Sand in our pants

The title of this posting was suggested by Francois and Christo...

We slept pretty well last might. These high intensity days mean that you are ready to sleep by 8. We are up at 5, or before, so it is still a long day. Temperatures at night have been really good - on chance to shiver. We usually start on top of our small sleeping bags, keeping the tent flaps open to catch the breeze. Within a few hours we climb inside the bags, but definitely too hot to curl up completely inside it. The ground at all camps has been hard - and we don't have mats - so we do wake up to roll over. Generally hips get sore and for the rest we are all unconscious.

So this morning camp was rustling by 5. Breakfast has been cornflakes, boiled eggs, some pastry things and a local flat bread. To me, cornflakes are like cottonwool so I top up breakfast with some mix-in-a-ziploc cereal from home.

With race crates loaded on to the truck we were off on our bikes for a blisteringly fast 45km to the new Desert Resort. Christo and Francois took turns hauling me on the tow rope, which really improved our overall speed.

We got to the Resort to be warmly welcomed by Mark, Peter and a bunch of friendly South Africans. Thank you for your friendly greetings guys.

Even though we arrived within the first half of the field, we missed most of the edible spread put out by the hotel. We had an hour between arrival and departure for the next section so we took a walk around. I will put photos on tomorrow after the race. I wouldn't mind staying there for a few nights. The guys said it is about R4000 per night and that the buffet alone is R800. Still... Would be nice. We were thinking that today's stage would have been perfect if we stopped there after the first section and then proceeded with a pool party. Wishful thinking! The Resort looks like a sand castle, which it essentially is.

And then we were off again, but not before a car drove over Alex's bike with 15mins to the start! The front wheel, she was broken big time. We told race organisation and within 10mins we had another race bike. Pedals were changed in minutes and we were ready with 2mins to go.

During the stop the wind had picked up even more and the air was hazy with sand. Mark said that yesterday the road to the Resort had been sandfree. Today we encountered drifts with sand blown into our faces. The second, 55km stage, was the most unpleasant I have encountered in 10yrs of biking. The road is hard packed something and very rough and bumpy. The wind was howling and blowing sand straight into our mouths, nostrils and ears. Absolutely nasty. And also terrifying to hit soft sand sections while on a tow rope!

This section was unbelievably hard. Riding into the wind on rough roads and being punished by the swirling sand! We hauled and from the drying effect of the wind we were working through our water very fast. With at least an hour thirty to go we were pretty much all out and you know how hard it is to eat when you have no water. And it was hot on top of this.

At the checkpoint, with 18km to go, we got a near full 1.5-litre bottle from the course director. We flattened it. About 30mins later we got two full bottles from a race official, who we stopped as he was driving down the road. He was accosted by the teams close behind us too.

A local army guy gave me and another girl a can of Pepsi, "For the girls," he said. My guys were slightly ahead so they missed out. He had told Alex that we had 8km to go and that only the next two would be as bad. We had been through a good number of kilometers where we were on and off our bmikes to push through soft sand. Some we could ride through, which was really exhausting. And I am just not as good or as fast as the guys at getting through the sand.

Finally we crested yet another dune - the desert is not flat! We climbed a lot - and seeing the finish was a welcome sight. We went straight for our box of water and each downed a litre in one gulp. As Francois says, 'I have never been so thirsty in my life!'.

We are now on a bus going through to our last camp. I do hope it is the same place as last year below Jebel Hafeet. It would be great to sleep on a grassy surface. The trip is about 3hrs and we are all so dirty and sandy and crusty. Looking forward to shower. As the guys say, we have sand in our pants and everywhere else too.

Tomorrow we start probably well before sunrise with an orienteering thing. I have packed my super dooper Petzl Ultra. I used it a bit at the rogaine in Estonia last year. The light is amazing and it should work well. Maps are not O maps - probably Google again - but should still be fun. More on tomorrow later.

As of today's stage Francois says the he didnt enjoy it - too much push bike in the sand.

Christo says that the first part was good, the resort was amazing and the second section was very unexpected - from the headwind to the sand and road conditions. He will definitely remember this day and it will make anything to come seem easy.

Alex agrees on all the wind and same stuff. He also needed to pack more food. He ate all through the stage and still ran out. He was burning through sugar way faster than he could get it in - in volumes. That said, he has not had any problems with his sugar - never too high or too low - at all, which is really great. If has decided to always keep
a stash of emergency bars in his pack for stages like his where he needed even more than expected.

Phew enough typing - I am doing these on a cell keypad. Hopefully get a little nap on bus.