Sunday, 14th Jan, 2007

From Desert Camping to Desert Camping

Great day. Cycled down to the Red Sea. Awesome seeing the Red Sea. Just awesome. Didn't sleep a whole lot last night beause our Egyptian security police were having a campfire party in the middle of the tents. I guess they had to have it in the middle of the tents, rather than, say, 50 yards away, because they had to be near us for our security. That's fine - all part of the adventure. Sleep is over-rated anyway.

I rode this morning with Sarah from U.S.A. She's a nice woman. She's done some work with micro-credit loans and things in Kenya.

The morning was lovely. We passed many great-looking resorts, right on the Red Sea. Kept thinking I'd like to stop at one of them, but didn't have time. Decided to definitely make a stop after lunch. Well, after lunch, two things happened. (1) I bonked and could never recover. I became very, very tired. VERY tired. Fell over twice for no apparent reason. (2) Didn't see another resort. They came to an abrupt end at lunch and there was never another. For that matter, no stores or coffee shops either. Nothing. And believe me, I was looking. Just sand, sand, and more sand, with occasional beautiful views of the Sea. And views of mountains as well. No kidding. Egypt is not flat. (Everybody but me probably already knew that, so should probably stop making a big deal about it, huh? After all, there's Mt Sinai. Which I thought was someplace like Jordan or Israel, but probably shouldn't mention that either, huh?)

After about 40 km from lunch, however, and 2 falls, I was just beat. Couldn't go on. I was riding with Rachel (from Australia) who was riding sweep. Sweep means that you ride with the last person. So she called the bus to come pick me up. I didn't care. No pride. I felt great at the end of the day. Exhausted, but in a great way. My goal is to see lots of Africa, and to ride lots. In that order. I expect to ride more than 50% of the route, but that's all I can guarantee.

------------------- TODAY ----------------- TOTAL
Cycled-------------133 km (82 mi) ---------- 261.5 km (160 mi)
Sagged------------- 37 km (23.5 mi) --------- 37 km (23.5 mi)
Total -------------- 170 km (105.5 mi) ------- 297.5 km (183.5 mi)
In Saddle ---------- 7 hrs 30 min ------------- 15 hours
Ascended ---------- 724 feet ----------------- 2,900 feet