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.