Dongola to Khartoum

Kilometres riden: 2038.4

This was a four day desert stage taking us from Dongola down to Khartoum. Although we covered a lot of distance in this four days, it was pretty cruisy on the bike. I am definitely in some sort of honeymoon period where I am still getting fitter but not getting run down yet.

After Dongola, the race rules changed. Instead of everyone starting at a set time of 8am, racers can set off whenever they like - just scan out at the beginning and the end. This is kind of good, because it stops some of the racers that were grabbing a few sneaky minutes each morning. It also makes the race more interesting, because when you start makes a difference.

I have been starting with Rod, Julianna, Stuart and Gizzy. We normally ride at around the same pace without too many dramas. The faster group of Adrian, Marcel and Franz normally starts behind us and are the last to leave. The slower guys start in front. As the fast guys roll through, slower riders glom on for a few kilometres. Sometimes those of us in the second group jump on as well.

On the first day out of Dongola, we had jumped into that group and it was massive. Everyone was pretty perky out of a rest day, and some people did some pretty quick pulls. I was out the front straight after lunch and I normally find this a bit hard - we really eat fast then get on our way. So I put my head down and pulled for 5 minutes then did a head check to see whether I should drop back to the right or left and let the next rider take over. Well. When I did the head check, I had to do a double take, because no-one was behind me. I had slightly overcooked it, and people had been disorganised trying to get their crap together after lunch.

So, I was out in front, but was by myself and had no-one to share the load with. I also knew that Adrian, Marcel and Franz could chase me down pretty easily. Chris (the TDA mechanic) was on his day off and was riding with us, and he came steaming up with Gizzy. Our plan was to take high-intensity, 30 second pulls.

Our plan didn't quite work. Gizzy dropped off after a couple of minutes. Chris and I lasted out a bit longer, but we both felt pretty beat when the fast core of the group rolled us over. I managed to jump on as they went by, but I was so tired I couldn't stay on and fell off the back. Luckily, there were a few other stragglers behind the core group. In the distance, we could see that Rod, Julianna and Stuart had also fallen off the fastest group. We managed to put in some hard pulls and caught up with them.

It was probably the most interesting hour of riding that I have done, and it was all because I didn't check behind me when I was pulling. Definitely something to remember next time.

I also did my first ever time trial. The first 20km of the last stage of the section was an optional, individual effort. This is pretty different from most road riding where we have been working in groups. I didn't really warm up enough before the time trial and only really started to fire up in the last 5km or so. I felt good enough that I pushed through the next 45km to lunch solo as well though. All those days of being dropped off the fastest group into no-man's land must have paid off.

Despite TDA's reminders, a lot of groups are still spread all over the road. One group yesterday was particularly good. They'd stopped over both lanes and shoulders to take photos of camels (they mustn't know that they are vermin in proper countries). I went through their group so fast that I nearly took one of their arms off as they reached out to take a photo. Could have been a disaster, but instead it was just funny.

Talking about individual efforts, English Eric is still riding most stages solo and pulling off good times. It really takes a toll on him in the heat though. Training-for-RAAM Eric is on the left, individual effort Eric is on the right. To be accurate though, T-f-R Eric also rode the whole stage solo.

One of the pictures in the TDA blog makes it look like I am not enjoying the riding, but just look at how happy and comfortable I look here.
I am probably listening to something like "Nice Weather for Ducks" here. Random shuffle on a full iPod makes for some strange music. Also, when my jersey keeps edging up the volume, I sometimes start riding faster and faster.

The desert road leading me to the next camp. After 140, 150, 160km of this a day, it just looks normal, but it is completely unlike anything I've ridden before. You can see the shifter for the front derailleur here. I haven't used it in anger yet this trip - I hope it still works when we get to Ethiopia next week.

You guys may not believe it, but someone here brought a travel version of Settlers of Cataan along. Crazily, the American rules are different from the proper rules. I managed to pull a win out of the bag with the longest road and largest army. To be fair, me and another player were so intertwined that it only made sense for us to rob the other guy, so he got a bit dog piled. That's Cataan though.

On the day before the rest day, the Indaba guys (the company that runs the trucks for us) have an auction. Everything that has been found around the trucks or camp is sold for beers (or cokes here in Sudan). The stuff for auction is pretty varied. This time around, two of my favourite foods were up for grabs: Crunch Peanut Butter Clif Bars, and Nutella. I lot out on the Clif Bars to Alison, one of the TDA staff, but got the Nutella for the sweet price of 25 cokes.

Later on, Alison slipped me a Clif Bar, so at some future, low point I can have a Clif Bar coated in Nutella.

Turns out that Nutella costs 25 Sudanese pounds at the Afra Mall here, and 25 cokes cost me around 24 pounds, so I got the Nutella for an ok price.