On paper, 215Ikm with 1800m sounds like a pretty easy day. In practice, it was the toughest day I’ve had on the race so far. I knew the Parcours for CP2 was going to be tough, and off-road. I wasn’t delighted, but I knew it and accepted it. What I found though was terrible!
That was basically just a horrible mountain to climb on/with a road bike, and at least as bad to descend. I would be seriously surprised if anyone managed to ride up it all – even with a full suspension mountain bike I wouldn’t have. Instead, I spent hours pushing/carrying my bike up and down a path strewn with massive rocks.
The view from the top was nice, but honestly I would have preferred the view from the top of a mountain – any mountain – with a good road going up it. Still, I got there, and hopefully from here the roads will get a bit better as we head west. Unfortunately I wasn’t unscathed – I was all but at the bottom when I moved over for someone starting his way up. He headed straight towards me anyway, so I moved over further, lost my front wheel in some sand, and landed with a thud. Luckily it was mostly sand by that point so I was basically ok other than a few grazes, but my front mech wasn’t so lucky and needed a bit of attention before I could carry on from CP3.
Eventually I got it done and got myself cleaned up, and headed north. I really wanted a shower though, so when I saw an open hotel it seemed like a good idea. Even better because as I had that shower host Sergio and his wife were busy in the kitchen making me pasta!
Anyway, now I’m fed, clean, stretched (I think as a response to the bump my knee decided to tighten up on me today, but I’m sure it’ll be ok…) so it’s time to sleep!
hi rowan, poor guy because the road really looks aweful; good that you didi not hurt you seriously; hope all becomes better! see you – dieter