Day Two - Forest Camp to Bush Camp

Distance: 126.26km
Ride Time: 4:00
Climb: 824m

Today was a great ride. We descended over 1400m and had a morning tailwind, so we could knock out a fairly good pace.

Stuart and I got a bit carried away for the first 20km or so. On the small rollers, we were cranking it out pretty hard. For me, part of that is because at the start of the ride, you can see the riders that left earlier. The urge to chase, faster than you have to, is irresistible for me. On the change over from me to Stuart, Gizzy looked pretty uncomfortable with our reckless, unsustainable pace. Being fat and being able to bomb it down the hills has its advantages I guess, because I am definitely not faster than Gizzy going up the hills.

As expected, I couldn't hold the pace all day. When we hit the climb from 1100m to 1250m (not that big) at the end of the day, I was really suffering. I'm not too fussed though, because once again, I felt better than I did the day before. Maybe by the end of the trip, I will be as fit as I was at the start. That would be pretty sweet.

Ted, one of the riders that loves going on side trips, might have organised proper fitness testing in Cape Town when the trip ends. It will be pretty interesting to see if we are healthy or not at the end of the tour. I kind of feel that our adaptation to cycling means that we are going to be less generally fit. I can't accelerate on the bike like I used to. I certainly don't have the upper body strength that I used to.

A good day to be on the bike. Nice hills, kind wind and good scenery. Reuben was feeling like today was his day for a stage win, so he was out for the kill - just shouting out his number as he blew straight through lunch.

One of the other rides, Steve, wanted to ride his bike to lunch, but his bike was already on the truck. The bike spends a lot of time up there, so I guess that the Indaba guys assumed that it should go up. Instead, he rode the truck to lunch, then hitchhiked in a Coke truck to camp. Pretty funny.

Smells like dinner will have bacon in it. Definitely a good day.