DAY 2 & 3

Day 2 was one of the hardest cycling day of my life. It started well, we had 166 km to do and the first 50 km went fast, so me and Jos, (a South African rider) decided to stop and have lunch at a resort along the red sea... This was not knowing the desert.... After lunch, (which took for ever, I and a half hour to get a cheese burger done...), the wind came out of nowhere and blew into our faces at gale force sandblasting us. Our average speed suddenly dropped from 28 km per hour to bellow 12 with a good 70 km to go...
We teamed with other cyclist drafting and sharing the work, but it was hard. It was hell...Many cyclist lost their EFI status, which means that they had to get on the truck and will not qualify for the "Every Fucking Inch" status from Cairo to Cape Town. We kept our heads down, taking turns in front and doing short relays, and we made it to camp by a few minutes before official cut off time...

As you know, bad news never come alone and as we made it to camp exhausted, just for nightfall, an enormors storm exploded... Try to pitch your tent in the dark with gale force winds and heavy rain...

Today, Day 3 was a good surprise, first despite the exhaution of yesterday, I felt very good straight after wake up (5h00 am) and the winds had now turned in our favour, so it meant tail winds. I decided to team with a few strong cyclists and we rode a perfect peloton all the way to the finish line in a reccord time. 144 km at nearly 30 km per hour average! Probably my personal best ever. We had a huge storm last night and the desert was flooded! Yes flooded... Strange... At one stage the race was stopped by the police as the road was completely cut by the floods.

It is nice to arrive at camp early, it gives you time to set your tent in no hurry and organise all the stuff in your bags and so on. This now day 3 without any cleaning facility, no water for washing or showering, but apparently tomorrow night we can have acces to showers. Looking forward!

The showels at the back of the truck are for going to toilets, you dig a hole and bury your number 2...

The lunch truck is at half way point and carries food and water. This is the occasion to share the first half feeling with fellow cyclists and regroup if you have lost your peloton. You take a 15 minutes brake and you carry on to camp

My tent; the wind is blowing so heavily that putting your tent feels more like taking a sailing course...
Look at my tent flying...

Stop at a garage for a coca Cola brake. They are so few shops or petrol stations here that when ever ther is one, we stop and have some refreshments.