Day Three - Soccer Field Camp to Kasunga

Distance: 107.27km

Ride time: 3:19

Climb: 531m

Another day, another hotel to sleep in. I am definitely starting to appreciate the convenience of having your own bathroom more and more. This morning before getting on the bike I took the shovel for a walk four times. A ridiculous number.

Anyway. Riding.

Today was a truly enjoyable day of riding. The whole day was one big downhill with a sweet tailwind. There were occasional upticks and times when the wind was coming across or slightly to the front but they were almost irrelevant.

The strangest thing was that the downhills weren't always free speed. Normally with a -2% or -3% grade, it is possible to get about 40km/h pretty easily. At -4% I normally tuck in and roll up to 50km/h or more. Today there was something at work that I couldn't pin down. With the tailwind, I should have had been rocking along even quicker. Instead, I was having to pedal all the downhills to keep up a decent speed. Very odd.

Despite that, it was a pretty easy day. Doing it solo with no supporting paceline was not a problem at all.

Lunch was fried egg sandwiches with avocado and tomato. Unfortunately, just looking at them made me think of my morning walks, so I opted for a couple of chunks of pineapple and some electrolyte drink. This quick lunch made people think that I was hankering for a stage win. That couldn't be further from the truth. I was just trying to get to camp quickly so I didn't have to wade through a cornfield trying to find a place to - well you know what. Some of the other riders were less lucky. I think that there could have been more than one emergency stop on the bikes today.

Another rest day tomorrow. It seems that our seven day stretches in the desert or bush with no amenities are a thing of the past. It makes it a pretty different ride. In the desert or bush, we huddle the tarps from the sun or rain. We wait around drinking soup and waiting for dinner. Here in the hotel, we can rock up and have a breakfast beer (it helps having a three hour ride and starting at six am).

Dan's Camping Tip: If you are camping at the hotel, pitch your tent before you start your breakfast beers.