Enjoy the moment.

A brief interlude but I am now home and have reliable internet,and will finish my account of the trip.  It also gives me a good excuse to relive the last week :))

Tuesday 1st  May   Springbok to Garies, 116km After the headwinds yesterday, I think we all harboured a bit of trepidation about today.  We had stayed in a nice campsite, plenty of space around our tents, power points for each pitch, it was warm enough to dry my washing overnight…and it was safe enough that we didn’t have to lock our bikes.  The wind had been playing around overnight.  I woke up twice, once the tent was flapping around and it sounded pretty breezy, the next time I woke up everything was peaceful.  This morning there was a wind, but it was blowing in our favour. I woke up fairly early, and there was a big group of riders who all seemed to be leaving at the same time.  There was a bit of a climb out of camp, maybe 400m of tarmac with a fairly steep gradient. This staggered the masses who exited the gate.  We essentially did a U turn, up the hill, left across the op, and then back down the slip road onto the motorway.  i did briefly considering cutting off the U and just walking across the bit at the bottom, but I quite enjoy hills and it seemed more effort than it was worth.  I think a few people did though, we I know a few people did because it later become a bone of contention with regards to this ‘EFI’ award.  A 1km U which was cut and walked was quite significant to some riders. The morning started really well.  After reaching the top of the hill and making the 180 degree turn to go back in the opposite direction the wind ensured I sailed down the hill.  I caught Craig and Maurice as the road started to flatten, and attempted to draught behind them. Craig is the Saffa who is invariably at the front.  He and Richard were riding buddies before Richard wrote himself off, they were members of the Steam Train.  He is a strong mountain biker, but also used to run ultra marathons, and sails super yachts…  I didn’t keep up with him for long, but then neither did Maurice.  The first half of the ride was undulating with smooth tar, and a tail wind. The day was warm and I had rolled down my armwarmers, and taken my buff off, but at the bottom of some of the dips there was a blast of cold air.  It was weird, like when you’re in the sea and there is a line between warm and cold water.  InitialyI assumed it was cold because there was water in the dips, like a stream, but I later realised there weren’t waterways there.  Google informs me it’s called ‘negative thermocline’, the colder denser air has settled in the lower areas.  Some of them were so cold I had to pull my arm warmers back up. After an hour or so I was overtaken by Aedo, the flying dutchman. The roads here are good quality, but busy.  The drivers beep at your as they go past, not as they approach to warn you to move, but almost to tell you as they pass that they feel you shouldn’t be there.  Tallis has used the phrase ‘right of weight’ as opposed to ‘right of way’ all the war down Africa, and this is certainly true here. If you weightless than the other road users then it is not your right of way.  There are also Cats Eyes along the hard shoulder, marking the edge of the road.  There aren’t fences by the road as when we first entered Nambia, it really feels like being back in a developed country.  i was enjoying being at the front of the group, but also being fairly separate.  There was no pressure from riders in front or behind. 

David, Alistair and Anton caught up on the hill which lead up to lunch.  Lunch was very relaxed, and there was a feeling of unity among the group.  i think because it was a shorter and easier day than alot of those we have had previously, and potentially because we are reaching the end of the tour as well.  I hung around for longer than normal, but was back on the bike and ready to go before the others.  i decided I would listen to McFly for a bit, one headphone only though- as by Tallis’ instructions. There was a little more climbing after lunch and then an amazing downhill.  You could see down the valley and the road rang along the valley and down.  I stopped to take some pictures before continuing on.  I had Queen’s ‘Don’t stop me’ playing, and was really appreciating the moment and being able to do the trip.  I suppose particularly given Marty’s situation.  I sped past Agnes pulled up at the side of the road, and called to her as I whizzed past, checking she was ok.  I wasn’t able to hear her reply so turned around and started cycling back up to check - turned out she was just having a snack!  I continued on my way.  

Bam.  I hit sometthing.   I was thrown forward and my cleats had unclipped.  My chest was resting on my handlebars and my legs out behind, much like superman, but no where near as composed. I was trying to hold my bike straight, and sit up, and brake, all at the same time.  I felt the bike wobbling underneath me, I needed to sit up to regain the balance but the wobble just got worse.  From my position leaned over the handlebars I could see the ground at the side of the road rushing past.  The I lost it.  I felt myself rolling to the right and forward.  The next thing I know I was sitting on the ground, facing the ditch.  My bike was lying behind me to the right, and my back wheel in the ditch.  I sat for a bit to compose myself.  I had grazed my knee but otherwise was just shaken.  Agnes rounded the corner above me, slightly slower than I had been going.  She pulled up beside me to check I was ok.  The irony! Only 2km before I had been doing the same for her.  She was lovely.  I was assuring her I was fine, and she should carry on going, but she insisted on sitting with me for a bit.  Turns out I was more grazed than I thought.  Agnes cleaned my wounds with Iodine solution she had, and sat with me for a bit, and then we looked at my bike.  It was a mess.  The wheel back wheel was buckled and the chain seemed all twised, the handlebars were twisted too. Jordan, the bike mechanic, was riding sweep today.  I decided to send him a message, exlpaing I had called, my back wheel had come off and I would wait for him to pass as I wasn’t sure how to put it all back together.  At this point Steph turned up too.  I was a bit tearful by now, more shock than pain.  Steph was also lovely. She just sat beside me, and was present but not demanding. Anyone who was there and asking if i was ok, just seemed to make me more embarrassed and cry more!  We started trying to put the bike back together but it was little use.  Jordan replied saying that it was silly to wait 2 hours for him to catch up, he would contact Tallis and get him to drive back and hopefully bring a spare wheel.  We were about 20km from camp.  Along came the next pair of riders - Neal and Tom - who were equally as lovely as Agnes and Steph. Tom, who has more expereicen with bikes than the rest of us, managed to put the wheel back on and sort the chain.  The back brake was stuck because of the buckling in the wheel, so he removed the back brake and we taped it to the frame.  Fixed enough to get to camp!  Then we turned the bike back up right and realised that wheel wasn’t the only thing that was buckled, the metal frame of the saddle was also bent.  Tom found a way to tighten it so that it would get me to camp, albeit sticking up at a funny angle.  Back on and ready to go, the handlebars were twisted.  Tom, once again, found a fix. Then Tallis appeared, and he did have a spare wheel.  It felt like TDA Roadside Assistance.  The support and care I received from everyone - staff and fellow riders - blew me away.  Tom was even prepared to swap bikes for the last 20km back to camp, if i wasn’t confident riding my own patchwork steed.  We cycled slowly down the hill and stopped in a lay-by to talk to Tallis.  He swapped the wheel and checked my wounds.  My lower back felt bruised.  I told them and showed them, turned out it wasn’t just bruised as I thought.   ‘Let me take a picture and how you’ Tom has offered, but Tallis told him not to.  He was about to clean it with alcohol, but thanks to my protests, and Steph’s possession of a disinfectant wipe, that crisis was narrowly averted.

Tom and Steph escorted me for the lest 20km to Garies, I was definitely more nervous, but trying not to hold back.  When we got to Garies we were greeted by the truck, Sophie and Harriet.  Harriet took me off to check my injuries.  We also at this pointed noticed my helmet had two dents and a crack in it.  And I had a lump on my head.  I was probably going at about 45km/h when I hit the Cat’s Eye, and then had 15m of trying to regain control, before hitting the ground.  Essentially I think I went over the left front corner of the bike, landed on my shoulder, and then rolled and the bike came over the top of me, hitting and ejecting the back wheel before the saddle hit the ground and bent too. It couldn’t have happened on a better day, turned out we were staying in guesthouses tonight as the campsite was not yet complete.  I was sharing a kitchen, living room and two bedrooms with Erin and Catherine.  I had a room to myself and was on a mattress, in a bad, and wasn’t having to sleep battered and bruised on the hard ground.  Harriet reckoned the cut on my lower back needed stitching.  I am not good with human medicine, it makes me feel queasy, so I wasn’t keen.  We went to the apartment/guesthouse.  I showered and then lay on the sofa while she stitched me.  Only two stitches, and her local worked, so it wasn’t as bad as expected.

When Erin and Catherine arrived they, also, were lovely, and said they would look after me/keep an eye on me.  We decided we would enjoy the luxury of sofas, and lights, and a kitchen by having a girls night.  I found some Chocolate Mug Cake mixes in the supermarket, and also bought some Amarula to have with out cakes, Steph had a chick flick on her laptop. We had dinner and rider meeting back at the truck at 5.30.  Jordan had managed to borrow Neal’s saddle for me (Neal cracked his frame and has been riding Karyn’s bike for the last few days), Stevie’s wheel fitted mine and he said I could use it until Cape Town, staff Steph had a helmet which I could borrow as she wasn’t going to be riding for the last part of the tour.  I was back in business.  It was amazing how supportive everyone was.  It was my own stupidity, I shouldn’t have hit the cat eye! We walked back to the guesthouse together for our movie night.  The twon is an old farming town, and seems to have a high unemployment and alcoholism rate.  I  wouldn’t have felt safe after dark, by myself. 

So tomorrow I ride again, this time on the patchwork bike, with some off road sections.  Hopefully it is manageable, more than manageable, pleasant.