Final Stage Fatigue

20th April

The rest 'weekend' has been very enjoyable, although today perhaps less so than yesterday. Good news is my phone is functional and dried out. I did have to extract a grain of rice from the charging port to be able to charge it, and the headphone port is impacted with very much non extractable rice grains. I'll take that as a win though. I cycled down to the bike shop (well stocked, home standard bike shop with a workshop too). It was already inundated with TdA members looking for replacement clothing, components and for bike warrants. I had a look at the shorts, but decided that my four well worn pairs would last two weeks. I then approached one of the men about getting my bike checked/serviced. I have been having issues getting on to the big chainring at the front, and my steering feels funny. Jordan has looked at my shifting before, in Maun, and seemed to have done what he could. The guy I talked to simply said that my handlebars felt tight enough and that I was cross chaining. So I left with my bike. Cycled down into town. Got some new headphones, wrote some postcards in a cafe (rest day tradition after all), got my eyebrows done (very much a self maintenance weekend). Bumped into Tom and had ice cream. By this point it was 3.15 and I had been aiming to be back at camp. There was a girls dinner planned for this evening, leaving at 5. I still had to change my tyres and put my stuff in my permenant bag again. Needless to say it didn't go to plan. My front wheel was rusted on to my frame. I couldn't turn the handle to loosen the clamp on the axle and remove it. I managed with the back one, and put some chain lube on. The front one I had to get Tallis to help me with. He then took the spindle to put some Q20 on. Tyres on and wheels in, I now had to inflate the tubes more. The valves were too short to get the pump on. Fortunately Aedo came over and started helping too. Between us we managed to inflate the tyres. Then the wheel wouldn't spin. By this point fatigue and frustration was getting to me. Alistair turned up to have a look and pointed out my back tyre was in the wrong way round. Not an issue in the dry, but in the wet it can lead to aquaplaning. It's a bit of a running joke as it is an amateur mistake. I just said 'Don't or I will start crying.'sure enough fatigue got the better of me and I started crying. Not because of the bike. Or because I was to late to go to the dinner. Just because I was so tired, almost like chronic fatigue, and my emotional resilience was fading. Aedo took my bike over to Jordan who then discovered my rear derailleur was sticking, and needed replacing. Well that explained the shifting issues that had been 'fixed' in Maun. I just walked away, I needed some space. I finished packing my bag and went to put it on the truck. Having composed myself I walked past the 'boys BBQ' only for Errol to call out and ask if I was winning. Que tear resurgence. How embarrassing! Aedo was lovely and came to see if I was ok, Jordan and Alistair had given me hugs earlier too but I just needed space. I spent the evening in my tent listening to podcasts and readi my book, and had a sausage sandwich and massive German biscuit. It did make me feel better. David even came by a few times to check on me, as Aedo had told him I was upset. It was so nice of him, even just the consideration of coming over. This trip really is a team effort, and while I am looking forward to seeing Matt, Family, friends and Maisy; I will be sad to say goodbye. We have had a really good team for the whole trip.