Hey,
So we woke on day two out of Dongola to an 8 degree celcius morning and a not too sure wind chill factor but it was damn cold!!!. We all put as many layers on and I felt sorry for the riders who had packed away their arm and leg warmers into their permanent bags. They made me cold just looking at them. The wind was blowing tail so in my mind that was a fair trade off for cold. The local Sudanese we spoke to or passed on the road were all wrapped up and some even had on what looked like army coats, thick wool double breasted with big buttons from a bygone era.The wind was unusual for Sudan and coming down from the North. Somewhere in Europe they were being blasted by a cold wind and we were getting the side effects of it in Northern Africa. Quite the change from 44.5 degrees celcius of 2007!!
Our ride of the day was to be another 140km day to another desert camp and so the race group started out together as it was warmer in numbers. Chris, Bent, Bernt, Jos, Clive, Ed and myself were hurtling along and at about 40km or so we came upon Maria and Spiros two expedition riders who may start racing the next section and whom Jos was trying to get to join the race pack (the bigger the peleton, the better the photos for sponsors, the more it looks like a race). Anyway, it was too cold to hang around and change our pace which was about 37km (great tailwind) and we had already dropped Ed and Clive and up until then all that we as a race pack had heard from Jos was not to wait for him, he could and would catch up to us as he was the better rider and so when he slowed down to cajole Maria and Spiros to jump onto the race train we didn't think anything of it and kept riding. We were just before a bridge at that stage of the race and wouldn't you know it, once over the bridge and down the other side, the road swung to the right and now we had a cross wind. A savage one at that. The four of us worked together to save some energy as the wind was narly, all the time thinking Jos would catch us but there was no sign of him.
Meanwhile we four riders had other things to worry about. The wind picked up another notch and was now fierce and brutal and we were getting free exfoliation spa treatments to our legs, side of our body and faces, into our ears, nose and more of a worry the shifters of our bikes making for a potential gear malfunction! The wind was blasting sand from our left and whipping around the four of us. Every time a truck or bus went by us we had to hold our breath and hope that we would not be blown off the road by the wind suck. A few scary moments and a bitterly cold wind made for a short lunch stop and the decision to work together as a team to get to camp.
Bernt and Chris picked it up in the last 20km and we let them go as I was quite happy to drop the pace a notch and head for home. We got to camp and it was a sandy dust bowl thanks to the wind. The four of us set our tents up behind a mound of rock thinking we would be spared. All for one hour when the wind changed and then we were in the firing line. There was not one tent site that wasn't being blasted and so we spent time looking for rocks to make sure the tents stayed in one place. Meanwhile no sign of Jos. He eventually came in about 1.20 mins later claiming that he decided not to race and so stopped for coffee and took photos which was his choice but he was also not happy when he saw how much time he had lost to the boys. Chris and Adrie would not have let such a big time difference happen last year and so I'm speculating here..mouthing off...kiwi slang...but I don't think he thought the four of us would have stayed together for so long and worked like we did. Tell you what..brutal cold makes people cooperate and work together!!!
When the expedition riders came into camp one by one they too looked sand blasted and so after the pitching of tents (one person couldn't do it alone, the wind was swirling and so two pairs of hands and feet were needed to hold ends down and save the entire tent from flying away) and the customary tent shower - (Johnson & Johnson baby wipes and any left over water in your water bottle)they came for soup all wrapped up with head scarves - Sudanese style. It was quite cool to actually use the scarves that we had all bought along the way from either Luxor or Aswan or Dongola. We had them over our heads, wrapped around our necks and covering our mouths to keep the sand out. Add a pair of oakley sunglasses and walla ....you have a group of groovy cyclists!!!!! Sand was everywhere and we all made jokes about having a beach party in our tents. There was so much fine red sand in my tent that I renamed her Copacabana!!!!
Day three was also a cold start to the day and so we started 5 minutes early as it was too cold to wait for the stranglers and it was a 160km ride for the day.Another tailwind was up for grabs and another fast day. I rode the 160km day 10 minutes faster than the previous 140km day and so how fast was that wind!!! We knew Jos would be nailing the pace and laying down the gauntlet but we were ready for it and so when he sailed past us before lunch we let him go. At lunch we all set off together and then at about 120km I decided I didn't need to be sitting at a 52km pace especially with a time trial the next morning and so I backed off the pace and rode with Max. We caught Bent who had started early from lunch and the three of us rode home together which was really fortunate as the last 20km turned head and cross winds again and so it was a relief to have three in the pack. The race finish flag was at a coke stop which was a bonus so we hung around drinking cokes and eating sweet sickly strawberry wafer biscuits that the Sudanese kids were selling on the side of the road.
There was also a collection point for camels at the back of the coke stop. Over 50 camels were hanging out and it looked like they were having a stop before moving on their way to Khartoum, Khartoum being the largest camel market in the Arabic world. Diana one of the expedition riders from Canada who is an amazing photographer and alot of her photographs to date are posted on the official Tour d'Afrique website (check out the photograph of the flamingos flying over the Lake in Wadi Halfa under the Sudan section). Anyway, she was taking photos of the camels and was sitting quietly on a rock near them when after a few curious looks they suddenly lunged towards her. She was OK and got out of their way but she thinks it was because of her orange clothing. Orange is her fav colour but I guess not the camels!!Too funny!
Camp was desolate, pure sandy desert and no wind. Yeeehaaa! It made for a quiet and peaceful sleep until I woke at 5.00am to go to the bathroom and while reaching for my head light twisted my upper body funny and managed to pop one of my hypermobile ribs!!Great... NOT!! Of all mornings it had to be the 20km time trial morning. I managed to semi put it back in but breathing was a barstard and coughing...don't even think about it. I got organised to race, kept my rib problem to myself and got my bike and went to warm up. At least the stretched out position was better than the upright hands on the hoods position and so I was able to ride the time trial. Yeah, I can hear ya..why didn't I bite the bullet and get on the truck?..nah! 12 hour penalty...for a rib..no way. I got Eric from Canada to help me try and pop it back in while standing in Doris the support truck. It was a little bit better but not perfect. Being the stubborn cow that I am I did it and it took 13km for me to properly warm up and so the last 7km I could actually ride freely. I won it with a couple of minutes to spare and so that was all that mattered. When I got to the lunch truck at 66km I got the lovely Kathleen a nurse from Santa Cruz to mobilise it back in. Her experienced hands did the job but by this time I was sore and aching all over..felt like a freight train had hit me fair and square in the solar plexus. I was longing for a hot shower and a bed and there and then made the decision to definitely get a hotel room for the three nights of our two rest days instead of camping in a tent.
We lunched in a delightful dump of a place surrounded by trash and orange plastic bags as directed by the police. Henk the South African driver of the lunch truck had gone ahead and parked up 100m further up the road purposefully away from the dump and was trying to say hey buddy it's a pit of a place but it was not to be. He was told to go back and hence our picnic spot! At least 50m up the road we could get chai so that was something.
At noon the police escort turned up and we all rolled through in convoy to the camp site which was 10km out of the center of Khartoum. It was an easy ride as the roads are all tar and there's so much new building going on in Khartoum that the 2007 TDA riders would not recognise the place. It's a city on the move for sure..ahh smell that oil money!
When we got to the camp site they announced the Sectional Winners for Pharoah's Delight which was Jos and I and we also won the time trial. How cool was that!
Two rest days coming up and the timing couldn't have been better...until the TDA organiser Henry Gold dropped a bomb shell.......to be continued
Janet in Khartoum
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment