Resting in Luxor!

Day 5 - 132km


We left Safaga yesterday morning - the sun was coming up and everyone seemed happy to get heading out after a nice evening on the beach. I was just happy to see mountains and a terrain change! The climb to lunch was 40km and eight of us did the climb together making is a pretty easy ride....that was until after lunch. The group grew at lunch to 15 which seemed a bit big but when the headwind hit we were all happy to have the support. Some of the boys are calling me the leader (we all know what happens to the leader on the show Survivor...use the leader for a while and then kick them off the island!) and I quickly organized the riders into two lines pulling for a couple of km and then dropping back for the next two to pull in the wind. It was once again a torturous ride - 7 and half hours on the bike. With 40km to go I experienced a new pain - this time in my achilles tendon! This new injury will have to get sorted early or it could be a real problem. I do not know if it is the mileage or my bike. So to be safe I changed out my suspension seatpost and opted for the old school seatpost that originally belonged to Jake. Who knows?? None of us really know what will work over here. It kind of feels like you have to forget everything you know and go with how you feel and right now I feel exhausted and sore.

The camp was once again in the desert. I got to camp fairly early (some people spent over 9 hours on the bike) and there was delicious broccoli soup waiting for us upon our arrival. I was happy to get my tent up and drink a beer. Most of our desert camps are at police checks or military checks so I am getting used to guys with guns watching over me....it is nice to feel protected but not so nice to have them watching over me as I pee!


In bed by 8pm and had the best sleep I have had yet in my tent.


Day 6 - 95km


Up at 5:15am - I have to get up a half hour before everyone else because I am still a little slow getting everything packed up in the morning. At 5:45 the music starts (the wake up call for everyone else) and it sounded like polka music! Kind of funny for about 30 seconds! My achilles tendon felt terribly painful and I started out a little slower than usual. A very strong rider, Dan, was complaining of a chest cold so we decided to ride together. We are similar kind of riders - we always say we are going to take it easy and before long we were cruising at an easy 34-35km per hour. It was nice to ride in a pair instead of a train. It was a chilly start - around 10 degrees but the sun was coming up and I was happy to be back on the bike. The road to Luxor included little towns, donkey carts, and hundreds of children yelling HELLO, HELLO! all the way along the road. After days in the desert with nothing but wind and sand this was a nice change. The traffic was a little dodgy at some points but after lunch Dan and I were joined by a Brit, Sunil and American Jason and we took turns pulling into Luxor. We arrived to camp early - there were showers available and sinks to do our laundry. Tomorrow is a rest day in Luxor so I am hoping to see something ancient and rest this sore achilles.


Still holding 3rd place among the women and I will probably hang in there for a while so I will stop mentioning my race position until something new or interesting happens. My goal at the moment is to rest up and feel good on the bike without any aches or pains - but I have a feeling the pains will just move around over the course of the next four months.


More about Luxor tomorrow night I hope and pictures too!