Wednesday, 17th Jan, 2007

From Safago to Desert Camp

The Red Sea is not red. I spent a good part of the cycling day today wondering why it was called the Red Sea. My best theory was that after Moses opened it up and then closed it again, killing all those people, the dead people bled and made the sea bloody -- thus, the Red Sea. Only flaw with the theory is that I don't think people bleed when they drown. Alice (from S. Africa) at the lunch stop today suggested it was because of the stones around the sea, and when they touch water, they turn red.

I'm the slowest rider on the trip. That wouldn't bother me too much, except it means I can't ride with anybody because I'm too slow and they want to move on. That's o.k. The ride today was beautiful - climbed through the hills. My GPS is bullshitting me, by the way. I *know* we ascended more than 1,844 feet today. At one point, we were 2,200 feet above sea level, and we started at 0. Oh well. I'm going to keep recording what it says, even though we know it is biased low.

------------------- TODAY ---------------------TOTAL
Cycled ------------ 101 km (62 mi) ------------- 522.5 km (320 mi)
Sagged ----------- 39 km (24 mi) --------------- 146 km (91.5 mi)
Total ------------- 140 km (86 mi) -------------- 668.5 km (411.5 mi)
In saddle --------- 6 hrs 56 min ----------------- 29 hrs 38 min
Ascended --------- 1,844 feet ------------------- 6,094 feet