The Namibian Dirt Rose

The longest day. 10 hours from camp to camp. 8h55 riding time. Only 137km. Left Sesriem at 7, more by accident than design, I was pretty near the front of the pack. Initially the road surface was manageable. There was a grader parked up, so one can only assume it had been recently graded. The sun was still to rise and the colours over the distant mountains were amazing, dark blues and purples turning to lighter blues and then the grey/mahogany of the earth. 

Craig and Anton both overtook within the first 10km. Craig is a strong rider, and consistently first out of, and into, camp. Anton has a purpose built bike, with fatter tyres and is just more suited to these roads than the cyclocross bikes. Alistair soon caught up with me too. He is on a Genesis like mine. The road rapidly deteriorated. It was either corrugated or deep sand. The majority of the time it was sand, which I prefer. It was hard work though. I was tired and had only travelled 10km. My speed was between 8 and 15km/h. At times it was possible to cycle on the 'hard shoulder', a patch of hard packed sand that variably ran along the edge of the road. 

Sometimes it would be on the left, sometimes it would be on the right. As we were near the front there weren't that many bike tracks to follow. There were about 4 or 5 though. It seems to be easier to cycle in these tracks. I'm not sure if it's that there is less resistance to rolling or if the sand in these areas has been compacted by the preceding bikes. Probably a combo of the two. I was trying to appreciate the scenery. It was stunning, but it's difficult to look up and around when you need to concentrate on where you are going! 

The first 30km took us through what seemed to be fenced off fields. Although I am not convinced they will have been very fruitful if they were fArmed, given how arid it was. The ground was a clay like substance and the vegetation was a parched shade of green. We passed a lone building in the middle of the desert, with turrets like a castle. I think it was a hotel/resthouse. Traffic was few and far between, the majority being white 4x4s with khaki coloured tents folded up on top. There seems to be a big self drive tourism industry here. Something I would consider. Namibia is a beautiful country, and not yet mainstream. Of the African countries we have passed through my 'holiday destination recommendations' would be Ethiopia, Tanzania and Namibia. Cycling wise Ethiopia and Malawi, potentially Namibia (with the right bike). Around he 30km mark we made a right turn. I thought the road might improve, but it just started to ascend slowly up hill. To be honest the hill was neglible compared to the surface of the road. You didn't even notice a climb because the road surface was such a hindrance. It was going to be a long day.  Atleast we had some signs for entertainment...

Both the Hilux and the dinner truck had already passed. When they pass we are meant to give them the thumbs up or down to indicate if we need assistance or not. I felt like I was lying, giving a massive thumbs up. I didn't need assistance, but I wasn't thumbs up! It was all I could do to keep going. Physically I felt ok. I was in a low gear, and just had to keep turning the pedals, but it was going to be a long day. At this rate I was aiming for 10 hours. I just had to keep going to be in before sunset. I was happy to call it a day if I needed to, and decided early on that if something happened to my bike, or I got a puncture, then I would get a ride. The was a mental exercise. It required discipline and determination. Every time I thought about stopping and getting off the bike, I just reminded myself that pedalling was quicker than walking, albeit at 10 or 12km/h. The only way to get to lunch would be to keep pedalling. And so I did. My aim was to get to lunch and then decide what to do. My other mantra became, 'cycle, shower, tent and dinner'. That really was all I had to do, so it didn't matter if I got to camp late. We cycled through a region with limited views but as soon as we had passed through it, the plains opened up again. They were no longer parched vegetation. It became kind of light yellow sand with deep orange dunes as a backdrop. 

It had been about 3 hours and I was starting to run out of water. The Hilux appeared on the horizon, they were doing rolling refills all day, usually it's just in the morning. Normally I only drink a couple of bottles of water during the day-1.5 to 2.5l. Today I had drunk 1.5l in the first few hours. Aedo glided up and overtook. He was having a good day, steaming along on his mountain bike. He could see I wasn't having fun though, and was lovely. He didn't have much to say, but did say 'I wish I could do something to help you.'. Even just his care was lovely. He did give me an update on the others/ they are struggling too. I didn't take pleasure in this but was heartened to know I was t the only one. And so we kept pedalling. It took 5 hours to get to lunch. 72km. We actually had lunch at a normal lunch time- 12.30. It was on a time limit. I gave myself 15mins, but it ended up being 25. David, Alistair and I arrived in unison. Shortly followed by Jenna and Steph. Turned out Jenna had had an emotionally challenging morning. None of us declared we were having fun. It was a means to an ends. I was glad I had left before the main group. For some reason I like to have the mental cushion of knowing I'm not the last, there are people who will be later than me. Even if it's just because they left later. The news at lunch was that the majority of people had aborted/ Alex and Agnus caught a ride, Dylan had a mechanical failure, Catherine and Erin caught the dinner truck. That only left Bill, the Tandem, Mo and Allain to come. I didn't get on the lunchtruck. I figured the lunchtruck would probably get in after me. Despite me lack of speed. It was 1pm. 65km left. 5 hours until sunset. The road improved after lunch. There was a tailwind. There was an intermittent downhill. Jenna and Alistair overtook after about 15km. Strike one. My criteria for aborting mission were 1. Something going wrong with my bike. 2. Being overtaken by Steph and Jenna. David and I spent most of the afternoon cycling in the same vicinity as each other. It was nice to have someone around but no obligation to talk or cycle beside each other- not that you could anyway! The general improvement in the road was less sand and corrugations and more hard pack. Average speed probably increased to 15km/h. Maybe this was archieveable! The Hilux appeared in the nick of Rome for refill number 4, and some cold cokes. 14km from the end we passed Marty, walking. He had done so well. His first day back after Malaria recovery and he was doing the toughest day of the tour (we did only find this out at lunchtime). His rear derailleur had snapped! There was no fix it on the road, he would have to get a lift. What a machine. The last 10km to camp was patchy deep sand. David was at his wits end, I was definitely glad to be nearing the finish. Once again, physically I was feeling ok. The lack of corrugations and the low speed meant my body was holding up. It was just the mental battle. And the knowledge that we had 150ish km to do, on dirt, tomorrow. The road also had quite a camber, I hadn't noticed until David's amusing comment; 'F*&@ing camber! Why does this road have such a camber, when it never f*&@ing rains!' It did seem ironic. In conjunction with a crosswind, it was pretty easy to be swept off the road, if you weren't concentrating. We pulled into camp, 8h55 riding time. 4.50pm. Catherine and Erin ticked us in. It was quite a nice campsite. Windy but warm. I pitched my tent behind a building, out of the wind and then rewarded myself with a shower. Poor Steph came in shortly after Mo and Allain. She has such resilience. She came off her bike shortly after lunch, on the downhill (highlight of my day). Her helmet was cracked and her front wheel bent. Luckily the Hilux appeared while she was walking, Jordan the mechanic was there too. They looked after her, provided her with a helmet, and Harriet let her ise her wheel. She kept riding! Shaken and a patchwork bike, but she did it. I wouldn't have done that! Good on her. There were 6 riders still to come. The owner of the camp kept the shop open for us until 7 or 8. Errol made us pork chops for dinner. Early night ready for round two tomorrow.  The Namibian Dirt Rose- beautiful but thorny.