I'm passing loads of people. I'm lucky to catch the fast group since one of them had a flat. I decided to wait for them and help out since everyone is pretty supportive. Pretty well everyone passes us but when we get back on the saddle, it's full speed ahead to catch the second group and we're doing about 50km/hr. We get to the lead and then we all get stopped at a police checkpoint because they are worried about the road being flooded. After about 20 minutes, they figured we're safe. I decide to let the big boys hash it out and I stay with the top two ladies and a three other guys, one of them Eric from Baie Comeau has signed up to do Race across America three weeks after this ends. Impressive! Easy ride into lunch where the top group is about to leave, Eric skips lunch and joins them,I'm staying with my easy day strategy, the group leaves during my call to nature so I have some catching up to do but with the easy wind today it's not a problem. The two ladies are not quite keeping up so the three guys start to pull away. One of them eventually drops back to check on his wife so there's only two of us. We hit a fierce headwind with 25km to go and our speed drops to 20km/hr. The nightmare from yesterday resurfaces in our minds and the pain is back. Fortunately the road makes a turn about 5km further and we can resume a good pace. As we get closer, I was thinking about asking Stuart, the other fellow if he wanted to cruise in or battle it out. I got my answer when he started cranking it a few km before the end. It turns out I either had more gears or more juice since I took the sprint and was quite surprised to see the two ladies and the other guy fairly close behind. They might have caught us by surprise if we had just cruised in. My first strong finish with a relatively painless 5th place and a 33km/hr average on 134km. We had to ride another 10km because camp wasn't suitable so tomorrow will be less than 100km and a shower at the end. The wind is howling again and it's quite chilly. Full sleeping bag tonight. Food at dinner is excellent and so is the soup in the early afternoon.

Epic wind

Wow, today is what call an epic day. 168km which isn't so bad although it's a long day but there were surprises in store for us. I was a bit rushed this morning for the 7:15 start so I'll have to get up around 5:15 this morning. Part of the problem is that people have stuffed their lockers and have trouble getting in and out quickly. Mine has plenty of space and will have more since I brought lots of food. Anyway, away we go and there are five of us that quickly drop everyone. We're motoring at around 40km/hr so we get to lunch at 70km around 9:30 but I am starting to feel my legs hardening. We take a 20 min break and eat and riders start trickling in so we set off once again pretty hard and I know I won't last long since I haven't done long hard rides like this especially back to back. Sure enough, there's a gentle rise at around 80 km and it's bye bye Gilles. I am dreading the fact that I have 90km left to do on my own and the wind has seriously picked up and I am now only going about 20-25km/hr. I struggle until 130km and finally a group catches up. By then I had dropped below 20km/hr. These guys are going fairly slow so it's going ok. We stop for a refill at 140 and set off again. The wind us blowing harder and from the left side so we tuck in on the right and after my turn at the front, I move back and I am stuck behind a small girl and we're right on the edge of the road amnd I get little draft so I'm working hard. We move up a bit so now I have a bit more space but I'm still right on the edge of the pavement. One second of innatention and a gust of wind and my front wheel hits the sand and I get to kiss the pavement. The rider behind flips right on top of me. The judges gave it a 9.5 I believe. No great damage except a few scratches and my pride but I just can't keep up anymore. There's about 20 km left and I am zapped and the wind is now ferocious. I am now riding at 11-13km/hr and struggling mightily. Even the fastest riders didn't maintain 20km/hr in that wind. We're by the Red Sea and it's a flat desert with nothing to stop the wind. I finally crawled in to camp exhausted around 10th place. Loads of rider didn't finish the day today. The late comers are trying to set up their tents in the dark with a howling wind and a thunderstorm is brewing. My stuff is set up and I managed to work a bit on my bike too. Tomorrow I will definitely take it easy. I can' t last 4 months like this... Bide my time until I'm leaner and fitter. I love to ride fast and at the front but right now I'm only good for about 70-90km if there are no big hills.